Overview
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Imagery: USGS The National Map · Terrain: Mapzen, USGS and others
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Mount Frontenac stood among the Mississippi River bluffs about a mile northwest of Frontenac. In September 1965 a Rochester classified ad sought weekend instructors for a new area there; MWLSAP gives 1965 as its first year, with a question mark.1,2,5,6
Read the whole historyTodayThe former ski runs are part of an 18-hole golf course.7
Timeline
6 events · swipe
Memories
Skied Mount Frontenac, or worked there?
Tell us what you remember, or what this page has wrong. Memories show here, credited to you, after we read them; facts are checked against a source before they change a figure.
Lost near Mount Frontenac
The closest other lost ski areas, as the crow flies.
- 1970–1975 · 30 mi away · WisconsinA ski area between Cochrane and Alma in west central Wisconsin, also called Hiawatha Valley, that ran from 1970 to 1975.
- 1952–1972 · 35.8 mi away · MinnesotaA family-run rope-tow ski area on the Mississippi River bluffs at Pine Bend, between South St. Paul and Hastings, that operated from the 1950s until 1972.
- 1947–1985 · 37.2 mi away · MinnesotaA small ski hill off Bamber Valley Road Southwest in Rochester, Minnesota, run by the city in its last years until it closed in 1985.
History
Written by aurora.ski from the 7 pages below, each sentence numbered to its sources.
Mount Frontenac stood among the Mississippi River bluffs about a mile northwest of Frontenac. In September 1965 a Rochester classified ad sought weekend instructors for a new area there; MWLSAP gives 1965 as its first year, with a question mark. A new section with a double chairlift for beginners and intermediates opened in 1972. In January 1975 SKI Magazine described 14 runs in a wooded ravine, split into three areas so novices stayed off the steep terrain, with a chairlift on the long intermediate runs, T-bars elsewhere, snowmaking, and cross-country touring into Frontenac State Park.1,2,5,6
Around 2000 the Prairie Island tribe, owner of the nearby Treasure Island casino, bought the golf course and ski area. In January 2002 SKI listed 420 feet of vertical, 14 slopes and trails with a terrain park, three double chairs and three surface tows. In September 2003 a reader's letter to the Red Wing Republican Eagle lamented that the tribal council was closing the ski area after 35 years, saying its managers had favored the golf course. MWLSAP gives 2003 as the closing year; Wikipedia credits it with 17 named runs, six lifts and 80 skiable acres.1,3,4,7
TodayThe former ski runs are part of an 18-hole golf course.7
Timeline
- 1965A new area near Frontenac advertises for weekend ski instructors1,2
- 1972A new section opens with a double chairlift5
- 1975SKI Magazine describes 14 runs, a chairlift and T-bars6
- c. 2000The Prairie Island tribe buys the golf course and ski area3,4
- 2002Three double chairs, three surface tows and a terrain park listed3
- 2003The owners close the ski area after about 35 years1,4
Sources for this history (7)
- 1Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project · Mt. Frontenac
- 2Post-Bulletin (Rochester, Minnesota) · Classified ad for ski instructors at Mt. Frontenac (Post-Bulletin, Rochester, September 15, 1965), clipping on MWLSAP
- 3SKI Magazine · Mt. Frontenac, Minn. (SKI Magazine, January 2002), clipping on MWLSAP
- 4Republican Eagle (Red Wing) · Ski slope closing a loss to communities (letter to the editor, Republican Eagle, September 15, 2003)
- 5The Minneapolis Star · Ski facilities new, old and changed (Ralph Thornton, The Minneapolis Star, November 9, 1972), clipping on MWLSAP
- 6SKI Magazine · Mount Frontenac, Minnesota: Gorgeous gorge (SKI Magazine, January 1975), clipping on MWLSAP
- 7Wikipedia · Frontenac, Minnesota
Photos
No photographs of Mount Frontenac we may republish yet
Its old photos and trail maps live on the sites that collected them, and Google finds the rest.
Memories
What skiers remember of Mount Frontenac, in their own words.
Facts
Location
44.5145° N · 92.3829° W · Minnesota
OpenSkiMap lists it as abandoned.
Years operated
until 2003 · the year it opened is not yet collected
Closed after the 2003 season. It stays here as part of the record of U.S. ski areas.
Its numbers
all 4all 4, in one list
Terrain contours: USGS 3D Elevation Program, public domain