Val Chatel Ski Area
Park Rapids, Minnesotamid-1950s to about 1987 (1953 per MWLSAP)
Order Val Chatel Ski Area tees, long sleeve tees, hoodies and crewnecks. Rodney and Helen Peterson ran it around a small lake near Park Rapids, Minnesota, and in 1964 put in a 1,100-foot chairlift described as only the second in the state. It carried skiers out over the frozen lake, where light planes sometimes landed. A 1968 SKIING magazine story praised the chalet's French fried onion rings. Browse the styles below, and the full Val Chatel history is further down. Down Home Apparel is an American small business remembering the best places and teams of yesteryear, and every shirt is printed to order in the USA.
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Val Chatel Ski Area History
Val Chatel Ski Area near Park Rapids, Minnesota, sat in a natural bowl of red pine around a small lake about 16 miles north of town on County Road 4, in the Hubbard County lake country near the headwaters of the Mississippi. Rodney and Helen Peterson opened it in the mid-1950s, with Rodney as the artist of the pair and Helen running the business and the kitchen. A trail map from the 1955 to 1956 winter shows six runs with names like Christmas Park, Paul's Schuss, The Alpen Horn, Ravine Run, The Gallant Eggbeater and Bunny Duster, plus floodlit night skiing and a skating rink.
In 1964 the Petersons put in a 1,100-foot single chairlift, described at the time as only the second chairlift in Minnesota. It carried skiers about 150 feet out over the frozen lake, then called Lac Chatel, before climbing the Bunny Duster slope. Three rope tow systems served the other runs, and the vertical drop was about 270 feet. Light planes landed on the lake ice, and most of the customers drove over from Fargo and Moorhead. The chalet served dinner all year, and a 1968 SKIING magazine story praised its French fried onion rings. The single chair ran until about 1971.
The Petersons split up in the 1980s, and after some snowless winters they left the business. Later owners kept the slopes going for a while. A February 1987 ad announced that all slopes were open, listed 14 kilometers of groomed cross-country trails, and called the place the Home of the Epic Viking Theatre, an outdoor summer show staged on the lakeshore from 1986 for about three seasons. By December 1987 the resort, about 360 acres with a two-story lodge, a Swiss chalet building, three rope tows and a chairlift, was advertised for sale at $750,000.
The land changed hands several times after that, and no ski business returned. In 2022 the Trust for Public Land bought the 352-acre property with help from an anonymous donor and gave it to Hubbard County for a new Deep Lake Park. The lodge, guest lodge and amphitheater were torn down in the fall of 2025, with the lobby chandelier and some of the big lodge beams saved for the park.