fonixmunkee's Blog

This past weekend I headed up to Lutsen Ski Resort up Minnesota's North Shore to spy the new chair lift they are putting in. Footings are poured and the rest of the equipment is in place. Here's to progress at Lutsen! Or is it?

A while back I got a new alert saying that an old lift at Aspen/Snowmass was being disassembled to be moved to Lutsen Ski Resort (the original article is here: http://www.snowmasssun.com/article/20080624/NEWS/148388798&parentprofile=search). The "Naked Lady" lift, as it was called there, was purchased to augment the increased traffic at Lutsen. I was excited--the first triple chair at Lutsen!--that they had finally taken a cue from the rest of the developing ski resorts (and through a small suggestion of my own: http://www.onthesnow.com/minnesota/lutsen-mountains/reviews_b.html?review_id=589).

Then, as it turns out, they aren't exactly taking a cue (or my suggestion). The lift Lutsen was getting from Aspen/Snowmass was going in not to REPLACE a lift, but to augment the ski school. Instead of putting a three-person chair in the choke where a two-person chair stands, they're putting it behind the ski school up a mountain that already has TWO other chairs servicing it. Imagine my dismay.

I can see this chair going two ways: on the positive side, it MAY actually help take pressure off the Eagle and Bridge chairs by removing the need to have ski school lines. Or, on the negative side, it may actually hamper traffic from Eagle Mountain down to these chairs given the awkward placement of the lift (see the photos below). It's quite possible that the ski school line could easily flood into the main run that leads back down to Eagle and Bridge chairs--plus it's right at the bottom of Harry Carry. Yikes.

I approach this new season at Lutsen optimistic, however. Hopefully the owners know what they are doing with this new lift. Maybe the new lift will help us lap the short chutes on the far skiers-right of Eagle. Or maybe it will have no benefit at all except an increase in ticket prices. Only time will tell as the company who needs to install the lift is currently performing a lift installation somewhere else.

Other improvements at Lutsen include the construction of a new registration building, and the construction of a new Eagle Ridge Condo building (replacing the one that burned down last year, directly under the Bridge chair).

Season pass prices haven't gone up (yet), so pick yours up before Sept 30th for $199. Currently I also haven't noticed any increase in price for day passes at Lutsen, but that's not to say that they won't show up soon. The resort *will* eventually have to offset the cost of all the "improvements" somehow.

No matter what, visiting Lutsen this past week sure has really made me have the itch. I hope the improvements bode well for the resort.