Sun, snow helps skiers enjoy day at Whitecap

By STEVE NEWMAN

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UPSON, Wis. - With temperatures reaching 50 degrees on Saturday, enthusiastic skiers were trying to enjoy some of the last days of ski season at Whitecap Mountain. The bright, sunny skies brought a good crowd out to stay at the resort as well as skiers who just came for the day.

Skier Ben Bonitz, who came from Eau Claire to ski, said his family has had season passes for Whitecap for about 15 years.

Not only was he excited about the skiing, but the work of the new management of Whitecap, led by David Dziuban, has done. He stated that the new direction of the resort has captured the attention of the long-time visitors, and that the core was "still itching" to spend more time at Whitecap.

According to Mark Sbraggia, head of outside operations for Whitecap Mountain, the venue plans to continue skiing through next Sunday.

He was enthusiastic about the "great turnout" for the day.

"It's beautiful skiing today. The skiers are happy," he said, saying they had 43 runs and five lifts running, but that, given the weather, the snow "is gonna go fast."

Sbraggia said that the winter has been a challenge with the fire that destroyed the resort's chalet in January.

"The fire really set us back," he said. "We just completed a full remodel in there (the chalet). The return customers got to see what kind of a change we had going. We put a lot of work in this past summer. We were repurposing all our old wood that we had. And it all got burnt up. We used a lot of rough-sawn lumber and used as much of the stuff that we had around. It gave the old feel and the old nostalgia look. We used the seats off the old sleigh that were 22 feet long and made a table out of them. We called it the 'Last Supper' table because it was so long."

Bonitz agreed that losing the remodeled chalet was sad. "It was incredible. All that antique stuff you had in there, it looked beautiful," he said. "When they get to dig out after the fire, it's going to be amazing again."

Sbraggia was encouraged that people stuck with Whitecap after the fire. "It's been absolutely amazing. There was such an outpouring of people asking what they could do to help us," he said. "We said, 'just come out and ski with us, that's the best thing you can do.'"

He said that there are plans in the works to rebuild and more to make Whitecap a "four season destination."

A big part of the summer schedule, beside golf and disc golf, are the plans for the Paavo Nurmi Marathon weekend. Whitecap will be hosting an Ironman competition, as well as bicycle rides of various lengths on the Sunday of the marathon.

At the wine hut - an old log cabin out on the slopes that is believed to be from an 1890's logging camp - Keith Kohlbeck was serving hot and cold drinks to skiers. Skiers were enjoying the sunshine and the food outside the hut as they rested before hitting the slopes again. Kohlbeck has become a fixture at the hut.

"He's a rockstar here," Sbraggia said.

Kohlbeck spoke of the love and loyalty of the longtime skiers. "There's a group of four skiers here that have Whitecap tattoos," he said.

Ski lift operator and summer golf course superintendent Jim Vokolek also was optimistic about the future.

"Everybody's fired up," he said.

As for the fire, while he said it was a "gut-punch deal," but the people around Whitecap have carried on.

"We didn't have time to mourn. There were skiers here the next day," he said.

Vokolek said Whitecap's greatest asset may be its terrain. "It's so vast, with a lot of different type of runs." The past summer, he and others were involved in "glading" to remove brush in the wooded areas near the ski runs. Glade skiing is where expert skiers can ski off the main courses and ski downhill through the trees. Because Whitecap has its share of high-difficulty runs - some are double black-diamond, according to Vokolek - the glade skiing has created interest from skiing "extremists."

He is also optimistic for the golf course for the coming year after having a very good fall. He said the greens were "put away healthy," which should give them a good start for next year. The resort has also seen increased interest for ATV riders and mountain biking enthusiasts.