Ski and Snowboard News, Deals, and Events

Lutsen Mountains, the Heartland's largest ski resort, will be celebrating College Week over a two-week period Jan. 6-10 and 13-17. There will be music, movies, parties, and activities geared towards college-age students. Get ready to ski, ride, and party. You choose the order.

Lutsen's famed Snow Ball, featuring live music taking place every night, is Jan. 10-12. It's a special package that includes three nights' lodging, three days of lift tickets, and concerts every night. The concerts, featuring local and national acts, take place in the resort's renowned Papa Charlie's Nightclub, which Minneapolis newspapers have described as "the hottest nightclub venue north of the Twin Cities."

It's big enough to host a good sized crowd, and when the music gets hot the place rocks. Papa Charlie's adds some nice spice to weekend ski trips in Minnesota's Arrowhead, in a land better known for wood smoke, flannel shirts, and moose. I can recall hearing two great concerts there in recent years. The Jayhawks and Cracker kept the crowd rocking and rolling until closing time. The Hawks brought the place down with a rousing rendition of "The Wreck Of The Edmund Fitzgerald," Gordon Lightfoot's moving song about the last great shipwreck on Lake Superior that took place in 1975.

It gives new meaning to the lake when you look out at great expanse of water from the top of Lutsen Mountains. The ski slopes fill the bottom half of your view and the Great Lake, stretching as far as the eye can see, fills the top half. Check online for lodging packages and times of events over the two-week period.