In 1958, a group of locals on Minnesota’s Iron Range took a single rope tow, a hill they had cleared themselves, and a chalet converted from an old trailer court building, and decided to call it a ski resort. That was the start of Giants Ridge. It is an origin story that says a lot about how the Iron Range has always built things: practically, communally, and with an eye toward what the next generation might enjoy. The America250 initiative gives us a moment to honor that scrappy, community-built tradition. At Giants Ridge, a proud part of the Adventures Unbound family, the history of this resort is the history of the people who refused to let it go.

The History

The ski hill here was first developed in 1958 to 1959, when the main run was cleared and equipped with a single rope tow and a small chalet built from a converted trailer court building. The setting was, and still is, the Iron Range region of St. Louis County, surrounded by the forests and lakes of northern Minnesota. Modest origins, even for the era.

The resort faced financial struggles and a temporary closure in the late 1970s and early 1980s. What kept the place alive was a partnership with the state. The Iron Range Resources and Rehabilitation Board (IRRRB), a Minnesota state economic development agency, acquired the resort and in 1984 invested about $6 to 7 million to transform Giants Ridge into a major alpine ski and Nordic training complex. As The Storm Skiing podcast notes, that public investment created one of the most unusual ownership stories in American skiing and turned the hill into a serious destination.

The Nordic side of the resort earned international attention in the late 1980s. As the Duluth News Tribune recalled, the world’s best cross-country skiers competed at Giants Ridge during a World Cup event in Biwabik, including Finnish star Marjo Matikainen, who anchored her relay team to victory and finished third in the 10km individual classic. Today, the resort includes 35 ski trails, modern chairlifts, an extensive Nordic trail network, lodging, and a wide range of summer attractions, including golf courses, mountain biking, hiking, and lakeside recreation around Wynne Lake. The Michigan Golf Journal has consistently ranked the resort among the Upper Midwest’s top travel destinations.

The Connection

The Iron Range is a part of the country that built things with its hands. Iron, lumber, railroads, ski hills. When the original Giants Ridge chalet was assembled from the bones of a trailer court, the people doing the work were following a pattern as old as the region itself. When the state stepped in to save the hill in the 1980s, that too followed a regional logic: public investment in the things that bring people together.

A weekend at Giants Ridge today is a chance to experience that history in motion. The slopes you ride on were carved by people who believed this corner of Minnesota deserved a world-class resort, and the trails through the woods carry the same spirit forward.

For more America250 stories from across our properties, visit Adventures Unbound’s America250 page.