Skiing the North Shore

Why is North Shore skiing so darn good? Why do intelligent people give up on career advancement just to live near these trails? Why do families drive five hours each way for a few glorious hours in these woods? There’s no single answer to these questions. It’s the rugged scenery and remote terrain. It’s the winter weather, bringing more reliable snowfall to the North Shore than anywhere else in the state. It’s the traditional hospitality passed down from generations. A massive geologic event over one billion years ago created the foundation of the North Shore’s current landscape. Layer after layer of lava and magma erupted from a huge rift in the earth’s crust. These layers stacked up 20,000 feet high, then tilted in toward the center of what is now Lake Superior. Glaciers from the last Ice Age scoured these layers down, leaving distinct ridges and valleys known now as the Sawtooth Mountains. The glaciers left behind the basin for the world’s largest expanse of fresh water, Lake Superior. The broad inland sea that settled next to these rugged ridges created the perfect combination of dramatic views and lake-effect climate. Now, the ridges of the North Shore have by far the highest annual snowfall and longest-lasting snow cover in Minnesota. There’s another reason why cross-country skiing fits this region like a mitten on a ski pole—the people of the North Shore. The history of cross-country skiing is long and mostly Scandinavian. It’s no wonder that Minnesota, with its strong Scandinavian heritage, became such a hot spot for “Nordic” skiing. But where the Swedes and Norwegians settled in the south and west of the state, it was the Finns who came to the North Shore and left their mark. Korkki Nordic Ski Center in rural Duluth was an early center of skiing, with trails built by Charlie Banks in 1954 on land homesteaded by his Finnish father-in-law. A 1977 effort by Governor Rudy Perpich (a native of northeastern Minnesota) to make Minnesota the “Ski Touring Capital of the Nation” resulted in a flurry of activity with new standards, legislation, and trail signage. North Shore community members were responsible for most of the trails we see today. Local skiers and resort owners, with training from state and national clubs, made up crews that built hundreds, even thousands, of miles of ski trails. Trails such as those at Sugarbush in Tofte were built with collaboration from resort owners, the Forest Service, and local residents. In Duluth, local volunteers joined with the city parks department to lace trails through the city’s green spaces. One Finn built his own trails at Piedmont, only to have them adopted by the city later on. Why are these trails so darn good? Because time and nature and people have made it so.