7 Wild Winter Adventures

There’s no stopping winter adventurers like Jim Rothman, a sixty-four-year-old former Twin Cities resident who retired and built a house at Giants Ridge two years ago. Rothman snowboards five days a week, but he also skis downhill and cross-country. “It’s a great place to be active,” he says. “It’s all right in your back yard.”

Giants Ridge’s Alpine runs feature vertical drops of up to 500 feet with lift lengths of 1,800 to 2,500 feet. There are sixty kilometers of Nordic skiing trails, some of which straddle the Laurentian Divide. And snowboarders can try the terrain park or the freestyle park, where a top-to-bottom mogul run is expected to debut this winter. The family appeal is unmistakable. “It’s quite common for the teenage boys to be on the hill or spending pretty much all their time in the [snowboarding] park, while Mom goes cross-country skiing in the morning and is on the hill in the afternoon,” says Giants Ridge winter sports director John Filander.

Lodge-to-Lodge Skiing in Northeast Minnesota
If solitude is more to your liking, lodge-to-lodge cross-country skiing could be the way to go on your winter adventure. Bluefin Bay resort in Tofte, which offers lodge-to-lodge hiking in the summer, does the same with Nordic skiing. It’s simple: Strap on your skis, step onto a trail system, and your starting-point lodge will transport all of your travel belongings to your destination lodge.

Dozens of northeastern Minnesota resorts offer lodge-to-lodge activities, which can be tailored to skiers’ level of expertise and stamina. “You can have a wilderness experience but enjoy all the creature comforts in the evening,” says Bluefin Bay founder and co-owner Rob Buntz. “You’re on a trek, so to speak, not just doing a trail loop, and you’re actually making progress up the trail.” 

Skijoring under the Northern Lights
Aural sensations give way to visual with skijoring. Never heard of skijoring? Think cross-country skiing, only with a dog pulling you. Then think of skijoring under the lights—the Northern Lights. The atmospheric fireworks are spectacular along the North Shore.

“It’s really incredible up here sometimes,” says naturalist John Silliman, who runs the skijoring demonstrations offered during the day at Gunflint Lodge, north of Grand Marais. Skijoring can be more of a workout than traditional cross-country skiing because the dogs pull skiers faster than they’re accustomed to skiing, and there is the physical challenge of staying upright. Silliman has clocked his dogs at eighteen miles an hour while he was skijoring across ice. Gunflint also offers skiing and snowshoeing across the North Shore’s remarkable overlooks and under the stars.

“On a full-moon night, it’s almost like early daylight,” Silliman says. “There are nights where you can hardly see the constellations because there are so many stars.”

Ice Fishing and Mushing in Ely
The Ely area is a hub of winter activity, where the adventuresome might try their hand at an ice fishing-and-mushing package offered by Northern Lights Lodge on Bear Island Lake in Superior National Forest.

A typical mushing-and-fishing adventure might be to ride dogsleds for two hours, set up camp, build a fire, prepare a hot lunch, and fish. There are half-day trips, full-day trips, and trips with as few as two participants or as many as eight. Destination lakes include Wood, Basswood, Knife, Ima, Perch, Whisper, and Thomas.

“Guests enjoy being around the dogs, mushing a team,” says lodge owner Marie Vogt. “Getting out and trying a fishing hole that is somewhat remote is exciting—and so is getting out and, in all likelihood, not encountering another person.”