Snow on the Ground: 15 inches, Compacted Base on the Trail: 12 inches, New Snow Past 24 Hours: 1 inch. Tracked Trail: Banadad Tracked to Mid-Trail 20 kilometers; Lace Lake, Tall Pines and Knapp 6.4 kilometer. Additional Comment: December 24 two groomers set out to track the entire 30 kilometers of the Banadad but were forced to turn back by frigid temperatures midway along the trail. Plan to complete tracking later this week- hopefully after it warms up a bit.

Photos:

(Ted Young)

Six to seven of inches of snow remaining after yesterday's meltdown. Eleven kilometer of tracked trail open on the east end of the Banadad including the Lace Lake, Tall Pines, Knapp Trails and 2 kilometers of the Banadad between the east end trail head and the Knapp trail. Remainder of the Banadad is packed but more snow is needed before it can be tracked.

(Ted Young)

The Minnehaha Academy Nordic skiers take skiing and serving the Nordic community pretty seriously. This past weekend, seven skiers left town after school on Friday, headed to the Gunflint Trail's Banadad Trail. The Banadad is a single track, classic only, ski trail that travels through the BWCA. Because of that, it has to be cleared with hand tools only, requiring many hours of volunteer work. Some years the crew works in t-shirts and hikes in miles to clear a 2-3 mile section. They lucked out seriously this year and were happy to clear the east end, in knee deep snow! Before the group headed home on Sunday, they stopped at Bearskin for a couple hours of skiing in near perfect conditions.

Photos:

(Anne Rykken)