Whitecap ends skiing season; three other hills still open

By P.J. GLISSON

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Given scarce snow all season and a current warming trend, the skiing season is now closed for Whitecap Mountains Resort in Upson, Wis.

"This is the last day," said Tom Backerud from the front desk on Sunday.

"We've gotten about half the snow we usually get, so it's been a little off," added Backerud, who handles reservations. The total regional snow count as of the end of last week was under 80 inches.

Even so, Backerud said that business throughout the season had been boosted by people's desire to be outdoors during the COVID-19 pandemic.

Management of three other area ski hills plans to hold out a little longer.

"We're hoping to go till the end of the month," said Bruce Noren, general manager of Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort in Bessemer. "We're actually going to fire up some snow guns tonight."

"We would really like to be open for Easter," said Misty VanderWolde, manager of events, groups and lodging at Big Snow Resort, which operates Indianhead Mountain in Wakefield and Blackjack Mountain in Bessemer.

She said it remains to be seen whether that will be possible, but said management is hoping for at least a couple more weeks even though the resort does not make snow at this time of year.

"We're hoping to open (again) next weekend," said Hallie Bobula at the Porcupine Mountains Ski Area in Ontonagon.

As an "all-purpose" employee acting as a cashier and handling both retail and ticket sales, Bobula said that hills were open over the past weekend despite waning snow. "All the bare spots on the ski hill are marked," she said.

According to Bobula, the Porkies site will stay closed on Monday - normally an open day - "just to let the hill rest." Tuesdays, Wednesdays and Thursdays are normally closed.

She said the idea is just to "try to maintain the snow they have."

The Porkies operation does not make snow, and regarding recent warm weather, Bobula said, "It's kind of taken a toll."

Snow is in the forecast, and spring snowstorms are routine, so there is some hope that Mother Nature will preserve hills a little longer.

"Oh, we're gonna get snow," said Noren, laughing, although he added that some of it is likely to be wet and heavy.

He agrees with Backerud at Whitecap that the pandemic, despite all of its downsides, did have the silver lining of drawing more people outdoors.

"I don't know if it's because there's nothing else to do," he said, but he claimed that Powderhorn staff were seeing familiar faces of people who hadn't skied in recent times.

And although pandemic restrictions reduced the resort's food and beverage business, he added that a couple of outside bars have helped the situation.

In addition, he said, "We've done outside cookouts, and people really appreciate those."

Among skiers and snowboarders enjoying Powderhorn's hills on Sunday were Stacy Ludwig and her daughter, Maddie, 14, along with Morgan Adamzak, all of Ashland.

"This is the first time I've skied in 20-some years," said Stacy Ludwig, and she added with a big smile, "I stayed upright."

"It was fun - a lot of fun," said Morgan, who said she'd just skied for the second time after getting her first lesson at Powderhorn just two weeks ago.

Despite being the youngest, Maddie Ludwig was the most experienced of the group. She began skiing five years ago and has remained a weekend skier.

"It was great spring skiing - a lot faster than yesterday," said Ron Patterson of Delavan, Wisconsin.

"This is our first time this year," said his wife, Laura, but she added that they've been returning here to ski for more than 40 years and added that her parents own property in Gogebic County.

At Indianhead and Blackjack, VanderWolde said hills will stay open an hour later at Blackjack during remaining long weekends from Thursday through Sunday. At Indianhead, the same will hold true, along with night skiing from 5-8 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays.

With the season now ended at Whitecap, Backerud said attention is pivoting to warm weather activities.

"We're opening another nine holes on our golf course," he said, adding that management is not sure yet when the Skye Golf Course will open.