Larry Landmine, I like it! Too true! Thanks for commenting JP on FB and especially here! I hope you are having a blast in Hawaii and learning & earning a lot!

If you’d ever like to repost on Wisconsinoutdoorfun.com, we’d love to have you. Still lacking a blogger on skiing.

Keep up the good work!

You picked up on something I wrote last year, again, it was some KJ action at some ski resort in Utah Ski Patrollers with a radar gun and cracking on riders going too fast.

There are a ton of forces all pushing the small time owners out of the business and cause big time corporate takeover of ski resorts, however, to go into that more deeply would bring in discussions I decidedly do not want here.

Most of the ski resorts I ski at are small time but even here we see resort ownership consolidation occurring. Blackjack was a family owned establishment, but for reasons not known to myself they got out of the business. Another resort ownership group (that owns Nordic Mountain) picked up Blackjack and operates the place now. Not big time corporate but consolidation none-the-less.

Most of the resorts around here have their own flavor and are not yet corporate homogenous. I don’t suspect they ever will, as they are not real big (even the ones in Big Snow Country).

I hang out at Ski Brule after the day and there is a party atmosphere, people hanging out sharing pitchers, watching some NCAA hoops, or NFL football, etc. We hang out and chat with the regulars have a few beers, and head home and then either cook some dinner or hit a local supper club.

I hear you on the first paragraph. The weather around here has been lame and even up North they are getting the snow & cold we need.

Anyway, thanks for reading and commenting here!
Mark

I definitely wanted to mention the corporate aspect that takes a freewheeling, rowdy sport and transforms it into a bland, soulless family activity enjoyed by the masses (not just skiing, either – bungee jumping, kayaking, mountain biking, even sky diving have been adopted and corporatized in recent years).

I don’t know. Part of me yearns to go back and experience the freewheeling 70s and 80s, but part of me appreciates the improvements that come with the age of the mega-resort (better food, grooming and – especially this year – snowmaking).

I’m definitely not going to stop skiing and switch to the next “rebel” sport (Red Bull Crushed Ice?) before “the man” makes it uncool. I’m just going to try to make each day as fun as the days that it sounds like you have. Thanks again for checking out my silly little blog.

Thanks for the perspective and the comment, really appreciate it.

Still, it is a sad thing. Blackjack in the UP of Michigan nearly went away, fortunately, another group of ski hill owners picked it up and is keeping it going. Again, there is a lot of ski resort choice in the area.

Hope you become a regular here!
Thanks again, The Wisconsin Skier.

The reason they closed was really 2 fold. There are (by my count) 4 other more established (and larger) ski areas within 45 miles of them; competition was pretty steep. However, they were still busy their first 2 years.

The 3rd year was exceptionally warm, and if memory serves, they were maybe open 2 months, and missed all of Christmas break for the schools. The larger area can weather a warm winter, but being they were so new, and a mom & pop shop…I just don’t think they could carry the debt load and went under.

Anyway…it wasn’t an ‘older population’ thing, or flat, the Zumbro River gave them some (granted) smaller, but nice hills for the price.

Using the church as their lodge was cool too.

Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

I am in the middle of a real busy patch at work, and am not getting a lot of time to post, hoping the upcoming software deploy goes well and I can fully transition to the new project which will be a lot less pressure, at least until that project deploys. I am currently off of video production and on WiSki map work.

Cheers