Great conditions up at Golden Eagle and Bearskin Lodges. An inch and a half of fresh snow had been groomed immediately yielding beautiful corduroy and a dusting on the evergreens. The snow is still a bit slow from the recent cold weather, but that should be changing over the next few days. Looking forward to a great weekend of skiing!

(Bob Amis)

New snow accumulation just under 4 inches. All trails were re-groomed this morning. Lake trails are a bit wind-blown today but you can find good shelter in the woods. Trails groomed up wonderfully with that new snow.

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Skied out of Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail all week. Plenty of snow, top-notch grooming. Full-moon on the edge of the BWCA was spectacular.

(Kevin Gregerson)

We skied the what we believe are the best groomed trails in the State and, perhaps in the country, today starting at Golden Eagle Lodge. It was 13 degrees F and sunny. The tracks groomed by Ruth and Zack, owners of Golden Eagle, were hard and fast for classical style. The freestyle area was freshly groomed also. It was effortless skiing with our waxless skis. We skied down Logging camp and through the BWCA around the end of Flour lake and then down Summerhill road and returning to Golden Eagle across Beaver Dam and Flour Lake.

(Heather Johnson)

Ski trails were all re-groomed today after a much needed 1 inch snowfall on Monday. The trails groomed up nicely though some debris is still present in places of thick tree canopy cover. The lakes have solidified enough with plenty of ice that we were able to groom across them with the PB100, including all of North-South Link. Even in cooler temperatures, expect fast trails. The trail base is very solid but you can still get a good edge in. B skis are recommended on a few trails otherwise everything else is clear for good skis.

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

All trails are still open for classic and skate skiing. No new snow has fallen since the 4th of January so we are carefully monitoring conditions of each trail and grooming them individually as needed. Some trails will be able to be groomed again through the weekend while others will not until new snow falls. Some trails have started to get a bit of ice on them in some places and conditions have been very fast. Good skies can still be used on many trails but we recommend bringing B skis for the trails that have heavy tree cover and are thus more sheltered from snow leaving some bare spots present.

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Fresh corduroy and bluebird sky at Golden Eagle Lodge today! I skied all the trails north of Flour Lake and conditions were sublime. The folks at Golden Eagle have put their new PistenBully to good use, and the trails are in very good condition. It's true that they could use more snow as there are occasional brown spots, hence the B ski rating, but these are easily avoided. The deck is firm and fast and the tracks are deep and crisp. Great scenery and great skiing up here.

(Bob Amis)

Skied the trails that leave from Bearskin lodge (beaver dam, oxcart, summer home road, campground loop and poplar). They were out grooming in the morning and had groomed summer home road, poplar, campground loop, some parts of north/south link and beaver dam up to the loop segment. Be careful on the hills on beaver dam loop segment as they are down to thin coverage/ice. Everything was tracked. There is occasional dirt and leaf/stick debris in the tracks and deck on the trails. There's a big patch of dirt on Oxcart about a third of the way in but otherwise that trail is in great shape. I used my race skis on all the trails and they seemed to have faired well.

(Caitlin Anderson)

First time skier on the Central Gunflint trails and they are quite impressive! Beautiful scenery, well-designed trails, well marked, well groomed - wow. Personal favorites: Deer Mouse (for sunset views), Red Pine, Moose Ridge, Beaver Dam, Poplar, Bear Cub (but do heed the sign - that last hill is the craziest I’ve ever seen!). Overall deep snow, one spot at the top of a hill on Bear Cub a little bear ;) and a little icy crossing the lakes on North/South Link, but overall great snow coverage, and a nice variety of trails. Thank you groomers!

(Robert Sullivan)

Took the wooden skis out on old logging camp trail. It was in really great shape. Tracked all the way. The part through the bwca is a skied-in single track. I'm glad we went clockwise around the trail otherwise there were some downhill sections in the bwca part that seemed like they would be a little challenging do to the narrow single track (or maybe it is my lack of control on wooden skis). It was a gorgeous day to be out and the Eggens skied great, especially on those big uphills.

(Caitlin Anderson)