Podcasts about lower peninsula

WhoTim Smith, President and General Manager of Waterville Valley, New HampshireRecorded onNovember 12, 2025About Waterville ValleyClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Sununu FamilyLocated in: Waterville Valley, New HampshireYear founded: 1966Pass affiliations:* Indy Pass, Indy+ Pass: 2 days, no blackouts* White Mountain Super Pass: unlimited, no blackouts* Indy Learn-to-Turn: 3 days, includes rentals, lesson, lift ticket; limited lift access* Ski New Hampshire Kids Passport: 1 day with holiday blackouts* Uphill New England: no lift accessBase elevation: 1,984 feet (highest in New Hampshire, 3rd in New England)Summit elevation: 4,004 feet (2nd-highest in New Hampshire, 5th in New England)Vertical drop: 2,020 feet (4th-highest in New Hampshire, 14th in New England)Skiable acres: 265Average annual snowfall: 148 inchesTrail count: 62 (14% novice, 64% intermediate, 22% advanced)Lift count: 10 (1 six-pack, 1 high-speed quad, 2 triples, 2 doubles, 2 T-bars, 2 carpets)Why I interviewed himWell no one wants to hear this but we got to $300 lift tickets the same way we got to $80,000 pickup trucks. We're Americans Goddamnit and we just can't do stickshifts and we sure as s**t ain't standin' up on our skis to ride back up the mountain. It's pure agony you see. We need us a nine-pack chairlift with a bubble and a breakroom and a minibar and surround sound and Lazy-Boy seats and hell no we ain't ridin' it with eight strangers we'll hold back and take a whole chair to our ownselves. And it needs to move fast, Son. Like embarrass-the-Concord fast because God help us we spend more than 90 seconds with our own thoughts.I'm not aiming to get kicked out of America here, but if I may submit a few requests regarding our self-inflicted false price floors. I would like the option of purchasing a brand-new car with a manual transmission and windows rolled up and down with a hand-crank. I would like to keep pedaling my bicycle. I would like to cut the number of holidays with commercial mandates by 80 percent. I would prefer that we not set the air-conditioners to 60 when it's 65 degrees outside. This doesn't mean I want to get rid of all the air-conditioners but could we maybe take it easy on the frostbite-in-July overkill of it all?My Heretic Wishlist for American Skiing includes but is not limited to: more surface lifts, especially to serve terrain parks, high-altitude exposed terrain, and expert pods; on-resort lodging that does not still require a commute-by-personal-vehicle to reach the lifts; and thoughtful terrain management that retains ungroomed sections for skiers who like things about skiing other than going fast.Waterville Valley is doing all of these things. It is perhaps the only major American ski area in decades to replace a chairlift with a surface lift on a non-beginner terrain pod, and the only one to build two new T-bars this century. A planned gondola would connect Waterville Valley the town with Waterville Valley the ski area, correcting an only-in-America setup that separates these inseparable places by two miles of road. The glade network grows annually in both subtle and obvious ways.This is not a ski area going in reverse. Waterville is modern and keeps modernizing. The four-year-old Tecumseh bubble six-pack, though bookended with T-bars, is one of the nicest chairlifts in America. Skiers still go groomer-kaboom on morning cord. Suburban office-park dads with interstate commutes and a habit of lecturing the Facebook Commons about the virtues of snow tires can still park their 42-wheel-drive Abrams-Caterpillar-F-15,000 Tanktruck in sub-parking lot 42Z and walk uphill to the lifts. But Waterville Valley is one of a handful of American ski areas, along with Killington and Deer Valley and Winter Park, that is embracing all of our luxe cultural excesses while pursuing the very un-American ambition of putting more skiers close to skiing.No ski area is perfect. For all the cash saved on those T-bars, peak-day Waterville lift tickets still hit $145. The mountain's season pass is the second-most expensive single-mountain season passes in New England – more than a top-line Epic Pass (an adult WV pass includes a free pass for a kid age 6 to 12, which is great if you have one of those). That's bold pricing for the 22nd-largest ski area in New England, especially one that still spins three Stadeli chairlifts that predate the extinction of the dinosaurs. And two high-speed chairlifts is not a lot of high-speed chairlifts for a 2,000-vertical-foot ski area (though about half of New England's 2,000-footers run just two or fewer detaches).Yeah I know. Sick burn from someone who was waxing about surface lifts four paragraphs ago. I may have collected too many ski area Lego blocks in my mental bucket, and they don't always click together back here on planet Earth. “More villages,” I say while dismissing Aspen as a subsidized simulacrum of itself. “Big fast lifts rule,” I say while setting off fire alarms as first-generation chairlifts disintegrate and the cost of their most basic replacements escalates. “No-grooming, all-glades makes the best ski area,” I say, while condemning resort operators for $356 lift tickets that dam the masses. “Vail is too expensive,” I say. “Vail is too cheap,” I also say. “Modernize our chairlifts,” I say while celebrating the joy of riding an antique Riblet double. I endorse ski areas splitting off from conglomerates and ski areas joining them. These narratives can feel contradictory at best and schizophrenic at worst.But that tension is part of what draws me to lift-served ski areas, where two things central to my worldview – wild nature and human invention – merge. Or perhaps more accurately, collide. Both forces act at all times not only to extinguish one another, but themselves: above-freezing temps trash two feet of new snow; bad liftline management cancels out the capacity benefits of a $12 million lift upgrade. Making a ski area function, then, requires continual tweaking, of both the nuanced and look-at-us-press-release variety. A ski area is a business, sure, but that's almost a coincidence. The act of building and running a ski area is foremost an art, architecture, and engineering project that requires a somewhat madcap conductor to succeed. As with any artform, there is no one correct and final way to build a ski area. The variety is central to skiing's appeal. But there are operator/artist attributes - flexibility, inventiveness, consistency tempered by openness to change - that contribute to the overall quality and cohesion of the individual ski area experience in the context of competing ski areas. In the current version of Waterville Valley, we find one of our best contemporary examples of a ski area evolving toward the best version of itself under the stewardship of owners and managers possessing exactly these traits.What we talked aboutThe return of World Cup training and events to Waterville; drifting away from and back toward freeskiing culture; the best terrain parks in New England; why terrain parks are drifting away from mega-features; what happened to all the halfpipes?; and ramps?; no really no one wore helmets in the ‘90s; building terrain parks before institutional knowledge and the internet; the lost Hidden Valley, Wisconsin ski area; the rise of the high-speed ropetow; why Waterville replaced one T-bar and one Poma with a new T-bar (rather than a chairlift); why Waterville installed night skiing; the return of the Exhibition terrain park; self-installing the World Cup T-bar; Waterville's ops blog; why the Tecumseh Express sixer needed new bubbles after just a couple of seasons; why bubbles cost so much and how Waterville manufactured a less expensive one; Tecumseh's incredible wind resistance; MND lifts as an alternative to the two large U.S.-based lift manufacturers; a chairlift's “infancy” and how different 2020s lift technology is from early detachable tech; how Waterville's masterplan would reorient the mountain and skier traffic with an expansion and new lifts; Waterville's declining skier visits and whether that's a bad thing; how the resort's 1994 bankruptcy changed Waterville's trajectory; what stoked the Green Peak expansion; “we've been on a track to try to rebuild that energy we saw in the 1990s”; why Waterville turned away from discounting; “the right quantity of skiers on the right amount of surface”; building more terrain diversity; and a gondola connection from town to mountain.Should someone tell them they're running it backwards? Video by Stuart Winchester.What I got wrong* I said that the “High Country double chair was still standing” – what I meant was that parts of it were still in place. The top terminal remains, sans bullwheel, and the base terminal and motor room remain as a patrol shack:* I said that Waterville hadn't been known for terrain parks until recently, but Smith recalled that the ski area was more freestyle-centric from the ‘70s through the ‘90s, before pulling back during the first part of this century.* I said that 1,100 skiers per hour was “a little less than what a double chair would move,” thinking standard capacity for a double was 1,200 per hour. Smith says it is 900. Exact capacity varies from lift-to-lift, however. Lift Blog itemizes hourly capacities of between 800 and 1,200 for four of Smugglers' Notch's double chairs, between 1,000 and 1,200 for four of Mt. Spokane's fleet of Riblet doubles, and 1,000 for Waterville's Lower Meadows double. We all know, however, that the hourly capacity for a double chair is however many people are in line minus the number not paying attention minus singles who refuse to ride with anyone. So I don't know maybe 50.Podcast NotesOn other mentioned podcasts* World Cup competition returning to Sun Valley:* Heavenly backing out of mega-parks features:* Killington and the cost of bubbles:* Waterville part 1, from 2021:On Partek and each lift being differentOn Waterville's ownership historyFounder Tom Corcoran owned Waterville Valley from 1966 until 1994, when he sold to American Skiing Company (ASC) antecedent S-K-I. The feds made ASC dispense with Waterville and Cranmore when they merged with LBO Enterprises in 1996. Booth Creek (more on them below), bought the ski area and held it until 2010, when they sold it to the Sununu family. This makes Waterville one of just a handful of ski areas to ever enter a multi-mountain pass portfolio and then exit to independence - though Killington and Ragged recently did exactly that, and Eldora may follow.On Mt. Holiday, MichiganThis is just a little 200-footer, but it's still around on the outskirts of Traverse City, Michigan:That trailmap doesn't really communicate the ski area's essence. A little better are these pics I took on a summertime swing-through a few years back:I never skied there though, always preferring the far-larger Sugar Loaf, right down the road (which Smith and I also discussed):Until it was abandoned around 2000, this was one of the better ski areas in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. After a succession of owners - one of whom stripped all the chairlifts off the bump - failed to bring skiing back, the Leelanau Conservancy recently took ownership of the property. Skiing will return as an officially sanctioned activity, though unfortunately without a lift or snowmaking. I would have at least liked to have seen a ropetow. Here's their vision:On midwestskier.com Yes, Kids, the internet really did used to look like this:On Hidden Valley, WisconsinHere's a little ski hill that didn't make it. Smith spent time at Hidden Valley, Wisconsin, which opened in 1956 and closed forever in 2013. The chairlift appears to have been moved to nearby, county-run Kewaunee Winter Park, where it awaits installation.On high-speed ropetowsI am a huge fan of high-speed ropetows, which are a cheap and effective means to isolate users of terrain parks or other specialized, intensive-use zones from the broader ski area. Here's one at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota in 2023 (video by Stuart Winchester):On Waterville Valley's masterplanThis is perhaps the best angle of how Waterville's expansion would connect the legacy trail network to the town:Here's the Forest Service masterplan slide:Neither of these images, however, show how the gondola would eventually connect down into town, which is the crucial element of transforming Waterville Valley from a ski-area-that-says-it's-a-ski-resort into an actual ski resort. Here's a look at that connection:Waterville set up an excellent microsite detailing the hoped-for evolution.On Booth CreekAt the mid-90s height of American Skiing Company dominance, a former Vail executive assembled a cross-country ski area portfolio with ambitions of creating a hub-and-spoke network:Booth Creek ultimately sold off most of its properties, but still own Sierra-at-Tahoe. Grand Targhee GM Geordie Gillett was involved in the whole saga and broke it down for us in 2024:On Waterville going from one of the oldest lift fleets in New England to one of the most modernWhile Waterville runs some of the last Stadeli lifts in America (I count 16), the ski area has modernized extensively over the past decade:On U.S. Forest Service ski areas in the EastMost (109) of the 119 active U.S. ski areas on United States Forest Service leases sit in the West; two are in the Midwest, and eight are in the East: Bromley, Mount Snow, and Sugarbush, Vermont; Waterville Valley, Loon, Attitash, and Wildcat, New Hampshire; and Timberline, West Virginia. None, as far as I know, sit entirely within the boundaries of a national forest, but even partial overlap triggers the requirement to submit an updated masterplan each decade.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

WhoBarry Owens, General Manager of Treetops, MichiganRecorded onJune 13, 2025About TreetopsClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Treetops Acquisition Company LLCLocated in: Gaylord, MichiganYear founded: 1954Pass affiliations: Indy Pass, Indy+ Pass – 2 daysClosest neighboring ski areas: Otsego (:07), Boyne Mountain (:34), Hanson Hills (:39), Shanty Creek (:51), The Highlands (:58), Nub's Nob (1:00)Base elevation: 1,110 feetSummit elevation: 1,333 feetVertical drop: 223 feetSkiable acres: 80Average annual snowfall: 140 inchesTrail count: 25 (30% beginner, 40% intermediate, 30% advanced)Lift count: 5 (3 triples, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Treetops' lift fleet)Why I interviewed himThe first 10 ski areas I ever skied, in order, were:* Mott Mountain, Michigan* Apple Mountain, Michigan* Snow Snake, Michigan* Caberfae, Michigan* Crystal Mountain, Michigan* Nub's Nob, Michigan* Skyline, Michigan* Treetops, Michigan* Sugar Loaf, Michigan* Shanty Creek – Schuss Mountain, MichiganAnd here are the first 10 ski areas I ever skied that are still open, with anything that didn't make it crossed out:* Mott Mountain, Michigan* Apple Mountain, Michigan* Snow Snake, Michigan* Caberfae, Michigan* Crystal Mountain, Michigan* Nub's Nob, Michigan* Skyline, Michigan* Treetops, Michigan* Sugar Loaf, Michigan* Shanty Creek – Schuss Mountain, Michigan* Shanty Creek – Summit, Michigan* Boyne Mountain, Michigan* Searchmont, Ontario* Nebraski, Nebraska* Copper Mountain, Colorado* Keystone, ColoradoSix of my first 16. Poof. That's a failure rate of 37.5 percent. I'm no statistician, but I'd categorize that as “not good.”Now, there's some nuance to this list. I skied all of these between 1992 and 1995. Most had faded officially or functionally by 2000, around the time that America's Great Ski Area Die-Off concluded (Summit lasted until around Covid, and could still re-open, resort officials tell me). Their causes of death are varied, some combination, usually, of incompetence, indifference, and failure to adapt. To climate change, yes, but more of the cultural kind of adaptation than the environmental sort.The first dozen ski areas on this list are tightly bunched, geographically, in the upper half of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. They draw from the same general population centers and suffer from the same stunted Midwest verticals. None are naturally or automatically great ski areas. None are or were particularly remote or tricky to access, and most sit alongside or near a major state or federal highway. And they (mostly) all benefit from the same Lake Michigan lake-effect snow machine, the output of which appears to be increasing as the Great Lakes freeze more slowly and less often (cold air flowing over warm water = lake-effect snow).Had you presented this list of a dozen Michigan ski areas to me in 1995 and said, “five of these will drop dead in the next 30 years,” I would not have chosen those five, necessarily, to fail. These weren't ropetow backwaters. All but Apple had chairlifts (and they soon installed one), and most sat close to cities or were attached to a larger resort. Sugar Loaf, in particular, was one of Michigan's better ski areas, with five chairlifts and the largest in-state vertical drop on this list.My guess for most-likely-to-die probably would have been Treetops, especially if you'd told me that then-private Otsego ski area, right next door and with twice its neighbor's skiable acreage, vertical drop, and number of chairlifts, would eventually open to the public. Especially if you'd told me that Boyne Mountain, the monster down the road, would continue to expand its lodging and village, and would add a Treetops-sized cluster of greens to its ferocious ridge of blacks. Especially if you'd told me that Treetops' trail footprint, never substantial, would remain more or less the same size 30 years later. In fact, just about every surviving Michigan ski area on that list - Crystal, Nub's, Caberfae, Shanty Schuss - greatly expanded its terrain footprint. Except Treetops.But here we are, in the future, and I just skied Treetops 10 months ago with my 8-year-old son. It was, in some ways, more or less as I'd left it on my last visit, in 1995: small vert, small trail network, a slightly confusing parking situation, no chairlift restraint bars. A few improvements were obvious: the beginner ropetows had made way for a carpet, the last double chair had been upgraded to a triple, terrain park features dotted the east side, and a dozen or so glades and short steep shots had been hacked from the woods of the legacy trail footprint.That's all nice. But what was not obvious to me was this: why, and how, does Treetops the ski area still exist? Sugar Loaf was a better ski area. Apple Mountain was closer to large population centers. Summit was attached to ski-in-ski-out accommodations and shared a lift ticket with the larger Schuss mountain a couple miles away. Was modern Treetops some sort of money-losing ski area hobby horse for whomever owned the larger resort, which is better known for its five golf courses? Was it just an amenity to keep the second homeowners who mostly lived in Southeast Michigan invested year-round? Had the ski area cemented itself as the kind of high-volume schoolkids training ground that explained the resilience of ski areas in metro Detroit, Minneapolis, and Milwaukee?There is never, or rarely, one easy or obvious explanation for why similar businesses thrive or fail. This is why I resist pinning the numerical decline in America's ski area inventory solely to climate change. We may have fewer ski areas in America than we had in 1995, but we have a lot more good ski areas now than we did 30 years ago (and, as I wrote in March, a lot more overall ski terrain). Yes, Skyline, 40 minutes south of Treetops, failed because it never installed snowmaking, but that is only part of the sentence. Skyline failed because it never installed snowmaking while its competitors aggressively expanded and continually updated their snowmaking systems, raising the floor on the minimal ski experience acceptable to consumers. That takes us back to culture. What do you reckon has changed more over the past 30 to 40 years: America's weather patterns, or its culture? For anyone who remembers ashtrays at McDonald's or who rode in the bed of a pickup truck from Michigan to Illinois or who ran feral and unsupervised outdoors from toddlerhood or who somehow fumbled through this vast world without the internet or a Pet Rectangle or their evil offspring social media, the answer seems obvious. The weather feels a little different. Our culture feels airlifted from another planet. Americans accepted things 30 years ago that would seem outrageous today – like smoking adjacent to a children's play area ornamented with a demented smiling clown. But this applies to skiing as well. My Treetops day in 1995 was memorably horrible, the snow groomed but fossilized, unturnable. A few weeks earlier, I'd skied Skyline on perhaps a three-inch base, grass poking through the trails. Modern skiers, armed with the internet and its Hubble connection to every ski area on the planet, would not accept either set of conditions today. But one of those ski areas adapted and the other did not. That's the “why” of Treetops survival. It was the “how” that I needed Barry Owens to help me understand.What we talked aboutLast winter's ice storm – “it provides great insight into human character when you go through that stuff”; record snowfall (204 inches!) to chase the worst winter ever; the Lake Michigan snowbelt; a golf resort with a ski area attached; building a ski culture when “we didn't have enough people dedicated to ski… and it showed”; competing with nearby ski areas many times Treetops' size “we don't shy away from… who we are and what we are”; what happened when next-door-neighbor Otsego Resort switched from a private to a public model in 2017 – “neither one of us is going to get rich seeing who can get the most $15 lift tickets on a Wednesday”; I attempt to talk about golf and why Michigan is a golf mecca; moving on from something you've spent decades building; Treetops' rough financial period and why Owens initially turned down the GM job; how Owens convinced ownership not to close the ski area; fixing a “can't-do staff” by “doing things that created the freedom to be able to act”; Treetops' strange 2014 bankruptcy and rebuilding from there; “right now we're happy” with the lift fleet; how much it would cost to retrofit Treetops' lifts with restraint bars; timeline for potential ski expansion at Treetops; bargain season passes (as low as $125); and Indy Pass' network power.What I got wrong* I said “Gaylord County,” but the city of Gaylord is in Otsego County.* I said that Boyne Resorts, operator of 11 ski areas, also runs “10 or 11 golf resorts.” The company operates 14 golf courses.* I said that Michigan had a “very good” road network and that there was “not a lot of traffic,” and if you live there, you're reaction is probably, “you're dumb.” What I meant by “very good road network” is this: compared to most ski regions, which have, um, mountains, Michigan's bumplets sit more or less directly alongside the state's straight, flat, almost perfectly gridded highway network. Also, the “not a lot of traffic” thing does not apply to special situations like, say, northbound I-75 on a July Friday evening.* I said that Crystal, Nub's, Caberfae, and Shanty Creek were “close” – while they're not necessarily all close to one another, they are all roughly equidistant for folks coming to them from downstate.* I said that Treetops was “the fifth or sixth place I ever skied at,” but upon further review, it was number eight (which is reflected in the list above).Podcast NotesOn the ice stormAn ice storm hammered Northern Michigan in late March of this year:On the lightning strike on Treetops' golf courseOn the Midwest's terrible 2023-24 ski seasonSkier visits cratered in the Midwest during the 2023-24 ski season, the region's worst on record from a snowfall point of view. Weather - and skier visits - settled back into normal ranges last winter:This is a bit hard to see with any sort of precision, but this 10-year chart gives a nice sense of just how abnormal 2023-24 was for the Midwest:On Michigan's ski areasMichigan is home to 44 active ski areas - more than any state other than New York. Many of them are quite small, operate sporadically, and run only surface lifts, but Treetops is close to a bunch of the better lift-served outfits, including Boyne Mountain, Nub's Nob, and The Highlands (the UP ski areas may as well be in another state). It helps Treetops that so many of the state's ski areas have also joined Indy Pass:On Otsego ResortFor decades - I'm not certain how long, exactly - Otsego Resort, right next door to Treetops and with roughly double the vertical drop and skiable acreage, was private. In 2017, the bump opened to the public, considerably amping up competition. Complicating the matter further, Otsego sits a bit closer to Michigan's Main Street - I-75 - than Treetops.On Snow OperatingOwens mentioned working with “TBL” – he was referring to Terrain Based Learning, Snow Partners' learn-to-ski program. That company also runs the Snow Cloud operating system that Owens refers to at the end.On Treetops' rough period I quoted this Detroit Business News article at length in the interview. It goes deep on Treetops' precarious early 2000s history and the resort's broken employee culture at the time.On people being nice at ski areasYeah I'm super into this:On the hedgehog conceptOwens mentions “the hedgehog concept,” which I wasn't familiar with. It sounded like a business-book thing, and it is, adapted by author Jim Collins for his book Good to Great and described in this way on his website:The Hedgehog Concept is developed in the book Good to Great. A simple, crystalline concept that flows from deep understanding about the intersection of three circles: 1) what you are deeply passionate about, 2) what you can be the best in the world at, and 3) what best drives your economic or resource engine. Transformations from good to great come about by a series of good decisions made consistently with a Hedgehog Concept, supremely well executed, accumulating one upon another, over a long period of time.More:On safety-bar requirements in New York and New EnglandThis is kind of funny…That's my 8-year-old son, who's skied in a dozen states, taking his first ride on a lift with no safety bar, at Treetops last December. Why such machines still exist in 2025, I have no idea - this lift rises about 30 feet off the ground. In the East, all chairlifts are equipped with bars, and state law mandates their use in New York, Massachusetts, and Vermont (and perhaps elsewhere). I don't advocate for rider mandates, but I do think all chairlifts ought to have bars available for those who want them. Owens and I discuss the resort's plans to retrofit Treetops' three chairlifts - CTEC machines installed between 1984 and 1995 - with bars. The cost would be roughly $250,000. That's a significant number, but probably a lot less than the figure if, say, someone has a heart attack or seizure on the lift, falls off, then sues the resort. Besides, as Owens points out, chairlifts must be equipped with restraint bars for summer use, which would open new revenue streams. Why are bars required for summer activities, but not winter? It's a strange anachronism, unique among the ski world to America.On “Joe from SMI”I mentioned “Joe from SMI” offhand. I was referring to SMI Snowmakers President Joe VanderKelen, who appeared on the podcast back in 2022:On potential expansion Owens discusses a potential expansion looker's left of Chair 1, which would restore lost terrain and built upon that. This 1988 trailmap shows a couple of the trails that Treetops eliminated to make way for its current top-to-bottom access road (trails 1 through 4):The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

In this episode, my guest, Nick Racette and I talk about his journey into the world of Telemark skiing and starting up the Lower Peninsula Pinheads in Michigan, as well as his own personal backstory. Enjoy!

Steve Gruber discusses news and headlines 

August 4, 2025 ~ Crain's Detroit Business Executive Editor Mickey Ciokajlo talks with Chris and Jamie about Greektown businesses facing hardship due to ongoing construction, Bedrock transitioning leadership, Amazon opening its first same-day delivery pharmacy in Michigan, Consumers Energy finalizing a deal for a large data center to increase the power load in the Lower Peninsula, and much more!

Steve Gruber is joined by Ivey Gruber, President of the Michigan Talk Network, for a wide-ranging and hard-hitting discussion. They cover the ongoing cleanup challenges from ice storm damage in northern Michigan and whether state incentives might be used to speed up recovery. The conversation then shifts to a surprising trend, black bears moving deeper into Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Finally, they dig into a controversial story making headlines: a gay couple's adoption of a baby, despite one partner being a convicted sex offender. A candid conversation about safety, oversight, and common sense.

July 1, 2025 ~ Mike Alaimo, senior director of Legislative & External Affairs at the Michigan Chamber, joins Chris, Lloyd, and Jamie to discuss the Army Corps of Engineers report on the Line 5 project, noting minor concerns, but overall deemed it a safe method for natural gas transport from the Upper to the Lower Peninsula.

Michigan, with its vast forests, remote wilderness, and deep-rooted Native American legends, has long been a hotspot for mysterious Bigfoot sightings. Known locally by names like "Sasquatch" or “The Michigan Wildman,” reports of encounters stretch from the Upper Peninsula down to the wooded trails of the Lower Peninsula. Witnesses describe large, hairy, ape-like creatures standing over 7 feet tall, with glowing eyes and a powerful, musky odor. These elusive beings are often spotted crossing rural roads, lurking near rivers, or vocalizing through howls and tree knocks deep in the night.Some of the most famous hotspots include the Manistee National Forest, the Huron Mountains, and remote areas near the Sleeping Bear Dunes. Eyewitness accounts often include chilling experiences—unexplained footprints, sudden silences in the woods, or eerie feelings of being watched. Michigan researchers and Bigfoot enthusiasts continue to document sightings, collect evidence like audio recordings and plaster casts, and investigate these ongoing encounters. Whether seen as folklore or fact, Bigfoot remains an enduring mystery rooted deeply in Michigan's wild and untamed terrain.#Bigfootb #Sasquatch #BigfootSightings #BigfootHunters #BigfootEvidence

Surviving the Ice Storm: Nature's Resilience and Challenges John and Richard are joined by Dr. Greg Corace to discuss the aftermath of the impactful ice storm that hit the northern lower Peninsula at the end of March. Greg shares his insights on how this natural event affected the woods around us. Greg is a professional Forest and Wildlife Ecologist and is a contact for the Forestry Assistance Program in Alpena and Montmorency Counties. He began working at the Alpena-Montmorency Conservation District in July 2019.  Greg has a Bachelor's of Science (Zoology) and a Master's of Science (Biology) from Northern Michigan University and a Ph.D. (Forest Science) from Michigan Technological University. Greg was a Peace Corps Volunteer in Botswana. Click here for Greg's full resume/CV. Over the last 20+ years, Greg has conducted forest planning, applied research, management, and inventory and monitoring on public and private lands in the Upper Peninsula and northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan.  As an aside; if you are interested in learning more about the storm, the National Weather Service also has a great write-up(weather geek stuff) on the storm – definitely worth a read. As always; we're grateful for your time and hope you enjoy our shows.  The Lovells Township Historical Society is dedicated to preserving and celebrating the heritage of Lovells and northern Michigan. Through our museums and events, we strive to enrich our community and preserve the important history of the area while sharing it with our residents and visitors. The Lovells Township Historical Society is a 501 (c) (3) organization whose genesis can be traced back to the August 1990 Heritage Days Celebration. For a more detailed history of the Historical Society, visit here.    

For decades, Michigan State University has been working with partners in Detroit to support the city's economic development, advance the arts, transform schools, improve health and protect the environment. And, after a successful and illuminating trip with visits along the western Lower Peninsula of Michigan in the fall of 2024, this May, the Spartan Bus Tour headed to Detroit.Just as the inaugural Spartan Bus Tour demonstrated how Spartans are making a difference across the state, a tour of metro Detroit illustrated how the partnerships between the city and Michigan State are changing our state for the better.Taking place May 5 and 6 with stops at 12 locations in the Detroit area, the tour was led by MSU President Kevin Guskiewicz, and included a delegation of 50 faculty and administrators who explored the breadth and depth of the university's research, outreach and education impact in a city that, like MSU, values resilience, hard work and a commitment to solving problems and empowering people for better lives.Conversation Highlights:(1:20) - President Guskiewicz sets the scene. (2:00) - The Zekelman Holocaust Center opened its doors in 1984 in West Bloomfield and relocated to the current Farmington Hills location in 2004. It was the first stop on the tour. The center is home to the Holocaust Museum exhibit and an extensive research library, archives and special exhibit galleries. Each year, more than 150,000 people visit the center, whose mission is to engage, educate and empower by remembering the Holocaust. Eli Mayerfeld is CEO of the Holocaust Museum.(6:35) - The second stop on Day 1 was at the Detroit Partnership for Food, Learning and Innovation, or DPFLI: The DPFLI was founded in 2017 and is MSU's first urban agriculture center. Housed within MSU Extension, the partnership in northwest Detroit focuses on research and education to improve the lives of Detroiters and serves as a community space for residents. Naim Edwards directs DPFLI, George Smith directs MSU AgBioResearch and Dave Ivan directs the Community Food and Environment Institute.(16:07) - The third stop on Day 1 was at The Shepherd and LANTERN, which are part of Library Street Collective's ongoing artistic commitment to Detroit's Little Village neighborhood. Anthony Curis is co-founder of The Shepherd and Library Street Collective. (21:30) - The fourth stop on Day 1 was a visit to Magna International: Magna International is the largest automobile parts manufacturer in North America with its U.S. headquarters in Troy. Heather Holm is talent attraction and employer brand manager.(23:44) - Stop five on Day 1 was at the Apple Developer Academy: Partnering with MSU, Apple's first U.S.-based academy was launched in 2021 in Detroit where participants learn the essentials of coding, design and business with Apple tools. The academy offers free programs of 10 months and four weeks, and, to date, has graduated more than 1,000 learners from the metro Detroit area. Sarah Gretter is director of the academy, and Anny Staten is assistant director.(27:10) - The final stop...

We're wrapping up another month this weekend on Outdoor Magazine radio. First, Kyle Green of The Greenway Outdoors talks about a plan to kill nuisance geese across Michigan. Then, Tom Campbell from Woods-n-Waternews takes us inside their latest edition. Hour two features steelhead guide Paul Schalfley of Riverside Charters in Manistee. Justin Tomei from MUCC is up next with a discussion about a proposed license fee increases and a plan to allow baiting in the Lower Peninsula. In this week's final hour I talk with Doug Ward of Xpress Fishing Charters on Detroit River and Saginaw Bay walleye. We wrap it all up with chef Dave Minar and another great recipe.

Discover how more than one weather pattern system impacted the Great Lakes Region per U.S. Upper Midwest & Southwest Ontario Canada between late October into early November 1913. Find out what hurdles faced the U.S. Weather Bureau involving storm forecasting in 1913. Get an in depth analysis behind when the storm first struck Lake Huron including final aftermath. Discover exactly where Presque Isle Township is located in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Determine primary reason why the need for a lighthouse was so strong around Presque Isle Harbor during early 1830's. Get introduced to U.S. Army Corps of Engineers Officer Major Orlando Metcalfe Poe. Understand importance behind steam fog signals. Get acquainted with Rogers City, Presque Isle's official county seat. Learn just how large Lake Huron truly is along with the total number of islands it possesses. Understand just how severe the threat level was involving 50 Mile stretch of shoreline between Cheboygan & Presque Isle Lighthouse. Figure out how 40 Mile Point Light got its name including total number of shipwrecks recorded along Lake Huron's waters since 2006. Determine if in fact the Straits of Mackinac connect multiple Great Lakes. Understand significance behind Spectacle Reef Light from a cost standpoint. Go behind the scenes and learn exactly how the Straits of Mackinac went about getting its name. Learn how vehicles accessed Straits of Mackinac prior to 1957 along with discovering an assortment of fascinating facts about the Mackinac Bridge itself. Discover how the Anishinabe People navigated around Straits of Mackinac prior to European arrival including lighthouses getting built. Receive a timeline of events between 1829-1892 leading up to constructing Old Mackinac Point Light. Learn if Old Mackinac Point Light provided vital services to railroad car ferries and how it became impacted once Mackinac Bridge opened. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Michigan Cider: The Great Cider State with Paula Englin Michigan has earned its place as a leader in the cider industry, boasting the highest number of hard cider businesses in the U.S. In this episode, Paula Englin, Executive Director of the Michigan Cider Association, discusses the state's growth in cider, the role of education, and how Michigan cider makers are shaping the industry with events like the well known cider competition GLINTCAP – Great Lakes International Cider and Perry competition. MCA Executive Director Paula Englin With nearly 195 cider businesses and a thriving community, Michigan truly is The Great Cider State Growing Michigan Cider: Collaboration & Education The Michigan Cider Association was founded over a decade ago to bring cider makers together, advocate for legislative needs, and expand consumer awareness. Today, the association focuses on education, providing opportunities for cider makers at all levels—from home enthusiasts to large-scale producers. One of the recent big initiatives has been working with the Cider Institute, formely known as the Cider Institute of North America (CINA), to offer subsidized cider education. Michigan cider makers have benefited from foundational courses, cider guide certifications for taproom staff, and marketing efforts that drive cider sales across the state. Mapping Michigan's Cider Scene Michigan's unique geography, shaped by the Great Lakes, creates an ideal environment for growing apples. Many cider makers source their fruit locally, often within 30 minutes of their production sites. Here's how the cider landscape breaks down: To use this Hand Map – Hold up your left hand, palm facing outward, with fingers together and thumb extended—this mimics Michigan's Lower Peninsula, often called “The Mitten,” with Detroit near the base of the thumb and Traverse City near the tip of your pinky. Metro Detroit (Thumb region) – A hub for orchards and cideries, home to well-known producers. Southwest Michigan (Pinky side of the mitten) – A mix of wineries and cideries, taking advantage of the region's wine industry crossover. Grand Rapids & the Fruit Ridge (Center of the mitten) – A major apple-growing region supplying cideries statewide. Traverse City (Top of the mitten) – A destination for cider lovers, known for high-quality cider apples and innovative makers. Cider Events That Put Michigan on the Map Michigan's cider industry thrives on consumer engagement, and events play a major role in getting more people to appreciate and support local cider. Michigan Apple Festival (Sparta, MI) – A harvest celebration featuring local apple growers, cider producers, and even an apple peeling contest! Cider Week Grand Rapids (May 9-17, 2025) – A week of cider-focused events, including pairing dinners, tap takeovers, and a board game night at House Rules in Grand Rapids. Grand Rapids Wine, Beer & Food Festival – Showcasing a variety of Michigan ciders to educate new consumers and cider fans alike. GLINTCAP: Great Lakes International Cider and Perry competition Michigan is also home to GLINTCAP (Great Lakes International Cider & Perry Competition), the world's largest cider competition. Paula now oversees the event, which continues to grow, introducing a low and no-ABV category for the first time in 2025. One major shift? Judging is now fully digital, improving feedback delivery and accuracy. The competition also expanded international accessibility, making it easier for cider makers worldwide to participate. Contant the Michigan Cider Association Website: https://michiganciders.com/ Mentions in this Cider Chat Totally Cider Tour to the UK – send an email to info@ciderchat.com to get on the wait list for spots opening on this 2025 tour taking place August 25-31, 2025 and future cider tours. Letter from Patron Rod – Become a patron of Cider Chat via Cider Chat Patreon Stone Ridge Orchard May Wassail – follow on Instagram Episode 296 Bauman's |Oregon's Destination Farm Cidery

Originally uploaded October 8th, re-edited December 17th. Chris Holman welcomes back Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., President, Michigan State University, East Lansing, MI. Welcome back you just had your Investiture on Sunday, share what that is, with the Michigan business community? During that you had a speech covering several things; tell us about a New merit based scholarship ? Share about Expanding transfer student programs for those transferring from community colleges to MSU? What is the Native American Tuition Advantage program? Tell us about Creation of a Green and White Council ? We hear you will have a Spartan Bus Tour going around Michigan for 3 days, what's that all about? » Visit MBN website: www.michiganbusinessnetwork.com/ » Watch MBN's YouTube: www.youtube.com/@MichiganbusinessnetworkMBN » Like MBN: www.facebook.com/mibiznetwork » Follow MBN: twitter.com/MIBizNetwork/ » MBN Instagram: www.instagram.com/mibiznetwork/ Michigan State University students, faculty, staff, alumni and dignitaries gathered to celebrate the investiture of MSU's 22nd president, Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., at 2 p.m. on Sept. 29 at Wharton Center's Cobb Great Hall. Presidential investitures are typically held in a leader's first year in office to publicly and formally “vest” them with the authority of the office and acknowledge, introduce and celebrate the new leader. Investitures also represent continuity, connecting a university's present with its past and allowing new leaders an opportunity to express their vision for the institution's future. Guskiewicz, a noted academic leader and neuroscientist, embarked on a 52-stop listening and learning tour of MSU's colleges and major administrative units during the first several months of his presidency. These visits underscored for the president the student-focused, passionately public work that happens at MSU every day. Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., with nearly seven months at the helm of the presidency, is helping to write the next chapter of MSU's storied history — one that continues to be student-centered, with a focus on inclusivity, accessibility and global impact as a leading public research university. Guskiewicz highlighted several initiatives during September 29th's investiture ceremony he and university leadership plan to roll out in the coming weeks and months, including efforts to increase accessibility to an MSU degree, meeting the needs of a 21st-century workforce, and the second iteration of the university's Global Impact Initiative that was approved by the Board of Trustees in June. To increase access and reduce financial barriers to a quality, accessible, world-class education, Guskiewicz announced a new merit-based scholarship named after MSU's first president and first lady, Joseph R. and Sarah L. Williams. The scholarship will fund tuition, food and housing, and an education abroad or other experiential education opportunity for undergraduates. Guskiewicz also announced the establishment of the Native American Tuition Advantage program, an expansion of the current Spartan Tuition Advantage program. Students from anywhere in the United States or Canada who meet tribal affiliation criteria will qualify for in-state tuition levels and potentially the Spartan Tuition Advantage program. Also, from Oct. 21-23, Michigan State University President Kevin M. Guskiewicz, Ph.D., and a group of faculty and administrators are set to go out on the inaugural Spartan Bus Tour. Intending to visit locations throughout the western Lower Peninsula of Michigan to build community connections and strengthen MSU's commitment to education, research, outreach and extension.

...Widespread heavy rain threat developing from the central and easternGulf Coast to the entire East Coast tonight into Wednesday......Arctic air to plunge south and eastward across the northern Plains,Upper Midwest, and Great Lakes tonight into Wednesday......Another round of significant lake effect snow to begin Wednesday andcontinue through Thursday downwind of the Lakes...A developing storm system over the Southeast U.S. is set to bringwidespread heavy rains from the central and eastern Gulf Coast to theentire East Coast tonight into Wednesday. A wave of low pressure willrapidly strengthen and move northeastward across the interior Mid-Atlanticand Northeast, dragging a strong cold front along with it. Ahead of thefront, warm and moist air will set the stage for numerous showers andthunderstorms, some of which could become strong to severe. This isespecially the case across eastern North Carolina on Wednesday, where theStorm Prediction Center has issued a Slight Risk (level 2 of 5) for severethunderstorms capable of producing damaging wind gusts. Elsewhere alongthe Eastern Seaboard, the main concern will be a period of heavy rain withembedded strong thunderstorms and intense downpours. Despite much of theregion currently experiencing moderate to extreme drought conditions, therain, while mostly beneficial, could still lead to some localizedinstances of flash flooding. The more urbanized locations and poordrainage areas would have the greater risk of flooding issues.The cold front will sweep across the East Coast Wednesday into Thursday,with much colder air surging in from the north and northwest in its wake.This Arctic blast will first plunge into the northern Plains and UpperMidwest tonight before expanding eastward across the Great Lakes,Mid-Atlantic and Northeast Wednesday and Thursday. High temperatures thenext couple of days will be roughly 10 to as much as 30 degrees belownormal. The cold post-frontal air mass will also help to change rain tosnow across the western slopes of the Appalachians and interior portionsof New England and the Northeast with at least modest accumulationslooking like a decent bet.Attention then turns to yet another round of significant lake effect snowdownwind of the Great Lakes Wednesday through Thursday. The aforementionedArctic air will stream across the still relatively warm Great Lakes andignite intense bands of lake effect snow, initially downwind of LakesSuperior and Michigan on Wednesday and then downwind of Lakes Erie andOntario Wednesday night into early Thursday. By the time the snow startsto taper off on Friday, snowfall totals of 1 to 2 feet are likely in thefavored Snow Belt across portions of northwest and western New York State,far northwest Pennsylvania, far northeastern Ohio, the Upper Peninsula ofMichigan and the western portions of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 10. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 17. To receive future episodes as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoJohn Melcher, CEO of Crystal Mountain, MichiganRecorded onOctober 14, 2024About Crystal Mountain, MichiganClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Petritz FamilyLocated in: Thompsonville, MichiganYear founded: 1956Pass affiliations: Indy Pass & Indy+ Pass: 2 days, no blackoutsReciprocal partners: 1 day each at Caberfae and Mount Bohemia, with blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Caberfae (:37), Hickory Hills (:45), Mt. Holiday (:50), Missaukee Mountain (:52), Homestead (:51)Base elevation: 757 feetSummit elevation: 1,132 feetVertical drop: 375 feetSkiable Acres: 103Average annual snowfall: 132 inchesTrail count: 59 (30% black diamond, 48% blue square, 22% green circle) + 7 glades + 3 terrain parksLift count: 8 (1 high-speed quad, 3 fixed-grip quads, 2 triples, 2 carpets – view Lift Blog's inventory of Crystal Mountain's lift fleet)Why I interviewed himThe biggest knock on Midwest skiing is that the top of the hill is not far enough away from the bottom of the hill, and this is generally true. Two or three or four hundred vertical feet is not a lot of vertical feet. It is enough to hold little pockets of trees or jumps or a racer's pitch that begs for a speed check. But no matter how fun the terrain, too soon the lift maze materializes and it's another slow roll up to more skiing.A little imagination helps here. Six turns in a snowy Michigan glade feel the same as six turns in Blue Sky Basin trees (minus the physiological altitude strain). And the skillset transfers well. I learned to ski bumps on a 200-vertical-foot section of Boyne Mountain and now I can ski bumps anywhere. But losing yourself in a 3,000-vertical-foot Rocky Mountain descent is not the same thing as saying “Man I can almost see it” as you try to will a 300-footer into something grander. We all know this.Not everything about the lift-served skiing experience shrinks down with the same effect, is my point here. With the skiing itself, scale matters. But the descent is only part of the whole thing. The lift maze matters, and the uphill matters, and the parking matters, and the location of the lift ticket pick-up matters, and the availability of 4 p.m. beers matters, and the arrangement base lodge seating matters. And when all of these things are knotted together into a ski day that is more fun than stressful, it is because you are in the presence of one thing that scales down in any context: excellence.The National Ski Areas Association splits ski areas into four size categories, calculated by “vertical transportation feet per hour.” In other words: how many skiers your lifts can push uphill in an ideal hour. This is a useful metric for many reasons, but I'd like to see a more qualitative measurement, one based not just on size, but on consistent quality of experience.I spend most of my winter bouncing across America, swinging into ski areas of all sizes and varieties. Excellence lives in unexpected places. One-hundred-and-sixty-vertical-foot Boyce Park, Pennsylvania blows thick slabs of snow with modern snowguns, grooms it well, and seems to double-staff every post with local teenagers. Elk Mountain, on the other side of Pennsylvania, generally stitches together a better experience than its better-known neighbors just south, in the Poconos. Royal Mountain, a 550-vertical-foot, weekends-only locals' bump in New York's southern Adirondacks, alternates statuesque grooming with zippy glades across its skis-bigger-than-it-is face.These ski areas, by combining great order and reliable conditions with few people, are delightful. But perhaps more impressive are ski areas that deliver consistent excellence while processing enormous numbers of visitors. Here you have places like Pats Peak, New Hampshire; Wachusett, Massachusetts; Holiday Valley, New York; and Mt. Rose, Nevada. These are not major tourist destinations, but they run with the welcoming efficiency of an Aspen or a Deer Valley. A good and ordered ski day, almost no matter what.Crystal Mountain, Michigan is one of these ski areas. Everything about the ski experience is well-considered. Expansion, upgrades, and refinement of existing facilities have been constant for decades. The village blends with the hill. The lifts are where the lifts should be. The trail network is interesting and thoughtfully designed. The parks are great. The grooming is great. The glades are plentiful. The prices are reasonable. And, most important of all, despite being busy at all times, Crystal Mountain is tamed by order. This is excellence, that thing that all ski areas should aspire to, whatever else they lack.What we talked aboutWhat's new for Crystal skiers in 2024; snowmaking; where Crystal draws its snowmaking water; Peek'n Peak, New York; why Crystal is a good business in addition to being a good ski area; four-seasons business; skiing as Mother; what makes a great team (and why Crystal has one); switching into skiing mid-career; making trails versus clearcutting the ski slope; ownership decided via coinflip; Midwest destination skiing's biggest obstacle; will Crystal remain independent?; room to expand; additional glading opportunities; why many of Crystal's trails are named after people; considering the future of Crystal's lift fleet; why Crystal built a high-speed lift that rises just 314 vertical feet; why the ghost of the Cheers lift lives on as part of Crystal's trailmap; where Crystal has considered adding a lift to the existing terrain; that confusing trailmap; a walkable village; changes inbound at the base of Loki; pushing back parking; more carpets for beginners; Crystal's myriad bargain lift ticket options; the Indy Pass; why Crystal dropped Indy Pass blackouts; the Mt. Bohemia-Crystal relationship; Caberfae; Indy's ultimatum to drop Ski Cooper reciprocals or leave the pass; and why Crystal joined Freedom Pass last year and left for this coming winter.  Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewThe Storm's mission is to serve all of American lift-served skiing. That means telling the stories of ski areas in every part of the country. I do this not because I have to, but because I want to. This newsletter would probably work just fine if it focused always and only on the great ski centers of the American West. That is, after all, the only part of U.S. ski country that outsiders travel to and that locals never leave. The biggest and best skiing is out there, at the top of our country, high and snowy and with a low chance of rain.But I live in the East and I grew up in the Midwest. Both regions are cluttered with ski areas. Hundreds of them, each distinct, each its own little frozen kingdom, each singular in atmosphere and arrangement and orientation toward the world. Most remain family-owned, and retain the improvisational quirk synonymous with such a designation. But more interesting is that these ski areas remain tethered to their past in a way that many of the larger western destination resorts, run by executives cycled in via corporate development programs, never will be again.I want to tell these stories. I'm aware that my national audience has a limited tolerance for profiles of Midwest ski centers they will never ski. But they seem to be okay with about a half-dozen per year, which is about enough to remind the wider ski community that this relatively flat but cold and hardy region is home to one of the world's great ski cultures. The Midwest is where night-skiing rules, where blue-collar families still ski, where hunting clothes double as ski clothes, where everything is a little less serious and a little more fun.There's no particular big development or project that threw the spotlight on Crystal here. I've been trying to arrange this interview for years. Because this is a very good ski area and a very well-run ski area, even if it is not a very large ski area in the grand landscape of American ski areas. It is one of the finest ski areas in the Midwest, and one worthy of our attention.What I got wrong* I said that “I forget if it's seven or nine different tree areas” at Crystal. The number of glades labeled on the trailmap is seven.* I said Crystal had been part of Indy Pass “since the beginning or near the beginning.” The mountain joined the pass in May, 2020, ahead of the 2020-21 ski season, Indy's second.Why you should ski Crystal Mountain, MichiganCrystal's Loki pod rises above the parking lots, 255 vertical feet, eight trails down, steep on the front, gentler toward the back. These days I would ski each of the eight in turn and proceed next door to the Clipper lift. But I was 17 and just learning to ski and to me at the time that meant bombing as fast as possible without falling. For this, Wipeout was the perfect trail, a sweeping crescent through the trees, empty even on that busy day, steep but only for a bit, just enough to ignite a long sweeping tuck back to the chairs. We lapped this run for hours. Speed and adrenaline through the falling snow. The cold didn't bother us and the dozens of alternate runs striped over successive hills didn't tempt us. We'd found what we'd wanted and what we'd wanted is this.I packed that day in the mental suitcase that holds my ski memories and I've carried it around for decades. Skiing bigger mountains hasn't tarnished it. Becoming a better skier hasn't diminished it. Tuck and bomb, all day long. Something so pure and simple in it, a thing that bundles those Loki laps together with Cottonwoods pow days and Colorado bump towers and California trees. Indelible. Part of what I think of when I think about skiing and part of who I am when I consider myself as a skier.I don't know for sure what Crystal Mountain, Michigan can give you. I can't promise transformation of the impressionable teenage sort. I can't promise big terrain or long runs because those don't have them. I'm not going to pitch Crystal as a singular pilgrimage of the sort that draws western Brobots to Bohemia. This is a regional ski area that is most attractive to skiers who live in Michigan or the northern portions of the states to its immediate south. Read: it is a ski area that the vast majority of you will never experience. And the best endorsement I can make of Crystal is that I think that's too bad, because I think you would really like it, even if I can't exactly explain why.Podcast NotesOn Peek'n PeakThe most difficult American ski area name to spell is not “Summit at Snoqualmie” or “Granlibakken” or “Pomerelle” or “Sipapu” or “Skaneateles” or “Bottineau Winter Park” or “Trollhaugen,” all of which I memorized during the early days of The Storm. The most counterintuitive, frustrating, and frankly stupid ski area name in all the land is “Peek'n Peak,” New York, which repeats the same word spelled two different ways for no goddamn reason. And then there's the apostrophe-“n,” lodged in there like a bar of soap crammed between the tomato and lettuce in your hamburger, a thing that cannot possibly justify or explain its existence. Five years into this project, I can't get the ski area's name correct without looking it up.Anyway, it is a nice little ski area, broad and varied and well-lifted, lodged in a consistent little Lake Erie snowbelt. They don't show glades on the trailmap, but most of the trees are skiable when filled in. The bump claims 400 vertical feet; my Slopes app says 347. Either way, this little Indy Pass hill, where Melcher learned to ski, is a nice little stopover:On Crystal's masterplanCrystal's masterplan leaves room for potential future ski development – we discuss where, specifically, in the podcast. The ski area is kind of lost in the sprawl of Crystal's masterplan, so I've added the lift names for context:On Sugar Loaf, MichiganMichigan, like most ski states, has lost more ski areas than it's kept. The most frustrating of these loses was Sugar Loaf, a 500-footer parked in the northwest corner of the Lower Peninsula, outside of Traverse City. Sunday afternoon lift tickets were like $12 and my high school buddies and I would drive up through snowstorms and ski until the lifts closed and drive home. The place went bust around 2000, but the lifts were still standing until some moron ripped them out five years ago with fantasies of rebuilding the place as some sort of boutique “experience.” Then he ran away and now it's just a lonely, empty hill.On Michigan being “littered with lost ski areas”Michigan is home to the second-most active or semi-active ski areas of any state in the country, with 44 (New York checks in around 50). Still, the Midwest Lost Ski Areas project counts more than 200 lost ski areas in the state.On Crystal's backside evolution and confusing trailmapBy building pod after pod off the backside of the mountain, Crystal has nearly doubled in size since I first skied there in the mid-90s. The Ridge appeared around 2000; North Face came online in 2003; and Backyard materialized in 2015. These additions give Crystal a sprawling, adventurous feel on par with The Highlands or Nub's Nob. But the trailmap, while aesthetically pleasant, is one of the worst I've seen, as it's very unclear how the three pods link to one another, and in turn to the front of the mountain:This is a fixable problem, as I outlined in my last podcast, with Vista Map founder Gary Milliken, who untangled similarly confusing trailmaps for Mt. Spokane, Washington and Lookout Pass, Idaho over the past couple of years. Here's Lookout Pass' old and new maps side-by-side:And here's Mt. Spokane:Crystal – if you'd like an introduction to Gary, I'm happy to make that happen.On resort consolidation in the MidwestThe Midwest has not been sheltered from the consolidation wave that's rolled over much of the West and New England over the past few decades. Of the region's 123 active ski areas, 25 are owned by entities that operate two or more ski areas: Vail Resorts owns 10; Wisconsin Resorts, five; Midwest Family Ski Resorts, four; the Schmitz Brothers, three; Boyne, two; and the Perfect Family, which also owns Timberline in West Virginia, one. But 98 of the region's ski areas remain independently owned and operated. While a couple dozen of those are tiny municipal ropetow bumps with inconsistent operations and little or no snowmaking, most of those that run at least one chairlift are family-owned ski areas that, last winter notwithstanding, are doing very well on a formula of reasonable prices + a focus on kids and night-skiing. Here's the present landscape of Midwest skiing:On the consolidation of Crystal's lift fleetCrystal once ran five frontside chairlifts:Today, the mountain has consolidated that to just five, despite a substantively unchanged trail footprint. While Crystal stopped running the Cheers lift around 2016, its shadowy outline still appears along the Cheers To Lou run.Crystal is way out ahead of the rest of the Midwest, which built most of its ski areas in the age of cheap fixed-grip lifts and never bothered to replace them. The king of these dinosaurs may be Afton Alps, Minnesota, with 15 Hall chairlifts (it was, until recently, 17) lined up along the ridge, the newest of them dating to 1979:It's kind of funny that Vail owns this anachronism, which, despite its comic-book layout, is actually a really fun little ski area.On Crystal's many discounted lift ticket optionsWhile Crystal is as high-end as any resort you'll find in Michigan, the ski area still offers numerous loveably kitschy discounts of the sort that every ski area in the country once sold:Browse these and more on their website.On Indy Pass' dispute with Ski CooperLast year, Indy Pass accused Ski Cooper of building a reciprocal resort network that turned the ski area's discount season pass into a de facto national ski pass that competed directly with Indy. Indy then told its partners to ditch Cooper or leave Indy. Crystal was one of those resorts, and found a workaround by joining the Freedom Pass, which maintained the three Cooper days for their passholders without technically violating Indy Pass' mandate. You can read the full story here:On Bohemia and CaberfaeCrystal left Freedom Pass for this winter, but has retained reciprocal deals with Mount Bohemia and Caberfae. I've hosted leaders of both ski areas on the podcast, and they are two of my favorite episodes:The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 73/100 in 2024, and number 573 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Get to know why combers are important. Receive an in depth analysis report behind SS Novadoc's journey on Lake Michigan starting around 12PM come November 11. Get introduced to William Krewell, Little Sable Point's Lighthouse Keeper, including his role behind performing communication miracle networking when so many other people were experiencing the exact opposite. Learn about the procedures which United States Coast Guard Stations along Lake Michigan required their crews to perform. Determine if there are special vessels within United States Coast Guard. Come across an unexpected situation impacting the Coast Guard along Lake Michigan Monday November 11. Discover just how intense the overall wind speed came out to be exactly along Lake Michigan. Learn exactly how bad the storm impacted Lansing Shoals Lighthouse. Figure out what exactly was the most widely common transportation practice operating regularly between Michigan's Upper & Lower Peninsula's in 1940. Go behind the scenes and understand why Little Bay de Noc endured the storm's overall brunt. Determine if Michigan's Lower Peninsula had fared any better than her counterpart to the north. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Oct. 17. It dropped for free subscribers on Oct. 24. To receive future episodes as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:When we recorded this podcast, Norway Mountain's adult season pass rates were set at $289. They have since increased by $100, but Hoppe is offering a $100 discount with the code “storm” through Nov. 1, 2024.WhoJustin Hoppe, Owner of Norway Mountain, MichiganRecorded onSeptember 16, 2024About Norway MountainOwned by: Justin HoppeLocated in: Norway, MichiganYear founded: Around 1974, as Norvul ski area; then Vulcan USA; then Briar Mountain; then Mont Brier; and finally Norway Mountain from ~1993 to 2012; then from 2014 to 2017; re-opened 2024Pass affiliations: Freedom Pass – 3 days each at these ski areas:Closest neighboring ski areas: Pine Mountain (:22), Keyes Peak (:35), Crystella (:46), Gladstone (:59), Ski Brule (1:04)Base elevation: 835 feetSummit elevation: 1,335 feetVertical drop: 500 feetSkiable Acres: 186Average annual snowfall: 50 inchesTrail count: 15Lift count: 6 (1 triple, 2 doubles, 3 handle tows)The map above is what Norway currently displays on its website. Here's a 2007 map that's substantively the same, but with higher resolution:View historic Norway Mountain trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himWhat a noble act: to resurrect a dead ski area. I'll acknowledge that a ski area is just a business. But it's also a (usually) irreplaceable community asset, an organ without which the body can live but does not function quite right. We read about factories closing up and towns dying along with them. This is because the jobs leave, yes, but there's an identity piece too. As General Motors pulled out of Saginaw and Flint in the 1980s and ‘90s, I watched, from a small town nearby, those places lose a part of their essence, their swagger and character. People were proud to have a GM factory in town, to have a GM job with a good wage, to be a piece of a global something that everyone knew about.Something less profound but similar happens when a ski area shuts down. I've written before about Apple Mountain, the 200-vertical-foot bump in Freeland, Michigan where I spent my second-ever day on skis:[Apple Mountain] has been closed since 2017. Something about the snowmaking system that's either too hard or too expensive to fix. That leaves Michigan's Tri-Cities – Midland, Bay City, and Saginaw, with a total metro population approaching 400,000 – with no functioning ski area. Snow Snake is only about 40 minutes north of Midland, and Mt. Holly is less than an hour south of Saginaw. But Apple Mountain, tucked into the backwoods behind Freeland, sat dead in the middle of the triangle. It was accessible to almost any schoolkid, and, humble as it was, stoked that fire for thousands of what became lifelong skiers.What skiing has lost without Apple Mountain is impossible to calculate. I would argue that it was one of the more important ski areas anywhere. Winters in mid-Michigan are long, cold, snowy, and dull. People need something to do. But skiing is not an obvious solution: this is the flattest place you can imagine. To have skiing – any skiing – in the region was a joy and a novelty. There was no redundancy, no competing ski center. And so the place was impossibly busy at all times, minting skiers who would go off to start ski newsletters and run huge resorts on the other side of the country.When the factory closes, the jobs go, and often nothing replaces them. Losing a ski area is similar. The skiers go, and nothing replaces them. The kids just do other things. They never become skiers.Children of Men, released in 2006, envisions a world 18 years after women have stopped having babies. Humanity lives on, but has collectively lost its soul. Violence and disorder reign. The movie is heralded for its extended single-shot battle scenes, but Children of Men's most remarkable moment is when a baby, born in the midst of a firefight, momentarily paralyzes the war as her protectors parade her to sanctuary:Humanity needs babies like winter needs skiers. But we have to keep making more.Yes, I'm being hyperbolic about the importance of resurrecting a lost ski area. If you're new here, that part of My Brand™. A competing, similar-sized ski center, Pine Mountain, is only 20 minutes from Norway. But that's 13 miles, which for a kid may as well be 1,000. Re-opening Norway is going to seed new skiers. Some of them will ski four times and forget about it and some of them will take spring break trips to Colorado when they get to college and a few of them may wrap their lives around it.And if they don't ever ski? Well, who knows. I almost didn't become a skier. I was 14 when my buddy said “Hey let's take the bus to Mott Mountain after school,” and I said “OK,” and even though I was Very Bad at it, I went again a few weeks later at Apple Mountain. Both of those hills are closed now. If I were growing up in Central Michigan now, would I have become a skier? What would I be if I wasn't one? How awful would that be?What we talked aboutBack from the dead; the West Michigan snowbelt; the power of the ski family; Caberfae; Pando's not for sale; when you decide to buy a lost ski area; how lost Norway was almost lost forever; the small business mindset; surprise bills; what a ski area looks like when it's sat idle for six years; piecing a sold-off snowmaking system back together; Norway's very unique lift fleet; glades; the trailmap; Norway's new logo; the Wild West of websites; the power of social media; where to even begin when you buy a ski area; the ups and downs of living at your ski area; shifting from renovation to operation; Norway's uneven history and why this time is different; is there enough room for Pine Mountain and Norway in such a small market?; why night skiing won't return on a regular basis this winter; send the school buses; it doesn't snow much but at least it stays cold; can Norway revitalize its legendary ski school?; and why Norway joined the Freedom Pass.  Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewHello Mr. Television Network Executive. Thank you for agreeing to hear my pitch. I understand I have 10 minutes with you, which is perfect, because what I'm proposing will take no fewer than five years, while simultaneously taking 10 years off both our lives. Because my show is called Who Wants to Own a Ski Area?The show works like this: contestants will navigate a series of logic puzzles, challenges, and obstacle courses. These will act as elimination rounds. We can base everyone at an abandoned ski resort, like in The Last of Us, where they will live while games materialize at random. Some examples:* It's 3 a.m. Everyone is sleeping. Alarms blare. A large structure has caught fire. The water has been cut off, but somehow you're standing in a knee-deep flood. Your firefighting arsenal consists of a bucket. You call the local volunteer fire department, which promises you they will “be along whenever Ed gits up here with the gay-rage door keys.” Whoever keeps the building from melting into a pile of ashes wins.* It's state inspection day. All machinery must be in working order. We present each contestant with a pile of sprockets, hoses, wires, clips, and metal parts of varying sizes and thickness. Their instructions are to rebuild this machine. We do not tell them what the machine is supposed to be. The good news is that the instruction manual is sitting right there. The bad news is that it's written in Polish. The pile is missing approximately seven to 20 percent of the machine's parts, without which the device may operate, but perhaps not in a way compatible with human life. Whoever's put-together machine leads to the fewest deaths advances to the next round.* The contestants are introduced to Big Jim. Big Jim has worked at the ski area since 1604. He has been through 45 ownership groups, knows everything about the mountain, and everyone on the mountain. Because of this, Big Jim knows you can't fire him lest you stoke a rebellion of labor and/or clientele. And he can tell you which pipes are where without you having to dig up half the mountain. But Big Jim keeps as much from getting done as he actually does. He resists the adoption of “fads” such as snowmaking, credit cards, and the internet. The challenge facing contestants is to get Big Jim to send a text message. He asks why the letters are arranged “all stupid” on the keyboard. The appearance of an emoji causes him to punch the phone several times and heave it into the woods.* Next we introduce the contestants to Fran and Freddy Filmore from Frankenmuth. The Filmores have been season passholders since the Lincoln Administration. They have nine kids in ski school, each of which has special dietary needs. Their phones are loaded with photos of problems: of liftlines, of dirt patches postholing trails, of an unsmiling parking attendant, of abandoned boot bags occupying cafeteria tables, of skis and snowboards and poles scattered across the snow rather than being placed on the racks that are right there for goodness sake. The Filmores want answers. The Filmores also want you to bring back Stray Cat Wednesdays, in which you could trade a stray cat for a lift ticket. But the Filmores are not actually concerned with solutions. No matter the quickness or efficacy of a remedy, they still “have concerns.” Surely you have 90 minutes to discuss this. Then the fire alarm goes off.* Next, the contestents will meet Hella Henry and his boys Donuts, Doznuts, Deeznuts, Jam Box, and 40 Ounce. HH and the Crushnutz Krew, as they call themselves, are among your most loyal customers. Though they are all under the age of 20, it is unclear how any of them could attend school or hold down a job, since they are at your hill for 10 to 12 hours per day. During that time, the crew typically completes three runs. They spend the rest of their time vaping, watching videos on their phones, and sitting six wide just below a blind lip in the terrain park. The first contestant to elicit a response from the Crushnutz Krew that is anything other than “that's chill” wins.The victor will win their very own ski area, complete with a several-thousand person Friends of [Insert Ski Area Name] group where 98 percent of the posts are complaints about the ski area. The ski center will be functional, but one popped bolt away from catastrophe in four dozen locations. The chairlifts will be made by a company that went out of business in 1912. The groomer will be towed by a yak. The baselodge will accommodate four percent of the skiers who show up on a busy day. The snowmaking “system” draws its water from a birdbath. Oh, and it's in the middle of nowhere in the middle of winter, and they're going to have to find people to work there.Oh, you love it Mr. Television Network Executive? That's so amazing. Now I can quit my job and just watch the money pile up. What do I do for a living? Well, I run a ski area.Hoppe won the contest. And I wanted to wish him luck.What I got wrongI lumped Ski Brule in with Pine Mountain as ski areas that are near Norway. While only 20-ish minutes separate Pine and Norway, Brule is in fact more than an hour away.Why you should ski Norway MountainYou can ski every run on Norway Mountain in one visit. There's something satisfying in that. You can drive off at the end of the day and not feel like you missed anything.There are hundreds of ski areas in North America like this. Most of them manage, somehow, to stuff the full spectrum of ski experience into an area equal to one corner of one of Vail's 90 or whatever Legendary Back Bowls. There are easy runs and hard runs. Long runs and short runs. Narrow runs and wide runs. Runs under the lifts and runs twisting through the trees. Some sort of tree-skiing. Some sort of terrain park. A little windlip that isn't supposed to be a cornice but skis like one, 9-year-olds leaping off it one after the next and turning around to watch each other after they land. Sometimes there is powder. Sometimes there is ice. Sometimes the grooming is magnificent. Sometimes the snow really sucks. Over two to four hours and 20 to 30 chairlift rides, you can fully absorb what a ski area is and why it exists.This is an experience that is more difficult to replicate at our battleship resorts, with 200 runs scribbled over successive peaks like a medieval war map. I ski these resorts differently. Where are the blacks? Where are the trees? Where are the bumps? I go right for them and I don't bother with anything else. And that eats up three or four days even at a known-cruiser like Keystone. In a half-dozen trips into Little Cottonwood Canyon, I've skied a top-to-bottom groomer maybe twice. Because skiing groomers at Alta-Snowbird is like ordering pizza at a sushi restaurant. Like why did you even come here?But even after LCC fluff, when I've descended back to the terrestrial realm, I still like skiing the Norway Mountains of the land. Big mountains are wonderful, but they come with big hassle, big crowds, big traffic, big attitudes, big egos. At Norway you can pull practically up to the lifts and be skiing seven minutes later, after booting up and buying your lift ticket. You can ski right onto the lift and the guy in the Carhartt will nod at you and if you're just a little creative and thoughtful every run will feel distinct. And you can roll into the chalet and grab a pastie and bomb the whole mountain again after lunch.And it will all feel different on that second lap. When there are 25 runs instead of 250, you absorb them differently. The rush to see it all evaporates. You can linger with it, mingle with the mountain, talk to it in a way that's harder up top. It's all so awesome in its own way.Podcast NotesOn Pando Ski CenterI grew up about two hours from the now-lost Pando Ski Center, but I never skied there. When I did make it to that side of Michigan, I opted to ski Cannonsburg, the still-functioning multi-lift ski center seven minutes up the road. Of course, in the Storm Wandering Mode that is my default ski orientation nowadays, I would have simply hit both. But that's no longer possible, because Cannonsburg purchased Pando in 2015 and subsequently closed it. Probably forever.Hoppe and I discuss this a bit on the pod. He actually tried to buy the joint. Too many problems with it, he was told. So he bought some of the ski area's snowguns and other equipment. Better that at least something lives on.Pando didn't leave much behind. The only trailmap I can find is part of this Ski write-up from February 1977:Apparently Pando was a onetime snowboarding hotspot. Here's a circa 2013 video of a snowboarder doing snowboarderly stuff:On CannonsburgWhile statistically humble, with just 250 vertical feet, Cannonsburg is the closest skiing to metropolitan Grand Rapids, Michigan, population 1.08 million. That ensures that the parks-oriented bump is busy at all times:On CaberfaeOne of Hoppe's (and my) favorite ski areas is Caberfae. This was my go-to when I lived in Central Michigan, as it delivered both decent vert (485 feet), and an interesting trail network (the map undersells it):The Meyer family has owned and operated Caberfae for decades, and they constantly improve the place. GM Tim Meyer joined me on the pod a few years back to tell the story.On Norway's proximity to Pine MountainNorway sits just 23 minutes down US 2 from Pine Mountain. The two ski areas sport eerily similar profiles: both measure 500 vertical feet and run two double chairs and one triple. Both face the twin challenges of low snowfall (around 60 inches per season), and a relatively thin local population base (Iron Mountain's metro area is home to around 32,500 people). It's no great surprise that Norway struggled in previous iterations. Here's a look at Pine:On Big TupperI mention Big Tupper as a lost ski area that will have an extra hard time coming back since it's been stripped (I think completely), of snowmaking. This ski area isn't necessarily totally dead: the lifts are still standing, and the property is going to auction next month, but it will take tens of millions to get the place running again. It was at one time a fairly substantial operation, as this circa 1997 trailmap shows:On Sneller chairliftsNorway runs two Sneller double chairs. Only one other Sneller is still spinning, at Ski Sawmill, a short and remote Pennsylvania bump. Lift Blog catalogued the machine here. It wasn't spinning when I skied Sawmill a couple of years ago, but I did snag some photos:On Norway's new logoIn general, animals make good logos. Hoppe designed this one himself:On social mediaHoppe has done a nice job of updating Norway's rebuild progress on social media, mostly via the mountain's Facebook page. Here are links to a few other social accounts we discussed:* Skiers and Snowboarders of the Midwest is a big champion of ski areas of all sizes throughout the region. The Midwest Skiers group is pretty good too.* Magic Mountain, Vermont, an underdog for decades, finally dug itself out of the afterthoughts pile at least in part due to the strength of its Instagram and Twitter presence.* The formerly dumpy Holiday Mountain, New York, has meticulously documented its rebuild under new ownership on Instagram and Facebook.On NeighborsMy 17-year-old brain could not comprehend the notion that two ski areas operated across the street from – and independent of – one another. But there they were: Nub's Nob and Boyne Highlands (now The Highlands), each an opposite turn off Pleasantview Road.We turned right, to Nub's, because we were in high school and because we all made like $4.50 an hour and because Nub's probably had like 10-Cent Tuesdays or something.I've since skied both mountains many times, but the novelty has never faded. Having one of something so special as a ski area in your community is marvelous. Having two is like Dang who won the lottery? There are, of course, examples of this all over the country – Sugarbush/Mad River Glen, Stowe/Smugglers' Notch, Alta/Snowbird, Timberline/Meadows/Skibowl – and it's incredible how distinct each one's identity remains even with shared borders and, often, passes.On UP ski areasMichigan's Upper Peninsula is a very particular animal. Only three percent of the state's 10 million residents live north of the Mackinac (pronounced Mackinaw) Bridge. Lower Peninsula skiers are far more likely to visit Colorado or Vermont than their far-north in-state ski areas, which are a 10-plus hour drive from the more populous southern tiers. While Bohemia's ultra-cheap pass and rowdy terrain have somewhat upset that equation, the UP remains, for purposes of skiing and ski culture, essentially a separate state.My point is that it's worth organizing the state's ski areas in the way that they practically exist in skiers minds. So I've separated the UP from the Lower Peninsula. Since Michigan is also home to an outsized number of town ropetows, I've also split surface-lift-only operations into their own categories:On last winter being very bad with record-low skier visitsSkier visits were down in every region of the United States last winter, but they all but collapsed in the Midwest, with a 26.7 percent plunge, according to the annual Kottke Demographic Report. Michigan alone was down nearly a half million skier visits. Check out these numbers:For comparison, overall skier numbers dropped just six percent in the Northeast, and five percent in the Rockies.The Storm publishes year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 66/100 in 2024, and number 566 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

The smell was overwhelming on that July day in 1968 as Monnie Bliss approached the cabin that his father Chauncey had built years earlier near the community of Good Hart, on the Lower Peninsula of Michigan's Northwest Coast. And the murders that ended up being discovered in the strange cabin in the woods would be a mystery that has yet to solved.Check out our updated website and sign up for our newsletter at AmericanHauntingsPodcast.comWant an episode every week, plus other awesome perks and discounts? Check out our Patreon pageFind out merch at AmericanHauntingsClothing.comFollow us on Twitter @AmerHauntsPod, @TroyTaylor13, @CodyBeckSTLFollow us on Instagram @AmericanHauntingsPodcast, @TroyTaylorgram, @CodyBeckSTLThis episode was written by Troy TaylorProduced and edited by Cody BeckOur Sponsors:* Check out Rosetta Stone and use my code TODAY for a great deal: https://www.rosettastone.com/* Check out undefined and use my code HAUNTINGS for a great deal: undefinedSupport this podcast at — https://redcircle.com/american-hauntings-podcast/donationsAdvertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brandsPrivacy & Opt-Out: https://redcircle.com/privacy

Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/602 Presented By: FishHound Expeditions, Skwala, Waters West, Visit Helena, MT Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/sponsors In this episode of the Great Lakes Dude podcast, we're gonna chit-chat and take a journey into the Upper Peninsula of Michigan with Capt. Brad Petzke, owner of Rivers North Guide Service. Yes, it's still Michigan. Once you cross that big, long Mackinac bridge and head north from the Lower Peninsula, it almost seems like another state. Once you cross it, things start to get a little more wilderness, a lot less towns and cities and villages, and just a lot of water and opportunities to explore.

Tonight's guest, Dwayne, was featured on Episode 409, and on that show, he told us about the Dogman encounter he had in 2012, while deer hunting in Michigan's Lower Peninsula. Well, this last January, he had another encounter and that's what he's going to be talking about on tonight's livestream episode of the show. He'll also be answering listener questions that are posted in the live chat. We hope you'll join us in the live chat and that you'll have plenty of questions for Dwayne.  Premium memberships are now available! If you'd like to be able to listen to the show without ads and have full access to premium content, please go to https://DogmanEncounters.com/Podcast to find out how to become a premium member.  If you'd like to help support the show, by buying your own Dogman Encounters t-shirt, sweatshirt, tank top, or coffee mug, please visit the Dogman Encounters Show Store, by going to https://Dogman-Encounters.MyShopify.com  If you've had a Dogman encounter and would like to speak with me about it, whether you'd like to keep your encounter confidential or be interviewed on a show, please go to https://DogmanEncounters.com and submit a report.  If you've had a Sasquatch sighting and would like to be a guest on My Bigfoot Sighting, please go to https://MyBigfootSighting.com and submit a report.I produce 3 other podcasts. Below, you'll find links to them.  My Bigfoot Sighting...  https://spreaker.page.link/xT7zh6zWsnCDaoVa7  Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio...  https://spreaker.page.link/WbtSccQm92TKBskT8  My Paranormal Experience https://www.spreaker.com/show/my-paranormal-experience  Thanks for listening!

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to James Miller about all things habitat in the Southwest Lower Peninsula region of the state, fly away with a discussion about the American woodcock, answer a question about the existence of coywolves and we wrap up the episode with a chat about Michigan black bears. Pete Kailing also stops in to talk about hunting and trapping opportunities available in the month of March. Episode Hosts: Rachel Lincoln and Eric HilliardProducer/editor: Eric HilliardFor Pete's sakeHunting regulation summary bookletsAll things habitatState Game and Wildlife AreasAll things feathersAmerican woodcockAll things furAmerican black bearQuestions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to Scott Eggeman about all things habitat in the Northern Lower Peninsula region of the state, fly away with a discussion about crows, and we wrap up the episode with a chat about otters. Pete Kailing also stops in to talk about hunting and trapping opportunities available in the month of February. Episode Hosts: Rachel Lincoln and Eric HilliardProducer/editor: Eric HilliardAll things habitatMichigan.gov/elkAll things feathersAmerican crowBird walk event registrationAll things furNorth American river otterQuestions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

RADM Dan May, USCG (ret.) Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. Daniel R. May graduated with a degree in ocean engineering from the U.S. Coast Guard Academy in New London, Connecticut, in the class of 1979. During his time as the ocean engineer for the Fifth Coast Guard District, Dan worked on lighthouse projects from Delaware Bay to the Carolinas. Dan eventually moved to Civil Engineering Unit Providence, Rhode Island, where he served as the project engineer for several major lighthouse projects including the relocation of Block Island Southeast Light, the first move of a major lighthouse structure in the United States. Dan retired as a rear admiral in 2013. He is the author of a new book published by the U.S. Lighthouse Society, called Preserving America's Lighthouses: Memoirs of a Coast Guard Ocean Engineer. Tawas Point Lighthouse during restoration. Tawas Point Lighthouse is located in Tawas Point State Park in the northeastern part of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The State of Michigan acquired Tawas Point Light Station from the Coast Guard in 2002. Today, it's one of twelve sites that comprise the Michigan History Center. Laurie Perkins is the Southern Lower Peninsula Historian for the Michigan History Center and she also coordinates the keeper program at Tawas Point Lighthouse. In this interview, Laurie describes the recent restoration of the lighthouse and also the keepers program, which is returning after an absence of a few years.

This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Nov. 14. It dropped for free subscribers on Nov. 21. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below:WhoJim Vick, General Manager of Lutsen Mountains, MinnesotaRecorded onOctober 30, 2023About Lutsen MountainsClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: Midwest Family Ski ResortsLocated in: Lutsen, MinnesotaYear founded: 1948Pass affiliations:* Legendary Gold Pass – unlimited access, no blackouts* Legendary Silver Pass – unlimited with 12 holiday and peak Saturday blackouts* Legendary Bronze Pass – unlimited weekdays with three Christmas week blackouts* Indy Pass – 2 days with 24 holiday and Saturday blackouts* Indy Plus Pass – 2 days with no blackoutsClosest neighboring ski areas: Chester Bowl (1:44), Loch Lomond (1:48), Spirit Mountain (1:54), Giants Ridge (1:57), Mt. Baldy (2:11)Base elevation: 800 feetSummit elevation: 1,688 feetVertical drop: 1,088 feet (825 feet lift-served)Skiable Acres: 1,000Average annual snowfall: 120 inchesTrail count: 95 (10% expert, 25% most difficult, 47% more difficult, 18% easiest)Lift count: 7 (1 eight-passenger gondola, 2 high-speed six-packs, 3 double chairs, 1 carpet)View historic Lutsen Mountains trailmaps on skimap.org.Why I interviewed himI often claim that Vail and Alterra have failed to appreciate Midwest skiing. I realize that this can be confusing. Vail Resorts owns 10 ski areas from Missouri to Ohio. Alterra's Ikon Pass includes a small but meaningful presence in Northern Michigan. What the hell am I talking about here?Lutsen, while a regional standout and outlier, illuminates each company's blind spots. In 2018, the newly formed Alterra Mountain Company looted the motley M.A.X. Pass roster for its best specimens, adding them to its Ikon Pass. Formed partly from the ashes of Intrawest, Alterra kept all of their own mountains and cherry-picked the best of Boyne and Powdr, leaving off Boyne's Michigan mountains, Brighton, Summit at Snoqualmie, and Cypress (which Ikon later added); and Powdr's Boreal, Lee Canyon, Pico, and Bachelor (Pico and Bachelor eventually made the team). Alterra also added Solitude and Crystal after purchasing them later in 2018, and, over time, Windham and Alyeska. Vail bought Triple Peaks (Crested Butte, Okemo, Sunapee), later that year, and added Resorts of the Canadian Rockies to its Epic Pass. But that left quite a few orphans, including Lutsen and sister mountain Granite Peak, which eventually joined the Indy Pass (which didn't debut until 2019).All of which is technocratic background to set up this question: what the hell was Alterra thinking? In Lutsen and Granite Peak, Alterra had, ready to snatch, two of the largest, most well-cared-for, most built-up resorts between Vermont and Colorado. Midwest Family Ski Resorts CEO Charles Skinner is one of the most aggressive and capable ski area operators anywhere. These mountains, with their 700-plus-foot vertical drops, high-speed lifts, endless glade networks, and varied terrain deliver a big-mountain experience that has more in common with a mid-sized New England ski area than anything within several hundred miles in any direction. It's like someone in a Colorado boardroom and a stack of spreadsheets didn't bother looking past the ZIP Codes when deciding what to keep and what to discard.This is one of the great miscalculations in the story of skiing's shift to multimountain pass hegemony. By overlooking Lutsen Mountains and Granite Peak in its earliest days, Alterra missed an opportunity to snatch enormous volumes of Ikon Pass sales across the Upper Midwest. Any Twin Cities skier (and there are a lot of them), would easily be able to calculate the value of an Ikon Pass that could deliver 10 or 14 days between Skinner's two resorts, and additional days on that mid-winter western run. By dismissing the region, Alterra also enabled the rise of the Indy Pass, now the only viable national multi-mountain pass product for the Midwestern skier outside of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. These sorts of regional destinations, while not as “iconic” as, say, Revelstoke, move passes; the sort of resort-hopping skier who is attracted to a multi-mountain pass is going to want to ski near home as much as they want to fly across the country.Which is a formula Vail Resorts, to its credit, figured out a long time ago. Which brings us back to those 10 Midwestern ski areas hanging off the Epic Pass attendance sheet. Vail has, indeed, grasped the utility of the Midwestern, city-adjacent day-ski area, and all 10 of its resorts fit neatly into that template: 75 chairlifts on 75 vertical feet with four trees seated within 10 miles of a city center. But here's what they missed: outside of school groups; Park Brahs who like to Park Out, Brah; and little kids, these ski areas hold little appeal even to Midwesterners. That they are busy beyond comprehension at all times underscores, rather than refutes, that point – something simulating a big-mountain experience, rather than a street riot, is what the frequent Midwest skier seeks.For that, you have to flee the cities. Go north, find something in the 400- to 600-foot vertical range, something with glades and nooks and natural snow. Places like Caberfae, Crystal Mountain, Nub's Nob, and Shanty Creek in Michigan; Cascade, Devil's Head, and Whitecap, Wisconsin; Giants Ridge and Spirit Mountain, Minnesota. Lutsen is the best of all of these, a sprawler with every kind of terrain flung across its hundreds of acres. A major ski area. A true resort. A Midwestern dream.Vick and I discuss the Ikon snub in the podcast. It's weird. And while Alterra, five years later, is clearly doing just fine, its early decision to deliberately exclude itself from one of the world's great ski regions is as mystifying a strategic choice as I've seen any ski company make. Vail, perhaps, understands the Midwest resort's true potential, but never found one it could close on – there aren't that many of them, and they aren't often for sale. Perhaps they dropped a blank check on Skinner's desk, and he promptly deposited it into the nearest trashcan.All of which is a long way of saying this: Lutsen is the best conventional ski area in the Midwest (monster ungroomed Mount Bohemia is going to hold more appeal for a certain sort of expert skier), and one of the most consistently excellent ski operations in America. Its existence ought to legitimize the region to national operators too bent on dismissing it. Someday, they will understand that. And after listening to this podcast, I hope that you will, too.What we talked aboutWhy Lutsen never makes snow in October; Minnesota as early-season operator; the new Raptor Express six-pack; why the Bridge double is intact but retiring from winter operations; why Lutsen removed the 10th Mountain triple; why so many Riblet chairs are still operating; why Moose Return trail will be closed indefinitely; potential new lower-mountain trails on Eagle Mountain; an updated season-opening plan; how lake-effect snow impacts the west side of Lake Superior; how the Raptor lift may impact potential May operations; fire destroys Papa Charlie's; how it could have been worse; rebuilding the restaurant; Lutsen's long evolution from backwater to regional leader and legit western alternative; the Skinner family's aggressive operating philosophy; the history of Lutsen's gondola, the only such machine in Midwest skiing; Lutsen's ambitious but stalled masterplan; potential Ullr and Mystery mountain chairlift upgrades; “the list of what skiers want is long”; why Lutsen switched to a multi-mountain season pass with Granite Peak and Snowriver; and “if we would have been invited into the Ikon at the start, we would have jumped on that.”Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewFor all my gushing above, Lutsen isn't perfect. While Granite Peak has planted three high-speed lifts on the bump in the past 20 years, Lutsen has still largely been reliant on a fleet of antique Riblets, plus a sixer that landed a decade ago and the Midwest's only gondola, a glimmering eight-passenger Doppelmayr machine installed in 2015. While a fixed-grip foundation isn't particularly abnormal for the Midwest, which is home to probably the largest collection of antique chairlifts on the planet, it's off-brand for burnished Midwest Family Ski Resorts.Enter, this year, Lutsen's second six-pack, Raptor Express, which replaces both the 10th Mountain triple (removed), and the Bridge double (demoted to summer-only use). This new lift, running approximately 600 vertical feet parallel to Bridge, will (sort of; more below), smooth out the janky connection from Moose back to Eagle. And while the loss of 10th Mountain will mean 300 vertical feet of rambling below the steep upper-mountain shots, Raptor is a welcome upgrade that will help Lutsen keep up with the Boynes.However, even as this summer moved the mountain ahead with the Raptor installation, a storm demolished a skier bridge over the river on Moose Return, carving a several-hundred-foot-wide, unbridgeable (at least in the short term), gap across the trail. Which means that skiers will have to connect back to Eagle via gondola, somewhat dampening Raptor's expected impact. That's too bad, and Vick and I talk extensively about what that means for skiers this coming winter.The final big timely piece of this interview is the abrupt cancellation of Lutsen's massive proposed terrain expansion, which would have more than doubled the ski area's size with new terrain on Moose and Eagle mountains. Here's what they were hoping to do with Moose:And Eagle:Over the summer, Lutsen withdrew the plan, and Superior National Forest Supervisor Thomas Hall recommended a “no action” alternative, citing “irreversible damage” to mature white cedar and sugar maple stands, displacement of backcountry skiers, negative impacts to the 300-mile-long Superior hiking trail, objections from Native American communities, and water-quality concerns. Lutsen had until Oct. 10 to file an objection to the decision, and they did. What happens now? we discuss that.Questions I wish I'd askedIt may have been worth getting into the difference between Lutsen's stated lift-served vertical (825 feet), and overall vertical (1,088 feet). But it wasn't really necessary, as I asked the same question of Midwest Family Ski Resorts CEO Charles Skinner two years ago. He explains the disparity at the 25:39 mark:What I got wrongI said that Boyne Mountain runs the Hemlock double chair instead of the Mountain Express six-pack for summer operations. That is not entirely true, as Mountain Express sometimes runs, as does the new Disciples 8 chair on the far side of the mountain's Sky Bridge.I referred to Midwest Family Ski Resorts CEO Charles Skinner as “Charles Skinner Jr.” He is in fact Charles Skinner IV.Why you should ski Lutsen MountainsOne of the most unexpected recurring messages I receive from Storm readers floats out of the West. Dedicated skiers of the big-mountain, big-snow kingdoms of the Rockies, they'd never thought much about skiing east of the Continental Divide. But now they're curious. All these profiles of New England girth and history, Midwest backwater bumps, and Great Lakes snowtrains have them angling for a quirky adventure, for novelty and, perhaps, a less-stressful version of skiing. These folks are a minority. Most Western skiers wear their big-mountain chauvinism as a badge of stupid pride. Which I understand. But they are missing a version of skiing that is heartier, grittier, and more human than the version that swarms from the western skies.So, to those few who peek east over the fortress walls and consider the great rolling beyond, I tell you this: go to Lutsen. If you're only going to ski the Midwest once, and only in a limited way, this is one of the few must-experience stops. Lutsen and Bohemia. Mix and match the rest. But these two are truly singular.To the rest of you, well: Midwest Family's stated goal is to beef up its resorts so that they're an acceptable substitute for a western vacation. Lutsen's website even hosts a page comparing the cost of a five-day trip there and to Breckenridge:Sure, that's slightly exaggerated, and yes, Breck crushes Lutsen in every on-mountain statistical category, from skiable acreage to vertical drop to average annual snowfall. But 800 vertical feet is about what an average skier can manage in one go anyway. And Lutsen really does give you a bigger-mountain feel than anything for a thousand miles in either direction (except, as always, the Bohemia exception). And when you board that gondy and swing up the cliffs toward Moose Mountain, you're going to wonder where, exactly, you've been transported to. Because it sure as hell doesn't look like Minnesota.Podcast NotesOn Midwest Family Ski ResortsMidwest Family Ski Resorts now owns four ski areas (Snowriver, Michigan is one resort with two side-by-side ski areas). Here's an overview:On the loss of Moose ReturnA small but significant change will disrupt skiing at Lutsen Mountains this winter: the destruction of the skier bridge at the bottom of the Moose Return trail that crosses the Poplar River, providing direct ski access from Moose to Eagle mountains. Vick details why this presents an unfixable obstacle in the podcast, but you can see that Lutsen removed the trail from its updated 2023-24 map:On the Stowe gondola I referencedI briefly referenced Stowe's gondola as a potential model for traversing the newly re-gapped Moose Return run. The resort is home to two gondolas – the 2,100-vertical-foot, 7,664-foot-long, eight-passenger Mansfield Gondola; and the 1,454-foot-long, six-passenger Over Easy Gondola, which moves between the Mansfield and Spruce bases. It is the latter that I'm referring to in the podcast: On Mt. FrontenacVick mentions that his first job was at Mt. Frontenac, a now-lost 420-vertical-foot ski area in Minnesota. Here was a circa 2000 trailmap:Apparently a local group purchased the ski area and converted it into a golf course. Boo.On the evolution of LutsenThe Skinners have been involved with Lutsen since the early 1980s. Here's a circa 1982 trailmap, which underscores the mountain's massive evolution over the decades:On the evolution of Granite PeakWhen Charles Skinner purchased Granite Peak, then known as Rib Mountain, it was a nubby little backwater, with neglected infrastructure and a miniscule footprint:And here it is today, a mile-wide broadside running three high-speed chairlifts:An absolutely stunning transformation.On Charles Skinner IIISkinner's 2021 Star Tribune obituary summarized his contributions to Lutsen and to skiing:Charles Mather Skinner III passed away on June 17th at the age of 87 in his new home in Red Wing, MN. …Charles was born in St. Louis, MO on August 30, 1933, to Eleanor Whiting Skinner and Charles Mather Skinner II. He grew up near Lake Harriet in Minneapolis where he loved racing sailboats during the summer and snow sliding adventures in the winter.At the age of 17, he joined the United States Navy and fought in the Korean War as a navigator aboard dive bombers. After his service, he returned home to Minnesota where he graduated from the University of Minnesota Law School, served on the law review, and began practicing law in Grand Rapids, MN.In 1962, he led the formation of Sugar Hills Ski and purchased Sugar Lake (Otis) Resort in Grand Rapids, MN. For 20 years, Charles pioneer-ed snowmaking inventions, collaborated with other Midwest ski area owners to build a golden age for Midwest ski areas, and advised ski areas across the U.S. including Aspen on snowmaking.In the 1970s, Scott Paper Company recruited Charles to manage recreational lands across New England, and later promoted him to become President of Sugarloaf Mountain ski area in Maine. In 1980, he bought, and significantly expanded, Lutsen Mountains in Lutsen, MN, which is now owned and operated by his children.He and his wife spent many happy years on North Captiva Island, Florida, where they owned and operated Barnacle Phil's Restaurant. An entrepreneur and risk-taker at heart, he never wanted to retire and was always looking for new business ventures.His work at Sugar Hills, Lutsen Mountains and North Captive Island helped local economics expand and thrive.He was a much-respected leader and inspiration to thousands of people over the years. Charles was incredibly intellectually curious and an avid reader, with a tremendous memory for facts and history.Unstoppable and unforgettable, he had a wonderful sense of humor and gave wise counsel to many. …On the number of ski areas on Forest Service landA huge number of U.S. ski areas operate on Forest Service land, with the majority seated in the West. A handful also sit in the Midwest and New England (Lutsen once sat partially on Forest Service land, but currently does not):On additional Midwest podcastsAs a native Midwesterner, I've made it a point to regularly feature the leaders of Midwest ski areas on the podcast. Dig into the archive:MICHIGANWISCONSINOHIOINDIANASOUTH DAKOTAThe Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 98/100 in 2023, and number 484 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Opening day for rifle season is November 15, and once again the Michigan DNR has banned baiting in hopes to curb cases of the lethal Chronic Wasting Disease among deer. On this Daily J, WWJ's Brian Fisher explores why officials say the ban is so important, and why some hunters are pushing back. (Credit: Getty Images)

Consumers Energy Empowers 6.7 Million Michigan Customers with Natural Gas and Electricity Across 68 Lower Peninsula Counties: Lauren Snyder Unpacks Their Role in Shaping Michigan's Future.Listen to Lauren Youngdahl Snyder as she discusses electric vehicles, renewable energy and efficiency with The Michigan Opportunity podcast!  Consumers Energy is an investor-owned utility that provides natural gas and electricity to 70% of Michiganders and serves customers in all 68 of the state's Lower Peninsula counties. Consumes Energy, a subsidiary of CMS Energy, was founded in 1886 and is currently headquartered in Jackson, Michigan. 

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to Joe Robison about all things habitat in the Southeast Lower Peninsula of Michigan, fly away with eastern screech-owls as we talk all things feathers, and we discuss the odorous, striped skunk in our all things fur segment.Episode Hosts: Rachel Leightner and Eric HilliardProducer/editor: Eric HilliardAll things habitatMichigan.gov/WaterfowlMichigan.gov/WetlandWondersAll things feathersEastern screech-owl (All about birds)All things furStriped skunk (iNaturalist)Nuisance wildlife informationQuestions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

Matthew 18:21-35Then Peter came and said to him, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often should I forgive? As many as seven times?" And Jesus said to him, "Not seven times, but, I tell you, seventy-seven times."For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves. When he began the reckoning, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him; and, as he could not pay, his lord ordered him to be sold, together with his wife and children and all of his possessions, and payment to be made. So the slave fell on his knees before him, saying, 'Have patience with me, and I will pay you everything.' And out of pity for him, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.But that same slave, as he went out, came upon one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred denarii; and seizing him by the throat, he said, 'Pay what you owe.' Then his fellow slave fell down and pleaded with him, 'Have patience with me and I will pay you.' But he refused; then he went and threw him into prison until he would pay the debt.When his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were greatly distressed, and they went and reported to their lord all that had taken place. Then his lord summoned him and said to him, 'You wicked slave! I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. Should you not have had mercy on your fellow slave, as I had mercy on you?' And in anger his lord handed him over to be tortured until he would pay his entire debt. So my heavenly father will also do to every one of you, if you do not forgive your brother or sister from your heart." One of the last official acts of my summer's sabbatical was to travel with my dad to the Upper Peninsula of Michigan, which may be another sermon for another day. On the way, we stopped for dinner near the top of the Lower Peninsula, at a place where we vacationed often as a family when I was a kid. We took my best friend, Dave, on as many of those family vacations as we did my own brother, and I was flooded with a ton of thoughts and feelings, a million emotions and memories, as my dad and I walked and talked and took a proverbial stroll down that Memory Lane.And I don't remember my friend Dave for very long without wrestling with and being reminded about the power and importance of forgiveness, like the kind Jesus is talking about in this morning's Gospel. And I'll come back to Dave, in a minute.This morning, Peter wants to know, "Lord, if another member of the church sins against me, how often must I forgive?" "Is once enough?" "Twice?" "Will seven times, do it?" And Jesus tells him, not so subtly, that he's not even close … that something like “seventy times seven” might do the trick – that he should forgive and forgive, and not quit forgiving.Now, I don't think Jesus is really concerned about the math of forgiveness, so much as he is about the aim and the quality of it. "What is true forgiveness … genuine forgiveness … real forgiveness?" “What does it mean to forgive someone – and mean it – sincerely – from your heart?” “And why is that what God asks of us?”These are hard questions because there are so many things for which forgiveness can be offered. There are so many feelings that have been hurt, wounds that have been inflicted, words that have been said, hearts that have been broken, that forgiveness seems to be needed in so many different ways – large and small and everywhere in between. So, true … genuine … real forgiveness may be one of those things that can only be known when you see it… or feel it… or give and receive it … for yourself.I think it's like tearing up a scorecard. I think it's a burden that's lifted. I think it's like fear that disappears. It can be a very real, physical pressure in your chest that's released. It's a peace that abides. I think that slave in this morning's story must have felt some of these things when his lord released him, forgave him his debt, don't you think?But it seems we need to be reminded, over and over again, that when it comes to forgiveness, it has as much to do – maybe more to do –with the forgiver as it does with the one who receives forgiveness. The forgiver – just as much as the one forgiven – also feels the pressure release, the burden lift, the relief come, the peace abide. And again, you may know that If you've ever seen it… or offered it… or experienced it for yourself ... for real.For me, one of the most profound struggles with the practice of forgiveness came when Dave, who I mentioned a minute ago, one of the best friends I'll ever have, died in a drunk driving accident, when we were 22 years old. He was in the passenger seat of a car full of mutual friends – and they, along with the driver, were the ones who had been drinking. The anger, frustration, regret and sadness that come along with a loss like that are impossible to anticipate. And I watched and felt it all as it consumed me, our friends, and Dave's family. And the easy target for all of that rage, blame, brokenness, and hardness of heart was Jason, our friend who was driving the car that night.It took some time – some much needed and well-deserved time – before forgiveness started to happen for those who withheld it. It took longer for some than for others. I'm not sure everyone has mustered it, yet, and I can't hold that against them. But once I began to let forgiveness win me over, it became clear to me that my anger and frustration, my regret and sadness, had more to do with my own connection to that night's events than it did with Jason's position in the driver's seat.It was hard to admit all of the reckless behavior and stupid choices that led up to the one that finally caught up with us. It was scary to know that any number of slightly different circumstances could have put any one of the rest of us in Dave's place – or Jason's. And, as unexpected dying tends to be, it was overwhelmingly sad to wonder about missed opportunities, lost potential, and to regret all the things you wish you would have said or done – or could still be doing.And those are the things that make true forgiveness hard to give and to receive. We do things like point fingers and place blame and cast judgment as a way of keeping our distance from the ugliness of sin or the difficulty of conflict or the hurt feelings and deep sadness of whatever and whoever needs forgiving.We hold onto grudges because they keep difficult conversations at arms' length. We keep score of wrongs because we can create winners and losers that way. We let our fear get the best of us because it comes more naturally, sometimes, than faith. Maybe we withhold forgiveness because we like to think it's a way to get even with or punish the ones who've harmed us. And all of that is the kind of prison and torture I think Jesus points to in this morning's parable. I don't think the torture that comes from refusing forgiveness – like that slave did with his friend this morning – has anything to do with some cosmic, eternal penalty that waits for us somewhere after we're dead and gone. I believe the torture of unforgiveness finds and afflicts us right where we live – here and now – on this side of heaven. And it afflicts those of us who withhold the gift, just as much as it does the ones we believe need our forgiveness. Have you ever let the hard work of unforgiveness keep you up at night? Let it impact your daily life? Harm your relationships? Have you ever let the anger and hatred of unforgiveness cause you stress and anxiety to the point that you can feel it in your body? Have you ever held an unforgiving grudge against someone you had to live, work or go to church with? Is there anything more awkward, painful or unholy than sharing space and breath and life with a person you can't forgive? It's a prison and a torture of its own kind which God calls us to unlock through the practice of forgiveness.And forgiveness doesn't always mean hugs and kisses and warm fuzzies along the way. It's never a sign of weakness or of giving in. It doesn't imply that another's wrongs were justified or acceptable. It doesn't even mean that relationships will always be restored on this side of heaven.When I decided to forgive Jason, the friend who was behind the wheel when Dave was killed, I got his address and wrote him a few letters in prison, trying to let him know as much. It's been 27 years and I've never heard back from him, even though he's out now, married with kids and all the rest. He's one of those people with no presence or profile on social media. He's never reconnected with any of our friends from back in the day, either, as far as I know. That's his prerogative and for which he must have good reasons I can only guess about.And what I realized a week or so ago during my walk down Memory Lane is that my forgiveness was never so much about Jason as it was about me … that I was changed – and blessed and better – by forgiving him, whether it meant anything to Jason or not. I felt free and unburdened from my anger, from my self-righteousness, from my judgment. And I found some comfort in a deep hope that our friend Dave, himself, could see and would understand the bigger picture of what happened the night he died.And I think this is God's desire for God's people: That we quit bearing burdens of anger, resentment, regret and remorse that torture and dismantle us from the inside, out. That we release ourselves from doing God's work of discerning what holy judgement looks like. That, instead, we keep our hearts and minds focused on practicing grace, offering mercy, making peace – and extending true, real, genuine forgiveness – the way it has first been shared with us, and is meant to be shared with the world – thanks to the forgiveness that is ours in Jesus Christ, and from whom it matters most, in the end, anyway.Amen

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk to Mike Parker about all things habitat in the Northern Lower Peninsula of Michigan, fly away with sharp-tailed grouse as we talk all things feathers, and we discuss the Ursus americanus in our all things fur segment.Episode Hosts: Rachel Leightner and Eric HilliardProducer/editor: Eric HilliardAll things habitatMichigan.gov/HuntingMichigan.gov/DeerAll things feathersSharp-tailed grouseAll things furBlack bearsNuisance wildlife informationQuestions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/481 Presented By: Mavrk Fly Fishing, Yellowstone Teton, Drifthook Fly Fishing, Togens Fly Shop Sponsors: https://wetflyswing.com/sponsors In today's episode, the Dude Jeff Liskay chats with one of the best shallow-water fly anglers, Dave Hurley. They connected because of their love for the freshwater Drum. They think it's a cool fish with its chicken feathers but interestingly enough, some people call it "trash fish". Now Dave joins our show today to talk about why these fish are great to target. Dave is a skinny water specialist that runs skinny water safari guide service. Dave roams the backwater of the Great Lakes based on the Lower Peninsula, Michigan where he pulls his way through the miles of skinny water flats, sight-fishing for a wide variety of warm water species out of his towee boat. Show Notes with Dave Hurley on Skinny Water Fishing 04:00 - Dave joined a community of fly fishermen who fished in the surf along the Pacific where they fished for Corbina, Surfperch, and Croaker species. Dave got really into fishing for Spotfin Croaker. 06:00 - Dave found out that a stonefly nymph pattern works great for Spotfin Croakers. 09:00 - Dave talks about getting his first boat. 17:50 - He talks about the time when he and his best friend fished sight fished for musky on the flats. 18:40 - His go-to is a 6-wt rod and occasional 7-wt. 19:30 - Dave now focuses on carp fishing and goes up to 10-wt. For leader, he goes up to 15-pound test, and sometimes 12 or 10-pound. 27:25 - Dave doesn't really pay attention to water temperatures. He and his team are mostly sight fishing. 35:55 - We talk about casting. "Your short game is just as important as your long game", Dave says. 39:25 - Dave's favorite line is the SA Bass Bug Fly Line. 42:25 - Dave talks about how he improvises when he ties his flies, tying them differently each time. He also talks about the common materials he uses. 47:40 - Jeff's go-to flies always have rubber. 49:00 - Dave talks about how being an artist affects his creativity in fishing. 51:00 - Dave talks about how he practices handling fish in a way that doesn't hurt the fish. And also talks about how he tries in his own little ways to protect the waters he fishes. Show Notes: https://wetflyswing.com/481

Bridge Michigan reported this week that fatal crash numbers remain high in post-pandemic Michigan, with safety advocates again citing risky driving behavior as the reason. On this week's Talking Michigan Transportation podcast, Bridge Michigan reporter Mike Wilkinson talks about his analysis of the data and what he found. In a second segment, Pamela Shadel Fischer, senior director of external engagement at the Washington, D.C.-based Governors Highway Safety Association (GHSA), offers her organization's perspective on the problem and how automated traffic enforcement could stem the tide. Wilkinson collected data that supports these troubling findings. He discovered that despite a decrease in overall driving during the pandemic, fatal crash rates have increased by 30 percent over that time frame, particularly in the northern half of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The discussion begins with an exploration of worrying trends: an alarming rise in reckless driving and crashes, particularly in rural areas. This is due to several factors, including higher speeds, more risky behavior on the roads, and a concerning disparity in seatbelt usage between rural and urban areas. Shadel Fischer is among advocates who say policy makers should promote measures that take advantage of automated technology to detect speeding. She also cites provisions in the Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act to allow for the use of the technology, what she terms "safety cameras."

Please click Subscribe/Follow and give us a 5-star rating and review.  Click here to go to our website. Click here to donate to the show. Click here for Jens Closet.  Second week in Hell With Nadine..for the start of Season 8! Thanks to Black Swamp Paranormal's Nadine for sharing more creepy and spooky tales from their ghost outings!  Michigan Dogman In folklore, the Michigan Dogman was allegedly witnessed in 1887 in Wexford County, Michigan, United States. The creature is described as a seven-foot tall, blue-eyed, or amber-eyed bipedal canine-like animal with the torso of a man and a fearsome howl that sounds like a human scream. According to legends, the Michigan Dogman appears in a ten-year cycle that falls on years ending in 7. Sightings have been reported in several locations throughout Michigan, primarily in the northwestern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula. In 1987, the legend of the Michigan Dogman gained popularity when disc jockey Steve Cook at WTCM-FM recorded a song about the creature and its reported sightings. History This creature was unknown to most of the modern world until very late in the twentieth century. It is said to have been stalking the area around the Manistee River since the days when the Odawa tribes lived there. Authentic sources for sightings made prior to 1987, however, have never been documented beyond Steve Cook's song, discussed below. The first alleged encounter of the Michigan Dogman occurred in 1887 in Wexford County, when two lumberjacks saw a creature that they described as having a man's body and a dog's head. In 1937 in Paris, Michigan, Robert Fortney was attacked by five wild dogs and said that one of the five walked on two legs. Reports of similar creatures also came from Allegan County in the 1950s, and in Manistee and Cross Village in 1967. Linda S. Godfrey, in her book The Beast of Bray Road, compares the Manistee sightings to a similar creature sighted in Wisconsin known as the Beast of Bray Road. Hell, Michigan Hell is an unincorporated community in Livingston County in the U.S. state of Michigan. As an unincorporated community, Hell has no defined boundaries or population statistics of its own. Located within Putnam Township, the community is centered along Patterson Lake Road about 15 miles (24 km) northwest of Ann Arbor and three miles (4.8 km) southwest of Pinckney. The community is served by the Pinckney post office with the 48169 ZIP Code. History Hell developed around a sawmill, gristmill, distillery and tavern. All four were operated by George Reeves, who moved to the area in the 1830s from the Catskill Mountains in New York. He purchased a sawmill on what is now known as Hell Creek in 1841. In addition to the sawmill, Reeves purchased 1,000 acres (400 ha) of land surrounding the mill. Reeves then built a gristmill on Hell Creek which was powered by water that was impounded by a small dam across the creek. Farmers in the area were quite successful in growing wheat and had an abundance of grain. Reeves opened a distillery to process the excess grain into whiskey. Reeves also opened a general store/tavern on his property. The tavern and distillery soon became a thriving business for Reeves. He built a ballroom on the second floor of the establishment and a sulky racetrack around his millpond. Reeves also sold his alcohol to nearby roadhouses and stores for as little as ten cents a gallon. His operation came under the scrutiny of the U.S. government in the years after the American Civil War. When tax collectors came to Hell to assess his operation, Reeves and his customers conspired to hide the whiskey by filling barrels and sinking them to the bottom of the millpond. When the government agents left the area, the barrels were hauled to the surface with ropes. As Reeves aged, he slowed his business ventures, closing the distillery and witnessing the burning of the gristmill. He died in 1877. Reeves' family sold the land to a group of investors from Detroit in 1924. The investors increased the size of the millpond by raising the level of the dam, creating what is now Hiland Lake. The area soon became a summer resort area, attracting visitors for swimming and fishing. Henry Ford considered building some manufacturing facilities in the area but decided against it.

Tonight's guest, Michael Bondie, had his Bigfoot sighting in the spring of 2012, when he was 16. He had gone fishing at a place on the river that his family's home was next to, in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan, that day. Wanting to get an early start, Mike set out early that morning and when he got to the spot where he planned to fish, he couldn't help but be taken by how peaceful everything seemed. The birds were chirping, the sound of the water flowing by was relaxing and everything was so serene. After fishing there for a few hours, however, the serenity he felt came to an abrupt stop. Suddenly, Mike heard a loud splashing sound about 50 feet from where he was fishing. Little did he know, he was about to have an encounter with an 8 ½ to 9 foot tall Sasquatch! If you've had a Bigfoot sighting and would like to be a guest, on the show, please go to https://MyBigfootSighting.com and let us know. We'd love to hear from you. Premium memberships are now available! If you'd like to be able to listen to the show without ads and have full access to premium content, please go to https://MyBigfootSighting.com to find out how to become a premium member.If you'd like to help support the show, by buying your own My Bigfoot Sighting t-shirt, sweatshirt, or tank top, please visit the My Bigfoot Sighting Show Store Page, by going to...https://dogman-encounters.myshopify.com/collections/mens-my-bigfoot-sighting-collectionShow's theme song, "Banjo Music," courtesy Nathan BrumleyI produce 3 other podcasts that are available for listening on your favorite podcast app. If you haven't checked them out, already, here are links to them… Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio https://www.spreaker.com/show/bigfoot-eyewitness-radio_1 Dogman Encounters https://www.spreaker.com/show/dogman-encounters-radio_2 My Paranormal Experience https://www.spreaker.com/show/my-paranormal-experience Thanks for listening!This show is part of the Spreaker Prime Network, if you are interested in advertising on this podcast, contact us at https://www.spreaker.com/show/5101987/advertisement

Located on the northern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, Mackinaw City is a place with wonderful outdoor opportunities, a variety of hotel options, and out-of-this-world fudge! Sabrina Lieghio from the Mackinaw City Chamber of Tourism joins the podcast to talk about why you should add Mackinaw City to your list of places to visit. Show Notes ⬇️Published on 4/21/23Timecodes0:00 - Intro1:42 - Mackinaw City vs. Mackinac Island and How to Spell Them3:17 - The History of the Mighty Mac5:43 - Downtown Mackinaw City9:17 - The Food Scene in Mackinaw City11:32 - What Makes the Fudge in Mackinaw City so Delicious?13:28 - Range of Accommodation Options in Mackinaw City15:10 - What Visitors Can Find on Mackinac Island17:16 - Stay Connected with the Mackinaw City Chamber of Tourism and Destinations Beyond ExpectationsRead More About Mackinaw CityMackinaw City Visitor's GuideFollow the Mackinaw City Chamber of Tourism on FacebookExplore Group Experience to Learn how to Build your Travel TribeSupport the show

In this episode of the Wildtalk Podcast, we talk about habitat projects happening in Michigan's Northern Lower Peninsula, fly away with a discussion about spring wild turkey behavior, and have a high-flying discussion about little brown bats. Episode Hosts: Hannah Schauer and Rachel LeightnerProducer/editor: Eric HilliardAll things habitatMichigan elk hunting informationGood neighbor authorityAll things feathersNuisance wildlife informationMichigan turkey hunting information All things furMichigan bat informationRabies informationQuestions or comments about the show? Contact the DNR Wildlife Division at 517-284-9453 (WILD) or email dnr-wildlife@michigan.gov.

Dogman - A werewolf or werewolf-type creature first reported in 1887 in Wexford County, Michigan. Sightings have been reported in several locations throughout Michigan, primarily in the northwestern quadrant of the Lower Peninsula.  Discover more TERRIFYING podcasts at http://eeriecast.com/   Follow Carman Carrion!    https://www.facebook.com/carman.carrion.9/   https://www.instagram.com/carmancarrion/?hl=en   https://twitter.com/CarmanCarrion   Subscribe to Spotify! https://open.spotify.com/show/0uiX155WEJnN7QVRfo3aQY   Please Review Us on iTunes! https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/freaky-folklore/id1550361184   Music and sound effects used in the Freaky Folklore Podcast have or may have been provided/created by:  CO.AG: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCcavSftXHgxLBWwLDm_bNvA Myuu: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCiSKnkKCKAQVxMUWpZQobuQ Jinglepunks: https://jinglepunks.com/ Epidemic Sound: https://www.epidemicsound.com/ Kevin MacLeod: http://incompetech.com/ Dark Music: https://soundcloud.com/darknessprevailspodcast Soundstripe: https://app.soundstripe.com/ Learn more about your ad choices. Visit podcastchoices.com/adchoices

In today's episode, we're talking to Camille Hanson, an ESL teacher and social media influencer who grew up in the U.P. - the Upper Peninsula of Michigan. Buckle up! You're about to immersed in an adventure; one that includes snow, lake life, deer flies, girls hunting with bows and arrows and so much more. Learn from a local how you can take advantage of "The Mitten State."*****Michigan is the 10th largest state in the US by population, and there's quite a bit you should know about it. Michigan is located up in the Midwest, near Canada, and it has two main parts: The Lower Peninsula and the Upper Peninsula. Most people recognize the shape of the Lower Peninsula; it looks like a mitten. That's why Michigan is sometimes referred to as "The Mitten State." College life in Michigan is a big thing. And like most states in the Midwest and South, they're crazy about American football. The state is also home to the automobile industry with General Motors, Ford Motor Company and Chrysler headquartered there. Some famous names from Michigan include: Madonna (the singer), Francis Ford Coppola (the director and screenwriter of "The Godfather"), and William Boeing, a pioneer in aviation and creator of the Boeing Company. Yep, they're all Michiganders.If you like fishing, hiking and greenery, Michigan is where it's at. 50% of the state is covered in forest, so it's lush and green. It's also home to over 10,000 lakes and 40,000 miles of rivers. Did I mention it touches all five of the Great Lakes? That's a lot of water, a lot of shore and a lot of trees. As a tourist, you might want to try the world-famous cherries from there, try a pasty – not a pastie – and a beer from one of the many local breweries. Your senses will be overwhelmed! *****Find Camille! You can check out Camille's work by visiting her website at Learn English With Camille. Premium Content: This episode is part of Season 3. By purchasing Season 3 transcripts, you'll be able to access the full episodes, the full PDF transcripts for episodes 101 - 150, an Mp3 download  and the premium podcast player to work on your pronunciation.  Get ALL PREMIUM CONTENT FOR SEASONS 1 - 3  (with 5 in-depth courses to improve your English,  includes all transcripts + mp3s)Get the Free E-Book: 101 American English Slang Words *****Stories and Strategies Podcast About Public Relations, Marketing, and Human CommunicationListen on: Apple Podcasts SpotifySupport the show

When Heather Young agrees to relocate with her boyfriend to Michigan's secluded Lower Peninsula, she has high hopes that the change of scenery will do them and their relationship good. But after a big relationship blowup, Heather reaches her breaking point; little does she know the worst is yet to come.For even more true crime, head to discovery+. Go to discoveryplus.com/deadlynightmares to start your 7 day free trial today. Terms apply. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Live—from the campus of Hillsdale College in beautiful Hillsdale Michigan— this is Scot Bertram in for Steve on the Steve Gruber Show for –Wednesday, December 21st 2022—   —Here are 3 big things you need to know—   One — The Supreme Court will hear arguments over President Biden's student loan forgiveness plan this February.  Biden earlier this year unveiled a plan to cancel up to 20-thousand dollars in student debt for tens of millions of borrowers.  Republican states filed a series of lawsuits to stop the policy from going into effect, arguing it's an overreach of executive authority.   Two—   A winter storm watch is in effect for the entire Upper Peninsula and most of the Lower Peninsula from tomorrow afternoon until Saturday evening. Wind gusts could reach 55 miles an hour and total snow accumulations are forecast to be between eight and 17 inches. Meteorologists are telling people to not travel anywhere Friday and Friday night unless it's an emergency.   And number three— Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky will visit Washington, DC today, his first trip outside Ukraine since the Russian invasion started 300 days ago.  He'll meet with President Biden in the Oval Office, and will then travel to Capitol Hill where he'll give a prime-time address to a joint session of Congress.    

“There are a lot of dedicated men and women who keep the bridge going day to day, whether it's in the toll booths or working underneath it. As the engineer of the bridge, my job is really to maintain the Mackinac Bridge, both through our own in-house workers and contractors we hire to do bigger projects. Inspecting the bridge is a big part of what we do. I'm honored to have the role and join this esteemed group that maintains it.” Cavalieri says he's been just about everywhere on the bridge and never tires of the amazing views at the top of the bridge. “When you're going up one of the tunnels to the top, it's kind of like you're going through a submarine. Then suddenly when you come out through the top, it's like the whole world is around you. It's quite incredible. The Straits area is such a beautiful area, and there's no better view than on top of one of the towers overlooking it. It's the best job in the world.” Cavalieri describes his career path from MSU to the Mackinac Bridge Authority. And he talks about why he chose MSU for college and how his Spartan experience helped prepare him for this role. He came from a long line of Spartans, including his grandfather, who had to take a ferry to get to the Lower Peninsula and on to East Lansing. And Cole has three siblings who also attended MSU.  “MSU was helpful to me, both as a student and as a person by putting me out of my comfort zone. MSU opened the world for me. As a Yooper, my first class at MSU was in a lecture hall with more students than my high school had. I like the diversity and people at MSU. The course work was, of course, beneficial and made you work in teams.” His advice for today's students is to get real-world experience and interact more with your professors.   Cavalieri talks about some of his short- and long-term goals for the bridge and the challenges and opportunities involved in pursuing those goals. “The bridge is in good condition. The original designers and builders did a magnificent job. It's an incredible structure. And if it's not broken, don't fix it. It's mostly a lot of rehab that we have planned in the near future to keep it in the best condition it can be. We have a couple of contracted projects coming up. There are a few things we're working on just to get the bridge from fair condition back to good condition. “We have some bigger obstacles coming down the road, including a full deck replacement. Nothing lasts forever, and that's true of our infrastructure. The bridge is 65. So, in about 10 years, we'll be beginning that deck replacement project, and that will be a big undertaking. When we do get to that point, we'll not only be fixing it up but setting up the bridge for success for a long time. “The bridge speaks for itself as far as being the icon it is for Michigan. And I think in a lot of ways Michigan didn't become whole until November 1, 1957, when the Mackinac Bridge opened. I take my role very seriously as I approach this job. To me it's important to not only maintain the structure but to keep it going for a long time because it really is invaluable to Michiganders. “The Mackinac Bridge has been an important bridge in the history of civil engineering across the world, too. I often hear from other engineers from around the world as we do different studies. It's really revered. I'm really looking forward to working with the other members of the Mackinac Bridge Authority to bring the Mackinac Bridge into the next generation.” MSU Today airs Saturdays at 5 p.m. and Sundays at 5 a.m. on WKAR News/Talk and Sundays at 8 p.m. on 760 WJR. Find “MSU Today with Russ White” on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, and wherever you get your shows.

Talking about an epic journey this week with outdoor enthusiast Haley Andrus. We will find out what made her walk around the entire shoreline of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in just under 3 months! What drives a person to do such monumental challenges? We will find out! Why? Always wanted to do an extended hike Thought of the idea while on the beach on Lake Michigan Grew up in the outdoors and got the outdoor bug in Jackson Hole Wyoming Training for hike Did extended backpacking in the winter before hike Started walking for distance before hike Planning the trip The mindset while walking meditations Music Podcasts etc..... Logistical Planning Exact route Camping stops Distance for each day The big send off Starting at the Ohio line Nervous The first day Walking through Detroit Walking on the beaches for the first time Reactions from people she ran into along the way Saginaw Bay area hike Raccoon encounter Making it to Mackinaw and seeing the Bridge Half way Emotional Going back to places you hiked through Physical changes along the way How food played a role as the trip progressed Losing weight Shoes wearing out along the trip Making food along the way and eating in restaurants  Hiking the west side of the state Ludington hiking The west side erosion and devastation was evident along Lake Michigan, how seeing that impacted her The final stretch and last 10 days The finish line! What is next Cost of the trip Talking about the gear  Carrying water on the hike Possible book? The big takeaway from the adventure

To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This podcast hit paid subscribers' inboxes on Oct. 15. It dropped for free subscribers on Oct. 18. To receive future pods as soon as they're live, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoBen Doornbos, General Manager at Nub's Nob, MichiganRecorded onOctober 10, 2022About Nub's NobClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Fisher familyPass affiliations: Indy PassReciprocal pass partners: NoneLocated in: Harbor Springs, MichiganClosest neighboring ski areas: The Highlands (4 minutes), Mt. McSauba (35 minutes), Boyne Mountain (37 minutes), Otsego (55 minutes), Treetops (1 hour), Shanty Creek (1 hour, 9 minutes), Hanson Hills (1 hour, 22 minutes), Mt. Holiday (1 hour, 26 minutes), Hickory Hills (1 hour, 41 minutes), Missaukee Mountain (1 hour, 41 minutes), Snow Snake (1 hour, 58 minutes), The Homestead (2 hours, 11 minutes), Crystal (2 hours, 14 minutes), Caberfae (2 hours, 14 minutes)Base elevation: 911 feetSummit elevation: 1,338 feetVertical drop: 427 feetSkiable Acres: 248Average annual snowfall: 123 inchesTrail count: 53 (24% double-black, 49% black, 20% intermediate, 7% beginner)Lift count: 10 (3 fixed-grip quads, 4 triples, 1 double, 1 carpet, 1 ropetow - view Lift Blog's inventory of Nub's Nob's lift fleet)Uphill capacity: 17,075 skiers per hourWhy I interviewed himWe all have those places that made us skiers, that wrecked us or rescued us, that in our private worlds are synonymous with skiing itself. For me those places are Mott Mountain, Apple Mountain, Snow Snake, Caberfae, Boyne Mountain, and Searchmont. Without those places I am not a skier, or at least I am not the particular version of a skier that's writing this newsletter. These are, in order, the first, second, third, and fourth places I skied; the place I learned to thread bumps; and the place I learned to navigate little drops and off-piste terrain. The first two are dead, the others survive in various states of modernized. In my head they all stand available at any moment for viewing, a tattered Stu-flix, a vault of skinny-ski adventures crashing through 1990s stop-animation reels.But there's a seventh ski area in my mental vault: Nub's Nob. It's a funny name, perhaps jarring if this is your first time seeing it. I happen to think it's the best ski area name in America. It's simple, memorable, intriguing, evocative of what it is: a 427-foot locals' bump with an Alta-grade following of devoted locals.That's not the same thing as having Alta-grade skiing (who does besides Snowbird)? But consider this: across the street lies The Highlands, the Boyne-owned runner formerly known as Boyne Highlands. The Highlands is larger than Nub's. It has one high-speed lift and is dropping in another next year – a six-pack so fancy that it makes the iPhone 14 look like a block of aged Roquefort. Highlands' season pass costs a bit more than Nub's, but it comes with days at Big Sky, which is like buying a microwave and getting a free car as a thank-you gift.None of it matters. Well, it probably matters to some people. But Nub's is the opposite of the endangered indie. It may be the best ski area under 500 vertical feet in the country: a big, sprawling trail layout; numerous and redundant lifts; grooming that makes an Olympic skating rink look like a Tough Mudder course; glades everywhere; and, like any Midwest ski area with a stocked trophy cabinet, an absolute flamethrower of a terrain park. Nub's is that lost treasure of Midwest skiing, rare as a 200-grade Boone-and-Crockett trophy buck: the balanced mountain. Grooming, yes, of all kinds, but bumps always on Twilight Zone, and maybe also on Chute (like many Michigan ski areas, the runs stack side by side on the trailmap, creating half a dozen that you could tuck into Park City's pumphouse). Several times per decade the ski area punches new glades into the forest. And since Nub's has one of the world's best snowmaking systems, supplemented with a reliable train of lake-effect and an ability to ninja-dodge freeze-thaw cycles, the whole mountain opens in the early season and often stays filled to the edges into April.Bad people can ruin a great ski area, of course. I can stay salty for decades over unprovoked attitude from a liftie. But I've been skiing Nub's Nob for as long as I've been skiing and I've never encountered anything other than an Extreme Welcome. The lifties chitter-chatter as you load and Patrol lets you ski where you please and the bartenders are tolerant of pitchers ordered in bulk at 11 a.m.My first day at Nub's was one of the weirdest ski days of my life. It was my sixth day ever on skis and I was geared up in sweatpants and a discount-superstore winter coat of the sort that rips when you yank the zipper open too sternly. We arrived in the snowslammed evening with tennis ball-sized flakes drifting in the wind. I did not have goggles of course and scoffed at the notion. At age 17 I had lived all my life in snowy climes and had never once needed such decorative nonsense. In a catastrophic freefall down Valley or perhaps it was Scarface I understood at last that storm-skiing sans goggles was like swimming without water: painful and really quite impossible. In the baselodge I purchased the least-expensive pair of goggles I could find, which I believe cost $25, an astonishing sum for a bagboy earning $4.50 an hour at the local Meijer superstore.Nub's excused the error. The upside of place-based defeat is the clear path to redemption. In all phases of my ski life I have returned to Nub's and it has always had something useful to say, something I couldn't exactly find anywhere else. I still can't, and I needed to poke around in the machine a bit to try and decode the trance.What we talked aboutWhen snowmaking starts at Nub's Nob; the mountain's earliest and latest openings ever; “bottom line, the ski industry in the Lower Peninsula of Michigan doesn't exist without snowmaking”; why freeze-thaw isn't really a thing for Nub's; “if you can open, you should open”; the path from $8.25-an-hour rental tech to general manager; Marquette Mountain; Nub's incredible seasonal employee retention rate; Jim Bartlett, the ski area's legendary general manager; not breaking a good thing; becoming the boss of the people who taught you everything you know; how Nub's Nob got its name; whether Nub's will stay independent over the long term; “where skiers go”; going deep on the Green lift upgrade: why it won't be a high-speed lift, when it's coming, and whether it will be green; whether the ski area considered wiping out the front-side lifts in favor of a six-pack; the tug-of-war between Fixed-Grip Bro and Detach Bro; why Orange won't be a high-speed lift either; comparing a modern fixed-grip Skytrac chair to a 1978 Riblet lift; why the new lift won't have a carpet load; why lifties need to talk to skiers; the installation and maintenance cost of a fixed-grip versus a high-speed lift; why the new lift will be the same length but occupy a smaller footprint; whether the new lift will load and unload at the same spots as the current Green lift; whether Nub's will sell the chairs; the Blue chair Killer; why the Blue lift isn't coming back; the power of the ropetow and where we could see more on Nub's; long-term plans for the Purple and Orange lifts; “there's something special about riding a double chairlift”; regional differences in safety-bar culture; “I'd like to have a super-modern lift fleet”; whether a lift from the bottom of Pintail Peak to the top of Nub's Nob South would make sense; how Nub's continues to develop new terrain on essentially the same footprint; how to access Nub's endless glade stash; why Arena and Tower glades don't continue farther skier's left along their respective ridges; the glades always open in Northern Michigan; Nub's last big expansion opportunity and what kind of terrain sits in there; keeping the parks rad Brah; the return of the halfpipe; why Nub's doesn't build earthwork features; the importance of night-skiing; considering lights on Pintail Peak; the history and secrets behind the Nub's Nob snowgun; “you can fix everything with a pipe wrench” and why the ski area is happy with a low-tech snowgun arsenal; long-live the metal wicket ticket; “we always think of technology as making our lives better, but sometimes, it's making our lives worse”; the competitive and cooperative dynamic between Nub's Nob and The Highlands, which sit across the street from one another; why Nub's finally joined the Indy Pass; the ski-industry problem that Indy Pass is solving; why Nub's is rolling with 32 Indy Base Pass blackouts; looking out for the little ski areas down the street; and how much it hurt to finally push Nub's peak-day lift-ticket prices over $100.    Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewA lot of pretty obvious reasons: the new Green Chair, the resort's decision to at last join the Indy Pass, the obvious example of another thriving indie belying the whole Megapass-Killbot theory. But we booked this pod in May, weeks before the Indy announcement (which I knew was coming), and the chairlift upgrade (which I didn't). The simple fact is that I'd had Nub's Nob on my interview-the-GM list since Storm day one, and I finally reached out and we set everything up pretty quickly.This is a good time, however, to restate something that's core to this whole operation: this podcast is for everyone. And by “everyone,” I mean every ski area of any size. If it has a lift, I'm interested. For now, that means the United States, but I will fold Canada in soon enough. That will probably remain the focus over the long-term, but if you are running a ski area of any size anywhere on Planet Earth*, consider yourself relevant to The Storm Skiing Podcast.But from a practical, logistical point of view, I have tried very hard to balance the podcast across regions. This does not mean that I will guarantee an equal ratio of Western, Midwestern, and Northeast interviews (I haven't quite gotten to the Southeast yet; I will soon, but there are only a couple dozen ski areas down there, so pods focused in the southern states will likely always be infrequent). But I will promise a consistent flow of Midwest pods. It's where I came from, where I learned to ski, and it's one of the world's greatest and most vital ski regions.When the season's ski mags would drop each August in my early ski years, I would flip through slowly, hopefully, for any nugget of writing on Midwest ski areas. It was like searching for ice cream at a hardware store. No one cared. If a ski magazine was 200 pages, the West got 195, the East got five, and the Midwest got mentioned whenever a writer noted that Big Sky was owned by the same outfit that owned Boyne Mountain. It was a different, internet-less world, of course, but I am now in a position to create the sort of immersive ski area profiles that Teen Stu longed to see about my local bumps. These will keep landing in your inbox as long as The Storm does.You can view all past and future Storm Skiing Podcasts by clicking through below:*I will also consider ski areas on other planets.What I got wrongThe opening day of Michigan's deer-hunting season is a big deal. Like day-off-from-school big deal. And I don't mean parents pull their kids out while the non-hunters press on. I mean every Nov. 15 is a school holiday like Thanksgiving or Labor Day or Christmas. Our morning announcements each fall would warn us to watch out for sugarbeets – an enormous root crop stacked in clearings to bait deer – that had bounced off transport trucks on M-30. Deer hunting in Northern Michigan is a big deal.So, during a discussion about Nub's previous years' opening dates, I told Doornbos that it was pretty bold of him to open on the first day of deer-hunting season, after I thought he'd referenced a recent Nov. 15 opening. Doornbos rolled with it, but I realized while editing the pod that he had actually said Nov. 16. Oops.Why you should ski Nub's NobMichigan has 39 active ski areas, according to the National Ski Areas Association. This is the second-most of any state, behind New York, which sports 52. About two-thirds of Michigan's ski areas sit in the Lower Peninsula. This is a useful distinction: Lower Peninsula skiers rarely hit the Upper Peninsula (UP), and UP skiers rarely ski below the Mackinaw Bridge. Geography explains this disconnect: the UP's ski areas are mostly bunched in its western portion, far closer to Wisconsin than the population centers of Michigan. Marquette Mountain, the closest non-ropetow bump, is seven hours from Detroit airport, but fewer than five hours from Milwaukee. In that time, Southeast Michigan skiers can be at Keystone (with help from an airplane).That's all background. What I'm getting to is that the Lower Peninsula only has a half dozen or so well-equipped, substantially built-out ski areas with respectable vertical drops (relative to their neigboring hills): Nub's Nob, Caberfae, Crystal, Shanty Creek, Boyne Mountain, and The Highlands. Otsego Club, a longtime private joint, recently opened to the public, but its infrastructure is a bit creaky. So if you're planning a best-of-Michigan tour, these are the six to hit.But if you only have one day to ski Michigan before an asteroid crashes into the planet and wipes out life as we know it, pick Nub's. I'm not sure that it has the best terrain of those six – Highlands, I think, is equal in its sprawling videogame-ish dimensions. Nub's isn't the steepest – Boyne Mountain has the most consistent pitch along its extended main ridge. Nub's is probably also the least-resort-ish of the six, with little onsite lodging. But, like Caberfae, another family-owned bump that is on a constant crusade to enhance the skiing, Nub's is defined less by what I can easily point to and more by what's hard to describe. By that thing called atmosphere, a sort of sense of place that collectively descends upon all who ski there. It's not a thing you can order, like a lift, or something you can streamline, like parking. It's just something that is. You'll have to go and see for yourself.Podcast notes* I make the point several times that Nub's Nob is constantly upgrading. The ski area has collated an excellent timeline, starting with the ski area's 1957 founding. Skim this page and Nub's decades-long commitment to constant, mostly subtle but always impactful improvement is obvious. I wish all ski areas would create something like this.* A 2016 obituary for longtime owner Walter Fisher, who bought Nub's Nob from founder Dorie Sarnes in 1977 and owned it until he passed away (his family continues to own the ski area). An excerpt:Jim Bartlett — who joined Nub's that same year and now serves as its general manager — noted that the ski area has added significantly to its amenities since then, expanding from about a dozen runs to 53.“The business has grown almost continuously since Walter bought it in 1977,” said Bartlett, who described Fisher as “absolutely one of the most sincere, thoughtful, kind, classy men I've ever met.” …With neighboring Boyne Highlands Resort establishing itself as a ski area with extensive on-site lodging, Bartlett said Walter Fisher decided early in his Nub's involvement to pursue another niche — wanting the property to become "the best day ski area in the Midwest."Nub's would phase out its own limited lodging options so it could channel resources toward skiing amenities, grooming and snowmaking operations and food and beverage options. The ski area's offerings have since achieved regional and national recognition on numerous occasions.* Doornbos and I also talked extensively about Bartlett, who served as general manager from 1987 until handing the job off to Doornbos in 2017. An excerpt from this excellent profile by Kate Bassett:General Manager of Nub's Nob, Jim Bartlett, is a guy who has earned a nationwide reputation as a leader and champion of the old-school-cool Harbor Springs ski resort. But that's not the reason Jim Bartlett is a person whose story is worth telling.He's on top of the hill. He's at the bottom of the hill. He's in the maintenance garage. He's in the cafeteria. He's at a chairlift on-ramp. He's in the rental area. He's in the parking lot. He's everywhere. He's Nub's Nob's JB. …In his tenure at Nub's Nob, first as area manager and then as general manager, following the death of his mentor, legendary snow maker Jim Dilworth, Bartlett has turned 14 runs into 53, four chairlifts into nine, 15 patented snowmaking guns into 292, plus added a Pintail Peak Lodge, new locker room and so much more. The most impressive part? He's done it without sacrificing Nub's signature vibe, best described as a home away from home.Bartlett's an expert in snow making techniques. A public relations superstar. A guy who understands the importance of blending tradition with new technology. He's even learned how to make peace with the Midwest's occasionally uncooperative winter weather. In short, he's like a walking, talking master's class of how to run a resort that's focused 100 percent on skiing and riding.* We go deep on the Green lift upgrade, which Doornbos announced in an excellent video last month:* Nub's Nob is The Storm's fourth podcast focused explicitly on a Michigan ski area - I've also featured The Highlands, Boyne Mountain, and Caberfae:I should have another Michigan episode coming next week - and it's a good one. Listen to the end of the pod to find out who.The Storm explores the world of lift-served skiing year-round. Join us.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 112/100 in 2022, and number 358 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane, or, more likely, I just get busy). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Talking about an epic journey this week with outdoor enthusiast Haley Andrus. We will find out what made her walk around the entire shoreline of the Lower Peninsula of Michigan in just under 3 months! What drives a person to do such monumental challenges? We will find out! Why? Always wanted to do an extended hike Thought of the idea while on the beach on Lake Michigan Grew up in the outdoors and got the outdoor bug in Jackson Hole Wyoming Training for hike Did extended backpacking in the winter before hike Started walking for distance before hike Planning the trip The mindset while walking meditations Music Podcasts etc..... Logistical Planning Exact route Camping stops Distance for each day The big send off Starting at the Ohio line Nervous The first day Walking through Detroit Walking on the beaches for the first time Reactions from people she ran into along the way Saginaw Bay area hike Raccoon encounter Making it to Mackinaw and seeing the Bridge Half way Emotional Going back to places you hiked through Physical changes along the way How food played a role as the trip progressed Losing weight Shoes wearing out along the trip Making food along the way and eating in restaurants  Hiking the west side of the state Ludington hiking The west side erosion and devastation was evident along Lake Michigan, how seeing that impacted her The final stretch and last 10 days The finish line! What is next Cost of the trip Talking about the gear  Carrying water on the hike Possible book? The big takeaway from the adventure

Today is Indigenous People's Day. However, this week also marks the 122nd anniversary of the day a group of white folks burned down a village on the northern tip of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, violently forcing the Cheboiganing Band of Ottawa and Chippewa Indians to flee for their lives. A memorial at the University of Michigan Museum of Art commemorates the homes that were lost that day at Burt Lake. Directly across from the memorial wall, two paintings depict portals into an imagined future - one where Indigenous land is reclaimed.  Andrea Carlson is the Ojibwe artist behind “Future Cache,” which will be on display at UMMA through June 2024. She joined the show to share her experience in implementing decolonization with institutions that so often fail to acknowledge Indigenous lives. GUEST: Andrea Carlson, painter of "Future Cache" from the Turtle Clan, descended from Grand Portage Ojibwe ___ Looking for more conversations from Stateside? Right this way. If you like what you hear on the pod, consider supporting our work. Music in this episode by Blue Dot Sessions.See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

Click here for Joe's new book Click here to save on high-end clothing in Jens's closet Click here for the book of the week In this episode Jen and Joe talk about some legendary haunted locations in their favorite haunted town in Michigan, St Ignace. This little town, just north of the famous Mackinac Bridge. This little seaside town is packed with tails of the paranormal, from ghostly figures that walk the streets to Native Americans in the shops. No one really knows the number of spirits that roam there, just that there have been thousands of sightings threw out the years. Joe and Jen talk about some of their favorite cases of hauntings, but there are many more to find.  St.Ignace was founded by Father Marquette in 1671, and was named for St. Ignatius of Loyola. St. Ignace has a rich Native American history and was once the bustling hub of 17th century fur trade. In the mid-1800s, the population swelled as logging and commercial fishing went into full swing. Today, the people of St. Ignace welcome visitors from all over the world to enjoy the natural beauty, alluring attractions, and friendliness of this uniquely wonderful vacation destination. Downtown St.IgnaceIn the early 1900s, the few cars traveling the Straits crossed on railroad ferries at a cost of $40.00 each! In 1923, the Michigan State Ferry Service was established to transport autos between St. Ignace and the Lower Peninsula at the more reasonable cost of $2.50. During its first year of operation, 10,351 vehicles made the 1 hour crossing. In 1956, with 5 ferries running, about 1 million vehicles were transported across the water. During summer weekends, holidays and hunting season, as many as 9,000 cars were ferried, bringing line-ups of several miles and waits of 6 – 12 hours. The Mackinac Bridge replaced the Ferry Service in 1957. In its first few months of operation, the Mackinac Bridge recorded 140,000 vehicle crossings. Today, the Mackinac Bridge provides safe crossings for more than 4.5 million vehicles annually. Joe Shortridge has written a book that will change your life. By changing how your first thoughts are in the morning will change how you live your life. Click on the link above to find out more. 

July 23, 2022 In 1890, the Lighthouse Board recommended a lighthouse at Forty Mile Point, on the northeast coast of Michigan's Lower Peninsula. The primary reason for the light was so that as mariners traveled along the western part of Lake Huron between Mackinaw Point and the Saint Clair River, they would never be out of viewing range of a lighthouse. The name of Forty Mile Point stems from the fact that its location is 40 miles southeast of Mackinaw Point. The light station began service in 1897, with a square tower centered on the lake-facing side of a duplex keepers' house. Forty Mile Point Light Station, Michigan. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. Pat Williams. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont. The station was automated and de-staffed in 1969. Two years later, the property was deeded to Presque Isle County, except for the lighthouse building itself. Finally, in 1998, the lighthouse was transferred to the county. Since then, the county and the Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society have been working to restore the entire site. The park is open year-round to the public. One apartment in the lighthouse is occupied by a full-time caretaker; the other apartment is now a nautical museum staffed by volunteers. Pat Williams is the vice president of the Forty Mile Point Lighthouse Society, and Eric Klein is the resident caretaker at the light station. Eric Klein and his wife, Lisa. Photo by Jeremy D'Entremont.

 To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. This podcast hit paid subscribers’ inboxes on June 28. Free subscribers got it on July 1. To receive future pods as soon as they’re live, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription.WhoJonathan M. Davis, General Manager of Perfect North, IndianaRecorded onJune 20, 2022About Perfect NorthClick here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Perfect FamilyPass affiliations: NoneLocated in: Lawrenceburg, IndianaClosest neighboring ski areas: Mad River, Ohio (2 hours, 18 minutes); Paoli Peaks, Indiana (2 hours, 39 minutes); Snow Trails (3 hours)Base elevation: 400 feetSummit elevation: 800 feetVertical drop: 400 feetSkiable Acres: 100Average annual snowfall: 24 inchesTrail count: 22 (1 double-black, 3 black, 3 blue-black, 10 intermediate, 5 beginner)Lift count: 12 (2 quads, 3 triples, 5 carpets, 2 ropetows - view Lift Blog’s inventory of Perfect North’s lift fleet)About Timberline, West VirginiaWhile this podcast is not explicitly about Timberline, Jonathan had an important role in the ski area’s acquisition in 2019. His enthusiasm for Timberline is clear, the opportunity and the investment are enormous, and this conversation acts as a primer for what I hope will be a full Timberline podcast at some future point.Click here for a mountain stats overviewOwned by: The Perfect FamilyPass affiliations: NoneLocated in: Davis, West VirginiaClosest neighboring ski areas: Canaan Valley (8 minutes); White Grass XC touring/backcountry center (11 minutes); Wisp, Maryland (1 hour, 15 minutes); Snowshoe, West Virginia (1 hour, 50 minutes); Bryce, Virginia (2 hours); Homestead, Virginia (2 hours); Massanutten, Virginia (2 hours, 21 minutes)Base elevation: 3,268 feetSummit elevation: 4,268 feetVertical drop: 1,000 feetSkiable Acres: 100Average annual snowfall: 150 inchesTrail count: 20 (2 double-black, 3 black, 5 intermediate, 10 beginner)Lift count: 3 (1 high-speed six-pack, 1 fixed-grip quad, 1 carpet - view Lift Blog’s inventory of Timberline’s lift fleet)Why I interviewed himThere are two kinds of ski areas in the Midwest. The first are the big ones, out there somewhere in the woods. Where 10,000 years ago a glacier got ornery. Or, farther back in time, little mountains hove up out of the earth. They’re at least 400 feet tall and top out near 1,000. They’re not near anything and they don’t need to be. People will drive to get there. Often they sit in a snowbelt, with glades and bumps and hidden parts. Multiple peaks. A big lodge at the bottom. There are perhaps two dozen of these in the entire region, all of them in Michigan, Wisconsin, and Minnesota. Boyne, Nub’s Nob, Crystal, Caberfae, Bohemia, Powderhorn, Whitecap, Granite Peak, Spirit, Lutsen. This is not a complete list. I’m making a point here.The second kind of Midwest ski area is usually smaller. It claims 200 vertical feet and actually has 27. It has four chairlifts for every run. It has a parking lot that could swallow Lake George. It’s affordable. And it’s close. To something. Metro Detroit has four ski areas. Milwaukee has eight. Minneapolis has six. But pretty much any Lower Midwestern city of any size has at least one ski area in its orbit: Cleveland (Alpine Valley, Boston Mills, Brandywine), Columbus (Snow Trails, Mad River), St. Louis (Hidden Valley), Kansas City (Snow Creek), Des Moines (Seven Oaks), Chicago (Four Lakes, Villa Olivia), Omaha (Mt. Crescent).For Cincinnati, that ski area is Perfect North. It’s actually one of the larger city-adjacent ski areas in the region: 400 vertical feet on 100 acres (accurate numbers, as far as I can tell). Twelve lifts. Twenty-two trails. Indiana has 6.7 million residents and two ski areas. Some winter days, approximately half of them are skiing at Perfect North.I’m just kidding around about the numbers. What I’m trying to say is that urban Midwestern ski areas are terrific businesses. They’re small but handle unimaginable volume in short, intense seasons of 12-hour-plus days. Davis tells me in the podcast that the ski area hires 1,200 seasonal employees for winter. That is an almost incomprehensible number. Killington, the largest ski area in the east, 20 times the size of Perfect North, has around 1,600 wintertime employees.But that’s what it takes to keep the up-and-down moving. Perfect North was a sort of accidental ski area, born when a college student knocked on farmer Clyde Perfect’s door and said, “hey did you know your land is perfect for a ski area?” In almost snowless Indiana, this was quite a wild notion. Not that no one had tried. The state has nine lost ski areas. But Perfect North is one of only two that survived (the other is Vail-owned Paoli Peaks, which survives no thanks to the mothership). I don’t know enough about the ski areas that failed to say why they’re gone, but it’s obvious why Perfect North has succeeded: relentless investment by committed operators. Here’s an excerpt from a case study by SMI snowmakers:[Perfect North] employs 245 snowmaking machines and an infrastructure that pumps about 120 million gallons of water annually, giving the resort a 3-4 foot snowpack throughout the season. The system is so efficient that operators can start as many as 200 snowmakers in about an hour.At its modest start-up in 1980, Perfect North had only rope tows, T-bars and about a dozen snowmakers covering roughly seven acres. But the family-owned operation has expanded each year and now features five chair lifts and six surface lifts serving more than ten times the skiable terrain, as well as one of the largest tubing operations in the entire U.S. …“We knew early on that snowmaking was critical to a great experience on the hills. The snow is the reason people come; everything else is secondary. So we really focused on it right from the beginning, and we’ve enhanced our snowmaking capability every year,” said [Perfect North President Chip] Perfect.All of the snow guns now in use at Perfect North are manufactured by SMI, and every one is permanently mounted on a SnowTower™ (or pole-top unit). Most are the company’s signature PoleCat™ or Super PoleCat™ designs, with either hill air feed or onboard compressors. Unlike some resorts that boast 100% snowmaking on their trails, Perfect North runs enough machines to be able to make snow on virtually the entire skiing and tubing area at the same time.This is not one model of how to make a ski area work in the Lower Midwest – this is the only way to make a ski area work in the Lower Midwest. The region was a bit late to skiing. Perfect North didn’t open until 1980. Snowmaking had to really advance before such a thing as consistent skiing in Indiana was even conceivable. But being possible is not the same thing as being easy. There are only two ski areas in Indiana for a reason: it’s hard. Perfect North has mastered it anyway. And you’ll understand about two minutes into this conversation why this place is special.What we talked aboutA couple kids watching for the lights to flip on across the valley, announcing the opening of the ski season; Perfect North in the ‘80s; a place where jeans and “layered hunting gear” are common; ski area as machine; from bumping chairs to general manager; the pioneer days of 90s tech; moving into the online future without going bust; RFID; the surprising reason why Perfect North switched from metal wicket tickets to the plastic ziptie version; taking over a ski area in the unique historical moment that was spring 2020; staff PTSD from the Covid season; the power of resolving disputes through one-on-one talks; “we lost something in those two years with how we interact with people”; 1,200 people to run a 400-vertical-foot ski area; how Perfect North fully staffed up and offered an 89-hour-per-week schedule as Vail retreated and severely cut hours at its Indiana and Ohio ski areas; Perfect North would have faced “an absolute mutiny” had they pulled the Vail bait-and-switch of cutting operating hours after pass sales ended; how aggressive you have to be with snowmaking in the Lower Midwest; “the people of the Midwest are fiercely loyal”; reaction to Vail buying Peak Resorts; “I want Midwest skiing to succeed broadly”; Cincinnati as a ski town; skiing’s identity crisis; the amazing story behind Perfect North’s founding; the Perfect family’s commitment to annual reinvestment; remembering ski area founder Clyde Perfect, who passed away in 2020; you best keep those web cams active Son; snowmaking and Indiana; the importance of valleys; the importance of a committed owner; potential expansion; where the ski area could add trails within the existing footprint; terrain park culture in the Lower Midwest; the management and evolution of parks at Perfect North; potential chairlift upgrades and a theoretical priority order; where the ski area could use an additional chairlift; the potential for terrain park ropetows; coming updates to Jam Session’s ropetows; Perfect North’s amazing network of carpet lifts; the ski area’s massive tubing operation; why Perfect North purchased Timberline and how the purchase came together; why creditors rejected the first winner’s bid; West Virginia as a ski state; the reception to Timberline’s comeback; “it didn’t take us long to realize that the three lifts on site were unworkable”; how well Perfect North and Timberline work as a ski area network; “Timberline Mountain has got to stand on its own financially”; whether Perfect North could ever purchase more ski areas; “I hate to see ski areas wither up and die”; Perfect North’s diverse season pass suite; “what drives our guest’s visits is their availability”; and whether Timberline or Perfect North could join the Indy Pass.            Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewYou want to hear something funny? I often put out queries on Twitter or via email, asking people to tell me who they would most like to hear from on the podcast. Or sometimes people just write and say something like, “hey love the pod you should interview…” And the interview they’ve most often requested has been some combination of Timberline and Perfect North. I don’t really understand why. I mean, I think it’s an awesome story. I’ve yet to meet a ski area I wasn’t fascinated by, and this Midwest-buys-Mid-Atlantic storyline is especially compelling to me. But this one has, for whatever reason, resonated broadly. I’ve never once had someone ask me to track down the head of Telluride or Mammoth or Heavenly (I’d gladly talk to the leaders of any of the three), but the Perfect North/Timberline request has been hitting my inbox consistently for years.Well, it’s done. I’d still like to do a Timberline-first pod, but the basic story of the acquisition is there, and we spend about 15 minutes on the West Virginia ski area. Still, I was not just listening to the request line. I tracked down Davis for the same reason that I tracked down Snow Trails, Ohio’s Scott Crislip last month: these are the only two ski areas in Indiana or Ohio that functioned normally last season. And they are the only two ski areas in those states that are not owned by Vail.Paoli Peaks was open 28 hours per week, from Thursday through Sunday, with no night skiing on weekends. Perfect North was open 89 hours per week, with night skiing seven days per week. I found this fairly offensive, and WTIU Public TV in Indiana invited me on-air back in March to talk about it:How, exactly, did Vail get owned by two independent operators with a fraction of the institutional resources? That is the question that these two podcasts attempt to answer. Vail clearly misread the market in Ohio and Indiana. They did not make enough snow or hire enough people. They cut night skiing. In the Midwest. That’s like opening a steakhouse and cutting steak off the menu. Sorry, Guys, budget cuts. You can’t find steak at this steakhouse, but we have beef broth soup and canned greenbeans. And by the way, we’re only open for lunch. Like, how did they not know that? It may be the worst series of ski area operating decisions I’ve ever seen.I should probably just let this go. Now that I’ve said my piece via these two interviews, I probably will. I’ve made my point. But seriously Vail needs to look at what Perfect North and Snow Trails did this past season and do exactly that. And if they can’t, then, as Davis says in this interview, “if they don’t want Paoli and Mad River, we’ll take them.”Questions I wish I’d askedPerfect North has a really interesting pass perk for its highest-tiered pass: Perfect Season Pass holders can go direct to lift. That pass is $356. Gold passholders, who can ski up to eight hours per day, must pick up a lift ticket at the window each time they ski. That pass is $291. While the gold pass is not technically unlimited, eight hours per day seems more than sufficient. I’m ready to wrap it up after seven hours at Alta. I can’t imagine that eight hours wouldn’t be enough Indiana skiing. But I don’t think the ski area would bother with the two different passes if the market hadn’t told them there was a need, and I would have liked to have discussed the rationale behind this pass suite a bit more.What I got wrongI said on the podcast that Snow Trails was open “80-some hours per week.” The number was actually 79 hours. I also stated in the introduction that Perfect North was founded by “the Perfect family and a group of investors,” but it was the Perfect family alone.  Why you should ski Perfect NorthWe’ve been through this before, with Snow Trails, Mountain Creek, Paul Bunyan, Wachusett, and many more. If you live in Cincinnati and you are a skier, you have a choice to make: you can be the kind of skier who skis all the time, or you can be the kind of skier who skis five days per year at Whistler. I know dozens of people in New York like this. They ski at Breckenridge, they ski at Park City, they ski at Jackson Hole. But they don’t – they just couldn’t – ski Mountain Creek or Hunter or even Stowe. East Coast skiing is just so icy, they tell me. Well, sometimes. But it’s skiing. And whether you ski six days per year or 50 largely depends upon your approach to your local.If I lived in Cincinnati, I’d have a pass to Perfect North and I’d go there all the time. I would not be there for eight hours at a time. Ten runs is a perfectly good day of skiing at a small ski area. More if conditions are good or I’m having fun. Anything to get outside and make a few turns. Go, ride the lifts, get out. No need to overthink this. Any skiing is better than none at all.Most of Perfect North’s skiers, of course, are teenagers and families. And it’s perfect for both of these groups. But it doesn’t have to be for them alone. Ski areas are for everyone. Go visit.As far as Timberline goes, well, that’s a whole different thing. A thousand feet of vert and 150 inches of average annual snowfall shouldn’t take a lot of convincing for anyone anywhere within striking distance.Podcast NotesPerfect North founder Clyde Perfect passed away in 2020. Here is his obituary.I mentioned that Indiana had several lost ski areas. Here’s an inventory. My 1980 copy of The White Book of Ski Areas lists nine hills in Indiana. Perfect North isn’t one of them (Paoli Peaks, the state’s other extant ski area, is). Here’s a closer look at two of the more interesting ones (you can view more trailmaps on skimap.org):Nashville AlpsHere’s the 2001 trailmap for Nashville Alps, which had a 240-foot vertical drop. The ski area closed around 2002, and the lifts appear to be gone.If anyone knows why Nashville Alps failed, please let me know.Ski StarlightThe White Book pegs this one with an amazing 554 vertical feet, which would make it taller than any ski area in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula. The map shows trails running along little ridgelines separated by valleys, which would have made this a really interesting spot on the rare occasions it snowed enough to ski the trees.Google maps suggests that this trailmap more or less reflects geologic reality. Here’s a YouTube video from a few years back, when the ski area was apparently for sale. The lifts were still intact (though likely unusable):The White Book says that this place had a double-double and two J-bars in 1980. Just 20 minutes from Louisville, this seems like the kind of little Midwestern spot that could boom with the right operators. The cost to bring it online would likely be prohibitive, however. As with most things in U.S. America, it would be the permitting that would likely kill it in the crib.The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 70/100 in 2022, and number 316 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe

Tonight's guest, Dwayne, has been tramping around in the woods his whole life, so he's got woods credentials a mile long. After spending so much time in the woods of Michigan's Lower Peninsula, he thought he'd seen every kind of animal that lived there. Well, on November 17th, 2012, he found out how wrong he was about that. You see, Dwayne was deer hunting, in a blind, he had put 25 feet up in a huge pine tree. He had cut off some of its branches, so he'd have a window to look out. He sat in that blind all day, up until around 6 PM, without anything out of the ordinary happening. Around that time, though, Dwayne heard something that sounded like a woman, with a deep voice, let out an extremely loud yell, followed by a deep growl. At 1st, he thought it must have been a really big bear vocalizing because it was hungry. Roughly 1 hour later, Dwayne saw a large figure moving out of the corner of his eye and when he looked to see what it was, he saw what he initially thought was a huge wolf. As soon as he laid eyes on it, the creature tilted its head back and started sniffing the air. Then, to Dwayne's horror, the huge creature looked right at the base of the tree he was in and traced its eyes up the tree until it was looking right at him, through the window he'd cut in the branches. Then, as if that wasn't bad enough, it stood up onto its back legs and started walking towards the tree he was in. When it made it to the base of the tree, it let out the most ungodly yell/howl Dwayne had ever heard in his life. Dwayne had tears in his eyes now and did the only thing he could think of, to try to protect himself. He reached for his rifle...What happened to Dwayne that day has traumatized him so much that he works the 3rd shift, so he can stay awake at night. After experiencing what Dwayne did, that day, I'm sure you'll understand why his 1st encounter has had such a profound effect on him.If you'd like to help support the show, by buying your own Dogman Encounters t-shirt, sweatshirt, tank top, or coffee mug, please visit the Dogman Encounters Show Store, by going to… https://Dogman-Encounters.MyShopify.com If you've had a Dogman encounter and would like to speak with me about it, whether you'd like to keep your encounter confidential or be interviewed on a show, please go to… https://DogmanEncounters.com and submit a report. If you've had a Sasquatch sighting and would like to be a guest on My Bigfoot Sighting, please go to… https://MyBigfootSighting.com and submit a report. I produce 3 other podcasts. Below, you'll find links to them.My Bigfoot Sighting... https://spreaker.page.link/xT7zh6zWsnCDaoVa7Bigfoot Eyewitness Radio... https://spreaker.page.link/WbtSccQm92TKBskT8My Paranormal Experience... https://youtube.com/channel/UCyxVu8_b4yxLHcZ1fNPmRkAThanks for listening!

To support independent ski journalism, please consider becoming a free or paid subscriber. Starting in June, paid subscribers will receive podcasts three days before free subscribers.WhoTJ and Wendy Kerscher, Owners of Paul Bunyan Ski Hill, WisconsinRecorded onMay 23, 2022About Paul BunyanOwned by: TJ and Wendy KerscherLocated in: Lakewood, WisconsinClosest neighboring ski areas: Keyes Peak, Wisconsin (1 hours); Ski Brule, Michigan (1.25 hours); Camp 10, Wisconsin (1.25 hours); Granite Peak, Wisconsin (1.5 hours); Pine Mountain, Michigan (1.5 hours)Vertical drop: 150 feetAverage annual snowfall: 65 inchesTrail count: 6 (2 black, 2 intermediate, 2 beginner)Lift count: 3 (1 T-bar, 2 ropetows - view Lift Blog’s of inventory of Paul Bunyan’s lift fleet)Trailmap: Paul Bunyan has yet to create an updated trailmap. This overhead-oriented version created by skimap.com is the closest thing I could find, though TJ told me that the ropetow and tubing park - and associated trails - looker’s left on this map have not yet re-opened (he hopes to have them ready for the 2022-23 ski season, along with a top-to-bottom ropetow that runs parallel to the T-bar):This map, from 1993, shows the state of the ski area just before it closed, in 1995:This map, from 1980, is probably my favorite from an aesthetic point of view:Why I interviewed themIn 2016, a California businessman named Jeff Katofsky purchased the long-dormant Sugar Loaf ski area in northern Michigan. A real estate developer and minor league baseball team owner, he seemed to barely understand skiing, declaring shortly after taking possession of the property that he had visited Whistler “to get ideas.” Which is like visiting the Palace of Versailles to get ideas on how to decorate your hunting cabin. The next year, he stripped all five Hall* doubles from the hillside. “The ski hill presently has to basically be gutted because nothing on there can work,” he told the Glen Arbor Sun. “Whether we can put another ski hill together or not, we’re crunching a lot of numbers together to see if that works.”The Crunchinator came up with some pretty intense numbers. For Katofsky, skiing was a high-end pursuit, which could only be provided in an ultra-luxurious context. “Skiing is purely a financial question,” Katofsky told the Sun in 2018. “I have to take it seriously because I know it’s important to people. But I’m not doing this for charity. We’ll invest literally tens of millions of dollars in this. If skiing works financially, you’ll have it. If not, you won’t.”Skiing must not have worked financially. In December 2020, Katofsky sold the property to an anonymous buyer and disappeared, without comment, into the void.Katofsky, to be fair, was not trying to spend tens of millions of dollars to resuscitate a ski resort, explicitly. He intended to spend tens of millions to build a year-round spa-and-valet sort of place that had a little ski hill as an addendum. Something like Villa Roma in New York’s Catskills, which offers a minimalist ski experience but long ago mothballed an entire terrain pod.That’s a shame. Sugar Loaf was once one of the best ski areas in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula, a nationally unsung ski mecca as nuts about this stupid snoskiing thing as anyplace that’s cold and remotely hilly. The front side was 500 feet of pure fall line, the backside woods and narrow lanes. The summit view was gorgeous. The vibe pure zest and zeal. No pretention here. The place was fabulous, as good as Boyne Mountain from a pure skiing point of view. I couldn’t believe it when the hill closed in 2000.I’m still miffed. I’m not alone: the 5,015-member Friends of Sugar Loaf Facebook group is an online watering hole for the nostalgic and the hopeful (though IT’S NOT HAPPENING Bro is an unfortunate omnipresent parasite as well). I tend to be It Could Happen Bro, certain that a minimalist version of skiing could be viable. Last year, I exchanged emails with Traverse City native, former Sugar Loaf ski patroller, and Waterville Valley general manager Tim Smith about the possibility of a minimalist version of Sugar Loaf resurfacing at some point:Stuart: I'm really curious about your point of view on Sugarloaf, since you've been in skiing so long and really understand what it takes to bring a mountain back to life, and you seem to have a knack for making things happen. How much would it take to bring a minimum level of skiing back to Sugarloaf? Like let's say you sent [Waterville Valley’s retiring] Sunnyside Triple there and strung it base to summit up Awful Awful and brought in some mobile snow guns - would that be enough? I'm probably over-simplifying it, but I feel like the current owner has it in his head that skiing needs to be uber luxurious before you sell a lift ticket. But you look at Mount Bohemia in the UP, and the guy basically opened the place with some yurts, a base lodge, and a lift.Tim: Your simplification is pretty spot on. Minimum infrastructure to get going again would be a new/used lift, say $2 million will cover that with installation. For snowmaking pipe/pond/pumps/electrical for the frontside (Round About, Nastar, Waful, k2 and Awful Awful) 25 acres or so (that’s twice the size of Waterville Valley’s high country) feed that with 2,000 gpm giving an acre foot of snow every 1.33 hours, so 33 hours at full blast to cover the area with a foot of snow. To blast that type of snow the area would need at least 20 guns but I would recommend 40 as maxing out requires extreme cold. That’s 500k in guns, 500k in pumping, $1.5M for pipe, hydrants, electrical (bit of a WAG as I don’t know what is still there for primary electrical). A steel building lodge like Crotched runs about $2.5 but a yurt village would be doable for a few 100k so let say $1M for now. Parking is still in OK shape but I think the thing that would kill the project is the demo of the old lodge, but the county or state may help as it is a public nuisance at this point, so let’s say the fire department does a controlled burn 🔥 All said and done on a shoe string $5M should get it up and running. But if it was me I would go all in as I think the area could support a higher end resort, just need the right money man 😎. This is off the top of my head, some day it would be fun to run these numbers down and see if something could really work.OK, aren’t we here to talk about Paul Bunyan? Indeed. Excuse the detour, but I had a point: In about nine months in 2020, TJ and Wendy Kerscher and their family accomplished what gazillionaire Katofsky couldn’t in four years. In the midst of the early Covid lockdowns, their bar and their figurine factory idled, the Kerschers looked out at the overgrown and long-abandoned ski hill in their backyard and got to work. TJ meticulously dismantled and reassembled the 1967 Hall T-bar and several ropetows that had been A-Teamed together from 1940s truck parts. With crews of chainsaw-wielding friends, they marched up the hillside and cleared 25 years of forest. They borrowed snowguns from idled Norway Mountain, Michigan; picked up a trio of used Snowcats from Granite Peak; worked with K2 to build a small fleet of rental gear. In February 2021, the ski area re-opened to ecstatic locals.“They filled this place,” Wendy Kerscher told me in the interview. “They filled the hill. We ran out of rentals. It was amazing.”The Katofskys and IT’S NOT HAPPENING Bros of the world would have taken one look at Paul Bunyan and came up with a thousand reasons why the place was inoperable. Too decrepit, too small, too remote, too tired, too knotted to a bygone era of skiing, when surface lifts and five turns top-to-bottom were good enough.I have little use for such people. The cynics and the you-can’ts, the ones who always tell you why not. I am searching for the TJ and Wendy Kerschers of the world, the optimists and the puzzle-solvers, the people who are too busy working to realize that what they’re doing is impossible.The way they did what no one else could do was to simply do it. No master plans. No consultants. No expensive crews. No engineers. Just chainsaws and shovels and some borrowed heavy equipment. A little assistance from the ski industry. It helped that TJ had enough mechanical acuity to rebuild the lifts himself. It was a lot of work, but the result was a ski hill summoned out of the grave by Midwest FTW grit-and-grind.“You never can count sweat equity,” TJ told me. “It was awesome. I would do it all over again five times. I don’t count the work at all. We just had so much fun with this project.”It’s too bad the Kerschers didn’t live in front of Sugar Loaf. Were the mountain’s Hall lifts – famously reliable machines – really beyond repair? Could a more restlessly optimistic soul like TJ have saved them? Someone who truly loved and understood skiing? I tend to think the answer is yes. And we’ve got a story to prove it, a ski area saved, improbably but truly: Paul Bunyan is back.*Props to Lift Blog for ID’ing these lifts for me.What we talked aboutThe Kerscher family story; the family’s various businesses; the origins of Paul Bunyan as a local nonprofit; when and why the Kerscher family purchased the hill; growing up in an entrepreneurial family; how you react when your father buys a ski area; running a mountain at age 18; why Paul Bunyan closed in the mid-90s; deciding to re-open the ski area after 25 years dormant; a silver lining in Covid; the state of Paul Bunyan’s lifts, trails, and snowmaking after two and a half decades idle; improvisational snowmaking and long-term plans for improvement; that DIY Midwestern grit; restoring the fantastic homemade ropetow network cobbled together with 1940s truck parts; restoring a 1960s Hall T-bar; a fortuitous call from a friendly neighboring ski area; which of the four classic ropetows have been brought back into service, and which are next; the status of the tubing operation; reviving the overgrown trail network – “we got some guys together with some chainsaws and started cutting”; where the ski area is adding runs this summer; options for the forthcoming terrain park; skiers are “really embracing” Paul Bunyan’s “old-school … hang-on-tight ropetows”; restoring the hill’s 1969 Tucker Sno-Cat and why those machines still beat modern groomers for certain tasks; the large ski area that helped Paul Bunyan modernize its grooming fleet with a deal on used machines; setting up a rental shop, ski school, and patrol from scratch; managing labor as a small ski area; insurance; approaching such a massive project day-by-day; how it felt to see the lifts spinning again; “every single weekend, we are sold out of ski equipment”; bringing back night skiing; whether Paul Bunyan could ever be a seven-day-per-week operation; optimism and attitude are everything; advice for aspiring saviors of lost ski areas; the generosity of the greater ski industry; and whether Paul Bunyan had considered the Indy Pass Allied Resorts program.   Why I thought that now was a good time for this interviewI spend a lot of time shuffling through skiing’s online fringe. I am obsessed, for whatever reason, with completeness. This most obviously manifests itself through the Pass Tracker 5001, where I’ve been tracking U.S. America’s season pass prices for the past couple years. For hundreds of resorts, tracking down these numbers is a fairly simple exercise. Northstar – Epic Pass. Mammoth – Ikon Pass. And so on. But perhaps a quarter of the nation’s ski areas exist in a sort of steampunk half-world, online but without a formal website, a Facebook page usually, pointing skiers in a choppy, inconstant way toward their little hills, typically a neighborhood bump with a collection of Rube Goldberg surface lifts trundling up a few acres of clear-cut.I’ll frequently message these pages with queries about hours of operation or season pass prices. They almost never write back. So I was fairly surprised last month when a query to Paul Bunyan’s account produced a coherent response within hours. We exchanged a few messages and I invited them onto the podcast. So here we are.Believe it or not, it is typically more difficult to secure an interview with the operators of the Paul Bunyans of the world than the Steamboats or Beaver Creeks. The large ski areas have budgets, communications teams, marketing departments. The executives have talking points and media training. They expect me to knock on the door, and they’re usually willing to talk when I do. With the smaller places, it’s often difficult to determine who owns or manages the hill, and there’s rarely an obvious way to connect with them.So when I had the opportunity to talk to a family who had the audacity to say, “yeah we’re just going to re-open this ski hill with 60-year-old lifts on a minimal budget and by the way if you think this is impossible we’re just going to ignore you,” I couldn’t book it fast enough.Part of what makes skiing great is the raw adventure of a four-thousand-footer sprawling across a half dozen peaks with 35 lifts driving up and over cliffs and trees and elevator-shaft inclines. But a big part of what makes it interesting is that it’s not just that. That a network of hundreds of small-bore versions of this gigantic thing exist anywhere that cold weather and hills collide. If The Storm is after the full story of lift-served skiing, it must be not only aware of the world outside the Epkon flex palace, but immersed in it. There’s no better way to do that – and to bring you along with me – than to connect with operators like the Kerschers, whose story is one of pure love and passion, the one-turn-at-a-time kind of fun that so many in skiing have forgotten.Why you should ski Paul BunyanIf you live anywhere nearby, the answer to this question is obvious: because it’s there. In-between turns when you can’t make the drive over to Granite Peak. Because skiing can be your wintertime gym. Dip in, get your reps on, bounce. Don’t overthink it.For the rest of us – I live 1,100 miles away – the answer is more complicated. I acknowledge that only a handful of the most curious outsiders will ever deliberately visit the Midwest to ski. The ski media has ignored this region for its entire existence, focusing instead on two themes that invariably lead skiers north to New England or west to the Rockies: the ultra-rad or the ultra-luxe. Understandable. However, there exists a third narrative in skiing: discovery. I’ve spent the past two ski seasons in a state of perpetual ramble, bouncing from neighborhood bump to backwoods freeride to ridgeline 500-footer lodged at the top of America. It’s fun. You find little stashes, quirks, thrills. I almost never find crowds. Lift-served skiing is an impossibly rich world, dynamic and varied, funky and weird, curious and fascinating.Someday, I will roll through Wisconsin, and I’ll of course ski Cascade and Devil’s Head and La Crosse and Granite Peak and Whitecap. But I’ll also float through Paul Bunyan, ride the old T-bar, angle jet-fighter style toward one of the hill’s many ropetows and grab on mid-flight, as TJ so exuberantly suggests in our conversation. It won’t be Vail, but I won’t go in expecting that. You shouldn’t either. And what you’ll take away will be pretty cool: a mental snapshot of skiing stripped of all glam and pretense, of a snowsliding business defined by the activity itself, of a place homey and welcoming. That sort of ski-them-all completeness is not for everyone, I understand. But for those of us who adopt such a mentality, the rewards for going in on a Paul Bunyan lift ticket are enormous. More Paul BunyanCoverage of Paul Bunyan’s re-opening:Paul Bunyan Ski Hill to Reopen in Oconto County – Fox 11 Online, Nov. 30, 2020Lakewood Family Re-Opens Paul Bunyan Ski Hill – Spectrum News 1 – Feb. 9, 2021Dozens of Skiers Hit the Slopes at Paul Bunyan Ski Hill in Lakewood – Fox 11 Online, Dec. 26, 2021Paul Bunyan’s comeback is inspirational, but it’s an anomaly. The Midwest Lost Ski Areas Project has documented 374 lost ski areas across the 12-state region, including 97 in Wisconsin. Let’s hope there are more people like Wendy and TJ Kerscher out there, willing and able to take the low-budget path back to viability. You can follow along with updates on Paul Bunyan’s very active Facebook page:The Storm publishes year-round, and guarantees 100 articles per year. This is article 58/100 in 2022, and number 304 since launching on Oct. 13, 2019. Want to send feedback? Reply to this email and I will answer (unless you sound insane). You can also email skiing@substack.com. Get full access to The Storm Skiing Journal and Podcast at www.stormskiing.com/subscribe