Copper Peak plans take flight

By P.J. GLISSON

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Ironwood Township — The COVID-19 pandemic resulted with a local silver lining when Copper Peak, an Ironwood Township landmark, received a $20 million grant from the American Rescue Plan Act.

That was announced in the spring of 2022, and progress toward using those funds to refurbish the famous ski jump has been in the works ever since.

Copper Peak officials now have announced that construction bids for the following two site projects are expected by the end of February: 1. A tower project that will include the refurbishing of the existing unit, along with a new elevator and a judge’s stand; and 2. The ski jump landing area.

“Both of those phases have been engineered,” said Robert Jacquart, president of Copper Peak’s Board of Directors.

In addition, Jacquart said that the bidding pre-qualification process for the tower project occurred in the past week.

“Six companies qualified and visited today,” said Jacquart on Tuesday. “They’re going to put their bids in now.”

He said that company representatives, who traveled here from a 150-mile radius to visit the site, now will submit their bids by the end of February.

“We’ll pick one of the six,” he said, explaining that, per grant rules, “We have to pick the lowest bidder.”

James Durkee — the board’s vice president of the board — said last week that an initial bid on the landing already had been received but rejected.

“He wants time to take some dollars out of the project,” said Jacquart of the contractor issuing the bid. “It’s called value engineering.”

The revised bid on that project also is expected by the end of February.

Durkee said that the Copper Peak board has revised its original intent to facilitate summer use of the jump as that would have required plastic, which resulted in sky-high costs.

“It blew us out of the water,” he added regarding the associated expense.

Hence, he said, the plan now is to prepare the site for winter ski jumping and, hopefully, to add the capacity for summer use later.

Jacquart said it is not possible yet to determine when projected construction will occur, adding that plans are still “speculative” in relation to timing.

He said that the existing tower is not being replaced, but rather upgraded.

“Keeping the iconic profile of Copper Peak is extremely important,” he said, adding that it is recognized internationally.

He also noted that the adventure ride — long popular with tourists as it provides, from the top of the tower, a bird’s eye of surrounding landscape — will remain.

Jacquart said that the nonprofit Copper Peak system has been made possible by the hard work of dedicated volunteers who quietly contribute a variety of expertise.

“On the construction side of this, Jim has put so much work on this behind the scenes,” said Jacquart of Durkee.

In turn, Durkee joked that his background in industrial technology allows him to see issues from a practical view. “An engineer does the theory,” he said. “I do the practice.”

Durkee also credited Charles Supercynski, the former board president, who has been involved with Copper Peak since 1969. Although he was educated in physics, Supercynski also was a ski jumper and was inducted into the Ski Jumping Hall of Fame.

“If it wasn’t for Charles Supercynski,” said Durkee, “we wouldn’t be making this. He single-handedly kept the vision alive.”