Lutsen Mountains Resort is a fuzzy dream, where skiers shouted unseen from the fog and snowboarders edged figures in low contrast falling from the sky. The resort is overlooking Lake Superior and has a gray skies, soft snow, quiet woods and winter streams. Lutsen is the largest ski resort in Minnesota. The spot is a worthy downhill destination with 92 trails and a respectable 1,088 feet of vertical drop.

Situated among four peaks in the Sawtooth Mountains of Minesota, trails cut through deep woods and a snow-choked valley that conceals a creek. A gondola tram lift, very unusual in this part of the country carries red cars over the Poplar River.

If you look inland from one of the lifts at Lutsen and the Superior National Forest rolls away to the horizon, a carpet of birch and pine heading onward into the Boundary Waters Canoe Area, then to Canada beyond. Then look south or east and the view offers the blue sky with icy plane of Lake Superior.

On Moose Mountain, the resort’s largest hill, trails roller coaster from a broad summit. The resort opened its lifts in 1948. It grew over the decades, adding lodges and lifts but held on to its North Woods aesthetic. The area had a distinct feel with a “laid-back woodsy vibe where you can wear a flannel shirt and you smell wood smoke in the air.

But Lutsen’s long runs and varied terrain, including beginner to expert trails served by 10 lifts, keep regulars coming back. The resort is more affordable than a Rocky Mountain getaway, and its slopes stay open later — until April 12 this year — than most ski areas in the Midwest.