Everywhere I look legit ski areas are innovating and giving their customers a better experience. So we here in Michigan can’t compete with the new Gondola or the Stash Terrain Park at Jackson Hole, I get that but there’s plenty of Michigan ski resorts that are investing in making better experiences for their customers.
Before I drop the buzzkill bomb and call out the resorts that are doing it wrong, here’s something positive.
Who’s doing it right:
Many of the Michigan UP resorts like Blackjack Mountain are boasting their new or improved terrain parks, or those slackcountry Michigan staples at Ski Porkies and Mt. Bohemia offering 2-for-1 lift tickets every day this winter.
Boyne has a freaking waterpark, and they invested a shit-ton of money this year on new terrain park features, gladed runs, and increased snowmaking capacity.
Shanty Creek’s terrain parks (they’ve got four of them at Shanty) look fun like they have something for all ages and abilities, with all sorts of features from street rails to propane tank jibs.
Crystal Mountain, has been doing loads of expansion over the last decade. Really. If you haven’t been there recently, you might not recognize the place. On the mountain you get two new peaks with acres of new terrain. Off the mountain there’s a revamped resort “village” with new condos and cabins and a full service spa, they could probably use one more restaurant/bar on-site, but otherwise they’re doing it right.
There may be a few others, particularly on the West Side of Michigan I’m not familiar with the resorts, but basically the line seems to be anything south of M-55 is in the dumps, and most of the full-service resorts are doing the job a little bit better.
Stay tuned. Next time I’ll talk about what’s wrong with the industry here.
