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The Official Michigan Winter Thread

490K views 8K replies 153 participants last post by  sabatoa 
#1 ·
Alright everyone since Summer is over, fall has just begun and we've already had our first rail jam of the year, it's time to start a new thread for the 10/11 winter.

Last year we had the "Southeast" michigan thread, but I think we should do all of Michigan. Sure, most of population lives in S/E michigan but we all ride the same resorts in the LP and even the UP if we get a chance, so we should have one thread to bring everyone together.

Cheers everyone we're probably only like 70 days from open resorts!
 
#7,444 · (Edited)
Glad to hear you finally made it up here! The article is great and it really sounds like you had a great time..and I'm sure made out pretty well with the currency advantage. The weather was awesome. I am kicking myself that I couldn't get out this past weekend. I always have a hard time describing the place in comparison to what most of you are used to in Michigan. It looks small on paper, but that's about it..haha

Quad side is my favourite. Glad to hear you got right in there and enjoyed the user friendly and the glades. Anyone else thinking of coming up and have any questions just send them my way.

Also, editing to add, that picture along the highway, there's a great mountain bike trail there that I hit with my buddies a few times a year. There's a road to a communications tower at the top and a sweet downhill singletrack trail along the backside. :D
 
#7,446 ·
So basically in the early 2000s the resort was purchased by a businessman from the Chicago area. He invested into a lot of upgrades, one project which included renaming a lot of the runs. Most of the wilderness names used to be computer names. There was user friendly, hard drive, megabyte, etc.. Some originals still exist such as 3x4, main, peggy's promise, goulais and champs. One year the triple chair was determined all the chairlifts needed replacement. That year, the owner decided he was done injecting money into the resort and announced it wasn't going to open the next year. As a result, the community banded together and formed a non profit group called the Searchmont Ski Association. The former owner held a partial mortgage and the City loaned the group money to get snow making off the ground each year. The association is finally making small profits again which is being directly reinvested into the resort (eg. Quad chair reopened after repairs were finally made last year. It was closed for 5 years). The mortgage is finally paid off and the city economic development department is actively marketing the resort for sale. (Though the Ski Association now basically is a lease holder operating business as usual until such sale is made. The economic spin off its to great to not keep things operational)
 
#7,456 ·
So, there is definitely some larger stuff back there, but I can't really pin-point where. How far down the user did you go? At one point there's tracks to the left that enter into the glades, a fair bit down. If you were to go straight, it looks like it narrows off. I believe if you hang a left after going further straight you can get into some stuff. If you keep going straight and don't go anywhere you'll just end up on the snowmobile trail at the base of the quad. Not recommended!

There's also a spot that a lot of people will hike to once they get into the User. I've never done it though so I can't give you any details on where the hike starts. I'm pooched enough as it is when I get out of there..Lol It's pretty well known if you ask around though.
 
#7,459 ·
Sabato & I will be at Boyne Mountain with the grommettes on Sunday if anyone's down. I'd love to check out Nub's in its prime, but I just don't think I can swing the extra 40 minutes each way (already 2.5h to Boyne) with a 6 year old.

In case you missed out on this week's epic pow day:

http://www.agnarchy.com/powder-day-boyne-mountain/

 
#7,460 · (Edited)
Boyne was good yesterday, obviously full coverage but they weren’t running all of the lifts- the snowbowl on at the far end was off but you could tell that some people hiked to get fresh lines from that storm last week.

That was my last day on snow. 38 days and three days shy of a full 6 month season (Nov 11 to April 8). Part of it is because Nubs is shut down now and wife won’t do Mountain, but also my binding ankle strap broke and I need to replace it- which won’t happen in time.

It’s fine, it was an awesome season but I’m tired. After 20-25 trips 3+ hours north and 3+ hours back I’m ready to be home on a weekend.
 
#7,461 ·
Nubs was unreal this weekend.

It felt like February there. Saturday it was not busy at all in the morning. The snow was the best I've ridden in the lower peninsula all year and it's april! All glades still had good coverage and weren't tracked out until the end of the day. Overcast, but not terrible.

Sunday the sun came out. Everyone there was letting it rip like the last day of the season. So much fun. Everyone was in such a great mood all weekend. Great vibe...

which is why I really don't want to stick a fork in this season. I'm thinking about squeezing one more day in at Brule on Saturday. They were 100% open this past weekend and plan to be for the upcoming weekend. Decisions..
 
#7,463 ·
which is why I really don't want to stick a fork in this season. I'm thinking about squeezing one more day in at Brule on Saturday. They were 100% open this past weekend and plan to be for the upcoming weekend. Decisions..
That's quite a drive for ~300 vertical feet! TBH, if you're willing to drive that far, maybe check the weather down in PA at Seven Springs. 700' vertical, good parks, etc. -- it's about an hour east of Pittsburg and a pretty easy 5-hour drive from Metro-Detroit. I think they will be open still for the weekend.
 
#7,462 ·
I'm holding out hope for one more day.

Spring Board is this weekend at Mountain, but the weather looks like absolute piss towards the end of the week, which TBH is fine by me: I probably couldn't ride this week unless at the expense of my marriage LOL, and as fun as those events sound on paper, crowded parks are not really my jam. So, on the chance they can pull off another weekend 4/21, I might try to get up there again. I would like to have one solid, full day of park-riding this season :)

Other than that, I'm not looking forward to sinking more maintenance $$ in to my mountain bike, and I don't have budget to buy a new bike. So, I'm not super looking forward to dirt season, yet. I'm sure that will chance once I put a few miles under the wheels, but for now, I'm just "meh" about it.
 
#7,465 ·
Wish I could take advantage of one more weekend up north but it's a no go.

Returned from Park City this weekend after a week of ice, dust on crust, frozen granular and slush. Considering it is a down snow year for Utah we still had a great time, even got a goggles tan. And now as I sit at my desk, reality sets in... another season in the books. Need to get the summer wax on my boards.
 
#7,470 ·
Thank you for that information on Searchmont! might be just the time to make that trip, as that will make for a better escape back downstate afterward.

Considering Bohemia. Will have to see how the weather starts to pan out as it gets closer. The drive back will be brutal through the weather that is coming, but man that place would be perfect after this snowfall...
 
#7,469 ·
For those considering going up, please keep an eye on the weather for your return day. Sunday is not looking good. 8-12 inches and 25+mph sustained winds at the bridge=good chance that it will be closed. There is also a chance that M28 or US2 could close as well.

If you do not have experience driving up there, please be careful. With the winds forecasted, it will be full on blizzard conditions.

Also, there are many stretches of main highway that do not have cell service. Packing appropriate winter emergency supplies in your vehicle is not a bad idea.
 
#7,471 ·
Current forecast for Boyne Mountain vicinity has heavy rain on Friday followed by 5 inches of snow Saturday 9 in on Sunday and then tapering off a few more inches on Monday... If they really get 15 inches of snow this weekend I wonder if they'll stay open daily through next week or if they'll just move down to weekends only
 
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