The Minnesota Thread

[C.B.]

Originally Posted by kimchijajonshim

...where have you been riding that Minnesota is a potential upgrade?

I've lived in southern mn my whole life, so my day trips were limited to mostly welch, kato and afton.

Where as now I am close to giants spirit and lutsen

Pretty good upgrade in my book

[atrus]

Originally Posted by kimchijajonshim

...where have you been riding that Minnesota is a potential upgrade?

Welch and Afton are garbage. Need to hit Trollhaugen and Hyland, those sound like decent local places to Twin Cities (but pricier).

I don't understand why people claim Welch and Afton are garbage. I'm not a park rider, but have been to many hills, and so far as the runs go (non park) they are top notch in the area, buck is good for learning how to go downhill, but otherwise not much there. I learned at Trollhaugen, haven't been back, heard the park is good, but again, thats not what I'm into yet.

[atrus]

Originally Posted by optical

Ya Andes has maybe 15 runs or so and the only goals i hope to accomplish will be to ride goofy as close to as good as i ride regular and i have always had troubles with backspin's so that is my goal.

When I first learned to ride, they (my friends) kept forcing me to ride regular, and the board kept spinning to goofy, so I let it and the learning curve went straight up. My son wanted to ride goofy, couldn't get it, took lessons regular, and by the 3rd lesson he was back to goofy, and damned good at it too. My goal this year is to trust myself at speed regular, I can do it pretty well, but I don't want to get in the habit of always riding heel-side, which is what I did when I started. I'm left handed, I've been told that has something to do with it.

Good Luck!

[HardBeatz]

Gotta diasagree with kimchijajonshim, Buck Hill is pretty bogus. Been there once and will never go back. Way too crowded and urban, which granted is an issue anywhere in the Twin Cities, but their longest run is TOPS a quarter mile. At least Afton has a nearly mile long run. Buck Hill has what, probably 40 acres TOPS of skiable terrain whereas Afton has 300. Afton has 48 runs and Buck Hill has what, not even 20? I'll give you that if your only a park rat and do not freeride at all Buck Hill isn't too bad, but it is not even close to Afton in terms of overall size. Not to mention you can actually hear i-35 while your boarding.

Ill concdede your point on Aftons lifts but once you learn their layout you learn how to get places pretty quickly and the lifts do take longer because Afton is taller than Buck as well. I will agree that Welch is overated but Lutsen and Spirit are both fun if you can make a 2+ hour trip to both those places. Trollhaugen is ONLY good for their Friday night boarding which is $15 for riding from 10pm - 3am, otherwise don't even waste your trip for their short ass runs. Overall, boarding in MN is pretty sad, even Lutsen isn't that crazy and Lutsen is hands down THE best place in MN. The problem being your talking a 4+ hour drive that may be even worse due to weather conditions. Never been to Wild and have no desire to go.

Afton also has pretty dope drink prices if your in to those sorts of things as well ($4 patron shots!).

Here would be my breakdown of the best places in MN (purely for freestyle, I dont do park too much):

1. Lutsen
2. Spirit
3. Afton
4. Welch
5. Buck Hill

[kimchijajonshim]

Originally Posted by atrus

I don't understand why people claim Welch and Afton are garbage. I'm not a park rider, but have been to many hills, and so far as the runs go (non park) they are top notch in the area, buck is good for learning how to go downhill, but otherwise not much there. I learned at Trollhaugen, haven't been back, heard the park is good, but again, thats not what I'm into yet.

I grew up riding Tahoe. So that colors my perspective. Afton to me was big (for local) but not very steep. Welch is better with a couple good bomber runs, but still nothing terribly impressive. Buck is small, but they have a consistently steeper grade and you're not waiting FOREVER on lifts. I'd rather do short runs with fast lifts than long (relatively) runs with slow lifts. Buck also gets points for me for having some creativity and building jumps bigger than 10 ft... Welch put up some fun features last year but their jump line is lame. Afton... only been there twice but it was like they weren't even trying. I'd still go to Welch for cheap, Afton I don't know if I'd hit it unless it was free.

Originally Posted by C.B.

I've lived in southern mn my whole life, so my day trips were limited to mostly welch, kato and afton.

Where as now I am close to giants spirit and lutsen

Pretty good upgrade in my book

Fair enough. Is Giant's in MN? I thought it was in WI for some reason.

[C.B.]

Afton is a blast if you hit it on a weekday morning. The lifts are still slow but usually no lines at all. and they still usually have 15 of the 18 open.

My best day day of riding was at afton last year on a wedensday morning right after we got 8" of snow. nothing had been groomed, it was 28 and sunny, and 90% of the time we had the whole run to our selves.

Pure fun

[kimchijajonshim]

Originally Posted by C.B.

Afton is a blast if you hit it on a weekday morning. The lifts are still slow but usually no lines at all. and they still usually have 15 of the 18 open.

My best day day of riding was at afton last year on a wedensday morning right after we got 8" of snow. nothing had been groomed, it was 28 and sunny, and 90% of the time we had the whole run to our selves.

Pure fun

Think i did the same at Welch last year. That was a good day.

[C.B.]

Originally Posted by kimchijajonshim

Is Giant's in MN? I thought it was in WI for some reason.

yeah its pretty close to virginia, its not the biggest(500 vert and 200 some acers)or best, but in terms of grooming and infrastructure its the nicest. it gets pretty busy on weekends with from church trips and whatnot, but they tend to stick to the green runs and the rest of the place is pretty wide open.

[spanishflow24]

Did any of you guys go to the snow expo at the MOA this weekend?

[hikeswithdogs]

Afton and Trollhaugen guy here myself, I don't really do the park so I love the variety and how spread out Afton is(and they have 18 "fast" 2 man lifts), you have to know how to ride the place so you can do laps from one side of the place to the the other, also lots of woods and places to ride in the state park nearby if you have lots of snow and 2 bars one below and one above. Welch is fine but is crowded because they sell all those uber cheap early season passes that and it's to far away from everything to ride every day after work.