Lutsen Mountains
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort is a popular ski destination located in the Sawtooth Mountains of Minnesota, near the town of Lutsen. The ski resort spans four interconnected mountain peaks overlooking Lake Superior. It is located around 4 hours north of the city of Minneapolis and 1.5 hours from Duluth, making it an easy day trip or weekend getaway for skiers and snowboarders in the region.
The ski season at Lutsen Mountains typically runs from late November to late April, and the resort offers dozens of groomed trails and 2 terrain parks for skiers and snowboarders to enjoy. In addition to its great skiing and snowboarding, Lutsen Mountains also offers a variety of lodging options, including ski-in/ski-out condos, villas, and chalets, as well as a variety of dining options, and après-ski activities. Whether you're looking to hit the slopes or just relax and enjoy the mountain atmosphere, Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort has something to offer for everyone.
We recently ranked all of Minnesota's ski resorts, so you can see where Lutsen Mountains stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Lutsen Mountains is a part of the INDY Ski Pass system. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all of the slopes that are also a part of the group.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Lutsen Mountains around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Lutsen Mountains Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Lutsen Mountains has a total of 95 ski trails, which are serviced by 8 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. The amount of skiable area in this park is huge, with a maximum of 1,000 acres available to skiers. This area is equivalent to 405 hectares, 1.6 square miles, or 4.0 square kilometers.
Lutsen Mountains's slopes see on average 120 inches (3.0 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 10 feet every year!
Total Runs
95
Lifts
8
Skiable Acres
1,000(4 km2)
Annual Snowfall
120"(305 cm)
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort Elevation
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 1,913 feet, or 583 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 1,088 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 825 feet (251 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Lutsen Mountains has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,913'(583 m)
Vertical Drop
825'(251 m)
Base Elevation
1,088'(332 m)
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
44.6out 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
Lutsen Mountains has 1,000 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Lutsen Mountains is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 18% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 82%.
Beginner
18%(180 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
47%(470 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
35%(350 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 Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort good for beginners?
Lutsen Mountains 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 82% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort Location
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort is located in the state of Minnesota, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Lutsen, MN.
Address:
Lutsen, MN 55612 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
lutsen.com
GPS Coordinates:
46.73000, -94.69000
Getting to Lutsen Mountains Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort), its coordinates of 46.73000, -94.69000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Lutsen, 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 Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort.
| 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 Lutsen Mountains.
| 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 Lutsen Mountains 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 Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Andes Tower | Backus, MN | 1,620 ft | 32% | 0 mi |
| Chester Bowl Park | Duluth, MN | 875 ft | 18% | 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 |
Lutsen Mountains Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,913 ft |
| Base Elevation | 1,088 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 825 ft |
| Trails | 95 (18% Beginner, 47% Intermediate, 35% Expert) |
| Lifts | 8 |
| Skiable Acres | 1,000 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 120 inches |