The Central Gunflint Trail System is a superb destination for ski teams, ski clubs and all types of groups.  Our location often has snow when the rest of Minnesota does not. Our skiing is beautiful, through the deep woods, so ski workouts here are very enjoyable as well as rigorous. Both Bearskin Lodge and Golden Eagle Lodge have a long history of being very supportive of ski teams.  We understand that high school and college skiers are our future guests! Both the lodge families had kids who were excellent high school skiers, so we know how important it is for teams to find a great place to practice.

Bearskin Lodge is often able to provide lodging for teams, as well as meals, as long as we have time to plan ahead for you.  We do expect that high school students will have one chaperone for each cabin or lodge unit rented; we think it is responsible for high school or middle school-aged students to have an adult with them overnight. For the groups that have stayed at Bearskin this was a good experience and very workable. We can often host groups in the weeks right before Christmas, or dates between January 1 – March 31.

The Central Gunflint Trail system is a private ski trail system and sometimes we do have to control how many ski teams/clubs and large groups are on our trails. Here are some guidelines that will help you plan a trip for your ski group:

1.  The week after Christmas is the busiest week of the year for us, busier even than the craziest summer week.  We will never be able to accommodate a ski group in our lodging during that week and, in fact, we have to maintain very tight control of how many ski groups are out on the trail system during that week. If that is the week when your group plans to visit the Central Gunflint Trail system, it is essential that you contact either Bearskin Lodge or Golden Eagle Lodge first, even if you are staying elsewhere. Please don’t expect the hotel or resort where you are staying to make that contact for you.  If you leave it to someone else to take care of that for you, you risk arriving here and having incorrect information or even being unable to ski.  It is the responsibility of the coach or group leader to talk to us before finalizing your plans.   We can usually make it work, but we need to know you are coming. If other teams have already arranged to work-out on our trails on the same dates, we may not be able to sell your group trail tickets. Call or e-mail us before you come!
2. If you plan to use Bearskin Lodge or Golden Eagle Lodge as your all-day headquarters, you need to call and arrange this first, no matter when you are coming.  We do not always have room in our Lodges for large groups sprawled out for the full day, and neither Lodge has the space to accommodate two groups like this. So let us know!
3. If you do arrange to use the Lodge as your base for an all-day trip, talk to your group about appropriate Lodge use.  Our Lodge exists mainly to serve our cabin guests, and is not primarily for day visitors.  If your group has spread coats and bags across all the tables, chairs and sofas, the guests who are paying to enjoy the Lodge are driven away.  Keep bags and personal items out of the way, please, so the Lodge can be used by other people.
4. Bearskin has a restaurant area, so consider buying some food while you are using our space.  We offer soup and chili for lunches, we sell hot chocolate and many types of sodas, energy drinks, juices, snacks, cookies, and for adults, beer and wine. Your group is more than welcome to buy lunch here.  If you choose to eat bag lunches here, please encourage your group to clean up after themselves and to do so as soon as they have finished their lunch so that the space is available to other people to use.

We have great skiing here.  Let us help you plan a group trip to our trail system. Call (218)388-2292 or write to stay@bearskin.com.  Good communication beforehand will help make this a wonderful winter experience for everyone.