For years a season of skiing at Theodore Wirth Park came at one price. This winter the same All-Access pass comes at three. The Loppet Foundation still sells the $100 pass and now calls it "our traditional, subsidized price." It has added a $150 Trail Sustainer pass that it says "reflects the actual cost of trail operations and maintenance," and a $200 Trail Builder pass to fund infrastructure "like additional snow-making."
So the price most skiers have paid for years sits a third below what the Loppet says the trails cost to run. The gap matters most in the first weeks of the season, when manufactured snow is the only groomed skiing at the park and every meter of it costs money to make. For Golden Valley skiers this is close to home, since the Minneapolis Park & Recreation Board describes Wirth as "partially in Golden Valley."
One pass, three prices, same trails
All three tiers include the same skiing. The Loppet runs the cross-country trails across the whole MPRB system: Columbia, Chain of Lakes, Hiawatha and Theodore Wirth. Each pass covers all of them. At Wirth, the snowmaking and lighted areas are the Hap Lutter Snowmaking Loop, the Judy Lutter Loop and the Twin Lake Trail.
The Loppet has carried these costs for a decade. In 2016 the Park Board announced an agreement under which the Loppet took over snowmaking, ski-trail grooming and other winter maintenance at Wirth. It kept the related facility revenue and took on the operating and maintenance costs of The Trailhead building. The Loppet's 2022–2024 annual report puts Trails & Trailhead operating expenses at $2,797,564, out of $10,480,068 in total operating expenses for that period.
Pass revenue helps cover that operating budget. With three prices, each skier now picks how much of it to pay:
- $100 All-Access: unlimited trail access at the subsidized price.
- $150 Trail Sustainer: what the Loppet says the trails actually cost to operate and maintain.
- $200 Trail Builder: that cost plus money for new infrastructure, with additional snowmaking named first.
The snow the top tier pays for
Snowmaking gets the extra money for a reason. Manufactured snow is what puts groomed skiing on the ground first. In each of the last two winters, Wirth's groomed season opened on one short strip of it.
On Thanksgiving Day, Nov. 28, 2024, the Loppet opened a roughly 400-meter out-and-back in Lower Stadium, according to its grooming report on Skinnyski. It ran from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. with the lights on. A year later the timing was almost the same. On Sunday, Nov. 30, 2025, the Loppet posted on Skinnyski: "Winter is here! The roughly 400 meter out and back in Lower Stadium is now open 6am-10pm." The same report said snowmaking was ongoing, the other snowmaking trails were still closed, and the natural snow trails were open but ungroomed.
Skiers' own reports from that week show what 400 meters feels like. One skier that Sunday night wrote that "snow guns are blasting" and guessed a longer loop would open soon. Another, on Dec. 3, called it "the small 200 yd long track" and "better than nothing."
The $200 tier is meant to pay for more snowmaking, and the first weeks of the season are where more would show. In both seasons, the only groomed skiing at Wirth over the last weekend of November was one short stretch of manufactured snow.
What the same trails cost by the day
The season pass is easier to judge against the daily rates. For 2026–27, an All-Access daily pass is $20 for adults and $10 for youth. A Natural Snow daily pass is $10 for adults and free for youth. The All-Access day pass covers the snowmaking loops. In the stretches when manufactured snow is the only groomed option, that is the pass that matters.
At $20 a visit, the $100 pass pays for itself on the fifth All-Access day and the $150 Trail Sustainer on the eighth. A skier who expects to be out more than about eight times by spring can pay the price the Loppet says reflects the actual cost of running the trails and still spend less than they would on day passes.
Skiing is only part of what The Trailhead sells. Here is what else is listed at 1221 Theodore Wirth Pkwy. this season:
| Activity | Listed price | Terms |
|---|---|---|
| Classic ski rental package | $16 | Rentals generally run three hours |
| Skate ski rental package | $20 | No new rentals after 7 p.m. |
| Classic rental + All-Access day pass | $26 | Combo price |
| Skate rental + All-Access day pass | $30 | Combo price |
| Snowshoes | $12 | Only when natural snow is on the ground |
| Fat-tire bike | $50 | Per rental |
| Snowboard package | $15 | Per rental |
| Snow tubing, rope tow | $17 | 100-minute session, conditions permitting |
| Snow tubing, hike-up | $10 | 100-minute session, conditions permitting |
| Private ski lesson | $110 to $252 | One to six people |
Group lessons in classic and skate run 90 minutes for ages 14 and up. They are generally held Friday through Sunday and on holiday Mondays. The combo prices show the same math as the season pass. A day of skate skiing on rental gear costs $30, which is a third of the way to a $100 pass.
A new kitchen inside the building the pass helps fund
The building those rentals come out of is The Trailhead. Under the 2016 agreement its upkeep belongs to the Loppet, and this winter it has a new cafe operator. Aki's BreadHaus, the longtime northeast Minneapolis bakery, took over the Trailhead Cafe in May and held a grand opening at the end of that month, the Star Tribune reported. That makes this Aki's first ski season serving skiers coming in off the trails.
At the opening, Racket reported a turkey and cheddar sandwich for $12 and smoked-salmon lox for $15, both on Aki's broetchen, plus $6 pretzels, $4 pretzel chips and $2 dips. Racket also reported that the menu was expected to change, with breakfast items, pastries and breads planned for June. Aki's own Trailhead page now lists breakfast sandwiches, fresh salads, locally roasted coffee, beer and wine.
The winter calendar at and around Wirth
The race calendar also runs partly on volunteer and organizational capacity, and one event is off this year. The Loppet announced that it will not host the High School Invite this January. In past years that event brought high school Nordic teams to Theodore Wirth Park for a team race. The rest of the season's dates:
- Sunday, Dec. 13, 2026, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Winter Market in the Valley, indoors at Brookview's Bassett Creek Room, 316 Brookview Pkwy. S., with 20-plus vendors and free admission.
- Sunday, Jan. 10, 2027, 10 a.m. to 1 p.m.: Winter Market in the Valley returns to the Bassett Creek Room.
- Feb. 6–7, 2027: City of Lakes Loppet Winter Festival, with cross-country ski, fat-bike, skijor, snowshoe and Kubb events.
- Saturday, Feb. 13, 2027: Luminary Loppet, a candlelit route around Lake of the Isles with ice features.
- Feb. 20–21, 2027: Loppet Junior Qualifier & SuperTour at Theodore Wirth Park, with a freestyle sprint on Saturday and a classic mass start on Sunday.
The SuperTour weekend brings the season's top-level racing to Wirth, on the trail system the Loppet operates and maintains. The $150 and $200 tiers ask pass holders to cover more of that cost, and the $200 tier puts money toward more snowmaking.
If you own near Wirth and want to know what Golden Valley's trail access is adding to your home's value this winter, David Brandner and The Accelerated Team can run the numbers with you. Get your instant home valuation.
