Excellent skiing again today! There was a continuous snow dust falling almost all day, but probably only accumulated another 1/4". It didn't diminish glide in the tracks, which were set around the entire system yesterday morning. Still beautiful with all the snow stuck to the trees. Base is 18-24"!

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

IMO, the best ski trails in Minnesota with perfect grooming! All trails were groomed (packed and tracked) Saturday morning after the new Friday snow. DNR snow says there is 18 to 24 inches of snow on the ground here and that matches our observations. Beautiful views around every corner, with a thick mantle of snow on all the balsams, pines, and cedars. Comfortable temperatures, and warm soup and hot chocolate for lunch in one of the shelters. We skied 17 miles of the trails. Would like to have skied more of Bear Cub World Cup but it was getting dark.

Photos:

(Craig Wiklund, North Star Ski Touring Club)

We groomed everything again this morning after a nice little snowfall yesterday and through the night. The debris that showed up from the wind earlier in the week is pretty much all covered now by the new snow. The skate deck and classic tracks set up nice! Excellent skiing and conditions out there!

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Wonderful classic and skate skiing at Golden Eagle (Saturday thru Wednesday). We started our trip with best skate and classic skis and after five days couldn't find any scratches. Note: Big winds Tuesday night did increase tree litter in places.

(Tom Dunaway)

We received another 3/4 of an inch of snow overnight so all trails were groomed again early this morning. We're up to nearly 13 inches of snow received in the last 7 days - conditions are fantastic! The lake crossings have a solid base now and are free of slush. The skijoring trail is also up and running. Beautiful weather for skiing!

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Our group had a wonderful week of skiing. Excellent grooming with fresh snow. Excellent trail conditions!

(Nan Haarmeyer)

Everything was groomed overnight so things would set up well for the morning. Observations of the trails and skiers this morning indicate it was a great success! The base firmed up nicely, and the fresh classic tracks set beautifully as well. The lakes are also groomed again, as is the skijoring trail. Good skis are suitable for every trail except maybe Ridge Run, North-South Link between Flour and Aspen lakes, and a small section of West End where B skis might still be preferable. That said, I would be comfortable using my good skis on these sections as long as I'm skiing with the knowledge that I should just keep watch for the occasional hazard.

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

We received 8-9 inches of new snow overnight. The entire trail system was groomed early this morning. We were able to do a lot of trail leveling and covering most remaining hazards and debris. With the volume of snow and warm-ish temperatures, expect the skate deck to be a little on the softer side today and tomorrow. Grooming plans: Our plan is to groom everything again late Tuesday night, which should set things up great for the rest of the week.

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Today our group of five, some with diagonal stride and some by skating, skied every meter on trails near Golden Eagle. Overall, we found the trails in better shape than the previous day. Debris are present in only a few places, and here it is needles and some twigs that have fallen on the trail, as opposed to problem places where debris have been churned up into the snow in places, or where the snow layer is very thin (mostly on Ridge Run and Beaver Dam, where B skis are recommended). This includes the higher-elevation trails, i.e., Moose Ridge is in better shape than Ridge Run, and Cross Fox was completely unproblematic and therefore in much better shape than Beaver Dam. As we wrote yesterday, however, the easier and lower-elevation trails are in fine shape; this includes Bear Cub. Here are some more trail-specific details: West end Logging Camp is decently skateable and mostly okay for diagonal stride (B skis), but there are certainly places where debris are problematic, also churned up from underneath. A sign warns of a few rocks going north on N–S Link, coming down into Flour Lake. We observed one other rock on the final part of the Moose Ridge climb; otherwise, all debris were organic. The BWCA portion of Logging Camp road is tracked for classic skiing. All morning—split into three groups and skiing for three hours apiece—we saw a single other skier. Where is everybody!? These trails are excellent.

(Bjørn Sether Wastvedt)

We skied the trails near Bearskin today. Some might say B skis; others will say good skis. This depends on which part of the system you are skiing on: Summer Home Road and most of Beaver Dam are just fine, as is Bearcub; but Ridge Run and some of the shorter connector trails have debris kicked up by the groomer, though this is not so much sticks (and no rocks) as it is leaves and other non-abrasive tree debris. On trails where debris is a factor, the center of the trail is best, so if you want to be able to stay in the tracks, you should stick to the lower-elevation trails, including Ox Cart and the lighted loop. Not too busy despite it being a Saturday over the holidays: our party of five (split into three groups) saw a total of about twenty other skiers in two and a half hours. We've been coming for thirteen years, and the aesthetic conditions left little to be desired: despite apparently strong winds the few days before we arrived, snow still clung to most branches (especially on Bear Cub, which is absolutely gorgeous), creating a winter wonderland. Last night the moonlight sparkled in the pines on our night ski. Thanks to various contributors for the helpful reports these past few days as we prepared for our trip! Will write another exhaustive report in the next couple of days.

(Bjørn Sether Wastvedt)