Andes Tower
Andes Tower is a ski area located in the state of Minnesota in USA. The resort is in the town of Backus, MN.
We recently ranked all of Minnesota's ski resorts, so you can see where Andes Tower stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Andes Tower is not a part of any nationwide lift ticket system. Passes such as Epic, IKON, or Mountain Collective allow pass holders to ski at multiple mountians with a single purchase. Unfortunately, none of those passes work with Andes Tower. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Andes Tower's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Andes Tower around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Andes Tower Terrain Overview
Andes Tower has a total of 16 ski trails, which are serviced by 4 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Andes Tower is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 45 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 18 hectares, 0.1 square miles, or 0.2 square kilometers.
Andes Tower's slopes see on average 23 inches (0.6 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
16
Lifts
4
Skiable Acres
45(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
23"(58 cm)
Andes Tower Elevation
Andes Tower has a summit elevation of 1,620 feet, or 494 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 1,330 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 290 feet (88 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Andes Tower has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,620'(494 m)
Vertical Drop
290'(88 m)
Base Elevation
1,330'(405 m)
Andes Tower Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
32.5out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Andes Tower has 45 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Andes Tower is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 35% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 65%.
Beginner
35%(16 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
35%(16 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
30%(14 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Andes Tower good for beginners?
Andes Tower can be beginner-friendly, depending on the runs you take. While it ranks in the lower half of all North American ski areas in terms of overall difficulty, it still has 65% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Andes Tower Location
Andes Tower is located in the state of Minnesota, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Backus, MN.
Address:
Backus, MN 56435 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
andestowerhills.com
GPS Coordinates:
46.73000, -94.69000
Getting to Andes Tower
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Andes Tower), its coordinates of 46.73000, -94.69000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Backus, MN to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Andes Tower.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport | MSP | Minneapolis, MN | 146 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Andes Tower.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport | BRD | Brainerd, MN | 35 mi |
| Saint Cloud Regional Airport | STC | Saint Cloud, MN | 87 mi |
| Range Regional Airport | HIB | Hibbing, MN | 98 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Andes Tower, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Andes Tower.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Chester Bowl Park | Duluth, MN | 875 ft | 18% | 0 mi |
| Lutsen Mountains | Lutsen, MN | 1,913 ft | 45% | 0 mi |
| Detroit Mountain Recreation Area | Detroit Lakes, MN | 1,608 ft | 15% | 52 mi |
| Buena Vista | Bemidji, MN | 1,510 ft | 34% | 58 mi |
| Northern Lights Ski Club | Grand Rapids, MN | 1,400 ft | 2% | 73 mi |
| Powder Ridge Ski Area | Kimball, MN | 790 ft | 24% | 98 mi |
Andes Tower Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,620 ft |
| Base Elevation | 1,330 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 290 ft |
| Trails | 16 (35% Beginner, 35% Intermediate, 30% Expert) |
| Lifts | 4 |
| Skiable Acres | 45 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 23 inches |