Ski season wraps up on Gogebic Range

By RICHARD JENKINS

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Another year of skiing has largely come to an end as some of the local ski hills that were still open wrapped up operations this past weekend.

Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort’s website showed the ski hill as closed for the season Monday after having 32 trails and six lifts open Saturday, according to Powderhorn’s ski condition report.

“Overall, (the season) went well; despite the lack of natural snow and the pandemic,” said Bruce Noren, of Powderhorn. “I have to say we’re pleased with the season as a whole.”

He added this year saw a lot of new skiers getting out onto the slopes and people returning to the sport, likely due to looking for pandemic-friendly, outdoor activities.

This weekend was also the last chance for skiing at Big Snow Resort’s Indianhead Mountain, according to Big Snow assistant manager Tim Moon. Gogebic Community College’s Mt. Zion and Whitecap Mountains Resort near Upson, Wisconsin, closed earlier this month.

“The season as a whole was fantastic,” Moon said, adding that the entire Midwest ski industry was nervous about how things would go but it seems everyone had a stellar year.

He said last weekend was the first time this season they weren’t fully booked.

“I’ve never seen it that crazy busy where we had so many consecutive weekends at (100% capacity),” Moon said.

Although there was a lack of snowfall this year, Moon said the resort considers any season that extends to at least the middle of March to be a full ski season.

COVID restrictions meant food and beverage sales were down this year, according to Moon, but the resort’s other areas saw increased sales.

“Lodging was up, lift tickets were up — everything else was up. It was a great season,” Moon said. “People obviously wanted to get outside and have fun.”

Noren echoed Moon’s comments, saying Powderhorn also saw its food and beverage sales suffer this season, but revenue growth in other areas helped balance out the losses.

Moon said the resort went into the season cautiously optimistic based on the record summer traffic they saw, and it seems some visitors decided to stay closer to home rather than go out west to ski.

Part of that may be helped by the fact that Michigan didn’t impose daily capacity restrictions on the slopes, which Moon called “a game changer.”

Although most of the ski hills are closed, there may still be one final chance to hit the slopes as Moon said they hope to have one or two runs open at Big Snow’s Blackjack Mountain Saturday with discounted lift tickets for those who want to have a final day of skiing. The money from the lift ticket sales would go to the local Team Z ski team, according to Moon.

“We’re really hoping we’ll make it. If we did, it would probably only be one or two runs — so very, very limited skiing — and we’ll be farming snow from everywhere we can to make that happen,” Moon said, adding it should be clearer in the next day or two whether the weather will allow that final day of skiing.