Lutsen Mountains, a popular destination for Midwestern skiers for 70 years, is planning an expansion that would roughly double both its size and the number of skiers who use it every year.
The family-owned business along Lake Superior's North Shore in Cook County has applied for a special-use permit from the U.S. Forest Service that would allow it to add new ski runs, lifts and parking on 550 acres of Forest Service land adjoining the existing ski area.
The planned expansion would nearly double the skiable terrain, from 180 to 320 acres. And Lutsen hopes it also will double the number of "skier visits," from 100,000 a year to 200,000.
More than 300 U.S. ski areas have closed in the past 30 years as the industry consolidates, said Lutsen co-owner Charles Skinner, whose family bought Lutsen in 1980 from founder George Nelson. Those that remain, primarily in the western United States, are growing larger.
To continue to attract skiers and remain an appealing alternative to a Western ski trip, Lutsen must offer a different, better and larger mix of runs, he said.
"We have a small local population of 5,000 in a county the size of Rhode Island," Skinner said in an interview last week. "We need to be a compelling destination for people to spend two, three, four days at and not get bored with the skiing they're experiencing."
Skinner said Lutsen needs more beginner and advanced runs. It also hopes to use the additional land to offer "glade skiing," runs that go through forested areas.
Jim Boyd, executive director of the Cook County Chamber of Commerce, said Lutsen Mountains is vital to winter tourism in the county, which depends on such business for more than 80 percent of its economy.