Winter wonderland this morning. Groomers are headed out.

For local skiers heading up today, keep in mind this is the first grooming of many of these trails this year.   It’s going to be a long day of grooming.  All trails should be done by the end of today,  but for much of today grooming will be a work in progress.

Here in the tip of the Arrowhead region, we didn’t receive nearly as much snow as some areas to the south of us.  The large snowcloud on the radar has been located between Silver Bay & Duluth since sometime yesterday afternoon, with the tip of the Arrowhead largely out of the cloud most of the time.  It’s been snowing consistently since sometime last night, but it’s not heavy.  We honestly would have liked to receive more.  And of course, we will. 

Bearskin should have this side of the system fully groomed by the end of the day tomorrow (Saturday).  Little serious grooming is happening today on this side of the trail system, as our employees are off for the holiday and it is continuing to snow and blow.  A few skiers are out there, but this afternoon it’s a bit of a “back country” experience.  Temps are fairly warm, though.

Conditions: Good.

We received about 3 inches of new snow overnight, opening up a few trails for the first time this year. Summer Home Rd and the Campground loop are as good as ski trails get, with skate lanes and tracks. Upper Beaver Dam, Lower Ridge Run, The Lit Loop, and parts of Logging Camp have also been groomed. No tracks on these, and still stubble and an occasional rock, but a few more inches of snow will take care of that. This evening we will be grooming Ox Cart, and laying corduroy on the lake down to the edge of the BWCA.    (Quinn McCloughan)

Lake skiing continues to be good. Skiers are venturing out on routes that are far better known as canoe trips than as ski trips.

Report posted on www.skinnyski.com from Skinny ski team member Grant Nelson, one of several Skinny Ski team members staying at Bearskin this week:

Conditions: Good for those of an adventurous spirit.

Today, we skied into the Boundary Waters from Bearskin Lodge. 3 inches of fresh powder slowed us down slightly and gave us a great leg workout. The portages were gorgeous with freshly fallen snow laden on pine branches. We ended up investigating Johnson falls, which was a fabulous ice-sculpture waterfall. In the afternoon, we skied on the freshly groomed Bearskin trails along the Summer Home Road and Campground loop. Most of the trails are rolled, but rock-skis are recommended. The groomer is hoping for a few more inches of snow before he takes the Piston Bully out… (Grant Nelson, Skinnyski.com Race Team)

More ski reports at: http://www.skinnyski.com/trails/traildetail.asp?Id=48

The flurries this morning gave us a glimmer of hope.  Maybe we’d finally get the snow we need for a fully functioning trail system.  But sadly the snow has stopped, leaving us with little more than a dusting.  This lack of snow has prompted us to get a bit creative.  The Campground Loop and Summer Home Road are the only trails with enough snow to ski.  They are both groomed for skate skiing and do not have any tracks yet.   To expand our limited selection of ski trails we’ve begun to think outside of the box, or at least outside of our (now uselessly extensive) trail system.  To expand our skiing options we’ve groomed all the way into the north arm of the lake where it turns into the BWCA.  Some intrepid skiers have been taking advantage of the snowy lake to venture into the Boundary Waters.  But hopefully more snow will come soon and we can rely on our tried and true trails once again.

The  Tidd Tech saw its first action of the season yesterday.  With 3 to 5 inches of snow, the snowmobile glided around the Campground Loop and down Summer Home Road.  They are both groomed for skate skiing.  No tracks yet.   Portions of Beaver Dam are groomed with some stubble showing.  Conditions are ripe for a perfect early skiing experience!

Conditions: Good early season.
Summer Home Road and Campground Loop are groomed and open for skiing. Both have around 1 1/2 inches of base. On a few spots on Summer Home you might hit gravel on your kick, but the Campground Loop has full coverage. Nice weather and good skiing in early December.

It’s quite beautiful.

Conditions: Near ski-able.
We have 3 inches of snow, and have begun to pack it in preparation for grooming. It has been snowing on and off the last few days, and hopefully we will have some trails open very soon. Temps have dropped to around 15-20 degrees, so the snow shouldn’t be going anywhere.

Fun photos of some low-tech early trail packing at: http://www.skinnyski.com/tools/photoviewer.asp?reportId=29816

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.