October snow on Beaver Dam/Lit Loop

It’s already snowed on the Gunflint Trail.    Several times, actually.  Only a few snow piles hidden deep in the woods remain now, but it’s been a reminder that the winter ski season is on its way.

All of the Central Gunflint Ski System trails have been mowed.  Fallen trees have been removed, although with our autumn winds more dead trees continue to topple onto paths.  Quinn and Andy have a great deal more trimming to complete over the next few weeks to completely prepare the trails for the first big snowfalls.

Bob repainted many of the trail marker signs over the summer.  The fresh new coat of paint will make the signs more visible and easier to read.

This trail report web site has been on hiatus over the summer, but bookmark it now so you’ll have easy access to the first reports of real snowfall and early grooming.  We’re still looking for more pictures  that were taken on the various Central Gunflint Ski System trails.  We like pictures from every season on the ski trails — winter pictures are obviously great, but skiers can learn a lot about a trail from photos taken at other times too.   If you have photos taken on any of our ski trails, send them to sue@bearskin.com   Skiers enjoy seeing views of the trails they haven’t tried, as well as pictures of the trails they love.

Season over. It’s been a good one.  The best snow in years, according to many guests.  We’ll start posting about the trails again late next fall.

Bear Cub Trail is done for the ski season.  We are allowing people to snowshoe or walk up there at this point.  The hills are icy.  If you go, you might want to snowshoe with poles.

Tuesday’s ice storm left us a challenge –what to do now with the ski trails?  A number of ski trail areas  are now officially closed for the season.  It’s a hard call to make since we still have a number of guests who would like to ski.

We’ve had a sprinkling of on-and-off snow since the ice storm.  The snow made the trails a bit less icy. We still have a base, but a lot of it is now a base formed from something closer to hard frozen slush than to snow. Some areas of base have melted enough that equipment occasionally hits rocks, so any grooming we do can’t be very deep or aggressive in those areas.

We’ve heard a few skiers say that Oxcart Trail is ok–not great, but skiable.  Quinn went out today and tried to regroom  Campground Loop and Summer Home Road trails.  He also did part of Old Logging Camp and part of Beaver Dam.  He put in one track and a skate lane.  He wasn’t super pleased with the results, but it was an improvement.

If it would continue to snow quite a bit tonight, he might take the pisten bully out on some trails tomorrow.  Without more snow, he’s done what he can. 

Mushing is definitely over for the season.  It’s been fun.

 In spite of melting, the past week still offered skiable conditions. Groomers on both sides of the Central Gunflint Trail went out periodically trying to touch up a few trails.  Skiers on Sunday reported fairly passable conditions for skating on the trails, but mediocre crust skiing conditions due to bumpiness on the lake from high winds.

And then it started to rain.  We’ve had an ice storm for 2 days.  Everything looks as if it is coated in glass.  Kaitlin was carrying in groceries the other day and must have dropped a dental floss package outside her door.  Now, she says, she can see the white plastic container, but she can’t pick it up because it’s under a deep clear coating of glossy ice.

The trees make a beautiful noise when the wind blows.

So what did this do to the trails?  Honestly, you can barely walk outside without treacherously falling.  Nobody has ventured out on the ski trails, but it can’t be great.  More rain is forecast.  If it snows, instead, maybe the trails can be saved, but it could be the end of decent skiing for this season.

Downhill skiers from Lutsen have been in periodically today, driving up and down the trail looking for something to do since gravity-slave skiing isn’t feasible today, either. Snowshoeing seems possible, especially if you have snowshoes like the ones we rent that have metallic gripping teeth on the bottom.

Seems like a really fine day to get cozy with a book in front of the fireplace.

We’ll keep you posted on what happens with the trails.

It is sunny and warm out on the trails today.  How warm?  We’ve seen two shirtless skiers, and they weren’t even together.  That probably qualifies as a trend.

Skiers are saying the snow is very slow.  We have a LOT of snow.  Warmer weather won’t melt it all.  But if you’re coming up in the next few days, you probably won’t need your heavy parka and extra wool socks.

Bob skied Bear Cun yesterday afternoon and didn’t like the way the skate lane on that trail had groomed up after the big snowfall.  He redid it this morning.

Oxcart and Poplar Creek were groomed again yesterday.   We also regroomed various windblown skate lanes.  It was blustery yesterday, but the skies were cloudless and the sun was shining brightly. Several skiers reported that yesterday was one of their favorite ski days ever.

Today is more of the same, except warmer.  The Lake Trail was regroomed yesterday —  it hasn’t disappeared yet today.  North-South link across Aspen is still closed and will be until Andy and Quinn get back from Canoecopia Monday.  Getting that trail back is going to be a 2 man excavating job. On the first attempts to open it back up  they reported impassable 4 foot drifts and a fairly impossible “jump” on the hill down to the lake.  There are alternative routes and when it’s windy most skiers don’t expect that trail to stay clear anyway.

The moon is still nearly full.  Last night was as bright on the lake trail as it would have been if we’d have called it a “lit trail.”

Report from Golden Eagle: 

Conditions:  Good to Excellent Skiing for both Classic and Freestyle

Comments:  March skiing at its best!    We received lots of new snow which increased the base by about 3 inches.  We are grooming with double tracks to pack the snow in and with the cold temperatures the trails should set up very nice.  There is some drifting happening today so we will be out re-grooming tomorrow which will put the trails in excellent shape for the weekend.   

There is indeed some drifting.  Our groomers reported seeing drifts alongside trails that were close to 4 feet high.  Quinn did the Lake Trail between Bearskin and the Campground Loop this morning and honestly, by 3 PM this afternoon there was virtually no sign anymore that the trail had ever been groomed. Bob hopes to go out in the pisten bully again in the morning and redo trails.  If you plan to ski on Thursday, be prepared for occasional spots of “back country” challenge in open areas until the winds die down.

Snow measuring stick in front of the Main Lodge this morning, after the snowstorm

It started to snow lightly around noon on Tuesday.  By 2 PM we were encouraging our employees who had to drive a distance to head home.  Those of us who remained had a very quiet afternoon in the lodge, watching the big snowflakes tumbling and blowing all afternoon.  By dinner time it was snowing hard enough that it was difficult to see the lake.  Late in the night the moonglow started to light up East Bearskin Lake and we knew the snow must have stopped.

There has been a great deal of blowing and drifting, so there is no consistent new snow depth, but a good average would be about 12 inches of new snow.  In spite of some recent warmer temperatures, we still had a very solid base of snow but this new snow will freshen it up and eliminate the iciness that had developed.

Quinn is out in the pisten bully starting to groom trails.  Andy will also get out with the G2 as soon as all our cabins, roadways and paths are cleared out.  Today is windy and quite cold, but the forecast is for the wind to die down, the temperatures to go up and the ski conditions to be gorgeous over the next few days.  The pine tree boughs are coated with sparkling snow and the new snow on the trails is a brilliant white, so be sure to bring your camera if you come skiing.

ADDENDUM 2:30 PM :  Grooming is going very, very slowly today as there is so much new snow.  Today’s windy conditions aren’t helping matters.  Attempts at packing down the North-South link across Aspen were futile. Consider that section essentially closed for the moment (as is often the case –use alternatives.)  Today’s grooming is necessary after so much snow, but it will probably all need to be done again.