Area ski hills open for season

By CHARITY SMITH

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All area ski resorts are officially up and running. Blackjack Mountain Resort was the first to open for the season on Dec. 3, Indianhead opened the following weekend on Dec. 10, Whitecap opened on Dec. 22 and Big Powderhorn Mountain opened on Dec. 23.

All resorts are reporting that they are seeing a number of skiers, despite a lack of natural snow.

As of Thursday, the region had received 59.6 inches of snow for the season, but a warm, windy Dec. 15-16 melted much of what was on the ground. But more than a foot of snow has fallen since and the ski resorts continue to make snow, as well.

"We expect a very busy season based on reservations," said David Dziuban, owner of Whitecap Mountain Resort in Upson, Wisconsin.

Ben Bonitz, general manager of Whitecap said that the resort was 100% booked on Thursday, in what is traditionally a busy holiday week. "We couldn't squeeze another person in if we tried." he said.

Matthew Vaughan, CEO of Big Snow Resorts, which owns Blackjack in Bessemer Township and Indianhead in Wakefield, said that they are seeing a "fantastic" turnout. He said they are up in skier visits and getting more people from outside the area than usual.

While they are down in base snow, they have been able to make enough snow to be nearly completely open. Indianhead had 13 out of 30 runs open as of Wednesday and Blackjack had 13 out of 26.

"We are opening trails every day," said front desk clerk Jessica Stewart. "Weather has been back and forth, but definitely lots of people for the holiday season."

More snow is always a good thing, according to ski hill officials.

"If we got some natural snow that would be good," said Bruce Noren, general manager of Big Powderhorn. "We don't open anything if we don't feel it is skiable."

Noren said that the runs at Powderhorn are in good condition and some are in excellent condition. He said Wednesday that they had 13 of 45 runs open, six of their 10 lifts open, and more will open as weather permits.

"We are following seasonal trends and there is just no snow to be had, so we will open more runs as the (snow) trends shift," said Bonitz. "Mother Nature is just not coming through for us. We need just a nice wind coming across the lake from Canada to produce some wet sticky northern Wisconsin snow. We are just not getting lake effect and that's what we are relying on. Last year, we only got 77 inches and that was a drought for us."

The region averages about 200 inches of snow.

Dziuban said that Whitecap planned to have four lifts and 22 of 43 trails open today depending on how overnight snowmaking went.

"We are having a great season so far. People are out enjoying the snow. It's pretty cool when you walk through the lodge. Sometimes you can see three generations of skiing families," said Dziuban.

Noren said Powderhorn is full of happy skiers, but asked that people still remember to guard their health. He said that masks are optional, but said they have spaced out the seating at the restaurants.