Yoopers, you know anything about resorts here?

[mca80]

Down in southeast Gogebic County we got about 9 inches so far today. Did 30 laps on my little 50ft hill. Feel like I have made real progress in 4 outings to this hill. But I want to spend a day riding lifts for more downhill practice with less effort uphill, figure the more downs I can get the more quickly I can learn. And since there is some snow right now, tomorrow may be a good day.

Anyone know much about these places? Only place I have been is Indianhead on alpine gear before I took up xc. The resort changed hands and prices rose ($63 for me now, from $35, and more on Saturdays). Big Powderhorn is $35 for those who live in the county sun-thurs but too expensive otherwise ($89 lol). Porkies is $45 but it rained hard there Monday on what was a 1 to 8" base, so despite maybe getting 2-3 inches today it may not be very good. The current storm stayed close to the wisco border heading west. Mt Bohemia is too far of a drive and probably too advanced for me right now. Mqt Mtn is also a long drive, Mr Ripley not as bad. Any input is appreciated. Once the Porkies get a snowfall of 4+ inches midweek when lifts are closed I will definitely be heading there. Maybe I should just stay on my small hills until there's a good snowfall midweek so as to get good skiing without the added expense of a weekend. Thanks.

Edit: radar looks like mqt is gettin a bunch too, maybe it will continue west to the porkies or wakefield.

[connyro]

There's a community hill in Gladstone that has a couple rope tows and a small hill, perfect for learning and affordable plus you are supporting community skiing. Might be a bit of a drive but maybe worth looking at.(scroll down for ski hill info)

https://www.gladstonemi.org/services/pa ... s_park.php

Farther away for you is another great community ski hill with a rope tow: https://www.rockrivertownship.org/skihill.html
I use this spot for early season hike and turns and fooling around before there's any real snow in the woods. Great folks run this hill!

Not sure if you came across these sites but they provides basic info about resorts in different states including Michigan:
https://www.onthesnow.com/michigan/ski-resorts
or
https://www.skicentral.com/michigan.html

[mca80]

Thanks for the info. I know Gladstone is a bit further than I want to drive tomorrow. Judging from storms trajectory this morning they likely got significant snow. However looks like "supervised operation" during the week is only 4p to 830p, so I am guessing the tow rope won't be running outside those hours (I usually get up about 4am so a 2+ hr drive for night skiing isn't in the cards). Wish I had known about that earlier in the season for when there was big snow before a weekend, though, when they operate during the daytime. Will check out the other links, thanks.

How much vertical is that hill in Gladstone? I might actually be fine with working to get uphill, but want to do more than a couple turns in succession like at my little local hill. The Minocqua Winter Park has a decent hill of maybe 200 feet, is a non-profit, and good people. I don't know if they groom that hill or not, it's primarily a noridc center so no tow ropes and some walking and herringbone required, but if they got half as much snow as we did here it might be a good spot.

Edit: settled. Girl at Minocqua said they got 8 inches today and unlikely they will groom the hill by tomorrow morning, or maybe just the edge near treeline if anything. Now that I think about it, it may be 200 something feet maybe 300. Steep in parts but with all that powder I don't care if I fall. Don't want to leave the dog home alone for too long but 3 or 4 hours doing laps on that I should get both a good workout and good experience. Will save lifts for sometime next week if they get some snow in Bessemer when I can get a ticket for 35 bucks.

[connyro]

I *think* the Gladstone hill is 150-200 vertical but not positive.

IMO the porkies ski hill is a great place to learn tele. They offer a 1 time lift pass ($5) that gets you up the hill and over to the low angle run on the west side (think it's called "sunset") if you use the rope tow at the top. The run is long and mild plus you can just climb back up if you want. There's nobody there except on Saturdays so plenty of space and privacy for learning! I'm pretty bias but imo, the porkies is the best ski hill around the area. Bohemia is pretty great terrain, but it's trampled by frat boys and pretty challenging/exhausting due to extreme steepness and literally no grooming

[mca80]

There's a new operator of the porkies this year who operates it for midnr, wonder if that same deal applies. Thanks for the input, I can't wait to get out there. But I worry about driving an hour or so to find just ice there since it's been so warm. Definitely on the radar for any days they get a good snowfall. Do they groom all the runs? In my very beginner experience I have found 4-6" powder to be far, far easier doing and linking tele turns than crust or hardpack or the like.

Edit: re: mt bohemia trampelled by frat boys... a childhood friend of mine could fit in with that group (although we are 42 now), he said I should go check it out. Maybe I can make points with sorority types doing stylish tele turns in leather boots and cowboy hat. Hrmmmm....probably need to master jump turns for that terrain though.

[connyro]

There's a new operator of the porkies this year who operates it for midnr, wonder if that same deal applies. Thanks for the input, I can't wait to get out there. But I worry about driving an hour or so to find just ice there since it's been so warm. Definitely on the radar for any days they get a good snowfall. Do they groom all the runs? In my very beginner experience I have found 4-6" powder to be far, far easier doing and linking tele turns than crust or hardpack or the like.

Edit: re: mt bohemia trampelled by frat boys... a childhood friend of mine could fit in with that group (although we are 42 now), he said I should go check it out. Maybe I can make points with sorority types doing stylish tele turns in leather boots and cowboy hat. Hrmmmm....probably need to master jump turns for that terrain though.

Yes, the porkies grooms their runs regularly. The dnr has done a pretty good job running the hill operation. They expect to hire a full time hill operation manager any day now and hopefully they won't want to change much when they do.

Bohemia gets tracked out really quickly, especially in the trees. Pack a lunch because it's a ton of work, especially when the snow is deep and chopped up in the trees. It's truly eye-opening and seriously challenging

[mca80]

Why is the non-grooming at bohemia an issue?

[connyro]

Why is the non-grooming at bohemia an issue?

the snow gets tracked out real quick. it makes the snow a lot more difficult to ski. It's great if you get there early and get untracked snow but after just a couple hours, most good lines are scraped into large bumps.

[fisheater]

Why is the non-grooming at bohemia an issue?

Maybe because back when I was your age or even younger, I had a bumper sticker that said, “Stop the Brutal Grooming”! The terrain at Bohemia suited me nicely then, but I went with a buddy on alpine gear, so I did the same. Back then, skis weren’t so fat (around 2000) and you had to be able to ski (even on alpine gear) to ski deep snow and steep terrain, especially in trees.
I really have to agree with @connyro, it seems like the Porkies don’t get a lot of traffic. The area really lends itself to Telemark skiing as you can traverse quite a ways. I was there on a Friday and the traverse rope wasn’t running. A short climb where the rope is located offered up untouched powder. Not that there wasn’t untouched powder on Sunday where lifts were running. I was very impressed with the possibilities.

[mca80]

Why is the non-grooming at bohemia an issue?

the snow gets tracked out real quick. it makes the snow a lot more difficult to ski. It's great if you get there early and get untracked snow but after just a couple hours, most good lines are scraped into large bumps.

Oh. I didn't figure it got all that crowded there, being fairly remote.