Mount Kato fun

Dylan Basil enjoys a day on the slopes with other Waldorf students at Mount Kato Ski Resort.

By Dylon Basil

As we arrived at the ski resort I was a little taken back at the size of the mountain. It was quite small. In comparison to ski resorts back home it was around the size of a bunny slope, which is a beginner slope.

To give you a better perspective of my experience with ski resorts I have been snowboarding for 17 years. I started when I was 7 years old. Around 13 years old I entered my first racing competition. By 16 I became a snowboard instructor. I am from the east coast, specifically West Virginia. I grew up having a season pass to a ski resort called Canaan Valley. Canaan Valley Resort State Park is a state park within Canaan Valley, Tucker County, W. Va. Located in the highest valley east of the Mississippi River, the park contains the second-largest inland wetland area in the United States. The valley featured the first commercial ski development in West Virginia. I luckily lived 25 minutes away so commuting wasn’t a big deal. Weekends, holidays or school cancellations were a free pass to go ride!

However, living in the Midwest you’ll find mountains are quite limited. Mount Kato Ski Resort located in Mankato, Minnesota is around 2 hours away from my current residence, which is forest City, Iowa. The distance makes commuting rather difficult because I’m a collegiate athlete. According to Mount Kato website they state 19 trails are open, including 10 lifts. I can confirm that this is incorrect. I was only able to ride 14 trails and 6 lifts.

This did not take away from the riding experience.  The trails available were rather fun. Included in the available trails was one with jumps and rails called the Terrain Park. The temperature was 29 around 5:30 p.m. when Night skiing was available. Mount Kato had engineered their placement with lights on their trails very successfully, which makes night skiing all the more pleasant. We rode until 8:30 p.m.. This was my first time in a year, so I was pretty tired at the end.  All in all it was a fun experience. You make it what it is and it happens to be the best ski resort in the area. Ill take it!