We still have fantastic skiing at Bearskin! Everything was groomed over the last two days, and some skate lanes were touched up this morning. We’ve had fresh snow while other areas had rain, so our trails are looking good.
We had a couple warm days this week, and it looks like we will have a couple warm days next week too — but we have ample snow, so the trails will be fine. Our new track pan tillers work miracles on icy snow.
As is often the case by March, we’ve reached the point where you’ll start to wonder on the drive up to the Gunflint if we really do have snow. The snow along the North Shore and in Grand Marais has been decimated by warmer temps and rain, while we just had more snow. Don’t worry, when you drive up the hill you’ll start to see better snow and by the time you get to the mid-Trail area, you’re in true winter again. We are lucky to be in this magical winter location.
If you’ll be here in the next week, come prepared to watch for Northern Lights. The forecast is fabulous. We are nearing the spring equinox, so due to the earth’s tilt at this time we often have the best light shows of the year in mid-March. In fact, it’s fairly common to have amazing green lights in the sky on St. Patrick’s Day. Here’s our link to the info on how to watch for the aurora at Bearskin. Bring your camera and tripod.
As usual, we will have soup, chili, cheesecake, and hot chocolate in the Main Lodge for you to enjoy while you’re up here skiing. See you soon!
We don’t have much snow yet, maybe around 2 inches, but we are all ready for winter. It takes a great deal of year-’round work to maintain the beautiful skiing on the Central Gunflint Ski System, and it’s all done. Now we just need more snow.
Both Bearskin and Golden Eagle will be grooming with new, state-of-the-art Pisten Bully groomers. For those of you who know the Golden Eagle PB story from last year, all is well for 2023-2024. Their replacement PB has been delivered and is ready to go.
Unloading the Bearskin and Golden Eagle Pisten Bully groomers.
Our Pisten Bully spent the summer in Jordan, MN at Kassbohrer getting new track-setting technology installed. We are one of the first trail systems in the US to try this new technology, but reports from Europe indicate that it’s a huge upgrade. We are excited to get more snow so we can try it.
New ski trails have been added this year. The best news is that Quinn convinced the forest service to give us permission to use a different connector route to reach Aspen Lake. If you loved face-planting onto the ice at the bottom of the steep Aspen Lake hill then you may find the new, relatively flat connection to Aspen to be less of a thrill, but it will certainly be safer. Since the beginning of time, this spot has been a tribulation for skiers as well as for the groomers. We were surprised and pleased when the USFS agreed to Quinn’s creative solution, utilizing a little-used portage (not in the BWCA) to Aspen Lake. It is located across from the East Bearskin Lake Campground entry. Skiers will need to make a short jog to the east to reach the new connection, but it should be worth it.
Preparing the new North-South Link. You can see that it’s much less steep than the old trail.
Our trail crew has also been busy clearing an additional new trail this year. Because Ted and Barbara Young of Poplar Creek B & B are working towards a well-earned retirement, the grooming of the Banadad Trail and its adjacent trails will be under different management. Our Central Gunflint Trail System has taken over the Lace Lake Trail. For this year Cricket, Ethan, Kate, Quinn and Mando (yes, the pup) cleared and widened an additional 3K of the trail so the Pisten Bully groomer can fit through. This will add a fun new option for guests skiing the Poplar Creek Trail.
Quinn and Mando clearing the new Lace Lake addition to the trail system.
If you’d like a more adventurous visit, two of our new Ski-In Winter Camping Cabins will be open this winter. Everything you need to know about these cabins can be found here. You can either ski or snowshoe to the cabins. The cabins are located on Oxcart Ski Trail, so you have easy access to the entire trail system. They are also located in the midst of our extensive snowshoe trail system.
Ski-in cabin
Speaking of the snowshoe trail, last weekend our guests Tracy and Eric Bibilnieks went on the hunt for the elusive and often disappearing Cranberry Snowshoe Trail. They found it and marked it, yay! Assuming we don’t lose it again, Cranberry Snowshoe Trail adds a significant distance to the system.
So the last big question of the season is, of course, snow. Bearskin always has snow, and we aren’t very concerned about this year. We did have one year when the snowstorm hit on December 26, cutting it a little too close. Our snow tends to come in small 1- 4 inch light snowfalls, gradually building up, then eventually culminating in a massive, debilitating snowstorm. Bearskin’s pisten bully has rubber tracks, which allows us to groom Summer Home Road and Campground in very low snow conditions. Our Tidd-Tech snowmobile groomer will be able to groom the lake soon.
Considering that we had excessive, unmanageable snow for the past two seasons, we won’t mind if we get a little less this year. As for those weather forecasts that look like “no snow,” don’t let those worry you yet. Bearskin is in a unique location that gets snow when nobody else does. Most weather forecasts that you find online really aren’t forecasting for our elevation and are giving you a forecast for the Grand Marais Airport, about 25 miles away. It’s snowing right now, with no sign of snow in the forecast. We will post regular updates on our snow conditions as it happens.
Bearskin Lodge Ski Trail Reports 