The creek along the Beaver Dam trail.  Photo by Jane Kolarich.

It’s been fun for all of us at Bearskin to talk with skiers at the end of a day on our ski trails.  Skiers are ridiculously happy with the snow conditions, almost giddy about how beautiful it is out there. Decent weather has made it even better–temps have been cold enough to begin refreezing thawed lakes, but warm enough that nobody needs hand-warmers or extra clothing layers.

We keep advising skiers to take a little camera along, because the trails have never been more photogenic.  If you took a beautiful trail picture this past week, please send it to stay@bearskin.com so we can share it with others to enjoy.

Here are the latest snow numbers measured at Golden Eagle, home of the official Central Gunflint Ski Trail ruler.

Central Gunflint Ski Trail Conditions on 12-30-15

• New Snow Last 24 hours:  Trace”
• New Snow Last 7 days:  8.6 inches
• Trail Base, Staked:  Average 4 – 5 inches
• Snow in Woods, Staked:  Average 11 – 14 inches
• Groomed with classic tracks:  ~58 k
• Surface Conditions:  Fresh packed snow
• Last grooming day:  12-30-15
• Total snowfall since Nov. 1:  39.20”

Comments:  The skiing is fantastic! We have made very good progress on trail clearing this week with only a few “closed” trails remaining. The groomed trails, thanks in part to the heavy and wet snow we received prior to all this, set up great and the classic tracks are holding in excellent. Trail bases are comfortably firm and are averaging about 4 to 5 inches. If you don’t include the amount of trail cleanup we’ve had this year, condition wise, the ski trails are in as good a shape as any other year this time of the season.

Important note:  Due to thin ice on Flour Lake and questionable ice on Aspen Lake, the North-South link trail is closed north of Summer Home Road. We are checking ice thickness often and will groom a trail via snowmobile as soon as safely possible.

For the most up-to-date grooming information, as well as updates on trail clearing progress, please contact Bearskin Lodge (1-800-338-4170) or Golden Eagle Lodge (1-800-346-2203). Central Gunflint Ski Pass required.

Snow Totals

• November Total 2015 – 7.25 inches 
• December
  Dec 1 – Dec 6:  2.55 inches
  Dec 7 – Dec 13:  2.53 inches
  Dec 14 – Dec 19: 18.0 inches
• Dec 20 – Dec 27:  7.62 inches
• Dec 28: 0.25 inches
•  Dec 29: 1.00 inches
• December Total 2015 – 31.95 inches
• Total Snowfall 2015-2016 – 39.20 inches

Roger and Jane Kolarich ventured into one of the few remaining uncleared areas.  We’re happy to report that after a great deal of hard work,  very few trails still look like this.

Here’s an updated ski report from Golden Eagle. This is a pretty good summary of all that we’ve accomplished and what we have left to do. It’s snowing again right now and we have the potential for another large amount of snow in the next 24 hours.

Bottom line: if you are staying at either resort next week, you will be amazed at our snow and you don’t have to worry even the tiniest bit about snow conditions.

If you don’t have a reservation for next week but are just planning to come up to ski, we would strongly encourage you to come skiing early in the day. When we have a situation like this one, where there isn’t much skiing elsewhere, the small parking lots for both resorts are often full by noon. Rental skis are often gone in many sizes, and occasionally there’s even a line out the front door waiting to buy ski passes right after lunch. Be smart — come early, ski a full day, and make the most out of our beautiful snow conditions!

Central Gunflint Ski Trail Conditions on 12-23-15

• New Snow Last 24 hours: 0.0” (but it’s snowing again now)
• New Snow Last 7 days: 15.0”
  Trail Base, Staked: Average 4 inches
  Snow in Woods, Staked: Average 7 – 10 inches
• Groomed with classic tracks: ~28 k
  Surface Conditions: Fresh packed snow
• Last grooming day: 12-22-15
  Total snowfall since Nov. 1: 28.33”

Comments: As many may know, with the recent snowstorm 1 week ago, we received 15 inches of snow across 3 days. The weight from the snow has caused many trees and bushes to infringe, and in numerous locations, completely block the ski trails. Work on clearing these trails for grooming has been much more time consuming than originally anticipated; however, Bearskin and Golden Eagle have made good progress this week and are happy to add several more trails to the “Is Now Open!” category. What we have been able to groom has groomed up very well, offering a nice firm base and solid classic track for some great skiing!

Trails that are groomed and tracked are: Summer Home Road, Campground Loop, lower Beaver Dam, Ox Cart, Bear Cub, Red Pines, Wolf Point, Cabin Loop, portions of Logging Camp, and west end of Deer Mouse. A few other trails have been cleared, but not yet groomed; these are packed only.

Important note: Due to open water on Flour Lake and questionable ice on Aspen Lake, the North-South link trail is closed north of Summer Home Road.

Since we are out there working and clearing trees every day, this list of groomed trails updates frequently. For the most up to date grooming information, please contact Golden Eagle Lodge (1-800-346-2203) or Bearskin Lodge (1-800-338-4170). Central Gunflint Ski Pass required.

We’ve had so many happy skiers over the past few days. Several Loppet winners are skiing here right now, as well as a middle school ski team, plus dozens of local skiers from Grand Marais.  It’s beautiful on the trails and everyone is returning from the trails with wonderful winter pictures.

That’s the good news.  The trails that are open are super.

But then there’s the bad news.  We still have miles and miles of closed trails because of what we call the “bend-down” — somewhat like the 1999 blowdown, but caused by excessive snow.

Many of our trails look like this:

That’s Bear Cub.  Nice, huh?  We’re not amused.  We spent all fall mowing, trimming, and clearing those trails. You wouldn’t know it now.

All along the Gunflint Trail this is how every ski and snowmobile trail looks.  The Central Gunflint Trail System has really good people out cleaning the trails all day, and we’re making progress.  We are the only area that has large sections of any type of trail already opened up.  But it’s slow-going and realistically, it’s going to be many days before all 70K of our trails are clear again.

If you’re a local skier and would like to earn a complimentary season pass to ski the Central Gunflint Trail system, you can put in a full day’s work trimming trails to earn a pass.  Be forewarned:  it’s hard work. But it’s pretty darn interesting, too.  Amazing what happened out there! Call Golden Eagle (218-388-2203) if you have a great desire to cut down hundreds of bent, broken little trees.

Ted and Barbara Young are also looking for help clearing the Banadad Trail.  Call 218-388-4487.

We’ll keep working at it every day. Meanwhile, we have more snow in the forecast for mid-week. Hopefully it won’t be so heavy that this happens again.

Summer Home, Lit Loop, Campground, and Lower Beaver Dam are open and at this point offer the best skiing in the state.  We’ll keep you posted as we open additional trails.

Here are the official snow measurements from our snowstorm, taken by the Baumann family at Golden Eagle.

• New Snow Last 24 hours:  13.5”
• New Snow Last 7 days:  19.03”
• Trail Base, Staked:  Average 4 – 5 inches
• Snow in Woods, Staked:  Average 12 – 14 inches
• Groomed with classic tracks:  ~10 k
• Surface Conditions:  Fresh packed snow
• Total snowfall since Nov. 1:  26.83”

Comments:  We’ve got snow and skiing! Since the morning of the 16^th, we’ve received ­­­­­13.5 inches of fresh snowfall! Being a very dense snow, we are quickly establishing a nice and firm trail base. With heavy snow, however, comes some additional work. There are many thin aspen and birch trees and small bushes of willow and alder now leaning out over many of the trails from the weight of the snow; both Golden Eagle and Bearskin are working fast and hard on clearing them out of the way for grooming, though this is a time consuming process that will take a few days. Each day, we expect more trails to be opened and ready for grooming.

Currently, Summer Home Road, Campground Loop, and lower Beaver Dam are groomed, tracked, and in very good shape! The remaining trails are packed only at this point. Additional trails will be groomed and tracked daily as they are cleared.

If you have any questions regarding specific trail conditions, please contact Bearskin Lodge (1-800-338-4170) or Golden Eagle Lodge (1-800-346-2203) for the most up-to-date grooming information. Central Gunflint Ski Pass required.

Our snow conditions went from worrisome to amazing in one day. We now have ample snow to go into a great ski season.

Don’t start to worry if you drive up and see minimal snow cover all the way up the North Shore and in Grand Marais.  As is often the case, you’re in for a pleasant surprise once you start to drive up the first big hill of the Gunflint Trail.

This heavy snow has created what we always refer to as bend-downs, thousands of small trees laden so heavily with snow that they arch into the ski trails, often breaking into pieces on the trail.  Quinn groomed Thursday morning just after the first big snowfall and reported that it was “groom 100 feet, then stop and cut down trees, groom another 100 feet, stop and cut down trees again.” Both Golden Eagle and Bearskin Lodge are working on clearing all the trees, but it may take some time.

Summer Home, Campground and the Lit Loop will be groomed again Saturday morning. They have been cleared and should continue to be good. To be updated on the status of all the other trails, call Golden Eagle or Bearskin directly to find out.  Both resorts will have every available staff person out for the next few days clearing, packing the snow, and grooming.  We’re optimistic that all of our trails will be available very soon.

Ski passes are now available at both lodges.  Consider investing in a season pass if you will ski often–it’s a cheaper route to go if you come up regularly.

Pictures and the Bearskin Blog, with more snow information, can be found here.

Good news, bad news/ski trail edition: The good news is that we received 10-12 inches of new heavy snow on top of the snow we already had. We did not get the rain that demolished much of the snow on the North Shore. If you have early season Bearskin Lodge reservations you can quit fretting about whether there will be enough snow to ski. We are in good shape now.

The bad news is that if you are local and wanted to come skiing in the next 2 days, you’re not going to see much grooming happening on the Bearskin side of the trail system until Saturday morning. Everyone who can run the groomer will be gone for a family event. Quinn plans to groom a little in the morning, but then he’s gotta go. So the real grooming won’t start until this weekend.

Plan accordingly.

All we see in the weather forecasts now are more pictures of snowflakes for our area.  The winter fun has just begun.

Look what arrived at Bearskin yesterday!

It’s a brand new Pisten Bully 100 trail groomer, to replace Bearskin’s stalwart 1987 model.

More info and pictures here.

The new PB 100 will groom wider trails, and will leave a smoother ski surface.  It also can groom with less snow. Up here on the Gunflint Trail we don’t usually have the low snow issues that often plague the rest of Minnesota, but it will still be nice to get out to groom as soon as possible.

This is also a much faster machine.  The Central Gunflint Trail ski system is huge, so even with a groomer on each side of the system and the back-up G2 snowmobile groomer, it will usually take all day to groom the entire system after a big snowfall. With the new PB 100 we should be able to finish many trails faster.

We’ve got the machine, now all we need is more snow. You can see in our pictures that in spite of the statewide warm temps, Bearskin’s snow remains. There’s more snow coming in the near forecast. We’ll take some grooming pictures as soon as we can.

A ski trail on 11.28.2015

We’re all eagerly awaiting the first big snowfall that always announces the ski season has begun at Bearskin Lodge.  We have a little snow, so it looks like a lovely winter world, but nothing skiable yet.

We do have exciting grooming news to announce soon.  Watch this site.  We’re going to make great skiing on the Central Gunflint Trail System even better.

This trail report site is now up for the season, so you can expect regular grooming updates as soon as the first groomers are out on the trail.  But remember, you can always call either Bearskin Lodge or Golden Eagle Lodge to get up-to-the-minute reports on trail conditions. Both resorts are family businesses, run by a small number of  hard-working family members and employees who not only groom ski trails, but run our front desks, clean our cabins, shovel our paths, plow our roads, and deal with our delightful guests. If you don’t see a current ski report and you think conditions may have changed, we’re probably too busy to be fooling around on the internet.  Just call us!

Season passes as well as daily ski tickets for the 2015-2016 ski season are available at both Bearskin Lodge and Golden Eagle Lodge.  We share the proceeds equally between both lodges, so it doesn’t matter where you purchase your pass.  The funds from your ski passes go to pay a portion of the maintenance and grooming on the ski trails; passes don’t even begin to cover all of our grooming costs. In addition, the US Forest Service/Superior National Forest takes a portion of the fees, as does the Minnesota DNR, to pay for the use of their land for many of the trails.

Ticket prices for 2015-2016 will be:

• Day pass $18
• Child day pass (ages 7-13) $8
• Late day pass (after 1 PM) $12
• Child late day pass  $6
• 3-day pass  $36
• 3-day child pass  $18
• Season pass $100
• Child season pass $40
• Cook County High School ski team members ski free, but please check-in at a lodge
• Gunflint Volunteer Fire Department members season pass  $50

Of course, all registered guests at Bearskin Lodge and Golden Eagle Lodge receive trail tickets included in the cost of their stay, so they need not buy tickets.

We don’t accept Minnesota Ski Passes for this trail system, as these trails do not receive any funds from the state.  Because of its large size and hilly terrain through the deep woods, this is a very expensive system to groom and maintain; 100% of your trail ticket fees go towards trail costs. The memorable experience of skiing in this beautiful woods would not be possible without our extensive trail work, so the cost of your ski pass is well worth it.

We’re looking forward to a great ski season.  See you on the ski trail!

Central Gunflint Ski Trail Conditions on 3-21-15

New Snow Last 24 hours:  0”

New Snow Last 7 days:  0”

Trail Base, Staked:  3”-10” varying by area.

Snow in Woods, Staked:  Average 12”

Groomed with classic tracks:  70 K

Groomed for skating:  53.4 K

Surface Conditions:  Tilled snow

Last grooming day:  3-21-15

Snowshoe trails:  Open

Total snowfall since Nov. 1:  75.00”

Comments:  Don’t put away those skis yet; we’re still grooming and skiing on the Central Gunflint Ski system! Definitely expect spring skiing conditions though the freshly groomed skate and classic lanes are still holding up very well and are, condition wise, great after a recent grooming! Continuing with our plans from last week, we are still grooming select trails at this time, depending on each individual trail’s condition. Currently, 42.5 kilometers of trails have been/will be groomed between today and yesterday.