A diamond in the gorge

Just a few miles south of the Canadian border in North Dakota’s Pembina Gorge, a mom-and-pop ski resort is offering an unexpected haven of warmth in the northern cold. At Frost Fire Park, parents help little ones find their bundled-up footing on skis. The lodge embraces guests with the smell of hot soup and cocoa, a bit of laughter sprinkled on for flavor. And Betty, the resident Great Pyrenees, snoozes in a sunbeam, accepting pets from passing skiers.

Buzzing through this ski bum dream is General Manager Patty Gorder – answering questions from the lodge staff, welcoming the band that will play that afternoon, touching base with the park’s board members who are hitting the slopes. Since taking over operations of the nonprofit destination in 2020, Gorder and her husband, Dustin, have not slowed in their pursuit of making Frost Fire Park a premier ski destination in one of the nation’s flattest states.

And they’re doing it.

Patty has a vision board in her upstairs office overlooking the park’s Yarrow slope. The board signifies increasing skier numbers, strengthening infrastructure, supporting surrounding communities. Patty gazed at the images. “A lot of stuff has been manifesting for sure,” she said, smiling.

Uphill battle

Patty and Dustin first met while working at Big Sky ski resort in Montana. Dustin, a Grafton, North Dakota native, brought Patty, a product of Tucson, Arizona, back to his home state in 2008. At that time, Frost Fire Park was having a hard time securing the income needed for updates and repairs. Over the next decade, plans were put in place to establish the Pembina Gorge Foundation, an entity that would help fundraise and advance the offerings of the park. Dustin was one of the first board members, leveraging knowledge gained from lift operations, snowmaking and trail grooming at Big Sky to help guide the Foundation’s efforts.

Progress was an uphill battle. The Foundation struggled to find the funding needed for a new chairlift, so a reopening of the slopes was delayed. The lift was finally installed, and downhill mountain biking trails were being built for summer tourism. Then it was discovered that the snowmaking infrastructure was well past its prime – another financial hurdle to overcome. The Foundation acquired an Economic Development Administration grant to help with the water and electric infrastructure needed for adequate snowmaking, so by 2019, Frost Fire Park was ready to pay off the lift, prepare for new snowmaking and reopen that winter.

“Dustin was super excited,” Patty said of opening day that year. The Gorders arrived at the park early, expecting “everybody and their grandma” to be there ready to ski. “But there were just 10 people that showed up to ski that day. And that broke my heart.”

The following September, as Dustin prepared for sugar beet harvest, the Foundation was hit with another blow: Frost Fire’s general manager was resigning.

“He comes home and he's just devastated because they're about to open. He's not quite sure how that's going to happen,” Patty remembered. She was already running her own business, a massage and yoga studio in Grafton, but she knew she had experience to contribute. “I said, well, I can try to help you guys until you guys find someone, but I'm not fully committed. That was in 2020. It's now 2025.”

A frontside 180

Patty launched into the role, setting strategic goals to get Frost Fire Park back up on its skis. Over the next four years, she created a marketing plan and hired a marketing coordinator to get the word out about the park across the region. She and the board developed events to entice new crowds and worked tirelessly to build a solid staff – access to H-2B visas ultimately helped to supplement the park’s local employees.

Frost Fire’s equipment rental procedures also needed a complete overhaul. The checkout system was still being run with pen and paper, making it difficult to stay compliant with the maintenance checks required by insurance. Patty used her connections with Big Sky to acquire a new-to-her digital rental system used by most ski resorts, which keeps track of how many times the skis have been used between being waxed and torqued. Ski racks, boot dryers and wax machines came in the package.

“It was very interesting,” Patty said of the original paper process. “We're talking like the Flintstone era. Well, we went from the Flintstones to the Jetsons. In one year. That was amazing.”

The momentum of the revitalization slowed during the 2022-2023 season. The park’s original snowmaking infrastructure couldn’t push through any longer, so it was time to install the new electrical and water systems throughout the hillside. Although they had funding for the equipment, the timing and complexity of the project was formidable. Thankfully, they had a partner in their power provider, Cavalier Rural Electric Cooperative (CREC).

“Early on, there was some help by the co-op. They've just been so generous as far as working with us,” Patty said, “They just have been really kind to just carry us when we were just like, we just can't – nothing’s coming in.”

Cavalier Rural Electric crews upgraded and relocated electrical equipment to support the snowmaking system and helped to clear out the old infrastructure. They also converted overhead lines to underground lines, repaired power poles that were damaged from the movement of the hill and completed other tasks as needed, helping to cover some of the construction costs along the way. Between the electric chair lift, electric snow guns and electric lodge heating, Frost Fire Park is an essential piece of the CREC membership.

“Our board of directors and our management staff, we think it's kind of a jewel in northeast North Dakota that a lot of people don't know about,” said CREC General Manager Marty Tetrault. “We've supported it very well and will continue to support it.”

The new snowmaking equipment allowed the Gorders to open two more black-diamond slopes that had been closed for many years when they reopened for the 2023-2024 season. Frost Fire Park had finally aligned what was needed to keep the doors open.

“We've gone from 10 skiers coming in on opening day to 100 skiers on opening day to selling out on skis,” Patty said. Annual skier numbers grew from 2,300 in their first season to nearly 7,000 in 2023-2024. Patty’s goal for this season is 12,000. “On Jan. 12 we were already at 5,300 skiers. And we’ll end the season in March. We're going to get there. I have no doubt that it's going to happen.”

There are still a few items on Patty and the Foundation’s wish list to ensure the park can thrive and bring development opportunities to its neighboring communities. First, they aim to raise the money needed to rebuild Frost Fire’s popular outdoor amphitheater, which was damaged by heavy snow in 2023. More lodging is needed at the park, in addition to the three new ski-in, ski-out cabins that are nearly complete. Employee housing is also a long-term goal.

And if it’s up to Patty, the park will eventually install the lighting needed for night skiing. But she’ll take one victory at a time.

The future of skiing

Carved across Frost Fire’s comeback story has been the need to tap into the next generation of skiers. Patty recognized this immediately and started building programs to bring kids to Frost Fire. She and the team started ski school programs, through which local schools can bring hundreds of students to the park on Fridays to try out the sport at a substantially reduced cost. But then she took it further.

“It starts with the kids,” Patty said. “I was like, we're going to give every single kid in Wahalla a free lift pass.”

Last season, Frost Fire distributed lift ticket vouchers to Walhalla students, and then expanded that offer to other local schools. This season, they opened it up to thousands of students within a two-hour-drive radius in North Dakota, Minnesota and Canada. Nearly 3,000 kids took them up on it.

Patty has turned the park into a training ground for the future, hosting a one-credit ski course for the University of North Dakota and being the homebase for the Blizzard of North Dakota, a nonprofit run by ski instructor Stephen Parkes that provides a full season of ski instruction, rentals and lunches for kids who couldn’t otherwise afford the sport.

“If it wasn't for Mrs. Frost Fire – because that's her code name – this wouldn't be happening,” Parkes said during a recent visit with his students. “She is the most perfectly accommodating individual I've ever met. She just loves this and we're glad to be part of it.”

Frost Fire Park’s history contains some rough trails, bad luck and ostensibly insurmountable obstacles. But it seems with the collective support of weekend regulars, a steadfast board and the Gorder power duo, fresh powder has been laid for the park’s future.

“This place takes a lot of love. There's a lot of passion and a lot of heart that goes into it. And if it wasn't for the people that show up on a daily basis,” Patty said, a slight hitch in her voice, “it wouldn't be what it is.”

MAIN IMAGE: Snowboarders take advantage of the new Frost Fire Park chair lift, which is also used by mountain bikers in the summer.