We were out in the Minneapolis area celebrating my aunt and uncle's 50th wedding anniversary, and we had an afternoon to visit Wild Mountain, just under an hour to the NE of where we are staying. Scott and I, my family, and cousins and their families all joined us. They have a summer park for all ages, including an increasingly rare alpine slide, go carts, high jump, water slides and park.
Sign at the ski area-it's summer in Minnesota, dontcha know?
Needless to say, that as a lift geek, visiting a place with not 1, not 2, but 3 center pole vintage Borvig quads and getting to ride one for the alpine slide was the highlight! The last time I rode one, it was at Temple, NH in 1991. Lift 2, the one that serves the alpine slide, dates back to 1978 and has a vertical of 268' and a length of 1156', according to Liftblog.com. The alpine slide itself is 1700' long and was a lot of fun, with twists and dips, more than the 268' vertical would suggest.
Looking up the line of Chair 2, slide to left
Base area showing Chair 2, left, and Chair 3 (a new Skytrac quad) right
Down the line
Unloading stations
Scott at the top of the alpine slide
Near the Go-Carts is one solitary standing tower from the old Chair 3 (far right), which was another Borvig quad that was built in 1973.
I didn't get a pic of Chair 4, but here is Chair 1, a 1983 quad with a vertical just under 200'.
Chair 1
Everybody had a great time - it was $40 for the day for all activities. The waterslides were fun too. The mountain has clearly had some investment in the last few years with a new lift, new bar area, more modern siding on the lodge. Staff was very friendly too. It was not crowded for such a beautiful day. Some day I'd like to go back and ski here. Has anybody else skied here before?
