Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
Serving Gogebic, Iron and Ontonagon Counties
UPSON, Wis. — An ongoing renovation project at Whitecap Mountains is preparing the facility for year-’round tourists.
David Dziuban is managing the effort that currently includes 30 employees.
“These are all local people. We wanted to make an effort to hire locally,” Dziuban said.
The main lodge is being renovated into a new cafeteria, kitchen, restaurant and bar, and snowmaking will return for the winter.
Dziuban said one thing that can’t be improved is the terrain and the beauty the ski and golf experiences offer.
He began working to turn Whitecap into a four-season destination point when he came on board last winter. He tells a story of waking up early to about an inch of snow last February, then nodding off for about an hour and a half, only to re-awake to 10 inches of fresh powder.
Plans to renovate the chairlift won’t happen before the winter ski season, but other improvements are leading to the effort to return Whitecap to a four-season destination point.
Now there’s unlimited golfing on the nine-hole course for $35, which includes a cart that’s necessary to get to the top of the mountain, and disc golf, at $15 per round, with a cart.
A Friday, Sept. 28, golf tournament will raise money to begin a Whitecap Community Foundation that will assist area organizations and causes. It will be a four-person scramble that will offer a $10,000 hole-in-one opportunity and other prizes.
The Whitecap board of directors will be available at the 10 a.m. tourney to present an overview of plans for the facility. Lunch will be served after the event.
An Octoberfest event that will feature games for the kiddies is also being planned for the first Saturday in October.
Dziuban said he’d eventually like to see some type of event going on every weekend at the hill next to Weber Lake, which offers a county park for camping, boating and trout fishing.
This summer, Dziuban addressed the Iron County Development Zone Council and said there’s a focus on general cleanliness in renovating the lodge and motel accommodations.
A ski staff director has been hired and the National Ski Patrol will return, Dziuban said, and the facility plans to welcome snowmobile and all-terrain vehicle riders who weren’t taken in before. Whitecap, with its hotel and lodging, can accommodate 500 guests.
Dziuban has recently been talking with an architect about expanding the disc golf course to 27 holes, using the former back nine of the golf course.
The greens on the front nine still haven’t recovered, but Dziuban said they have come a long way since spring. With four tee-offs on every hole, the course can range from extremely difficult to very playable, with soft fairways.
The board of directors that includes five property owners or shareholders has been meeting on a weekly basis to gauge the progress of the renovation efforts. “They are very active in following the developments,” Dziuban said.
“The local support has been overwhelming so far,” he said.
Another plan that might lead to more visitors, in addition to better marketing, is improved signage on Wisconsin 77, Dziuban said. The highway is now smooth as glass and County E, leading to the hill, is also in good shape.
At this point, Dziuban said ski reservations are up over a year ago.
Other plans call for possibly installing a cell tower at the mountain and fiber-optics talks.
The new ski lift system will be installed next summer.
For more information, follow Whitecap on social media or contact Dziuban at 715-561-2227 or davidd@
skiwhitecap.com.
