Moose Mountain Saved
The Next Chapter of Skiing and Stewardship in Minnesota
By Josef Fairbanks
Winter recreationists enjoy all that Moose Mountain has to offer on Superior National Forest. Unceded Anishinabewaki lands.
Photos by Joe Herron @joeherron_, Rory Scoles @superiorhighlandbc, and Josef Fairbanks @joeduluth
This write-up was originally featured in our Spring 2024 Trail Break issue.
The road North from Duluth on Minnesota’s Highway 61 winds through towering cliffs that hug the icy shores of Lake Superior. A skier’s eye wanders naturally from the double yellow centerline to draw its own lines in the surrounding snowy glades. Known as the Superior Highlands, this rugged, largely undeveloped region boasts some of the best skiing terrain in the Midwest. It’s no surprise that as the backcountry segment continues its boom in the ski industry, the Superior Highlands has become a hotbed for powder hounds willing to earn their turns. A local resort’s plan to develop the region’s most coveted skiing terrain nearly nipped this blossoming backcountry scene in the bud, but the community rallied to save its crown jewel: Moose Mountain.
Moose Mountain is Minnesota’s most prominent geological feature, rising 1000 vertical feet from Lake Superior to the summit. A canopy of mature hardwoods provide natural glades that transition to a dense mix of conifers. Open rock face clearings offer a range of terrain from gentle slopes to huckable cliffs. As part of theSuperior National Forest, the mountain is publicly accessible, but Lutsen Mountains Resort, a neighboring commercial ski operation that operates on one-half of Moose Mountain (on private land), applied for a special use permit to develop the adjacent public land in a massive resort expansion. The project would have prohibited public access to the mountain to allow exclusive use by in-bounds resort patrons paying for the privilege.
Winter recreationists enjoy all that Moose Mountain has to offer on Superior National Forest. Unceded Anishinabewaki lands.
Photos by Joe Herron @joeherron_, Rory Scoles @superiorhighlandbc, and Josef Fairbanks @joeduluth
Superior Highland Backcountry (SHB), a WWA Grassroots Group, helped galvanize the backcountry community’s resistance to the proposed expansion. In doing so, they joined others invested in protecting Moose Mountain, including local businesses, others in the outdoor community, and Ojibwe tribes with treaty rights to the land.In 2023, the US Forest Service denied the resort expansion proposal. The Forest Service cited the impacts of the expansion proposal on backcountry skiing access, tribal resources such as sugar maple stands, and negative effects for users of the adjoining Superior Hiking Trail. After years of advocacy, the group is now celebrating having saved Moose Mountain.
With the Forest Service’s decision to deny private development on Moose Mountain, SHB is preparing an application of its own. From its founding days, SHB proposed a new vision for the future of skiing in Minnesota—a network of hand-gladed, public-access backcountry ski areas and a hut-to-hut system for winter touring, with Moose Mountain as its beating heart. From SHB’s perspective, creating low-impact backcountry ski areas in Northern Minnesota is a creative and respectful opportunity to weave together stewardship, human health and enjoyment, and economic vitality. The group hopes to improve public access to the mountain asa backcountry ski area while respecting the alternative land uses. In this way, Saving Moose Mountain turns the page to an exciting new chapter of skiing as land stewardship in the region.
Winter recreationists enjoy all that Moose Mountain has to offer on Superior National Forest. Unceded Anishinabewaki lands.
Photos by Joe Herron @joeherron_, Rory Scoles @superiorhighlandbc, and Josef Fairbanks @joeduluth
