News & Stories

Loppet and MPRB Investing in Winter Recreation Infrastructure

For years snowmaking at Wirth has been hamstrung by a lack of infrastructure. For instance, the park pulls water directly from a well – meaning warmer water. And the Park has had only a few available snowguns. This year the Loppet Foundation and the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board (MPRB) are working together to bring a new cooling tower to Theodore Wirth Park for colder water along with new snow guns. The upshot should be earlier and better snowmaking.

Through the partnership, the Loppet Foundation is also investing in a new tubing hill, with a new tow rope setup, reconfigured ski trails, and new mountain bike event trails. The hope is to have all of this in place – with the possible exception of the mountain bike event trails – in time for winter 2016-2017.

“We are really excited about this winter,” commented Loppet Foundation Executive Director, John Munger. “We will have upgraded equipment, a great new trail alignment, and we are really excited about our new role as the primary provider of winter recreation services with the Park Board.”