"Recent efforts to sell Blackjack Ski Resort have not been successful and are now terminated," management announced in a statement published on the ski area's website this week. "Accordingly, Blackjack management has decided to suspend operations for the coming ski season."
The Steiger family indicate that they will renew efforts to sell Blackjack in its entirety.
In early September, the owners of Indianhead Mountain in Wakefield announced their acquisition of neighboring Gogebic County ski resorts Big Powderhorn and Blackjack. Plans were also announced at that time to market a combined lift ticket for all three ski areas this winter.
Earlier this week, however, Indianhead Mountain Enterprises announced that the merger was off, and that all discussions had ended. Bruce Noren and Mary Segalin of the Big Powderhorn Lodging Association, and Donna Greener, an association homeowner, filed a lawsuit in Gogebic County Circuit Court in September. The three allege that they had already entered into an agreement to purchase Big Powderhorn Mountain at the time that the proposed merger was announced. The lawsuit filed by Noren, Segalin and Greener seeks to enforce their earlier sale agreement. A notice filed in conjunction with the lawsuit secures the plaintiffs' claim on the property so that any sale will not diminish their rights to the property, should they prevail in their lawsuit.
