As expected, groomers at both Bearskin and Golden Eagle headed out on the trails early this morning.  We received about 4-5 inches of snow over the past two days, which gave the trails a winter wonderland look — it is exceptionally beautiful here right now.

Most of the trails groomed up pretty well, especially considering the warm, wet conditions earlier this week.  Edges are still a bit soft in places.  There are a  few areas on the trails where the pisten bully had some trouble in the collapsing, wet snow.  Some spots on lake trails, such as on Aspen, developed slush again.  The hill down to Aspen, which is often the source of  “how I got stuck” grooming stories, yielded another “stuck” story today, so there’s a spot on the hill that will need to be redone.  Bear Cub Trail was not possible to groom today with either the pisten bully or the G2.  But overall, the trails are remarkably good again.  The spectacular white, snowy trees right now more than make up for the few soft spots on the trails.

It is supposed to get colder tonight, and it continued to snow on and off all day today.  We expect to go over a lot of areas again with the groomer on Saturday.  Bob plans to get up on Bear Cub early in the morning, hoping to find that the snow has hardened up a bit so the pisten bully can maneuver on the hills.  It should be a great weekend for skiing on the Central Gunflint Trail.

Snow depth of packed base on a trail -- still at 11 - 12"

Road into Bearskin Lodge cabins this morning.

The phone is ringing every 20 minutes with skiers inquiring about what this February thaw has done to our trail system.  The predicted ice storm in the Arrowhead turned out to actually be something more akin to ongoing rain since Monday.  We saw temps pushing 40 degrees, creating a slushy, collapsing mush on the ski trails. 

Luckily, we’ve had a great deal of snow this year.  We’ve lost a few inches of base, but there’s still plenty more.  We received about 2 inches of snow overnight, which has made conditions much less slippery.  However, it is still above freezing here.  Bearskin and Golden Eagle agreed this morning that grooming equipment can’t go out yet until the temperature goes down.

The surprising news is that today the trails are somewhat skiable again.  Bob went out on Beaver Dam this morning and said the tracks were visible with an inch of fresh soft snow — on waxless skis it was just fine. (Waxing correctly, he thought, would be quite a challenge right now.)   After the rain, the trails are probably too soft for skating at this point.

The groomers are guessing that they will be able to go out tomorrow morning.  They fully expect to be able to renovate the trails for the long weekend, as there is a still a great base of snow.  Additional snow is also in the forecast. 

Every cross country ski resort in the Arrowhead region is dealing with the same problem now — we all just need a little weather cooperation.  It’s a rare winter when we’re hoping it gets colder, but right now a 5 – 10 degree temperature drop would be greatly appreciated.

Colder weather this week really firmed up up the skate lanes nicely. About 2 inches of additional recent snow on top of previous accumulations resulted in a total snowfall of about 66.5 inches so far this year.

The entire Central Gunflint Ski Trail system was groomed on Thursday, so conditions should be outstanding for this weekend.  The upcoming forecast is for warm, pleasant weather. Should be one of the best weekends of the winter to get out on our trails.

The Cook County Volks Ski Fest (www.volksskifest.com), a new skiing and snowshoeing festival in our area, starts this weekend.  Join us at Bearskin for a free skiers’ barbecue on the lake from 11-2, sponsored by the Volks Ski Fest. Andy is grilling, so you know the food will be good.  The barbecue is open to anyone with a trail ticket — even if you’re not registered for the Volks Ski Fest, join us for brats and beer and learn more about this fun new winter festival.  The Volks Ski Fest runs through February 8th and offers skiers and snowshoers an opportunity to experience trails all over Cook County.

Reservations are still available for Chez Jude at Bearskin this weekend. In answer to a question Central Gunflint Skiers sometimes ask:   The food at Chez Jude at Bearskin is classy, but you don’t have to dress that way to enjoy it.  🙂  An après-ski dinner after a day on the trails makes a lovely ending to a memorable day.  Don’t worry about showing up in your ski clothes for dinner–nobody else is going to be dressed up either!

We’ve been doing a bit of touch up grooming intermittently all week with the G2.  The entire system was regroomed by Bob with the pisten bully Thursday and Friday. Quinn finished up the last of it on Saturday morning when he completed Bear Cub and a few other missed trail sections.

However, high winds all day today probably mean there will be drifting on some spots on the trails, even those that were just groomed Saturday morning.  Andy will be out Sunday morning with the G2 to try to uncover the North-South Link again.  Meanwhile (as is often the case during strong winds) that may not be the first choice route to get from East Bearskin to Flour Lake.

In spite of the windy conditions and lower temperatures, many skiers seem to be out. On Saturday afternoon skiers were reporting that sheltered trail sections were still extremely nice and that drifting in open areas was generally manageable. We don’t plan to be out grooming with the pisten bully on Sunday; we will probably regroom again after the winds subside and the temperatures rise a bit.

Lately there has been a bit of snow almost everyday.  Andy went out on the Tidd Tech G2 and regroomed just the skate lanes on Sunday, since the classic tracks were still fine; redoing the skate lanes resulted in overall excellent conditions.  Being able to just groom skate lanes is one of the great advantages of using the G2 in addition to the pisten bully.

This morning Bob went out in the pisten bully and groomed most of the trails on the Bearskin side again.  He did everything except Oxcart and Poplar Creek.   He hopes to finish those up on Wednesday morning. 

Skiers have been very positive about the conditions again this week.  Bearskin was full last weekend and almost everyone commented at checkout that this was the best snow (and best grooming) they’d experienced in years.

Waxing hint:  Skiers are consistently commenting that the snow is slower than expected for the air temperature.

We received about 2 inches of new, fluffy snow overnight.  Bob has been out in the groomer since early this morning, starting on Summer Home and the central group of trails;by the end of the day everything should be done.   Dan is also out grooming on the Golden Eagle side.

Andy has gone out to repack the North South link; he is headed back now to add new tracks to it.  Then he will regroom the lake path with the G2 and redo Oxcart.  That should all be completed by early afternoon.

Classic skiers who have been out this morning  reported that because the tracks were already so firm and well-formed, the new snow wasn’t much of an issue for them.  Meanwhile, the sun is trying to emerge from the clouds and the temperatures are rising. Could be a great day for skiing on the Gunflint Trail

Groomed everything on the Bearskin side today except Lower Beaver Dam trail.  Although Bob plans to finish that trail in the morning, several very experienced skiers who were on Beaver Dam today said it was still in good condition.

The air temperatures have warmed up a bit, but Quinn noted this afternoon that the snow was still “cold and slow.”  That should change over the next few days.