Excellent Sking

Excellent Sking

 Banadad  Lace Lake, Tall Pines and Knapp Trails were re-tracked today -41 KM. 

• MEASURED SNOW DEPTH :25"

• COMPACTED SNOW BASE ON TRAIL: 22"

• NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS:  trace"

Skiing Excellent this weekend with warm weather expected

Trails in Great Shape

 Banadad  Lace Lake, and Tall Pines were re-tracked yesterday.  The groomer found drifting snow and he got stuck in snow drift in the open area caused by the Meads Lake prescribed burn.

• MEASURED SNOW DEPTH :25"

• COMPACTED SNOW BASE ON TRAIL: 22"

• NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS:  trace"

Lots of people on the trails. Skiing Excellent if you don't mind the negative 15 to 20's.

Cold weather skiing

Added couple of more inches of snow then re-tracked the Banadad Friday and the Lace Lake, Tall Pine and Knapp Trails on Thursday. Plan to re-track the south end trails today. Heavy winds have blown snow over trails in open areas.

• MEASURED SNOW DEPTH :25"

• COMPACTED SNOW BASE ON TRAIL: 22"

• NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS:  1-2"

Lot of people on the trails. Skiing Excellent if you don't mind the negative 15 to 20's.

Great Snowfall the Past Two Days

Snowed the last two days; added another 5 inches of snow. Yesterday we tracked the east end trails- Lace, Tall Pines and the Banadad from the east end to Meads Lake Portage. Got more snow and covered the fresh tracks. However several people skied and re-opened the tracks. Skiing on the for mentioned tracked trail is excellent. 

• MEASURED SNOW DEPTH :23"

• COMPACTED SNOW BASE ON TRAIL: 19"

• NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS:  3"

The snow stopped so tomorrow we plan to re-track the entire Banadad- two snowmobiles will be tracking.

Forest Service Using Trail for Summer Project

The USFS will be carry building materials along the Banadad from the Lizz to Mead Lake Portages starting today,  Monday, February 2. The works is planned to take two days. The building materials will be stored at the Meads portage and then used this summer to repair the walkway along the portage. As a consequence the ski tracks will we trashed along this section of the Banadad during the process of moving the materials. 

While this work is going on this one and one-half mile section can be skied but there will be no tracks. Must importantly skier should be watch-out for snowmobiles on the trail. When the work is completed the trail will be re-tracked.

Banadad Trails Tracked and in great shape

Yesterday (Thursday, January 29) the entire Banadad Traill System- 41 kilometers was tracked. Skiing is excellent. Enjoy!

MEASURED SNOW DEPTH :20"

COMPACTED SNOW BASE ON TRAIL: 16"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS:   trace

      NEW SNOW PAST WEEK 5"

Banadad re-tracked

  Banadad tracked today- 31 KM,  Lace Lake, Tall Pines and Knapp tracked yesterday.

 

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 18"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 15"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 1/2"

      NEW SNOW PAST WEEK 1"

Banadad Ski Trail tracking

Banadad re-tracked on Thursday (31 km.) west end trails tracked the previous day. Wind blown snow likely covered much of regroomed trails

Entire Banadad Trail System Tracked- cold and windy weather

Forty one kilometer tracked

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 18"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 15"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

      NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS : 6"

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Entire Banadad Trail System Tracked- Great Skiing

Forty one kilometer tracked

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 16"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 13"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

      NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS : 1-2"

While the Lace Lake, Tall Pines, Knopp and eastend of the Banadad were previously tracked, the entire 31 kilometers of the Banadad was tracked yesterday. The groomer meet quite a few skier out on the trail. The trail is in pretty good shape for this time of year. There still is some center stubble showing through the snow, particularly on the trail's western end.

The  first Banadad through skier, for this year's season, also occurred yesterday when a skier from Duluth completed the entire Banadad in just over three hours. Not a bad time.

Eastend Banadad Trails Tracked

Sixteen kilometers of the eastern end of Banadad Trails Tracked

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 18"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 14"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

      NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS : 11 1/2"

       Great skiing; the  fresh snow really help cover much of the center stubble that was showing through.

First Tracks on the Banadd

 
Skiing Good to Excellent!

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 8 3/4"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 6

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS: 3-4"

     GROOM/TRACKED TRAIL Banadad to Meads Lake Portage 5.4 km and Lace Lake Trail 4 km tracked today. Skiing good to excellent some center stubble poking through the snow. Awaiting for additional snow to track rest of the Banadad.

November 16- Some Snow but Need More

Yesterday eleven members of Minnehaha Academy's Nordic Ski Team lead by their coach, Anne Rykken, worked on clearing the west end of the Banadad.. The kids on the team thought the work was great fun.

On the westend there is about 1-2" of snow. Not near enough snow to get onto that end of trail with equipment. However, on the east end the snow measures 3-4 inches. Four inches is almost enough, but not quite enough, to get out onto the trail and start packing. While the snowmobiles are out  packing the packing crew will work on clearing the down trees remaining on the  remote section of the east end just beyond the Logging camp.

Banadad Trail Maintenance Report-21 1/2 Miles Completed-3 1/2 BWCA Miles Left to Complete

•  Coming up:  There is still about three and one half miles of the Banadad's east side, inside the BWCA (from 1/4 mile beyond the logging camp to the Whoppee 2 hill) that must be cleared. Because of this section's remote location contract groomers will be removing the down trees here when snow condition allow snowmobiles to start the packing (grooming) of the trail.
• Coming up: November 15-16,  Minnehaha Academy Ski Team. The plan is  to have the ski team cutting brush along the Banadad's west end trail section inside the BWCA. While this area has been cleared the objective with this project is to cut back the brush.
•  November 1 and 2:  North Star Ski Touring Club- 4 volunteers removed large inactive beaver dam blocking Tall Pines Trail and they cut back bush on the  Tim Knopp Trail

• October 15:  Banadad Trail Association annual trail workday - 18 volunteers clear down trees (including clump above) blocking trail in first mile west of eastern trail head inside BWCA and cleared side brush west of Lizz Lake Portage outside the BWCA
• October 15:  All east end trails outside of BWCA were mowed by paid contractors at a cost of $1300. This included the Lace Lake, Tall Pines, Knopp and the 3 miles of non BWCA Banadad.
• October 17 and 18: Two volunteers cleared down trees on the entire west end of the Banadad
•  October 14-16 and 22 :  Paid contractor cleared side brush and removed hundreds of down trees blocking trail along 2 1/2 miles of the eastern side of the Banadad inside the BWCA. Most of these down trees were in the Meads Lake Prescribed Burn area and were likely blown over during a July storm. The cost thus far is $1621 from the Federal SRS Grant and $512 in match from the BTA. Volunteer labor is not included.
  
  
  
  
  
 

 

Easter on the Banadad

Grooming of the Trail ended for this winter- the last time tracks were set on the Banadad was April 6. Two days later skier, marathon runner and retired teacher Judy Ross was the last skier to travel along the groomed trail. Judy is a marathon runner, retired teacher and consistent skier on the trail.  Along with her husband Jim, they own a cabin a few yards from the Trail’s eastern end.

While grooming of the Banadad maybe over for this winter there is still plenty of snow out there to ski- as of Easter morning it is snowing very hard and at the trails eastern end the snow depth  measures 18 inches. So you backcountry skiers and snowshoers what are you waiting for!

Late Spring Skiing - 10 km tracked

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 27"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 24"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS: 0"

     GROOM/TRACKED TRAIL -10 km. Banadad to Lizz Lake Portage, Lace Lake and Tall Pines tracked today- April 6
       
Spring skiing get on the trail will it is still there;  temperature is in the mid 40s; tracked will only last a few days.

Thirty-Two Measured inches of Snow and Great Spring Skiing

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 32"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 28"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS: 5"

GROOM/TRACKED TRAIL - Tracked Trails- Lace Lake, Tall Pines and  from the eastern trailhead to Lizz Lake Portage of the Banadad for a total of 11.2 Kilometers of the Banadad Trail System tracked and ready for skiing. Cold AM temperatures and mid to high 20's in the afternoons the last two days. Those that skied yesterday said the skiing was "great."

East End Retracked

Three inches of snow covered recently tracked trails. The east end - Lace Lake, Tall Pines, Knopp and part of the Banadad Retracked today.  Great skiing!!

Excellent Spring Skiing

All 41 Kilometers of the Banadad Groomed

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 28"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 24"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: 0

NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS: 0"

GROOM/TRACKED TRAIL - All 41 km of the Banadad, Lace Lake and Tall Pines Trails are tracked.

 LAST DAY GROOMED:Today-March 13

SNOWSHOE TRAILS: 6 miles of trail open- great snowshoeing

Comments- Heavy drifting snow slowed the re-opening of the Banadad. In the meantime five parties of skiers  broke through and skied the entire untracked trail..

Banadad Eastend Trails tracked and in great shape

The Lace Lake, Tall Pines and 5 km of the Banadad's east end are tracked and in great shape. Temperature in the high 30s have made tracking the remainder of the Banadad difficult. Wednesday it is expect to cool down a bit so the groomers should be out on the trail then. Stay tuned!

Continued Great Skiing on the Banadad

All 41 Kilometers of the Banadad Groomed

SNOW DEPTH IN WOODS: 24"

COMPACTED BASE ON TRAIL: 18"

NEW SNOW PAST 24 HOURS: trace

NEW SNOW PAST 7 DAYS: 0"

GROOM/TRACKED TRAIL - All 41 km Banadad, Lace Lake and Tall Pines

 LAST DAY GROOMED:Today- January 31

SNOWSHOE TRAILS: 6 miles of trail open- great snowshoeing