Courtesy Lutsen Mountains
Lutsen Mountains
The ski area’s popular red gondola will be replaced in November with a new eight-passenger design.
At Lutsen Mountains ski area, the gondola affectionately known as the “Little Red Apple” is the place to start for a hiking adventure.
Anyone who enjoys walking and exploring can take advantage of the hiking options of varying lengths and difficulty. First you’ll board the gondola at the base area of Lutsen Mountains. Ride it, at treetop level, to Moose Mountain, and keep an eye out for wildlife below.
Taking a Hike
Courtesy Lutsen Mountains
Lutsen Mountains
A map of hiking trails, including the Superior Hiking Trail, at Lutsen Mountains, indicates where to find overlooks and the route of the gondola.
The shortest walk is from the gondola station to the observation platform on Moose Mountain. You’ll go about 50 yards and be rewarded with remarkable views from 1,000 feet above the Lake. You’re looking out over Superior National Forest and Mystery Mountain, with a panorama that’s filled with maple trees (bursting with color at fall’s peak).
Next is a two-mile loop hike that starts with a spur trail that’s part of the Superior Hiking Trail. It runs below the ridgeline on the north side of Moose Mountain. “It’s kind of the deep, dark forest trail, because it’s all heavy cedar,” says Jim Vick, Lutsen Mountains’ marketing director. Hikers can return along the Ridgeline Trail to catch spectacular vistas of Lake Superior and Superior National Forest.
The most challenging option at Lutsen Mountains is the Superior Hiking Trail section that extends more than four miles. Many people will choose to get off the gondola on Moose Mountain and walk the spur trail, then connect with the Superior Hiking Trail and hike back to the base area for Lutsen Mountains.
“It’s a really nice stretch of the (SHT) – some mountain vistas, some lake vistas. It goes through maple forests and cedar forests; there’s a little swamp area, and then it looks out over the upper part of the Poplar River,” Jim explains.
Experts also praise the Superior Hiking Trail at Lutsen Mountains.
In his guidebook Hiking the North Shore, naturalist Andrew Slade calls it the Lutsen Gondola Hike and describes it as “a very European hiking experience. The Lutsen gondola, or ‘mountain tram,’ whisks you away to distant and dramatic Moose Mountain, where you can have a pre-hike snack at the chalet. The first part of the trail is practically along the edge of Moose Mountain’s sawtooth steep side, like a fixed mountaineering route through the Alps.”
Andrew rates the level of difficulty as moderate and says it can take two to three hours to hike the 4.2 miles of the Superior Hiking Trail. “Do not underestimate the challenge of this hike. The gondola gives you about a 400-foot uphill advantage. Although you start with a downhill, you must still climb up and over Mystery Mountain.”
Changes Coming
Courtesy Lutsen Mountains
Lutsen Mountains
The new gondola will debut in November.
Many people who ride the famous mountain tram post-winter are sightseers. Others are headed up Moose Mountain for lunch at Summit Chalet, with deck seating and panoramic mountaintop views of Lake Superior. Another big part of the summer business at Lutsen Mountains is weddings at Summit Chalet. Every weekend is booked this year and into 2016. The gondola provides access to Moose Mountain for the wedding party.
Those with fond memories will bid farewell this year to the 45-year-old tram that accommodates four passengers. A new eight-passenger gondola will be installed in the summer and should be running by November, in time for skiing.
The new gondola, combined with the planned expansion of the Summit Chalet, will cost $7 million.
The iconic red gondola was acquired from Loon Mountain in New Hampshire in 1989, and has helped to define Lutsen Mountains. But the ski area has outgrown the existing lift, which can haul 300 people an hour. The new gondola can transport 2,400 people an hour.
The gondola has evolved over time to become a year-round attraction in its own right. A popular time for sightseeing rides – aside from winter skiing – is during fall color weekends on the North Shore. The number of daily passengers in fall can rival a busy ski day in winter.
“The ride is at treetop level through forests of birch and aspen up to the summit, and then overlooking this whole maple ridgeline,” says Jim.
Ski Area Investments
Over the past decade, co-owners Charles Skinner and Tom Rider have invested about $25 million at Lutsen Mountains, including:
- A high-speed six-person chairlift on Moose Mountain, which reduced a 10-minute ride for skiers to just 3.5 minutes.
- New snowmaking technology that uses less water and energy. Each machine has a “weather station” to measure temperature and humidity, resulting in automatic adjustments.
- Infrastructure upgrades, in a partnership with Cook County, including a stormwater management system. Curbing, gutters, sidewalks and streetlamps have been added, making the area safer for pedestrians.
- A new pipeline to supply Lake Superior water to the ski area for snowmaking, in place of using the Poplar River. Lutsen Mountains partnered with the state, the Iron Range Resources & Rehabilitation Board and Cook County / Grand Marais Economic Development Authority to finance the project, which should be ready next winter.
Lutsen Mountains’ owners want to expand onto 400 acres of Superior National Forest property. It’s a plan that, when formally proposed, would undergo a detailed federal review, reports the Duluth News Tribune.
Future plans at Lutsen Mountains may also include a museum, adventure ropes and ziplines.
Lutsen Mountains, Ski Hill Road (County Road 5), off Highway 61, Lutsen, Minnesota. 218-663-7281. www.lutsen.com.