Giants Ridge
Giants Ridge Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of Minnesota in USA. The resort is in the town of Aurora, MN.
We recently ranked all of Minnesota's ski resorts, so you can see where Giants Ridge stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Giants Ridge 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 Giants Ridge Ski Resort. To purchase season passes, you'll need to visit Giants Ridge's website.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Giants Ridge around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Giants Ridge Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Giants Ridge has a total of 35 ski trails, which are serviced by 7 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Giants Ridge is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 202 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 82 hectares, 0.3 square miles, or 0.8 square kilometers.
Giants Ridge's slopes see on average 41 inches (1.0 meters) of snowfall a year.
Total Runs
35
Lifts
7
Skiable Acres
202(1 km2)
Annual Snowfall
41"(104 cm)
Giants Ridge Ski Resort Elevation
Giants Ridge Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 1,972 feet, or 601 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 1,472 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 500 feet (152 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Giants Ridge has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,972'(601 m)
Vertical Drop
500'(152 m)
Base Elevation
1,472'(449 m)
Giants Ridge Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
31.8out 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
Giants Ridge has 202 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Giants Ridge is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 30% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 70%.
Beginner
30%(61 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
50%(101 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
20%(40 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 Giants Ridge Ski Resort good for beginners?
Giants Ridge 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 70% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Giants Ridge Ski Resort Location
Giants Ridge Ski Resort is located in the state of Minnesota, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Aurora, MN.
Address:
Aurora, MN 55705 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
giantsridge.com
GPS Coordinates:
47.59000, -92.30000
Getting to Giants Ridge Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Giants Ridge Ski Resort), its coordinates of 47.59000, -92.30000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Aurora, 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 Giants Ridge Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport | MSP | Minneapolis, MN | 192 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 Giants Ridge.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Range Regional Airport | HIB | Hibbing, MN | 29 mi |
| Duluth International Airport | DLH | Duluth, MN | 52 mi |
| Falls International Airport | INL | International Falls, MN | 84 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Giants Ridge Ski Resort, 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 Giants Ridge Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Northern Lights Ski Club | Grand Rapids, MN | 1,400 ft | 2% | 58 mi |
| Spirit Mountain | Duluth, MN | 1,320 ft | 36% | 61 mi |
| Mont du Lac | Superior, WI | 917 ft | 34% | 66 mi |
| Mount Ashwabay | Bayfield, WI | 1,286 ft | 29% | 86 mi |
| Mount Fairweather Ski Hill | Atikokan, ON | 675 ft | 30% | 90 mi |
Giants Ridge Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,972 ft |
| Base Elevation | 1,472 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 500 ft |
| Trails | 35 (30% Beginner, 50% Intermediate, 20% Expert) |
| Lifts | 7 |
| Skiable Acres | 202 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 41 inches |