Back in August, we laid out the case for why letting kids ride free isn’t just good PR, it’s the only real play the industry has if it wants a future. The argument was simple: cost is the single biggest barrier to getting young people on snow, and if resorts actually care about growing the sport, they need to act like it. We called it a disruptive campaign to reignite the soul of winter sports. You can read that piece here. Well, somebody was listening. Mont du Lac Resort, sitting right on the St. Louis River in Superior, Wisconsin, just announced that starting with the 2026/27 winter season, every skier and snowboarder 15 and under rides free. No asterisks. Free season passes, free lift tickets, for all youth in that age group. The resort expects to open the door for more than 1,500 youth during the coming season alone. That’s not a marketing stunt, that’s a genuine commitment to pipeline development, and it deserves recognition. Now, MDL isn’t Whistler. The resort runs 11 scenic runs and a terrain park with over 20 rotating features, situated right along the St. Louis River near the Minnesota border. It’s a family mountain in the truest sense, the kind of place where someone gets their first chairlift ride, links their first turns, discovers that snowboarding is actually the greatest thing on earth. Those hills matter, probably more than the big-ticket destination resorts ever will, because that’s where the next generation actually starts. The economics of snowboarding participation have been broken for years. Lift tickets at major resorts have spiraled to the point where a family day on the mountain competes with a car payment. The sport has quietly been pricing out exactly the demographic it needs most, kids. MDL is cutting through that noise with a policy that’s hard to argue with. The program is expected to become one of the most accessible youth ski programs in the Midwest. For a region with a deep, cold-weather culture and no shortage of stoke, that’s a meaningful distinction. The question now is whether other resorts are paying attention. A regional hill in Wisconsin just raised the bar. What’s the excuse for everyone else? The Last Word Programs like this don’t just fill chairs on slow Tuesday nights, they build riders for life. Every kid who gets their first real season on snow without their parents having to sweat the ticket cost is a potential lifer, a future gear buyer, a season pass holder, a person who passes it on to their own kids someday. MDL gets it. The sport needs more of this energy, and it needs it fast. You’re currently a free subscriber to that snowboarding blog. For the full experience, upgrade your subscription.
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Rabu, 11 Maret 2026
Mic Check: MDL Resort Is Doing It Right
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