Midwest Minnesota 17-18 Season

[focker]

Gentry, You'll find I'm not the biggest fan of Afton (or really a fan at all).

We haven't been there in a few years now so the wife and I looked up what night skiing there would cost (we were thinking about going tonight)

$45 with the discount card!!!!

What a joke. Wild Mountain is $28 and no stupid discount card needed. The only way Afton is worth it is if you get the Epic pass and plan to go out west enough to pay for it and ski Afton a few times as well as part of the pass. Forgot about skiing there on a Saturday or Sunday. We were there one Saturday and they had 10,000 people there!

 

[Gentry]

Convinced my buddy to meet me tomorrow at Welch instead.

I've got a feeling with the nice weather tomorrow it's gonna be packed at Afton, like you said.

 

[Michael Kane]

They look pretty good tonight against Notre Dame

 

[Gentry]

Welch was pretty wild yesterday. Got fairly busy in the afternoon. Saw the aftermath of at least 3 ski accidents bad enough for ski patrol to have to sled people off the slope. Saw one large section of snow that was blood soaked.

 

[midwestfabs]

Afton was empty today, but lifties said yesterday was pretty busy. Skied troll yesterday with blizzard and snow was great as it was today at afton.

 

[focker]

Great day at Troll today. Fast snow. Big crowds. LOTS of kids doing lessons and racing out there, wow. Judging by the crowds, MN's race scene is doing great.

I raced NASTAR today and had a great time. We had major issues with kids jumping into the race course in front of people though wow... These kids have no idea what they are doing and the instructors weren't helping keep them out.

 

[TonyPlush]

Making my first trip to Spirit Mountain the weekend after next. I'll have the choice to either ski Sunday or Monday... any big advantages either way?

 

[focker]

Making my first trip to Spirit Mountain the weekend after next. I'll have the choice to either ski Sunday or Monday... any big advantages either way?

Monday will be less crowded.. Big advantage. Spirits main high speed quad can get some hefty lift lines on the weekends.

 

[Slim]

Monday will be less crowded.. Big advantage. Spirits main high speed quad can get some hefty lift lines on the weekends.

My girls and I skied Spirit Sunday afternoon. No lift line anywhere. And they had Summit chair open, which is very rare. Still, I have seen lines there sometimes.

And of course, quieter never hurts, so if you can do either day Monday might be better.

I don’t know what your other hobbies are, but if you can fatbike, icefish, or XC ski or hike, I might suggest Sunday, since you can get the afternoon pass starting at 2pm. Ski 2pm-6pm, 4 hours should be enough at Spirit. On weekdays the afternoon pass starts at 3 pm.

To make it worth the drive, you’d probably want to go hike or ski some frozen creek, or fat-bike our groomed trails or XC ski in the morning.

Afternoon pass is $33, the Monday pass is $44, vs the Sunday pass at $55.

Know that Spirit faces north east, so the hill gets shaded out around 4 pm this time of year. Plan accordingly for warth and light colored goggles.

PSA: drive to the bottom chalet on Grand Ave, it has the parking lot right at the chalet and slope. The upper is closer to the freeway but a long distance from the lot to the slopes and chalet. Also better food.

 

[Slim]

Oh, and @TonyPlush, if you are able to ski BOTH days, keep driving through Duluth and hit up Lutsen.

 

[focker]

My girls and I skied Spirit Sunday afternoon. No lift line anywhere. And they had Summit chair open, which is very rare. Still, I have seen lines there sometimes.

I think the reason I always thought Spirit had lift lines is I skied on Saturdays back when they had the old HS quad and it was having mechanical issues a lot. Thing was stopping all the time. Hence the replacement.

PSA: drive to the bottom chalet on Grand Ave, it has the parking lot right at the chalet and slope. The upper is closer to the freeway but a long distance from the lot to the slopes and chalet. Also better food.

I haven't been there since they got the bottom chalet in, but I know parking at the top one could be a real PITA so this is good info.

 

[Dwight]

PSA: drive to the bottom chalet on Grand Ave, it has the parking lot right at the chalet and slope. The upper is closer to the freeway but a long distance from the lot to the slopes and chalet. Also better food.

THIS!! and don't lose your keys in a 12 pack of soda.

 

[Slim]

I haven't been there since they got the bottom chalet in, but I know parking at the top one could be a real PITA so this is good info.

The bottom lot used to be even better if you had a season pass, since it was less crowded, you could park even closer. But you needed a season pass to get on the lift, since there were no ticket sales.

Now, you can get a ticket and food etc, so it’s busier, but I have never seen the lot full up. It’s a fair bit longer drive for you guys from the Cities. for me, coming from east Duluth, it’s about equal in time.

 

[TonyPlush]

Good info @Slim and @focker. I'll be girlfriend skiing, so comfort is definitely a priority. Good to know about the afternoon shade.

I'll shoot for Monday mid-day. The GF has a college ID, and their specials page lists $19 passes with a college ID. Might be a package deal with some rentals though.

Monday also has the visiting pass holder special:

Are you a pass holder at another ski resort? Receive the following benefits:
-$10 Off a lift ticket Monday-Thursday, full day rates only, non-holiday

Would be great if my Rocky Mountain Super Pass Plus counts.

 

[Gentry]

Looks like 1-3" to hit the metro area Friday and Saturday. Might do a quick run up to Afton on Saturday if roads aren't bad. Maybe there will be some celebrities there.

 

[whitefeathers]

Hi Minnesotans! Nice to see some familiar cities names through this discussion thread. I haven't been to any of the twin cities locations but have so far been to Lutsen Spirit Mountain and Guants ridge. The day I went to Lursen was sooo windy they didnt have the gondola running and I missed out on that portion od the location. I will have to get back there another day. Most of my time is spent at Giants Ridge. I liked Spirit mountain but actually got a little bored there towards the end of the day after going on most of the runs. ( I didn't think that was possible!)

 

[wallyk]

Was at Welch yesterday with my daughters and it was empty. We did laps on the lifts for a few hours w/ no waiting........not sure what's up with Welch as there have been no lift lines this season......New snow helped make the day enjoyable....can't say the same for Afton, always crowded. Does anyone here ski Welch on a regular basis?

 

[focker]

Hi Minnesotans! Nice to see some familiar cities names through this discussion thread. I haven't been to any of the twin cities locations but have so far been to Lutsen Spirit Mountain and Guants ridge. The day I went to Lursen was sooo windy they didnt have the gondola running and I missed out on that portion od the location. I will have to get back there another day. Most of my time is spent at Giants Ridge. I liked Spirit mountain but actually got a little bored there towards the end of the day after going on most of the runs. ( I didn't think that was possible!)

Spirit is fun but they certainly lack a variety of runs. Seems like they have 8 main runs, but they are long which is nice. I tend to get bored there after about 4 hours as well. You can certainly rack up some very though with the high speed lift.

Was at Welch yesterday with my daughters and it was empty. We did laps on the lifts for a few hours w/ no waiting........not sure what's up with Welch as there have been no lift lines this season......New snow helped make the day enjoyable....can't say the same for Afton, always crowded. Does anyone here ski Welch on a regular basis?

I think Welch suffers a bit for business for 2 reasons. Firstly because its just a bit too far from the metro compared to some of the other resorts and secondly because they are too close to Afton. Afton Epic pass has stole some of their business IMO as people ski there (just look at how crowded they are) and use the Epic pass on their trip out west. As much as I dislike Afton, if I still lived in St Paul it would be a hard choice to get a pass at Welch or get an Epic pass and ski Afton and ski out west for free as many days as I could get in.

 

[whitefeathers]

I did certainly like that the runs were long at Spirit mountain but not much of a challenge when I wanted to go steeper. Their Black diamonds were like the equivalent blues at other places it felt like . I had fun on Bear Claw though.

 

[wallyk]

Spirit is fun but they certainly lack a variety of runs. Seems like they have 8 main runs, but they are long which is nice. I tend to get bored there after about 4 hours as well. You can certainly rack up some very though with the high speed lift.



I think Welch suffers a bit for business for 2 reasons. Firstly because its just a bit too far from the metro compared to some of the other resorts and secondly because they are too close to Afton. Afton Epic pass has stole some of their business IMO as people ski there (just look at how crowded they are) and use the Epic pass on their trip out west. As much as I dislike Afton, if I still lived in St Paul it would be a hard choice to get a pass at Welch or get an Epic pass and ski Afton and ski out west for free as many days as I could get in.

I get why people go to Afton over Welch......thank you Epic pass , of which I am an owner for CO resorts only, for keeping the masses away from Welch!!!!! Granted that Welch captures the Rochester, and (I can't even believe that I'm writing this/where do I live now???) the Iowa crowd(s), as mentioned the lack of crowds at Welch combined with their "superior" terrain, hard to really have SKI terrain in central Minnesota is encouraging.