Magnificent XC classic skiing at Golden Eagle Sunday thru Thursday. Every trail in this system is in perfect condition and Golden Eagle (Bearskin too) appears determined to keep them that way. Skate looked as good as classic.

(Tom Dunaway)

More snow last night so we groomed everything fresh again this morning. Trails are looking great! Everything is open, in great shape, and skiable with good skis.

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Snow measurements are in, and on our snowboard we tallied 6.25" of new snow thus far. We were out early this morning and groomed everything again so all trails are fresh and ready to go. Trails groomed up beautifully, and with the cooler temperatures, the skate deck set up nice and solid. Moose Ridge is open again and ready for visitors! The skijoring trail is also back in. This is the kind of winter we've always remembered!

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Amazing day in fresh snow. The skate deck was soft with new snow accumulating as we skied, but a beautiful day out in the woods.

(Andre L’Heureux)

We've received 3 inches of fresh snow already this morning and it is still snowing! So far, the north side of Flour has been groomed: Logging Camp, Red Pines, Cross Fox to start with. We prepped Moose Ridge, mainly the big hill, so we can open it back up later today. We are also grooming everything on the south side of Flour right now: West End Logging Camp, Ridge Run, Upper Beaver Dam, and Moose Pasture along with North-South Link and lake crossings. The trails have been grooming up fantastic! As the snow continues to fall, Grooming plans: Our plan is to go back out this afternoon and do Logging Camp again, then Moose Ridge and Deer Mouse. we'll be back out doing everything again tomorrow!

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

With a fresh 1.5 inches of fluffy snow on top of a base of squeaky cold hard pack, the Bearskin grooming team put in effort and skill that was nothing short of showing off! We skied the classic tracks on Poplar Creek and Ox Cart trails and they were in great shape. Also the Campground loop and Summer Home Road. Bear Cub was not freshly groomed. Skiing on my best skis I lifted a foot 3 or 4 times for an exposed area. The skate trails appeared to be in equally fantastic shape. I trust that the groomers will continue to be show offs as nature provides the raw material!

Photos:

(Bobbie Gostout)

Bearskin groomed the south side of the system today. The inch or so of snow we received went a long ways, and everything groomed up nicely. We skied Poplar Creek in the afternoon and it was great. You can use your best skis on Summerhome and Campground. I you have B skis, I would choose them for most of the other trails. If I only had one pair of skis I would be comfortable using them as well and just keeping an eye for the few spots with rocks poking through. We continue to have great skiing.

Photos:

(Quinn McCloughan, Bearskin Lodge)

Trails are still holding up well despite the lack of fresh snowfall. Some debris from the winds this week is present in places on a few trails, some more-so than others, but nothing particularly terrible or anything damaging to skis. Icy surface conditions have been minimal - we were able to get good bite with skate skis everywhere we skied. All trails other than Moose Ridge continue to be open.

Photos:

(Zach Baumann, Golden Eagle Lodge)

Spent the past few days skiing the trails and they are in good condition. It was a real treat to ski 100% natural snow for the first time in almost two years. The groomers have done a great job keeping things fresh, and the pisten bully areas are in great shape with only a few small rocks and some dirt showing up in areas of heavy usage. Trails with more snowmobile grooming are a little icier but still plenty of snow for safe skiing. The few lake crossings are mostly ice right now, but it's easy to take the scenic route ski trails around them. A big 'thank you' to the Golden Eagle Lodge and Bearskin grooming crews for their trail efforts!

(Mark Schulte)

If you've got a long ski on the docket for the weekend and you took the storage wax off your b skis, then take them and some warm clothes up to the Gunflint Trail. We skied the Beaver Dam, Moose Fence, Summer Home Road, and Ox Cart. Each trail was different according to when they'd last groomed. Yhe trails are natural snow, some are fresh snow over ruts, some have a rock or two peeking out (easy to miss). There are tracks, which was good because it is cold and skating could be slow. The person at Bearskin who sold us our passes had good intel on which trails to avoid. We did a day trip from Duluth with three adults. Bonus: left and right turns.

(Kristin Riker-Coleman)