17 Feb Hitting the Slopes: Skiing at Wild Mountain
It was a mild winter day by Minnesota standards–the temperature was hovering around 10°F and we were itching to get out on the slopes for the first skiing session of the season. Plus, it was Micah’s birthday, so we had to get out and go on an adventure!
We hopped on Liftopia.com to purchase discount lift and rental tickets a couple of days prior, and we’re excited to see the several nearby ski hills had tickets available. If you are into skiing or snowboarding, you should definitely hit up Liftopia–we use it a few times a year and it saves a ton of money! Now if only all the ski resorts nearby were listed on the site…but, I digress…
We were excited to see temperatures above 0°F, but we still piled on the layers and made our way out east to Wild Mountain. Neither of us had ever skied here before, so we were excited to give it a try.
Last year we learned that if you head to a ski hill near the Twin Cities midday during the week, you will likely have a quiet day on the slopes. Any school groups that are there should be starting to pack up, and the after school crowds won’t arrive for several more hours. When we arrived, we were the only ones getting our lift tickets and rentals, and the slopes proved to be quiet, as well.
I was very grateful that we timed our visit during a slow period because I am still in the skill development phase of my skiing ability to say the least. As I’ve mentioned before, when I was younger, I would just fly straight downhill snowplowing the entire way. That was pretty much standard on our little hometown hill because you would likely reach the bottom before anything too terrible could happen. After heading out west to the mountains last year, I quickly realized that I need to learn how to control myself on skis. Thankfully, I had a bit of practice last winter, but a refresher was definitely in order again this year.
We hopped on the chairlift and decided to try what looked like the easiest hill first. Well, it was definitely easy–we laughed almost the entire way down because it felt more like a cross country ski trail than downhill skiing. I was ok with that though, as it made me get some of my comfort back. The snow was a little icy as the snow machines were running, but overall, it wasn’t too bad.
Micah doesn’t need any practice on skis so we split up for a while so he could go down any hill he wanted. I decided to spend the majority of the afternoon practicing my control on the easier hills because when I go on steeper hills, I automatically revert back to my old snowplowing ways. I don’t want to worry about killing myself next time we are at a larger mountain!
There are 26 runs at Wild Mountain and 4 chairlifts. The trails range from green to double black diamond, but this is Minnesota after all, so our tougher hills are nothing like they are in the mountains! They also have terrain park runs and snow tubing.
In the summer, Wild Mountain has an alpine slide, go karts, a water park and more. It’s actually a bit comical because the water park is located in the center of the ski hills, so you can sometimes see snow covered water slides when you are skiing!
After a few hours of skiing we decided to head inside, warm up and grab a snack. We ordered some cheese curds and soda (healthy, I know) and peeled off a few layers of clothes. As we sat in the chalet, we watched the after school crowd pour in. We had full intentions of skiing a bit more, but we kind of lost our steam and motivation as we thawed out. Plus, it was almost time for Micah’s birthday dinner, so we packed up and made our way back home. It was a great first ski of the year–hopefully next time I will feel more comfortable on the slopes!
Do you know how to ski? Where is your favorite spot to hit the slopes?