Minnesota — The revival of Steeplechase has been an interesting story.
The upside-down ski area first opened in 1999, with its base lodge being a former church. The ski area’s first iteration didn’t last long, closing in 2007. For years, it sat abandoned. Justin Steck purchased the property in 2016 and began hosting weddings in the base lodge. From there, he worked on reviving the ski area. The tubing hill was brought back in 2021, and Steeplechase reopened for lift-serviced skiing and riding in February 2023. Since then, they’ve been able to grow their mountain despite the past two winters resulting in underwhelming snowfall.
This week, Steeplechase announced that work has commenced on a new double black diamond trail. The narrow off-camber run (marked in red above) will start through the woods and then conclude with a twenty-five-foot near-vertical drop. Work on sculpting the trail has begun, as they expect to open it during the 2025-26 season.
While they want to grow the mountain expeditiously, warm winters over the past two seasons may delay these projects. In April, they launched a fundraiser on Indiegogo to help raise funds to add new trails, upgrade their snowmaking infrastructure, and acquire another snow groomer.
Click here to learn more about their future plans.
Image/Video Credits: Steeplechase Ski Hill
