It’s been snowing hard all day. Yes!
Bob went out and did some “courtesy grooming” as he calls it, grooming midway through a snowfall to keep a few trails good for the skiers who are out there today. But our forecast for continuing snow means extensive trail grooming will need to wait until the snowfall has ended, or at least slowed down a bit.
This might be the snowfall we needed to bring the trails out of the “pretty good” category and into the “now this how winter should be” category.
We’re still wishing for a giant snowstorm, but meanwhile the little snow flurries we get regularly are adding up. The snow Tuesday night and Wednesday morning left the ski trails in pretty good shape again. Do we wish we had more snow? Oh, yes. Do we have enough to ski? Oh, yes. People are pretty happy skiing out there. It’s not the level of snow that Bearskin is famed for, but ski conditions are still better than they are in most of Minnesota.
Lake skiing is also an option now. Yesterday we were hearing reports from skiers who tried skiing on several lakes in the area, but encountered slush or windblown glare ice. Then they tried skiing here on East Bearskin, and had great success. We only see our own lake on a daily basis, so we didn’t realize the surfaces of so many other lakes had gone bad. East Bearskin is still quite skiable.
As usual, don’t let reports of bad or no snow in Grand Marais and on the North Shore cast doubts on a decision to come up here to ski. As you drive up the Gunflint Trail, you will see the snow conditions change and improve. We’re in our own weather world up here, so our conditions often don’t match those down by Lake Superior.
We’ll have soup and chili available in the Main Lodge all weekend, as well as hot chocolate, wine, beer, and sodas. We still have dining spots available this weekend with Chef Scott Bergstrom. It’s fine dining, but you don’t need to dress up for dinner. You are welcome to join us for an elegant meal after a day of good skiing.
Here are the latest snow and trail stats from Baumann’s at Golden Eagle:
New Snow Last 24 hours: 1.25 inches
New Snow Last 7 days: 2.23 inches
Trail Base: 3.5 to 4 inches average
Snow in Woods: Average 7 inches
Surface Conditions: Packed Powder, hard pack base
Snowshoe trails: Open
Total snowfall since November 1: 24.98 inches
Conditions: Fair to Excellent
Comments: The snow last night was very helpful and we feel we are almost back to where we were before the rain. Most of the system was re-groomed today and fresh tracks were set. Summer Home Road, Campground Loop, Ox Cart, and Deer Mouse are in excellent shape; Red Pines, Cross Fox, Moose Ridge, North Shore of Logging Camp, Wolf Point, Bear Cub, Lower Beaver Dam, and Moose Pasture vary from good to very good.Please check with Golden Eagle Lodge or Bearskin Lodge for specific conditions and information on each trail.
Good summary of current trail conditions from Dan at Golden Eagle:
New Snow Last 24 hours: .625 inches
New Snow Last 7 days: 1.125 inches
Trail Base: 3.5 to 4 inches
Snow in Woods: Average 6 inches, 8 inches high
Surface Conditions: Hard Pack
Snowshoe trails: Open
Total snowfall since November 1: 23.38 inches
Conditions: Fair to Good
Comments: Despite the recent rain, the ski trails have held up quite well. With the recent new snowfall from yesterday, both Bearskin and Golden Eagle have been able to get out on the trails with snowmobiles and pack it in. The rain did NOT have an ice-rink effect on the trails and skiers should not have a problem with slipping on freestyle or classic skies. The classic tracks that were set prior to the rain are, for the most part, still present and very solid; the skate lanes also seemed to have held up well. Some things to watch out for include areas of low snow/base in a few select sections of ski trails and newly exposed rocks.
The trails that have been freshly packed so far include the Logging Camp (Good), Cross Fox (Fair to Good), Red Pines (Good), Moose Ridge (Fair to Good), Summer Home Road (Good), and Campground Loop (Good). Please check with Golden Eagle Lodge or Bearskin Lodge for specific conditions and information on each trail.
Two days of odd moisture and warm weather, followed by a precipitous drop in the temperature, left us with hard, icy tracks on the ski trails and few options for repair. Quinn went out with the groomer and did what he could this morning. He reported that conditions were better than he expected. Not ideal, but not nearly as bad as he thought they might be. A sprinkling of new snow in the tracks has decreased the iciness today. The skiers who went out today generally reported that conditions were OK ,and that the snow in the tracks was really helping.
Conditions are better for skate skiers. “Still hard pack, but edge able with some concentration” one skier reported online. A few crust skiers have been out on East Bearskin Lake,also.
We still have some of the best snow in the area, but these are not “dream-come-true” winter ski conditions. We need a blockbuster winter storm to come through! It’s hard to imagine that here on the excessively snowy Gunflint Trail we’re wishing for more snowstorms, but it’s yet another example of the weird weather pattern we are experiencing across the country these days.
At the moment, it’s snowing quite nicely here. Let’s hope that this continues.
Up until today, there wasn’t much news to report. No big new snowfall, but consistent little amounts that kept adding to our total. Trails were gradually getting better and better, the big grooming machines were able to get out on both sides, and generally people were pretty happy about the skiing conditions.
Today we’re getting the same strange weather that the whole state is experiencing. We heard it was raining hard on the North Shore this morning. We’re getting….well, it’s just kind of weird. Peculiar moisture usually eventually turns into snow in our location, so that’s our hope. We’ll keep you posted, or call either of the resorts for updates.
Ski report from Dan at Golden Eagle on Thursday afternoon:
New Snow Last 24 hours: Trace
New Snow Last 7 days: .75 inches
Trail Base: 4 to 6 inches
Snow in Woods: Average 7 inches, 10 inches high
Surface Conditions: Hard Pack
Snowshoe trails: Open
Total snowfall since November 1: 22.75 inches
Conditions: Fair to Excellent
Comments: The majority of the trails have been groomed in the last couple of days. That portion of the Logging Camp Trail within the Boundary Waters is packed only. Please check with Golden Eagle Lodge or Bearskin Lodge for specific info on each trail as it is changing daily.
Whew! The busiest week of the whole year — and we don’t just mean the busiest week of winter, we do mean the entire year — is over. Once again the Gunflint Trail was the primary destination for skiing in the area, so our trail system was very busy. Summer Home and Campground Trails were especially hard-used. Too many people out there on many days this past week. As the week wore on, both sides of the trail system opened more tracked trails. This helped spread out the trail use a bit more.
Luckily, we’ve received some additional snow on most days and with constant daily grooming, those busy trails stayed pretty good. Most of the system is groomed and tracked now. Check at the lodges before you head out skiing in order to learn which trails are currently the best.
When Bob came back from grooming the Poplar Creek trail, he said it ranged from poor to excellent, all on the same trail. Overall, skiers are saying that they’ve been pretty happy with trail conditions. Low snow for us on the Gunflint Trail is still better than “good snow” in many other areas. We have snow in our forecast again.
When you drive up the North Shore and the Gunflint Trail to visit us, don’t let the snow conditions you’ll see in Grand Marais and along the shore worry you. When you drive up the Trail, you’ll start to see our deeper snow fairly soon. Once again, our higher elevation has been an advantage.
A large percentage of people vacationing over the Christmas break left the area today, as many students need to return to school on Wednesday. You should find the trails to be much more secluded now.
We haven’t had any snow in our forecast, but luckily for our trail system, it actually has been snowing periodically for the past 2 days. Of course, we’d love to have more snow, but guests are reporting that they are pretty happy with the skiing. Our crew shoveled extra snow over a few thin spots, and then Bob groomed Summer Home and Campground Trails again this morning. He plans to do Bear Cub again tomorrow morning. There have been fewer skiers on Upper Beaver Dam and Moose Pasture Trails, so they’re still OK. Quite a few skiers are also using the extra trail we groomed around East Bearskin Lake.
The pine trees are coated with snow and the deciduous trees across the lake look they’re made from white frosted candy. In the moonlight the snow that just fell is exceptionally sparkly, like walking in glitter. It’s a lovely time to experience winter on the Gunflint Trail.
Our ski advice remains the same: expect thin spots in some places. You’ll be happiest if you aren’t using your best pair of skis. Bit by bit we’re accumulating more snow om the trails, but we would all be excited if we’d get a heavy snowfall of 4-6 inches soon.
Info from Zach at Golden Eagle:
Our latest updates: Dan was out this morning with the Snow Cat and groomed Red Pines, Cross Fox, and the north shore Logging Camp. The trails are looking good, but we are slightly low on snow yet on the one south-facing hill on Cross Fox. Wolf point is also Snow Cat groomed and is in good shape. Moose Ridge remains packed only with snowmobile due to the rough terrain and low snow and we have been advising skiers to be cautious if skiing that trail. We were in the BWCA yesterday and finished sickling that section of the trail up. Another pass with the snowmobile in there with extra weight on the bar leveled things out much better, but there is still a section on the south side with rocks showing.
We are hoping to get out on Flour with an ATV and plow yet today to push some snow up onto the trail so we can start building a decent trail base across the lake.
Trail report from Golden Eagle:
New Snow Last 24 hours: 0 inches
New Snow Last 7 days: 1.0 inches
Trail Base: 4 to 6 inches
Snow in Woods: Average 10 inches, 12 inches high
Groomed with classic tracks: 36K
Groomed for skating: 50K
Surface Conditions: Hard Packed
Snowshoe trail: Open
Total snowfall since November 1: 18.75 inches
Conditions: Poor to good, please check with Golden Eagle Lodge or Bearskin Lodge for specific info on each trail.
Comments: The following trails have been tracked: Old Logging Camp from GEL to Deer Mouse (good shape), Deer Mouse (good shape), Red Pines from west end of Deer Mouse to GEL, Wolf Point (snowcat groomed), Summer Home Road (good shape}, Campground Loop (good shape), Lit Loop,Ox Cart, Beaver Dam Trail, and Bear Cub. The rest of the system has been packed with no tracks.
Quinn went out on the TiddTech groomer this morning and was able to groom a few more trails in the system. Campground, Summer Home, and the Lit Loop were regroomed today. Quite a few skiers are out there this afternoon, so we’ll be interested to hear what they have to say about trail conditions.
Upper Beaver Dam and Bear Cub Trail were groomed and tracked for the first time today. We also groomed a 4K loop on East Bearskin Lake.
Bit by bit we’re accumulating snow, although it will take a 4-6″ snowfall in order to open some of the other trails.
If you drive up to Bearskin, you are not going to see any snow until you are quite a distance up the Gunflint Trail. Grand Marais looks especially discouraging, with remnant piles of dirty gray plowed snow on every corner, but no snow covering the grass. Don’t let it worry you. Once you start to go up the Gunflint Trail hill, you’ll begin to see white snow-covered areas again and as you get nearer to the Mid-Trail area you’ll notean increasing number of picturesque pine trees with snow-covered boughs. We wish we had more snow, but we’re very grateful (again!) for our snowy location.
Our new employee Dave has been working all afternoon to clear an ice rink. If previous history is any indicator, that means we’ll be surprised by a huge snowfall tonight. 🙂
We haven’t posted anything new in awhile because…well, because nothing much has changed. We didn’t lose our snow like most of NE Minnesota did during the rain last Saturday, but we haven’t gained a great deal of snow either. It seems to snow a bit almost every day, so our trees are coated in white and our snow looks fresh. We are still waiting, though, for the big snowstorm that will give us 4-6 inches of additional snow to top off the trails enough to groom more of them.
Summer Home, Campground, and the Lit Loop are groomed and tracked. We’ve groomed a path on East Bearskin Lake and we will groom some additional lake trails on Friday. The rest of the system has been packed in various ways. Based on the many ski tracks we saw on the packed trails, numerous skiers have been out there giving the packed trails a try. But realistically, we would like the trails to have much more snow than this. The Central Gunflint Trail Ski Trail System is fortunate to once again have snow when the rest of the area doesn’t have any, but we would certainly be grateful to get more snow soon.
Bearskin Lodge Ski Trail Reports 