Afton Alps

[St. Bear]

Being a little bored at work, the Epic Pass banner ad at the top of the page drew my attention. I'd never heard of Afton Alps, so I clicked it (you're welcome, Nick). It's a tiny hill next to Minneapolis.
Here are some choice stats:

• 350' vertical
• 48 trails
• 18 lifts!!!!! (and that's not counting magic carpets)

So, naturally I had to look at the trail map. Holy crap, talk about a clusterf*ck.

 

[skiking4]

Looks like Big Birch/Thunder Ridge times 10, with 4 times as many lifts as trails.

 

[SIKSKIER]

Holy crap.Don't think I've ever seen a ski area with a lift on almost every trail.

 

[xwhaler]

haha my soon to be sister in laws name is Afton and my brother and her are skiiers......I need to show them this
I like how the trail map is essentially a flat view looking down....prob looked even more strange if it was normal orientation.

 

[SIKSKIER]

What an odd place.Not really a hill but more of a drainage.First ski area I've seen where you ski under power lines and has a golf course on the top.

 

[gmcunni]

Our good friends moved from CT to MN and ski/ride there often.

 

[Warp Daddy]

My grandson skied Afton and Buck Hill last winter when he was looking at University of Minnesota for pharmacy . It is a drainage and an intersting factoid is Paul Augustine who owned AA also owned Titus Mtn where i ski in the Dacks until his death 2 yrs ago . BUck hill is where Lindsey Vonn started and is home to some pretty fair Slalom racers.

 

[St. Bear]

I'm just trying to imagine how crowded they must get to need that much uphill capacity.

 

[from_the_NEK]

^ It is only 25 miles from Minneapolis/St Paul. But many of the lifts are doubles.

 

[skiking4]

This has to be the first ski area I've seen where you ski under power lines and have a golf course on the top.

Well stratton has a run at the bottom of snowbowl where you ski under power lines... and I think maybe Jay Peak too there's powerlines on the Powerline run.

 

[steamboat1]

I guess that why they call the power line trail at K power line.

 

[from_the_NEK]

Burke has a Powerline trail too. But the powerline at Afton is not just some wire strung from a pole running to the top of a mountain. At Afton you have a large set of high capacity transmission lines that go across the slopes.

 

[steamboat1]

Burke has a Powerline trail too. But the powerline at Afton is not just some wire strung from a pole running to the top of a mountain. At Afton you have a large set of high capacity transmission lines that go across the slopes.

If you go to Mt. Sainte Anne in Quebec it's the same thing, high capacity transmission lines that go across the slopes.

 

[from_the_NEK]

But that's in Canada... High capacity transmission lines go across everything thanks to HydroQuebec

 

[gmcunni]

Our good friends moved from CT to MN and ski/ride there often.

our friends were back east a few weeks ago and skied @ Mt Snow. they said "It was great to ski a mountain where you couldn't have a conversation with someone at the bottom of the hill while standing on at the top"

 

[ScottySkis]

NY Catskills.

 

[gmcunni]

a pic from afton today -

 

[Warp Daddy]

Yep thats the GNARLY headwall there :dunce:

 

[BenedictGomez]

Holy crap.Don't think I've ever seen a ski area with a lift on almost every trail.

That makes absolutely no sense.

The only two logical options I can imagine are:

1) Very rich and eccentric owner
2) Government money

 

[4aprice]

What an odd place.Not really a hill but more of a drainage.First ski area I've seen where you ski under power lines and has a golf course on the top.

Lucky you, you've never been to Mountain Creek.

Alex

Lake Hopatcong, NJ