We got out and groomed the remaining trails this morning. The temps are staying cool and both the skate lanes and the classic tracks are setting up well. Trails groomed today - Big Pine, Little Pine, Ham Lake, Highlands, Northstar, Upper West End, Overlook. All were tracked with a classic Track and a skate lane. We hope you can come up and start the New Year exploring our trails!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Our group skied many of the trails that were groomed overnight/this morning. They were in pretty good shape with decent coverage, though there were some thin spots under the conifers and a couple other places where it looked like the groomer drug up a little dirt. The groomed trails definitely were brought back to life - briefly tried one of the ungroomed trails and it was rutted and icy underneath the new snow. Unfortunately there were a good handful of places on groomed downhills where skis had punched through before the trail froze up which left gashes in the deck. There were also places with similar deep hole punching boot prints straight down the skate deck.

Photos:

(Ketzel Levens)

With the cooler temperatures we got out early today to groom the ski trails. We were fortunate that the trails held up well to the warmer temperatures and we didn't loose much of the base. The snow we got on Saturday mixed well with the existing base to set up a nice firm, skate deck and classic track. The trails groomed this morning were – Big Pine, Little Pine (our lighted trail), Overlook, Rabbit Run, Aspen Alley, Warrens Road, Cut Across, River Run, Power Line, short Cut, lower West End and Amperage. All of the trails were tracked with a skate deck and a classic track.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

We didn't get the rain that the northshore did and have been getting some snow this morning. With the warm temps, we aren't able to get the PistenBully out to groom. The weight of the machine will do more damage to the base than good. We will continue to monitor the condition of the snow and will get out grooming when conditions allow. The photos are from this morning of various trails. As you can see, they are holding up well and haven't degraded much from the warm temps.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

We got out early this morning to touch up some of the trails for the busy weekend. The upside of getting an early start today on the shortest day of the year was to get to see a spectacular sunrise from the ski trail. Today we groomed Big Pine, Little Pine (lighted trail), Upper West End. Northstar, most of Highlands, Warrens Road, Cut Across, Power Line, Rabbit Run and Overlook. The other trails have been groomed recently and are in good shape. Amperage and Lonely Lake are currently closed. The swamps have not yet froze enough on Amperage and there is a very large white pine that died years ago that has finally fallen. We will be working to get them open as soon as we can. We hope you can come up to ski on our trails soon!

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

What a beautiful morning! The head groomer went out this morning and groomed most trails. I hit up Big and Little Pine Loops, Overlook, Rabbit Run, River and Powerlines. I didn't see anyone else out and all trails freshly groomed! Perfect conditions with the drop in temps. Only a few areas of thin cover easily avoidable. I used good skis. Thanks to the amazing groomer for making my day! Worth the trip from the Shore for perfect snow conditions.

Photos:

(Christina Fanola)

Cooler temps and a dusting of snow made for good conditions out to touch up the trails. The base is holding up well. The following trails were groomed this morning with both skate and classic lanes: Little Pine (lighted trail), Big Pine, Overlook, Rabbit Run, Aspen Alley, River Run, Short Cut, Power Line and Lower West End.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Rain on the north shore prompted me to travel north to upper Gunflint system where the rain turned to snow. I didn't see anyone else out there are on freshly groomed trails. Big and Little Pine loops were absolutely destroyed by foot traffic so I headed out to Overlook trail and Ham Lake trails, found great conditions! Overlook was packed nicely. Hoping they groom Pine loops soon to make them skiable.

Photos:

(Christina Fanola)

We have been out the last couple of days to tune up the trails for the weekend. We have a good base and the trails have set up well. Big Pine, Litle Pine (lighted trail), Overlook, Upper West End, Rabbit Run, Aspen Alley and Highlands were all groomed with classic and a skate deck. We are planning on getting out tomorrow to work the rest of the system tomorrow.

Photos:

(John Fredrikson)

Was in the Twin Cities yesterday, hoping to see some snow. Drove up last night and found it here! It's a winter wonderland out the Gunflint -- the 8 new inches last weekend pushed conditions from good to great. Headed out midday with good skis and might suggest the same for anyone. The scene right now is gorgeous, as is the ski forecast here through Christmas.

Photos:

(Erik Lien)