What the weather service said was going to be a bad day on the slopes, turned out to be amazing. Rain and wind were projected, and neither surfaced at Lutsen today. The sun managed to poke through and turned Lutsen's hills into a spring time haven for fantastic turns.

Nearly every aspect of Lusten's terrain is open. With the exception of a few glades that are closed because of lack of coverage, everything else is well covered and well groomed. And when all the lifts are turning at Lutsen, you won't have to stand in line too terribly long to reap the benefits either.

We started the day early, before there was any sun on anything. It had sprinkled rain early in the morning, and the weather was dark and overcast. We hopped the gondola to check out Moose Mountain. When we clicked in at the top of Bull Run, the snow was hard and marbly, and rutted out from the people who were there the mere 30 minutes since resort opening before us. We decided to push over towards Wolf chair to see if maybe there was anything else in good shape. We were surprised to find a lot of the connecting runs around the Caribou chair in better shape. We lapped a few here, and then went for the long run under the Wolf chair and made some big, arcing turns for about 45 minutes. Then we traversed back over to Bull Run, watched a buddy rip the hardened mogul run in front of the new chalet, and then traversed back to Eagle chair.

Once we got to Eagle chair, we found Bridge run to be in the best shape. Soft, coarse snow, perfect for making turns on. On top of that, there were plenty of small rollers and natural jumps along the run, so we were hopping around and enjoying the day. We lapped Bridge run a few times and then went to get some lunch.

After lunch, the sun had peaked out and was warming up the day. We wanted to try Mystery Mountain and see if there was anything exciting there and took the chair up past the park and went into Dan's dive. As it turns out, fat twin tips don't go very fast in the new snow conditions that awaited us: pure mashed potatoes. My skis woefully tried to push through the soft, slushy snow. Since the latter half of Mystery (to skier's right of the terrain park, that is) is mostly flat, I was pushing my skis every so slowly down the run. We hoofed it back to Eagle chair, and then started lapping Koo Koo off of Eagle Mountain. Here, the soft, super-glue-sticky snow didn't matter because the run was steep enough to get speed.

We arched some giant turns on Upper & Lower Koo Koo for a few runs and then headed back over to Bridge Run to check it out again with the new snow conditions. At the top of the Eagle chair, Lutsen has a up-down fat rail, and some sort of ribbed, black plastic piping with a step-up on it. We weren't entirely sure what this ribbed plastic piping was (probably for snowboards to ride), so we just cut 90 degrees across it and jumped the pipe before heading the rest of the way down Bridge. Unfortunately, Bridge wasn't steep enough for fat twin tip skis to maintain any sort of speed, so we finished the day on the ultra soft snow of Upper and Lower Koo Koo.

Lutsen had all the chairs running today. This was a surprise for me, since the resort wasn't very busy at all (probably the weather was a factor in limiting peoples' time on the slopes). But because they ran all the chairs, there was only a one- or two-person wait to get a chair. It was nice, and helped us get more laps out of the day. With the weather cooperating, and the snow in terrific shape, we had a strong day skiing.

Lutsen's staff is seemingly growing friendlier (to us) at least. It seems to me that just last season, I was posting on this site about how the Lutsen lifties constantly cast dirty looks at us for skiing "those trick skis," or even non-race skis. Now, we don't feel ostracized in the least bit. Perhaps the staff has accepted this is the 21st century, and this is how skiing is going to be like for the future. Or perhaps they're drunk. Either way, it was great to see constant smiles on the lifties, a friendly "howdja do?," and a prompt chair under your ass.

Lutsen--this season alone--has propelled itself to my #1 resort in the Midwest (besides Mount Bohemia, which is in a category of it's own). I have a season pass for Spirit Mountain (my home mountain) and Giant's Ridge, in addition to Lutsen, but I've been to Lutsen more than any of those places this year. By improving their grooming and their lift operations, they've cleaned up their act and started acting like a resort that really WANTS to have people travel and visit it...and have fun no matter what ability. Secondly, by having a staff that is more acceptive of The Way Skiing Was and, now, The Way Skiing Is, they've opened themselves up to a new generation (a terrain park, however poor it is this year, helps as well). The future only holds better things for this resort.

To digress this review even further, I would like to present a small "Lutsen Wish List." First, if the rumors are true about a high-speed quad to replace the Eagle chair, please let this happen. When the skiers are pushed off Moose and don't want to take the gondola, they traverse out on Moose Return. Help alleviate this pinch point and throw in a quad. Additionally, some of the best runs (Hari Kari, Koo Koos, Chris' Colouir) are on Eagle. Give the patrons of this mountain a quicker response time to the top. Second, I see all this glading going on in the trees...under the Caribou chair, over on Eagle...if you are planning on opening up some glade skiing, let this happen next. People can come for the groomers, but let those of us who want to get "off piste" at Lusten have their dues. Third, lower the price of beer at Papa Charlie's. I mean, seriously...it's Coors Light, not Dom.

Returning from my digression, let me wrap by saying today was a very good day. The weather broke and was warm, the crowds were minimal, and the snow was your typical spring snow. Bring a good pair of carving sticks to Lutsen over the next week (only one week left before closing weekend! The 13th!) and slay some corn snow.

The recent snowstorms have bode well for Lutsen. They are quickly opening up terrain and within short order should be completely open. On top of all that, great snowmaking and terrific grooming gives Lutsen the best ski conditions in the area.

Lutsen didn't receive as much snow as the southern resort, Spirit Mountain, but that doesn't prevent Lutsen from having better snow than them. The corduroy was soft and terrific for making turns on. No ice or bald spots at all!

The resort was also dead...there was no one there. We pretty much owned all the runs...Koo Koo on Eagle Mountain and Bull Run on Moose Mountain were the ones we lapped the most. Another nice thing about the resort was that the cat track between Moose and Eagle mountain was open, so we could skip the gondola ride between the two (even though there was no line).

I'm hoping that Lutsen gets some more snow, because coupled with their snow-making equipment and new groomers, they are going to have all their terrific terrain (including the small chutes on far skier's right of Eagle) open soon!

User Photos (click to enlarge)

Lutsen is the best resort in the Midwest. Though they have their downfalls, they are slowly trying to adapt to the new school ski and snowboard world. What they lack in experience in this area is covered up by terrific terrain, superb snow-making, and a very attentive staff.

Sunday, the 18th of November, was Lutsen's opening day. They had one run open (but I think they could of had one more open if they ran the groomers on time!), and that was OK--it was the same situation they had last year. The one run was three times longer than the run I had skied the day before at Wild Mountain in Southern Minnesota, so that was a plus. Then, the snow conditions were fantastic! Firm snow, groomed so well that it was like a dream to make turns again (as much of a dream as making turns on man-made snow can be). They made so much snow, in fact, that there were even snow banks on the side of the runs, which made it feel just like it was in the dead of winter.

Although we got there at 10am, the lift didn't get running until 11am. This was due to the snow crew accidentally putting a gun under a lift tower and freezing up the cable and fly wheels. When the lift finally started running, there were only 20-25 other people there, so we could ski right up to the lift without any waiting.

We had lunch at Rosie's Cafe (or Grill?) in the Main Chalet since Papa Charlie's was closed. Rosie herself talked to us and apologized for not having very much food or drink available. She said she had just found out the night before that Lutsen was going to open, so she didn't have time to get too much stuff started up. Either way, we had a delicious burger and fries each, and we weren't disappointed. She even gave us a discount on it as well (burgers are $5.95 and fries are $3.95, but our totals were only $6.56, so thanks Rosie!)

After a filling lunch, we hit the slopes again. The liftys were terrific and friendly on the center-bar double that scooped us up to the top of the Blue run (Ullr). We made our turns on our carver skis and then switched up to some fatter twin tips to play around on some of the natural features that were created by the snow-making guns (such as a 3-foot snow bank we were sliding up and jumping off). The weather stayed a beautiful, ambient 36 and make for a terrific day on top of the awesome conditions.

The only problem was that there was no bar open. Papa Charlie's isn't open on Sundays for some strange reason, so we couldn't get an apres drink. This was the only downfall of the whole day, but it's certainly not enough to ruin the day as a whole.

If you want to make early-season turns, Lutsen is the place to do it. They were making snow on 10 runs there, so hopefully by the Thanksgiving weekend they will have some more terrain open for the skiing. The minimal crowds, great liftys who manage lines really well, and awesome man-made conditions make Lutsen my favorite ski resort in the Midwest (except for Mount Bohemia, but they aren't OnTheSnow!) It's this combination of awesome snow-making abilities, terrific terrain, beautiful surroundings and reasonable management of their crowds that made me by a season pass for Lutsen, and why I will be seeing you next weekend there.

P.S., One other compliant: Lutsen does a horrible job updating their snow report online. Always call ahead before relying on their snow report if you have to travel too far.

The previous reviewer is correct. The place is cheap. Old double chairlifts, long lines, old rentals, jammed restaurants.

The slopes are great. Go mid-week.

I know this is my second Lutsen resort review (well, third...the one from "anonymous" below was me, too), but this weekend, Lutsen just rubbed me the wrong way. And I wanted to share what I thought was wrong with everyone, and you can make your own decision.

My previous review of Lutsen (below) stated that Lutsen's management is pretty narrow-minded and closed-off from the realities of where downhill sports are going. While this remains true (the looks I got from lifties when steeped in to my 100mm underfoot boards was that of pure dismay!), another problem with Lutsen's management has appeared to me:

THEY ARE CHEAP.

The Saturday before New Year's Eve, we drove up for the 9am opening to get some skiing in, before we stayed the weekend at Caribou Highlands (see my review for them under "Lodging" to see what kind of place *that* was). The place was packed! We were forced to park in the lower lodge, and then hopped on a shuttle to the ticket office. My friend and I struggled to put our fat skis in the holders. Even separating the skis into singles and trying to stick each one in a ski slot didn't work. Eventually, we had to poach a snowboard slot for our skis. This actually lends credence to my previous statement--that Lutsen's management is a tad bit out-of-touch with the industry--because there were only 4 snowboard slots on the whole rack. The rest were narrow ski slots that only fit skis that, by my estimate, could fit skis up to 70mm in width. Additionally, they would not accept twin tips. Smaller, skinnier twin tips could be broken apart into single and each maybe stuck into a ski slot, but why not update the 2x4 construction on the side of the old bus to accept some wider skis...or at least add a few more snowboard slots?! My friend and I felt bad that snowboards had to carry their boards on with them because we had taken up one of the two of the 4 snowboard slots. If Lutsen was in touch with the rest of the industry, they'd simply know that in the past few years, fatter skis (called "mid fats") and twin tips are overtaking the market. It's time to realize this and embrace it...at the very least, make your shuttle bus capable of holding mid-fat and twin tips. It's the least you can do. (Note: at one point, on the return shuttle, I had to carry my fat skis onto the bus with me since all the snowboard slots were used up. People were none to happy with me).

Returning to the original thread of "Lutsen's management is cheap," I present to you the Mountain Top chalet. An exquisite building that was long overdue for Lutsen. Finally, a large enough place to house the Holiday rush that was descending on Lutsen. Or was it? As it turns out, the Mountain Top chalet was utterly incapacitated by the Holiday rush. The tables were crammed, the line for food service wrapping ridiculously far into the seating area, and slow, SLOW lines for food. The exact problems were simple: the layout of the seating area next to the food service area is just goofy. Where the line normally forms for ordering food is at an angle to the bulk of the seating. When the line for ordering food backs up more than 10-15 people, it's pushing itself out into the seating area. And since none of the staff is smart enough to put up ropes to wrap the line around a few times safely out of the way of patrons who are seated, we all were constantly bumped into by the growing line.

The other problem with the Mountain Top chalet is actually shared among the ticket office. When paying the exorbitant prices for food, myself and two others that I noticed paid with credit cards. The credit card machines constantly reported "line is busy" and could not get through to authorize our purchases. This slowed down the line exponentially. After the third "line is busy" error, I finally could take my food and leave. I asked the friendly lady taking my card what the deal with the "line is busy" error, and she stated that the Mountain Top chalet and ticket office share the same phone lines. I could only scoff at how stupid this was. I scoffed because earlier that morning, I had to wait 20 minutes for a ticket and had the same problem with the credit card machine saying "line is busy." It only took twice to pay for my lift tickets, however. But the line was at least 15 people deep by 30 people wide, and all the lift ticket windows were running. One gentlemen in front of me had been standing there for 30 minutes waiting to get his tickets, and had already PRE-PAID for them online. He asked why there wasn't an "e-Ticket window" (similar to what airlines do), so he could skip the crowd and get his tickets. A great idea, I thought, since he had already paid for them.

Switching gears from the Mountain Top chalet, but still sticking with the "Lutsen's management is cheap" thread, I now present exhibit A: ridiculously long lift lines during busy weekends. The cause for this is very simple: there are no quad chairs, and the gondola is completely useless. No where on Lutsen will you find a quad; only antiquated double chairs. This slows down lift lines to a crawl...literally. While the Moose Access cat track was now open for people to use to get over to the Moose Mountain lifts, few people knew of this and assumed the only wait to access the best mountain at the resort was with the slow gondola. A note: the gondola on a non-busy, non-weekend day is a fine way to get to Moose Mountain. But even then, the return trip at 4pm can be slow. This is because the gondola is old and antiquated and can't support the modern amount of skiers and boarders that now exist. The gondola has degraded down to a whimsy: a flash-in-the-pan, hey-look-what-I-rode-in, gimmick. It should either be replaced or augmented.

Now for the closing argument. All of these problems above can be simply solved, but it'll cost--GASP!--a little bit of money on behalf of Lutsen's management. To curb the flip side of my argument immediately, let me say...I know Lutsen resort makes money. I saw how many people were there this weekend. I saw how many tickets were purchased for a ridiculous amount. I saw how many tons of people payed through the nose for sub-standard food. I KNOW THAT LUTSEN MAKES MONEY.

Now, let's hear the solution: it's called an "investment." An investment is where you take risk at trying to improve something to later make more money for it.

Here's the skinny on your investments: one, upgrade the phone services to the Mountain Top chalet so everyone's credit card gets authorized immediately, instead of having to wait and backing up the line to pay for food. Or, invest in an internet-based charging method. The current configuration does not function if it's fairly busy, let alone completely insane-busy as it was this weekend.

Investment number two: augment your gee-whiz gondola with some high speed quads. Upgrade even one of them (the Bridge lift, probably) with a quad, and watch everyone's patience grow with the lift lines...because they go down quicker! The Bridge lift is the most widely used, perhaps, because it accesses another mountain, and provides access to Moose Access, where people can go to bypass the gondola for skiing Moose Mountain. Likewise, it's where people (like myself) go on Moose Return to get back to the chalet, and bypass the gondola. This weekend, the Bridge lift was choked to death. Even with the parallel River (I believe) lift running, both still suffered immensely from backlogs, especially towards the end of the day. Please note, your gondola is spiffy and functional when the resort is functioning during the week, but otherwise is a problem. Your logistical nightmare resides in your antiquated two-person lifts. Upgrade the Bridge lift to a quad, and maybe the one of the doubles on Moose, and watch the lift lines shrink...and patrons' patience go.

Invest and grow. And oh yeah, stop treating my fat-ski and twin-tip skiing brothers and sisters like outcasts. That'd be nice too.