Greg Fisher, General Manager of Granite Peak Ski Resort in Wausau, WI, wrote a letter to the Granite Peak faithful asking for their support to expand the terrain at Wisconsin’s largest ski area.
One of the options for the expansion would include 40+ new skiing runs, 4 new chairlifts for winter use, and a new mountain biking lift that would run on Rib Mountain’s south face, an area that has never been developed for downhill sports.
The expansion would easily make Granite Peak the foremost destination for downhill mountian biking in the entire region, and further cement it is a destination ski area in the midwest.
If everything is passed, the resort will be home to 14 miles of mountain biking trails, and 5 gravity lift-serviced trails in the summer months.
You can read more about the other expansion options by clicking this link, and you can express your opinions on Granite Peak’s expansion options by visiting the Wisconsin DNR survey here.
I’ve pulled two excerpts from Granite Peak’s General Manager’s letter below to paint a better picture of what this expansion could mean for the mountain and the surrounding community.
Greg Fisher on the four options for expansion at Granite Peak:
“All the opportunities are great but Option #4 gives us not only a huge expansion of skiing services but a full year round promise of activities and downhill mountain biking! This is the one I’ll hone in on and talk about. Option 4 gives us the most opportunity to utilize so much of the Natural Resources we have here within the park boundary! Mountain Biking is something so many of you have asked me about and I would love nothing more than to work on the development of it and other summer time fun as well!”
Greg Fisher on the impact of mountian biking to Granite Peak & Wausau, WI:
“The opportunity to grow the mountain biking program here at Granite Peak is really exciting as the area offers so much already but lacks the Gravity portion of mountain biking. You really can’t find much of that anywhere in the midwest and I know it would be a home run. I could see Granite Peak and the Greater Wausau area potentially being home to some large scale events down the road that could include multiple activities and disciplines.”
We’ll be keeping an eye on what happens with Granite Peak’s push to dramatically expand their terrain.
I enjoyed a nice spring skiing day there last season, and I believe pumping some more money into that place could really make it a fantastic “small” ski area that will draw people from all corners of the midwest, and maybe even further.
Featred Image Please Credit: Matt Lorelli