Grooming the section of trail in the BWCA this morning wit the Tidd Tech groomer pulled with a snowmobile. This is the only section of our trail system where the Pisten Bully is not allowed to go, but the Tidd Tech does a great job.
We are definitely living in a winter wonderland. It has snowed almost every day this past week, so the groomers have been out constantly trying to keep up. The trails are in fantastic condition. You couldn’t ask for better skiing.
Bearskin will be extremely busy on Saturday and Sunday. With almost 80 K of groomed wilderness trails, skiers are always surprised that they rarely see other people out on the trails. Where you do notice the activity level, however, is in our parking lot. We always wish we had more room to park on these weekend afternoons. Please be sure to park in a way that is safe for your car and doesn’t block the side roads to cabins. Our guests will be grateful for that.
If parking looks problematic, you can always drive just a little farther up the Gunflint Trail to Clearwater Road to park at Golden Eagle Lodge. Same trails, same ski passes, just a different entry point and usually a less crowded parking lot.
The next few days will be a bit cold. Come into the Main Lodge and warm-up with us! We’re serving soup and chili every afternoon. We also have hot chocolate and cookies, hot apple cider, wine, beer, and pop. Do a little gift shopping. Or pick up some hand-warmers to keep your fingers toasty while you ski.
For guests who will be staying at Bearskin this week, if the skies clear up there are many nights with great aurora forecasts. A lack of snow in the upcoming week may indicate potential clear skies, so be ready for a northern lights show.
Our one inch of predicted snow Thursday night turned into 4” or even 5” in a few places. Pleasant surprise! We received another inch or so on Saturday. The groomers have done the system twice in two days, so the trails are in great condition.
Our forecast for the week ahead includes a few warm days, a one-day cold snap, and then fairly mild winter temperatures with continuing snow. We don’t have any openings for next weekend in either the regular cabins or the ski-in cabins, but we do have limited availability both before and after the weekend. Our winter dates from here on are heavily booked for January and February, but consider looking at March. March always fills a little later because people like to see how winter plays out, but it’s filling up now. Come up and join us on the ski trails!
Skiers on the lake earlier this week. It was an outstanding week of skiing.
Happy New Year from Bearskin Lodge and the Central Gunflint Trail Ski System!
We’ve been skiing at Bearskin since November — but you’d never know it by the ski reports we’ve posted. We fell way behind this year. This ski report page (the one we call the “Blue Kenny” page, because that header is Kenny Johnson in about 2008 skiing up Bear Cub) will be moving to a new URL eventually this year. Meanwhile we will be posting on two sites and we will update here when the page permanently moves.
We had our first snowmobile grooming November 27th, then started grooming with the Pisten Bully on December 9th. Most trails are in good shape.
Poplar Creek Trail took forever to open. Poplar Creek is always a late opening trail due to water issues, but this year we had an additional problem of a “bend-down” situation — huge swaths of the trail were covered with trees that bent over with heavy snow and had to be removed. After many days of Lionel, Quinn, and Bob trimming out the bent-over trees, Quinn finally made the first pass through with the Pisten Bully today. Quinn thought the trail had plenty of snow and that it groomed up pretty good for a first time through.
The heavy snow snow that caused the “bend-down” on Poplar Creek also coated our pine trees on the entire ski system with an icy cupcake frosting that doesn’t seem to be easily blown off by the the wind, making this the perfect winter to get beautiful outdoor photographs.
Bearskin is mostly full for winter weekends and for a large percentage of mid-week dates, but we have scattered openings here and there all season. If you have a little date flexibility, we can probably find you your perfect stay. Use the box in the upper right-hand corner of our web page to check availability, or for an overall summary view this regularly updated list. Most of our guests reserve a year ahead of time (lucky for us!) but that also means things can change in a year. We do get cancellations and changes during the season. Call our front desk at (218)388-2292 for the most up-to-date info. If you can’t get your perfect dates, put your name on our waiting list. Cancellation and date adjustments happen, often fairly last minute
The Bearskin ski-in winter camping cabins are also an option for some of you. This is their busiest year so far as more guests discover our most adventurous winter skiing option. The ski-in cabins definitely aren’t for everyone. With no electricity, heat, or running water, this is an experience that works best for for experienced outdoors people. The description we most often hear about ski-in cabin stays is ” it was magical,” but part of the creating that “magic” is that it does take quite a bit of work on your part to keep the wood stove going! Find out more here.
The Central Gunflint Trail system grooms part or all of the system almost every day. We’re known for our high quality grooming so we make a great effort to give you the best ski experience every time you come to Bearskin. For the most recent info on what has been groomed each day, you can always call our front desk (218-388-2292) or email stay@bearskin.com We love to talk to you about skiing!
What a winter! Thank you to everyone who made this one of Bearskin’s busiest winters ever. We didn’t admit it, but we were worried when the winter of 2023-24 had little snow and ended abruptly early. We made the best of that time, but we didn’t want it to be our future. Luckily, this winter has been awesome and we are going out on a high note. This last weekend in March was wildly busy, with everyone trying to get one last ski day in before the season ends.
After our last guests check out Monday, Bearskin will close for April. We have SO MUCH cleaning and repairing to do before summer season starts. Thank you all for being here to make memories. It was a fun ski season, and we will do it all again next year! (We are almost full for next winter, 2025-2026, but March — which has proven itself again — has quite a bit of availability. Plus there are still a few scattered January and February, 2025, openings to grab.)
The 15 inches of new snow that we are getting on April 2 will probably wipe out what remains of the grooming for this season. Season pass holders are welcome to continue to ski, whatever the trail conditions, but expect back-country conditions and a closed Main Lodge. Will we groom again this April? Officially, the grooming season has now concluded. (Have we groomed again after we’ve closed in the past? Yes, it’s happened. If you see a groomed trail and you are a season pass-holder with a signed waiver on file, feel free to ski on it.)
Quick grooming update, no pictures. Skiing is still good. Bob groomed the main trails on our south side of the system this morning and thought the results were great. We are about to get hit with snow/sleet/ mystery weather this afternoon, although much of the predicted snow moved north of us. Pretty decent skiing for the last open weekend of the year!
Quick grooming update, pictures to come later: we did get between 6 – 8 inches of new snow (depending on where on the trail system.) The trees are snow-coated and everything is quite beautiful. Bob has been out grooming all morning. He stopped back into the lodge to report that conditions are fabulous, and is now out doing Ox Cart and Bear Cub. He will do the lake trail afterwards, and probably won’t get into the BWCA trail section until tomorrow morning. We’ll see — it’s a one man grooming show this week, with Quinn on spring break and other staff out sick. Poplar Creek won’t be groomed, as it has severe spring flooding.
This was a good amount of snow to cover the areas where a few rocks and sticks were beginning to peek through. The trails look good. Bring a camera, as it’s all super photogenic now.
We have more snow in the forecast for the weekend. The lodge closes as of April 1 but season pass holders will be able to continue to ski for as long as the snow holds.
Bearskin sponsored a high school Nordic ski coaches clinic this past weekend. Honestly, as we got to the weekend the weather forecast could not have been worse. Endless rain, warm temperatures, and wind —guaranteed to wipe out the trails early.
Luckily, the days were much better than predicted. We did have rain, thunder, hail, wind, and even a little snow, but the clinic worked out just fine anyway and the trails held up pretty well, considering. Temperatures dropped into a more normal winter range overnight, allowing Quinn and Bob to go out in the Pisten Bully this morning and groom the iciness out of our trails. They were very pleased with the results. Our track pan tillers work miracles. Lots of people out skiing and enjoying our trails this morning.
We groomed Summer Home, Campground, Lower Beaver Dam, Bear Cub and Ox Cart. There are a few spots with rocks poking through, but mostly it looks like good skiing.
We have snow in the forecast for Monday, which will clean up the whole winter look. Temperatures for the week ahead are typical mid-March, spring skiing temperatures. Get out early in the day for the best skiing. We will continue to maintain our trails regularly to keep up with the daily changes.
The northern lights forecast for the next few days has calmed down a bit but don’t take the lack of lights in the forecast too seriously. March 20 is spring equinox, a time known for surprise aurora shows. If we have clear nights, it’s worth a try to go out on the lake trail and scan the skies for a show.
Soup and chili still available in the lodge every day. Stop in for a quick lunch, or a taste of cheesecake after you hit the trail.
Get out to ski early on Sunday and Monday. We are going to warm up into the 40°+ range in the afternoon for two days, so it could get wet later in the day. We have snow in the forecast Monday, which will help improve conditions again. Classic spring skiing conditions. Our new track pan tillers should clean up the post-warm weather iciness nicely — they work wonders.
Northern lights last night — photo taken from the ski trail crossing the lake by Annette Cozzi.
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!
Bearskin Lodge Ski Trail Reports 