Sugarbush Trail Association
On Dec. 19, groomers report: “Widening and leveling continues where we have enough snow to work with. Summit view is now open with a track on each side of the skating lane. Tracks are good on the lower half, not so good in spots on the upper half. We will be out again today working on the Moose Fence area.” The Sugarbush Trail Association reports a packed base of 3-6 inches, with total snowfall for the season measuring between 16 and 20 inches. There has been only a trace of snow during the past week. See www.sugarbushtrail. org for an update.
Bearskin Lodge
Dec. 18 Bearskin blog: “Here on the Gunflint Trail we continue to get a gradual accumulation of new snow. We never received the mega-dump of snow that made headlines in the Twin Cities, but we’ve received a nice amount of snow in regular 2-5 inch increments. We enjoyed reading about the massive snowfall in southern Minnesota, but we like our snow in smaller doses, thanks. Almost all trails on both the Golden Eagle and the Bearskin sides of the Central Gunflint have now been groomed at least once. Many trails have been groomed several times at this point. A few of the big, refrigerator-sized boulders still protrude from the snow in spots on certain trails, but that is to be expected at this point. A skier can see the big rocks well ahead of time. There are some trails that have yet to be groomed…” For all the latest, see bearskintrailreports.wordpress.com or call (218) 388-2292.
Golden Eagle
Golden Eagle reports that with 34.40 inches of snow so far this season, the ski trails opened early, and this year was the best snow year in the last 10 years. Most of the lakes in the area are frozen now, with reports of 4 inches on West Bearskin and 8 inches on Hungry Jack. See golden-eagle.com for up-to-the-minute conditions and groomer’s report, or call (800) 346-2203.
Bally Creek Trails
Dave Williams reports the grooming is packed and tracked, and the ski-through to Cascade is closed due to open water and downed trees from the October storm. Work on the trails is ongoing.
Banadad Trails
As of Dec. 11, (the latest report available at press time), the Banadad Trail Association reports 20 inches of snow on the Banadad Ski Trail with a packed base of 14 inches (where rolled). Lace Lake was tracked for 6 kilometers, and Tall Pines and Banadad had 11.2 kilometers rolled. The Banadad is the BWCA’s longest tracked ski trail at 30 km. The eastern end of the trail system connects with the central Gunflint trails and the western end connects with the upper Gunflint trails. For more information check the latest at boundarycountry.com.
Cook County Ridgeriders
As of Dec. 20, North Shore trails are being cleared and prepared for another season. Snow has been accumulating and early season riding conditions exist, with the best conditions inland from Lake Superior. According to snowmobiletrails.com, the Devil Track area has about 15 inches of snow on the ground, and the Gunflint Lake area 10 inches. The Ridgeriders report that all trails around Grand Marais have been cleared; there is generally an 8-inch base with 2 feet of snow on the ground. All trails have been partially groomed, and grooming is continuing as the snow falls. For more information, listen to the club’s recorded message at (218) 387-9392 or see boreal.org/RidgeRiders. Updated information on the Grand Portage trails may be had by calling the lodge at (218) 475-2401 or toll-free (800) 543- 1384.
West End snowmobile trails
Jerry the SnoDoc and Paul James of the Tofte Timberwolves report that the local trails are currently being groomed. The Tofte and the LeVeaux trails are done and they are working on the Lynx and Gasco trails. Trails near the lake are spotty, however if you go inland about a mile, the trails are excellent. The C.J. Ramstad North Shore State Trail in the Tofte area are groomed and in excellent condition.
Pincushion Mountain Ski Trails
Everything has been groomed and conditions are very good, especially for classic (skating may be a little soft until the cold temps set the skate lanes up). The Pincushion Mountain Trail System is a 25-kilometer silent sport trail system perched high above Lake Superior, two miles north of Grand Marais. Go to pincushiontrails.org for the latest conditions.
Lutsen Area
Depending on the location, the West End trails have between 7 and 27 inches of snow (as of Dec. 18) with a base depth of 2-12 inches. The groomers report that they have set tracks on the Ridge Run and Short Loop with the Ginzu Groomer but did not reset tracks on the rest of the system as the snow is hard-packed from the cold. The entire system is expected to be set with new tracks before Christmas.
Elsewhere, the entire trail system from Cascade to Lutsen has been run, but skiing is poor on the southern sections of Hall/Massie and the connector from Cascade. More snow is needed.
The trails are maintained by the Norpine Trail Association, which is dedicated to preserving and maintaining the ski trails west of the Cascade River up to the Sugar Bush Trail system in Tofte. This includes Deer Yard loop, Hall-Massie Loops and the various connector trails. The trails are used for hiking and mountain biking as well. Visit norpinetrails.org for all the latest conditions.
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