shredding gnar snowboarding blog

Earlier this week I took a look at season pass offerings at the Metro-Detroit area ski resorts.  Continuing that theme, here’s the skinny on those resorts on the West side of Michigan.  The next installments will cover the northern lower peninsula and upper peninsula.

The west side of the state isn’t my home, so I may not have everything listed.

Caberfae Peaks

I would lump Caberfae in with the northern LP resorts by geography, but since they only have a single, 36-room lodge on-site I don’t think it’s fair to compare with the Boynes.  However, Caberfae Peaks has the absolute sickest prices on season passes:

1. $99 for a weekends only
2. $99 for weekdays only
3. $198 for unlimited
4. $49 punch pass – any four days excludes Saturday & holidays
5. $99 punch pass – any four days no restrictions

I don’t know why you’d go with option 5 unless you were only going there only once this winter for 4 consecutive days, otherwise it would make more sense to get one of the other $99 options.

Caberfae used to run sweet college discounts on Mondays, Wednesdays, and Fridays, with a college ID you could buy a discounted lift ticket that got cheaper every hour, at 9am it was $19 and by 5pm for twilight only you could ride for about $11.

Cannonsburg

Cannonsburg ski area is located northeast of Grand Rapids, and about an hour west of Lansing.  At $380 per person, Cannonsburg ski area doesn’t have the most competitively-priced passes, but they do discounts if you buy multiple passes.

Snow Snake

Snow Snake is located in Harrison, Michigan so technically not on the “West Side” but I didn’t want to lump it in with the Detroit area hills, nor with the larger, northern-lower peninsula resorts…

I went to college a few miles from there and never knew it existed (except as a tubing run for little kids).  My loss, I suppose.  $25 daily lift passes and season passes available for $249 is reasonable, because the terrain in the Harrison/Clare/Mount Pleasant region is about as flat as you can possibly imagine.

Swiss Valley

At only $249 for a single, Swiss Valley located in Jones, Michigan, has some of the best deals around.  The almost impossible-to-beat deal is for parents: if you buy your kid a season pass, and you’ve never held a season pass there before, you can get one for only $42.  No, I didn’t forget the zero.  That’s forty-two dollars.  Swiss Valley season passes also have some reciprocal benefits at Schuss Mountain/Shanty Creek, Caberfae Peaks, and Crystal Mountain.

Timber Ridge

Near Kalamazoo and Western Michigan University, Timber Ridge runs 9 chairs servicing 16 trails and snow-tubing.  Topping out at only 240 vertical feet, it’s on the small side, but if it’s close to home, I guess you take what you can get.  Season passes are $239 until September 15 when they go up to $299 through November 8.  After that, full price is $379.

Stay tuned for the next installments of Michigan Season Passes!

If you ski or ride in Michigan, I feel sorry for you. But hey, I ride in Michigan, too.  The only thing better than getting out on the slopes is getting a good deal to get out on the slopes, and if you’re planning on riding 20-30 days or more, you should probably consider a season pass especially if you’re doing the bulk of your skiing/riding at a single resort.

If you want to spread that wealth over many resorts, keep your eye out for the “White Gold” card. No official announcement yet but if they make one this year it’s exactly what you’re looking for and rock-bottom pricing.

For the Metro-Detroit area, you’ve got a few options nearby.  I’ll cover the other areas of the state (west side, northern LP, and UP) in upcoming posts.

Pine Knob / Mount Holly

Mount Holly announces that its prices remain unchanged from the 2009-2010 season, so Pine Knob should be more of the same.  That means pre-season pricing of $444 gets you unlimited access to one or the other ($550 during the season).  You can upgrade for $150 and use your pass at both places.

I’ve always thought this was kind of a rip-off.  Since you can only ever use the pass at one resort at a time it’s not like you can use it more. They shouldn’t charge extra to use the pass at both places.

You need 15-20 days to break even at a single, or 20-25 days on the combo pass.  Do the math, it could be worth it if you ride a lot and need to ride both places (but I find the parks at Holly aren’t fun).  Be honest, even if you ride both places you’ll probably ride one of them most of the time. Unless you’re going to put in more than 5 days at the other, you’re better off buying the single pass and paying for daily lift tickets at the other place.

Mount Brighton

Mount Brighton sets up a better park that Pine Knob or Mount Holly and you can get your season pass for $435 early bird, $505 full price.

The downside is that depending on where you’re coming from, you might have to brave the traffic on I-696 Westbound to get there during rush hour. It’s not worth it.  If you live in the area or West of Brighton though, it’s a better option than PK, Holly or Alpine Valley.

Alpine Valley

For $500 you can get a season pass to Alpine Valley, which the last few years has been the bastard child of Southeast Michigan ski areas.  It’s hard to get to (located off of M-59 in White Lake) and they didn’t participate in the Shell Ski Free deals the last few years.  I’ve heard they’ve really amped up the park there, so I’ll have to check it out sometime this winter, but honestly the thought of paying $35 to ride some crappy Michigan park when I could be paying $17 to ride one at Pine Knob, is kinda meh.