“High-speed lifts are a perfect fit for our Midwest ski areas. High-speed lifts transform the ski experience at our resorts from spending most of the ski day riding the chairlift or waiting in line to enjoying most of the day skiing down the hill.”– Charles Skinner, President and Owner of Snowriver, Granite Peak and Lutsen Mountains

Back in August, Charles Skinner, who owns Lutsen Mountain and Granite Peak, announced the purchase of Big Snow Resort in Michigan and renamed it Snowriver Mountain Resort. The peaks also got renamed: Indianhead became Jackson Creek Summit, and Blackjack is now known as Black River Basin. In the past week, a new logo and website have arrived. Major capital improvements are underway, with some of the additions including new facilities, new rental equipment, and upgraded snowmaking technology. For the 2023-24 season, they will be opening a monumental chairlift.

The TV6 News Team reports that Snowriver is planning to replace the Chippewa Double, Leelinaw Triple, and the Voyager Quad with a high-speed six-pack chairlift. The three lifts are from the 1960s and are located at the Jackson Creek Summit portion of the ski resort, which used to be known as Indianhead Mountain.

The new lift will only take three and a half minutes to get to the top, which is much quicker than the 8-10+ minutes it currently takes to reach the summit. The initial capacity will be 2800 people per hour, but it could eventually be increased to 3200 guests per sixty minutes. The bottom terminal will be located at the current base of the Leelinaw Triple, and the summit terminal will be at the top of the Chippewa Double. A lift between the two mountains could also be in the cards, so Snowriver is about to become a top skiing destination in the Midwest.

Image Credits: Snowriver Mountain Resort,Skimap.org

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