Up North: Frosted Fatty brings racers to Northland

Fat tire bikes have been a part of Northland activities for quite some time, over this past weekend they were used in an unconventional manner for the 2023 Frosted Fatty at Spirit Mountain.

“We got the frosted fatty going on today, which is a blast. It’s our mid-winter celebration of fat biking, enjoying the downhill life here. Really excited to welcome the fat packers back out today to hop on the lift and race each other down two different downhill courses,” said Jon Regenold, Director of Resort Services.

Excitement surrounded the 7th annual Frosted Fatty where over 30 bikers took part in the fun. Making use of a few strange but much needed different techniques than normal fat bike races on the road or trails.

“Very low tire pressure because the like snow shoes, they work by spreading themselves out over the snow and so they don’t sink on the snow. It’s kind of counterintuitive to have really low tire pressure just because it’s so different than racing on the road,” St. Paul native and participant Dominic Selly stated.

“On the ice, you got different friction and the snow on the ice creates so much more friction. So the low tire pressure makes it help with so it’s a lot more work,” Selly added.

The race wasn’t a mass start but based off of added times from various runs, also with separations between male, female and age groups.

“The ability to ride your fat bike down the hill, take the lift back up. It’s not not that prominent. It’s pretty cool to be able to invite people out to do the frosted fatty and to race against their buddies,” concluded Regenold.

The fun evening was also capped off by a dual slalom which pitted biker vs. boarder vs. skier to see who was king of the mountain.
For more information on the event and future ones at Spirit Mountain, CLICK HERE