40 Mph Winds Force Chester Bowl to Close Skiing

DULUTH, Minn. — Fun in the snow came to a halt at Chester Bowl in Duluth as wind gusts over forty miles an hour forced them to shut down operations on Friday.

Management tells us that chair lift swing at the ski hill is their biggest safety concern. At around noon Friday, Chester Bowl Employees decided the west wind was too dangerous to stay open.

This also postponed the freestyle Friday event until next Friday, the 25th.

“If the chair swings too much there is the risk of somebody getting dropped out of the chair there’s also the risk of the chair hitting like the lift towers or potentially hitting the lift houses as the chair passes by so we always keep an eye on that and make sure that we don’t put anybody in a dangerous situation,” Sam Luoma, Programs and Operations Manager at Chester Bowl said.

They say the fresh fallen snow helped cover up the older snow and to freshen the hill up. There is only a few weeks left to get out on the hill as they plan to close on March 13th.