Midwinter Skiing

[irishskier]

Skied Nub's a few times so far this year, the snow has been awesome! Anyone get out there?

[mikesathome]

I have not yet been up north, but i plan on going up there Jan 15th - 18th with a few friends. Skiing Nubs and the Boynes, use up my 2 for 1 Boyne lift deals from the warren miller movie
Looks like an arctic blast is coming next week Jan 13th. Talking about highs around 5* and lows -10, on the good side of that cold air, the lake effect should really kick in with the ultra light powder that skis so well. I cant wait!

[young2006]

What's up quiet Midwestern skiers?! I'm extremely new to the Midwestern ski environment (grew up in Reno Nevada and skied all of my young life in the Sierras) and as of now have only been to Devil's Head.

I just spent 11 days in Reno/Tahoe, 6 of which were on the slopes. It's going to be a slight slope shock but I'm heading up to Granite Peak this weekend and wondering if there are any hidden apres jems in wausau?

I'm pretty excited about the high speed lift at GP ...should really help with the lift/ski time ratio.

I live in Chicago and would love to hear thoughts/opinions on the better ski places within a 5 hour drive of Chi-town.

Anyone heading up to GP this weekend? Anyone take any ski trips over the holidays?

[dank]

I haven't made it out yet this year, was hoping to make it to Holly or Alpine this weekend, but doesn't look like it's going to happen. Got a trip up to Boynes and Nubs the first week of Feb though.

Young - this board is pretty quiet, and the few who do post spend most of their time on the other side of lake Michigan. Though, we welcome you trip reports from anywhere in the midwest. The more people the better..

[mikesathome]

It's going to be real cold in the midwest this week! good lake affect snows if you can handle the cold

Welcome Young2006, that place you are going to this weekend looks pretty good for the Midwest with 700vert. If you went a little more north (2hours i think)- to the UP of Michigan, Mt Bohemia boast 900 vert feet. Get up there and do a trip report lol If you can time a good storm or lake affect event Looks like some good tree skiing there.

[irishskier]

Young2006, would love some WI trip reports, have been thinking about a trip to Granite, let us know what you think!

[young2006]

Hey everyone. So I was able to sneak up to Devils Head Saturday and Sunday and I must say the snow was pretty good. It snowed pretty much all day Saturday but with the crowds it was pretty tracked pretty fast. I sure wish Devil's Head cleaned up their tree skiing a bit so that it is slightly more accessible. Riding on the lifts I was just drooling over some of the untracked snow that was visible however once you get down there it is evident that there are too many little twigs and retard trees that pop up. Now I am by no means a good tree skier...in fact I am pretty bad at it so maybe others will find the little retard trees more avoidable :/

I did go up to granite a few weeks ago and though the elevation is a few hundred feet higher than Devil's...it is all in the first few seconds of the run. Granite does have more advanced runs than Devil's but sadly it seems like the runs there are shorter than at devil's. Does anyone else agree with that or am I just crazy? There are steeper initial drops but halfway down almost every run it turns into green bunny hills. I will say that the two things Granite has going for it are an abundance of tree skiing (VERY tracked when I was up there as it hadn't snowed in a while) and the high speed six chair. I don't have an alti watch but I think I would have been shocked at the vertical that we were able to accomplish in Wisconsin of all places due to that high speed lift.

I think all in all I like Devil's Head more. Neither mountain presents any real challenging terrain (besides the trees for me) so the trophy in my opinion would have to go to the more enjoyable runs at Devil's, even though we were able to do many more of them at Granite. I must say there is also something about finishing up skiing and drinking a bunch of beer and eating a pizza in the bar with taxidermy all over the walls.

[irishskier]

Had a great day @ Boyne Mountain in the AM and Boyne Highlands in the PM on 2/15. Snow was pretty good considering the recent melt. It was a bit better at the mountain. Quite a bit of New England type scrach. Headed to Nubs in a few minutes. Love the longer February days! Get on the snow before it is gone!