Buena Vista
Buena Vista is a ski area located in the state of Minnesota in USA. The resort is in the town of Bemidji, MN.
We recently ranked all of Minnesota's ski resorts, so you can see where Buena Vista stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Buena Vista 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 Buena Vista. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Buena Vista's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Buena Vista around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Buena Vista Terrain Overview
Buena Vista has a total of 17 ski trails, which are serviced by 5 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Buena Vista is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 30 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 12 hectares, 0.0 square miles, or 0.1 square kilometers.
Buena Vista's slopes see on average 18 inches (0.5 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
17
Lifts
5
Skiable Acres
30(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
18"(46 cm)
Buena Vista Elevation
Buena Vista has a summit elevation of 1,510 feet, or 460 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 1,280 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 230 feet (70 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Buena Vista has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,510'(460 m)
Vertical Drop
230'(70 m)
Base Elevation
1,280'(390 m)
Buena Vista Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
33.8out 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
Buena Vista has 30 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Buena Vista is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 20% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 80%.
Beginner
20%(6 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
55%(17 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
25%(8 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 Buena Vista good for beginners?
Buena Vista 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 80% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Buena Vista Location
Buena Vista is located in the state of Minnesota, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Bemidji, MN.
Address:
Bemidji, MN 56601 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
bvskiarea.com
GPS Coordinates:
47.57000, -94.72000
Getting to Buena Vista
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Buena Vista), its coordinates of 47.57000, -94.72000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Bemidji, 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 Buena Vista.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Winnipeg / James Armstrong Richardson International Airport | YWG | Winnipeg, MB | 198 mi |
| Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport | MSP | Minneapolis, MN | 199 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 Buena Vista.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Brainerd Lakes Regional Airport | BRD | Brainerd, MN | 85 mi |
| Range Regional Airport | HIB | Hibbing, MN | 89 mi |
| Falls International Airport | INL | International Falls, MN | 92 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Buena Vista, 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 Buena Vista.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Lights Ski Club | Grand Rapids, MN | 1,400 ft | 2% | 57 mi |
| Andes Tower | Backus, MN | 1,620 ft | 32% | 58 mi |
| Chester Bowl Park | Duluth, MN | 875 ft | 18% | 58 mi |
| Lutsen Mountains | Lutsen, MN | 1,913 ft | 45% | 58 mi |
| Detroit Mountain Recreation Area | Detroit Lakes, MN | 1,608 ft | 15% | 72 mi |
Buena Vista Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,510 ft |
| Base Elevation | 1,280 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 230 ft |
| Trails | 17 (20% Beginner, 55% Intermediate, 25% Expert) |
| Lifts | 5 |
| Skiable Acres | 30 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 18 inches |