Spirit Mountain, a 175-acre ski area with just 22 runs, doesn’t usually make news for being the first or biggest at anything. But Spirit, which is literally minutes from downtown Duluth, Minnesota (it’s actually inside city limits), might nab that distinction on January 17.
That Sunday, you can roll up to the Spirit Express II lift with your fat bike, sit back as you’re carried 700 vertical feet up the hill, and schralp some of the same alpine terrain as snow sliders. Plus: Head into the woods for some bermed turns and even a few drops you might not want to try on boards. It’s not a one-time thing: Conditions permitting, Spirit will be open to fat bikes every Sunday until the close of the season.
Jody Ream, General Manager at Spirit, won’t go so far as to claim firsts, but we can’t find any other area that offers what Spirit will. A number of ski areas offer fat bike access on Nordic ski trails. Others offer alpine access and lift service for snow bikes— bike frames outfitted with skis rather than wheels. Some, like Wyoming’s Grand Targhee, offer fat bike races. And Colorado’s Crested Butte, at least, offers uphill and downhill access to bikes after operating hours in the same manner it does to ski-mo enthusiasts— you can ride, but lifts aren’t turning. So Spirit, which has one of the better summer bike parks in the Midwest, might be the first ski area in the US to offer regular, lift-served winter service for mountain bikes.
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“We did a winter enduro last year to feel some things out and see how it might work,” says Ream. “And in talking with folks from Duluth and with COGGS (Cyclists of Gitchee Gumee Shores, Duluth’s local mountain bike club) we felt like there was an opportunity.”
The challenge was how to safely integrate the two groups. Sliders and riders take very different lines down the hill. Ever stood at the top of even a blue-square run in summer at a ski-area bike park and been terrified at the prospect of dropping the fall line? Yeah, that’s it. That’s partly why Spirit held the winter enduro race last year, says Dave Cizmas, winter grooming coordinator for COGGS and the promoter of last year’s race.
So Spirit Mountain is, for now, confining riders to two cut alpine runs (Timber Cruiser and Juggler Joe, if you’re interested), and will use poles and snow fencing to keep bikers on separate parts of the run from skiers and snowboarders. Spirit also did winter grooming on several of the bike trails it uses in its summer bike park, packing in the lines by hand and with snowmobiles, and those trails will be open to riders for winter use. “The beauty is our mountain is somewhat spread out and we have enough terrain for everyone to enjoy,” says Ream.
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There are rules, of course. Access is limited to bikes with tires at least 3.5 inches wide, with working brakes on both wheels, and helmets are required. Want to check it out but don’t have a bike? Try area retailers for rentals. One— Continental Ski—has a fleet of fat bikes including carbon fiber Borealis models.
To control numbers, Spirit Mountain will limit the number of day lift tickets sold for bike access (reserve online, which at $39 is cheaper than walk-up pricing, to ensure access). But in a refreshing move in the era of fine-printed blackout dates for season passes, the area will honor both winter season passes and anyone who already bought a Summer 2016 mountain bike pass.
What’s the riding like? Riding the cut runs is “fast, scary fast,” says Cizmas. They’re on undulating terrain, but there will still be plenty of spots that require riders to check their speed. Likely of more interest to most riders are the summer trails groomed for winter. Two—Candyland and Happy Camper—are rated blue/green flow trails for summer and will appeal to newer riders because the bermed turns and soft snowpack will help control speed or hard landings.
The gem might be Calculated Risk, the DH run shown in the photos above and below. “In summer it’s a legit, rowdy and rocky DH trail that wouldn’t be out of place in Colorado or the Pacific Northwest,” says Cizmas. “But in winter the snowpack fills in some of the rocky spots and there are massive berms. The drops get a little easier so it’s actually a ton of fun.”
I asked Ream: Is this just a pilot program or do they plan to continue? “There are no definitive answers there, but doing regular fat-bike access is one of our goals,” he replied.
Spirit Mountain has had a few rough years that left it in a less-than-ideal financial situation. An early closure last year due to warm weather limited revenue, and the area maxed out a $1.2 million line of credit from the city of Duluth. It’s clear that Spirit, led by Ream, is thinking creatively to try to dig out of the hole.
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But it’s also clear that the fat-bike service isn’t a gimmick—at least not in Duluth. “A lot of our passholders are excited that they can do both (bike and slide),” says Ream. “Duluth is such a winter mecca and fat biking is such a huge part of the recreation scene here, and now people can come out and participate in that at Spirit Mountain. We felt the timing was right.”
Cizmas says that while area riders are excited for Spirit Mountain opening lifts to bikes, the real draw might be for out-of-towners. Sunday access at Spirit is the perfect capper for anyone wanting a long weekend of riding. “We’ve got about 35 miles of groomed trails in winter,” he says, which range from old-school flow trail to more freeride-friendly. “You could come up here and ride that stuff for a couple of days and then hit Spirit on Sunday to cap it off.”
Joe Lindsey is a longtime freelance journalist who writes about sports and outdoors, health and fitness, and science and tech, especially where the three elements in that Venn diagram overlap.
