--by Claire Basney
Local ski slopes offer jump on winter blahs
Tired of traying? Does the hill near Phi Chi feel like a molehill? For some, provided there is typical arctic Michigan weather, there is a ready Michigan solution: skiing.
While no one will mistake Michigan for the Alps or Rockies (or even the Adirondacks), still there exist some places where the terrain humps into enough of a slope to give even the cleverest skiers something to fall down on. Image magazine, in an article on winter sports, identifies five relatively convenient Michigan ski resorts, for anyone from beginners to masters.
First stop is the ski resort of Michigan morning radio, the one for people who wish to mature a baby taste in skiing: Cannonsburg. Though it has the reputation, in the words of Brian Roberts, of being real small, still it claims the best snowmaking capabilities in the southern lower.
Cannonsburg offers lessons to both the kiddie wobbling on her first skis and the expert. Boasting fourteen slopes and a lodge providing shelter for the chilled and food for the starved, Cannonsburg may have an excuse for its price tag ($14 weekday, $25 Saturday and Sunday).
Or maybe not. Avid skier Cathy Koning says she would consider Cannonsburg for an evening, but if going for a ski weekend, she’d rather go someplace bigger.
Bigger it is. And farther away.
Crystal Mountain and Caberfae Peaks (in the vicinity of Cadillac and Traverse City, respectively) give more and cost more. Caberfae, the oldest ski area in the Midwest according to Public Relations Director Kathy Clifford, Image, has the highest hill south of Crystal Mountain, a north slope measuring 485 vertical feet and creating a run 3/4 of a mile long.
Also offering a college special, Caberfae usually asks a reasonable $24 for adults during the week and $29 on the weekends.
According to Koning and Roberts, as well as Michelle Voss, Caberfae has a solid reputation for good skiing, but Crystal Mountain received more applause. Enjoying the advantage of being farther north (and on the verge of Mackinaw Island, apparently a great place for crosscountry), Crystal Mountain provides a greater variety of hills and the most challenging moguls in the vicinity said Koning, although she admits the last time she visited was seven or eight years ago.
Farther up and farther north the most dedicated skier can investigate Boyne Michigan, the Leelanau Peninsula, and the UP. Boyne features both 485 Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands, a resort combo with healthy capitalist competition. Until this year, the Highlands held out monopolizing the largest and speediest slopes in Michigan, numbering 42 and the longest being over a mile with a 550 foot drop. However, the Mountain has undergone apparent recent seismic activity, producing 12 new runs and the Devil’s Dive, advertised as the ‘steepest slope in Michigan.’
Koning has frequented Boyne Michigan. She praises the variety of the Highlands.
Cindy Timberlake, a native of Salt Lake City, Utah said, "Skiing in Michigan is like riding a bike with training a wheels on a gravel road.
Even better, right across the round from Boyne Highlands is another ski resort, Nubs Nob, featuring, as might be expected, similar runs.
The Leelanau Peninsula houses the Sugar Loaf (another 500 foot drop), and the skiing in the UP stands highly recommended by an enthusiastic Roberts and Voss.
According to Voss, there is real snow. Michigan, whatever it lacks in the way of natural height, generally has no problem with snow accumulation.
Local Michigan resorts such as Snow Snake near Harrison and Clare, Michigan and Shanty Creek-Schuss Mountain deserve recognition. Though a non-skier, Kristen Benson actually visited Snow Snake and enjoyed thoroughly its nice lodge.
As for Shanty Creek-Schuss Mountain, Koning couldn’t rest without mentioning its slopes. She said the runs only half measure up to Cannonsburg in length and simplicity. Koning said Shanty Creek-Schuss Mountain has longer, steeper runs, probably more like Crystal Mountain.
The exercise of cross country and exhilarating speed of downhill would be a good reason to try skiing.
Voss said she enjoys the rustic flavor of cross country trails. As for downhill, she added, it’s a huge challenge just staying on your feet.