This podcast hit paid subscribers’ inboxes on Dec. 8. It dropped for free subscribers on Dec. 15. To receive future pods as soon as they’re live, and to support independent ski journalism, please consider an upgrade to a paid subscription. You can also subscribe to the free tier below: Who Benjamin Bartz, General Manager of Snowriver, Michigan Recorded on November 13, 2023 About Snowriver Click here for a mountain stats overview Owned by: Midwest Family Ski Resorts Located in: Wakefield (Jackson Creek Summit) and Bessemer (Black River Basin), Michigan Year founded: 1959 (Jackson Creek, as Indianhead) and 1977 (Black River Basin, as Blackjack) Pass affiliations: Legendary Pass (also includes varying access to Lutsen Mountains, Minnesota and Granite Peak, Wisconsin) * Gold: unlimited access * Silver: unlimited access * Bronze: unlimited midweek access with holiday blackouts The Indy Base Pass and Indy+ Pass also include two Snowriver days with no blackouts Closest neighboring ski areas: Big Powderhorn (:14), Mt. Zion Ski Hill (:17), Whitecap Mountains (:39); Porkies Winter Sports Complex (:48) Base elevation: * Jackson Creek: 1,212 feet * Black River Basin: 1,185 feet Summit elevation: * Jackson Creek: 1,750 feet * Black River Basin: 1,675 feet Vertical drop: * Jackson Creek: 538 feet * Black River Basin: 490 feet Skiable Acres: 400 (both ski areas combined) * Jackson Creek: 230 * Black River Basin: 170 Average annual snowfall: 200 inches Trail count: 71 trails, 17 glades, 3 terrain parks * Jackson Creek: 43 trails, 11 glades, 2 terrain parks * Black River Basin: 28 trails, 6 glades, 1 terrain park Lift count: 11 (1 six-pack, 6 doubles, 1 T-bar, 2 ropetows, 1 carpet) * Jackson Creek Summit: 6 (1 six-pack, 2 doubles, 1 T-bar, 1 ropetow, 1 carpet) * Black River Basin: 5 (4 doubles, 1 ropetow) View historic Snowriver trailmaps on skimap.org. Why I interviewed him I could tell this story as a Michigan story, as a young skier still awed by the far-off Upper Peninsula, that remote and wild and snowy realm Up North and Over the Bridge. I could tell it as a weather story, of glacial bumps bullseyed in the greatest of the Great Lakes snowbelts. Or as a story of a run-down complex tumbling into hyper-change, or one that activated the lifts in 1978 and just left them spinning. It’s an Indy Pass story, a ski area with better skiing than infrastructure that will give you a where’s-everyone-else kind of ski day. And it’s a Midwest Family Ski Resorts (MFSR) story, skiing’s version of a teardown, where nothing is sacred and everything will change and all you can do is stand back and watch the wrecking ball swing and the scaffolding go up the sides. Each of these is tempting, and the podcast is inevitably a mash-up. Writing about the Midwest will always be personal to me. The UP is that Great Otherplace, where the snow is bottomless and everything is cheap and everyone is somewhere else. Snowriver is both magnificently retro and badly in need of updating. And it is a good ski area and a solid addition to the Indy Pass. But, more than anything, the story of Snowriver is the story of MFSR and the Skinner family. There is no better ski area operator. They have equals but no betters. You know how when a certain actor or director gets involved in something, or when a certain athlete moves to a new team, you think, “Man, that’s gonna be good.” They project excellence. Everything they touch absorbs it. Did you know that one man, Shigeru Miyamoto, invented, among others, the Donkey Kong, Mario Brothers, Legend of Zelda, and Star Fox franchises, and has directed or produced every sequel of every game for four decades? Time calls him “the Spielberg of video games.” Well, the Skinners are the Spielberg – or perhaps the Miyamoto – of Midwest skiing. Everything they touch becomes the best version of that thing that it can achieve. What we talked about Snowriver’s new six-pack lift; why Snowriver removed three chairlifts but o