March has been great this year. We probably had some of the most beautiful skiing ever during this month.  If the temperatures cool off a bit, and especially if we get some additional snow, we may continue to have good spring skiing for a few more weeks.   However, at this point we probably won’t groom trails again this season. Trails are still available to spring skiers, but expect typical very late season snow conditions.  We’ve started to let guests use snowshoes on some of the trails, which is a great way to explore the forest even when you aren’t a skier.

We look forward to the arrival of the hiking/biking season!

Skiers on the Central Gunflint Trail System, near Flour Lake. Photo from Ingrid Remak, City of Lakes.

All it ever does on the Gunflint Trail  these days is snow.  Groomers have been out most days this week.  Conditions are great.

For the best idea of current snow conditions, this blog by Ingrid Remak from the City of Lakes Foundation presents a good overview of their ski experience last weekend.  We’ve had about 7 more inches of snow since their visit.

Bearskin has a bit of availability left for this weekend, and a fair number of cabin choices for mid-week.  If you’re off school or on vacation for the coming week, you can still plan a memorable winter vacation at Bearskin.

Here’s a  summary of conditions from Zach at Golden Eagle Lodge after the grooming was completed Wednesday:

Central Gunflint Ski Trail Conditions on 3-20-13 

New Snow Last 24 hours: 2 inches

New Snow Last 7 days: 7 inches

Trail Base: Average 12.5 inches

Snow in Woods: 25.5 inches

Groomed with classic tracks: 70K

Groomed for skating: 58K

Surface Conditions: Packed Powder

Snowshoe trails: Open

Total snowfall since November 1: 67.59 inches

Conditions: Excellent

Comments: The snow continues to fall on the Gunflint Trail! The pine trees are again caked with snow while the wilderness offers photogenic panoramas to any visitor that seeks an outdoor adventure. We received another 2 inches of snow overnight and a total of 7 inches in the last 48 hours! The ski trails have been freshly groomed and continue to offer fantastic skiing, even on the 20^th day of March. Ski trail passes for the Central Gunflint Ski Trail System can be purchased at Bearskin Lodge or Golden Eagle Lodge. Don’t forget we offer half-day, full-day, 3-day, and season passes! Even if it is just for an afternoon, come on up and have some fun; enjoy the outdoors! Please check with Golden Eagle Lodge or Bearskin Lodge for specific conditions and grooming information on each trail.

Bearskin is full for this coming weekend, March 16 & 17.  However, there are still quite a few available cabins for the weekend that follows, March 23-24.  The weather would have to change rather abruptly to suddenly have spring by those dates.  It looks like this year we will have an extended winter more like the historical norm for our area, which is endless winter until May.   Come up and enjoy a great late season skiing experience.

We’re getting many calls about mushing.  Erik’s last day of mushing was scheduled to be Thursday, March 14.  Conditions are holding, however, so he’s added 3 more days next week, March 19-21.  He will not be available on the weekend.

We didn’t get the big dump of snow that closed down schools and roads in the Twin Cities.  We received enough snow to freshen the trails, but not an overwhelming amount.  The weekend forecast looks pleasant; we do have an 80% chance of more snow on Saturday.  We like that just fine.

The stronger sun at this time of March means skiing can be changeable during the day. Ski conditions are usually the best in the morning, especially if it is a very sunny day.

We do have a little availability this weekend still if you’d like to make  a spur-of-the-moment trip up north.  “Mush for a Cure” is going on nearby this weekend, and on Monday night the John Beargrease Dogsled Marathon racers come through this area.  Lots of good reasons to enjoy winter here.

Next weekend is very close to full, but mid-week has some nice spots. Come on up!

New trail update from Golden Eagle:

New Snow Last 24 hours:  1.25 inches

New Snow Last 7 days: 1.125 inches

Trail Base: Average 12.5 inches

Snow in Woods: 18 – 20 inches

Groomed with classic tracks: 70K

Groomed for skating:  58K

Surface Conditions:  Old snow – Fresh snow on top

Snowshoe trails:  Open

Total snowfall since November 1:  55.59 inches

Comments:  Skiers are enjoying the results of the recent light snowfall; it has helped freshen up the trails quite nicely. The base is still very solid and forecasts show another upcoming week of nice weather holding in the mid to upper 20’s with more chances of new snow. Spring is near so keep in mind that conditions can change daily. Please check with Golden Eagle Lodge or Bearskin Lodge for specific conditions, updates, and grooming information on each trail.

We have a run of 3 warm days in the forecast. The Central Gunflint Ski Trail System has a lot of snow.  We can lose some snow and it won’t matter.  By the end of the week we’ll be back in more typical winter temperatures.

Bearskin Lodge is participating in this year’s Volks Ski 400 resort challenge, an event to see which resort in Cook County can log the most kilometers on Cook County ski trails in February. 

Bearskin guests have totally risen to the challenge.  Every night guests come into the lodge with their pencils, calculators, and trail maps to gleefully add up their daily totals.  It’s great fun to ski on our trails, so people can accumulate a surprising number of K in a day. We’re on our 7th page in a spiral notebook of daily totals, with a few more days to go.

As of today, Bearskin guests have logged 5032 K of distance on our trails.  The next runner-up has 674 K. This seems to be where you come if you really want to ski.

The Gunflint Trail offers trail systems specifically for each of these winter sports.  The trails are separate for really obvious safety reasons: a fast-moving snowmobile poses a great danger to a slow-moving skier, and vice-versa.  The Central Gunflint Ski Trail system, operated on a permit from the US government by Bearskin and Golden Eagle Lodges, rarely has any problems with people who do not comprehend the difference between a ski trail and a snowmobile trail.  This area has so many great trails available for both types of users that most folks are happy to use the trails designated for their favorite activity. 

When we do have snowmobilers accessing XC ski trails, the Central Gunflint Ski Trail System needs to take trespassing by snowmobilers very seriously.  We report these activities to the Cook County Sheriff and the US Forest Service, and we do our utmost to find the people involved.  We have to do this, for the safety of our skiers.

We had very blatant destruction of some of our ski trails by snowmobilers today, something that has not happened in quite some time.  It was no mistake, and based on skier reports, the snowmobilers were very near to skiers.  Hey, you, the lady with the stalling, loud snowmobile and black jacket with pink sleeve stripes — this is no small thing. You and your friends could hurt somebody that way.  You also create a lot of additional work for the resort owners and employees, who have to go back and clean up your mess. 

Both resorts make an effort to find and report the people who endanger our guests, and this group will be no exception.  The incident was reported to the sheriff; skiers can provide descriptions of the group.

We’ve found that most snowmobilers in this area are very responsible about ski trails — they have so many good options of their own, there’s no reason to risk ending up on the Cook County sheriff’s report for making a foolish choice. Trails for each activity are well-marked.  If you can read, you can figure out which trail is for you.  With the large number of wonderful, well-maintained snowmobile trails up here, there is no good reason to put yourself  and your snowmobile in the wrong place this weekend.

It’s been pretty much “more of the same” since our last ski trail blog.  It snows, we groom, it snows again, we groom again, an endless recurring cycle of snowy sameness.  That’s a perfect winter pattern that we love to be in.  Lake trails have been mostly slush free.  So far we’ve had no signs of the usual late February thawing or sleet.  This winter was slow to get started, but it’s humming along nicely now.  Skiers have been very, very pleased with conditions.

According to Dan at Golden Eagle, who is a methodical record keeper, we’ve received more than 17 inches of new snow this month.  We’ve received 52.8 inches of snow since November, quite a bit more than we had at this point in 2012.  This bodes well for March skiing.

We’re running a “3 nights for the price of 2″ special for some of March. See our specials page on the Bearskin website at www.bearkin.com. You should be here skiing!

Wow, did it ever snow!  We decided to head to Trail Center around 6 PM last night for a family dinner.  We knew that it was snowing, but we’re hardy Minnesotans–it’s no big deal to travel 3 miles in the snow, right?  Coming home was quite a challenge.  We couldn’t see 3 feet in front of us.  It’s been quite awhile since we’ve seen it snow so hard up here.

Depending on where you measure, we have 8-10 inches of brand new fluffy snow, on top of the nice base we already had.  Where the snow drifted on trails, it’s much deeper.  Groomers are out this morning on both sides of the trail system. This is a great deal of snow to move around.  Some of the trails needed to be rolled and packed first.  Everything is grooming up very nicely.  It’s beautiful out there.

Bit by bit every trail is getting groomed.  If you want to ski today, check with Bearskin or Golden Eagle to find out which trails are finished.  Quite a few were done by midday Monday; the rest will gradually be completed during the day.

We hear there are terrible winds in some places in the state, but we’re sure not seeing that here.  It’s an absolutely lovely day to be skiing on tour trails.

We’ve had a little dusting of snow here and there, nothing significant since the last major grooming.  Some snow is in the forecast;  most predictions have been for additional snowfalls of less than 1 inch.   Trails are in good shape, so what we’d like most of all now is a bit of a temperature warm up.