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A lift from Duluth

Good deals at Spirit Mountain get skiers' blood racing.

I like Duluth. I like watching the ore boats, I like strolling on the Lake Walk — in fact, I like anything that gives me a good view of mercurial Lake Superior, which pounds away at the foot of the hills on which the city is built.

I even like Duluth in the winter, when, if you don't keep moving, you might wind up as stiff as the bronze statues that line the lakefront.

And I do move in Duluth, right down the slopes of Spirit Mountain, which, not coincidentally, give me great views of Lake Superior. And I do it cheap, at least on weekdays.

That's because the ski hill and 23 hotels offer an irresistible deal: Stay between Sunday and Friday, and you'll get two half-day lift tickets at Spirit Mountain. That's a good deal, considering the tickets have a value of $60.

With its long runs, scenery and vertical drop of 700 feet, Spirit Mountain is a wonderful place to ski. And there are many other things to do in Duluth. For nightlife, there's professional theater, comedy and national touring shows.

During the day, there's shopping downtown and at Fitger's and DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace and dining at fine restaurants. There's the downtown Depot, which houses four museums, and the Tweed Museum of Art on the UMD campus.

One February, my friend Becky and I went up for a fun weekend in Duluth, except our weekend was Thursday and Friday. We got to Duluth in time for a show at Renegade Comedy Theatre, then went to our hotel on Canal Park.

The Suites Hotel at Waterfront Plaza, like most of the buildings on Canal Park, once was a warehouse. Our suite had a large bedroom with two large windows, plus a separate room with full kitchen, desk and sofa.

In the morning, we had the free breakfast, tried out the pool and hot tub, then packed up and went shopping. At DeWitt-Seitz Marketplace, just down the street, we stopped at the Art Dock, where artists from all over the northland show their work.

Then we went back to DeWitt-Seitz for an early lunch at Amazing Grace Bakery & Café, where there's live music many nights, and drove up to Spirit Mountain with our lift vouchers.

It was a sunny, mild day, but there were no lines at the lifts. Mostly, we shared chairs with schoolchildren on field trips and, twice, with a photographer and producer from a New York City modeling agency, in town looking for young beauties.

At Spirit Mountain, though, they had eyes only for the long, undulating slopes and the spectacular view of St. Louis Bay and Duluth Harbor, stretching into the distance from the foot of the mountain. Duluth, they said, wasn't as much of a hick town as they'd thought it would be.

My favorite run was the Timber Cruiser, a mile-long intermediate run that winds to and fro through trees. Becky tried out the black-diamond Gandy Dancer and Bear Claw, while I practiced turns on the long, extra-wide Four Pipe, a great run for beginners.

We skied until dusk, then went back to Canal Park and got a table at Bellisio's, whose sponge-painted peach and brick walls and wrap-around mural of the Italian countryside made winter seem far away. We liked our Tuscan chicken salad, risotto and amaretto-pecan-apricot spumoni but had the most fun with our flights of wine; mine was four small glasses of "Italy's Most Elegant Whites.''

We felt pretty smug as we drove home; in 24 hours, we'd sampled the best of Duluth, had a ball and saved a wad of money. We didn't really need our arms twisted to visit Duluth — but to two bargain lovers, that was an awfully nice perk.

Trip Tips: Alpine skiing in Duluth

Accommodations: Be sure to request the Ski and Stay special when reserving an inn or hotel. Rates are higher than they would be without the lift tickets, but savings still are substantial, especially at the lower-priced hotels.

The deal also is good for Saturdays through Christmas, then only Sunday through Friday, excluding Martin Luther King and Presidents' Day holidays.

Participating Ski and Stay hotels include the Willard Munger Inn at the foot of Spirit Mountain in West Duluth; the Mountain Villas right atop the slopes; Fitger's Inn in the old brewery complex; A.G. Thomson House B&B in East Duluth; the Edgewater Resort and Waterpark; and, on Canal Park, Canal Park Lodge, Comfort Suites, Hampton Inn, Inn on Lake Superior, South Pier Inn and Suites at Waterfront Plaza.

Alpine skiing: Spirit Mountain has 22 runs and a vertical drop of 700 feet, which is twice as long as that of Afton Alps, Welch and Buck Hill in the Twin Cities and the longest in Minnesota after Lutsen, which has a 1,088-foot drop.

Learn to Ski or Snowboard Free Day is Jan. 3 in 2010. The rest of the season, under the First Tracks program, beginners age 13 and older get three hours of instruction plus equipment rental for $50. Equipment rental for a day is $27 for skis, $32 for boards. Lift tickets on Saturdays and holidays are $40-$35, $30-$25 for children 7-12. Children 6 and under are free with a paid adult. 800-642-6377.

Cross-country skiing: Spirit Mountain also grooms and maintains 22 kilometers of nordic trails, and Duluth's parks and rec department grooms many other excellent trails. For more, see Cross-country in Duluth.

Nightlife: Amazing Grace Bakery & Café on Canal Park often hosts folk musicians.  Also check out productions by Renegade Comedy Theatre,  the Duluth Playhouse, Change of Pace dinner theater in the Fitger's complex and national touring productions at the DECC Auditorium.

For a complete list, check the Visit Duluth calendar.

Information: Duluth tourism, 800-438-5884.

Last updated on October 14, 2009