After being purchased by Charles Skinner of Lutsen Mountains notoriety in 2022, SnowRiver Mountain Resort has undergone monumental growth.
Formerly known as Big Snow Resort, the ski resort, along with the two separate yet adjacent mountains, Indianhead and Blackjack, were rebranded as SnowRiver Mountain Resort, Jackson Creek Summit, and Black River Basin, respectively.
Before the 2022-23 season, they renovated the chalet, opened the Sugar Maple Cafe at the chalet, update the retail stores, and added ticket windows to the exterior of Sugar Maple Chalet.
The major project going on this offseason is the replacement of the Chippewa Double, the Leelinaw Triple, and the Voyageur Quad chairlifts over at Jackson Creek Summit. These will be replaced by a Doppelmayr detachable high-speed six-pack chairlift.
Called The Voyageur Express, it will have 53 chairs with an uphill carrying capacity of 2800 people per hour, with the potential to grow it to 3200 people per hour in the future. The ride time will be three and a half minutes, a drastic improvement over the 8-10 minutes of the lifts that were removed. The lift line will go from the base of the now-closed Leelinaw Triple to the top of the former Chippewa Double.
This summer, they’ve made lots of progress on the chairlift. They removed the old chairlifts, have regarded the future base and top terminal areas, the foundations of the new lift have been built, and the towers have been put into place.
Last weekend, helicopters installed lift towers for the chairlift. The photos of the installation are pretty sweet.
The other major project going on this offseason at SnowRiver is the renovation of the Lodge at Jackson Creek. They are renovating the rooms, restaurants, pool, and lobby, which will be ready for the 2023-24 season. With the lodge being relatively unchanged over the past thirty years, these changes will breathe fresh life into the hotel.
Benjamin Bartz, who is the General Manager of SnowRiver Mountain Resort, told WJFW why they’re making all these changes:
“We’re trying to bring the modern mountain experience back to the Midwest and give families the opportunity to stay back close the home, not have to take a plane on their vacation…We really feel that this is what’s necessary to bring those folks back, bring people back from Milwaukee area and Chicago, we really have to provide a high-quality experience for them to bring them all the way up here and bring money back into the communities.”
Image Credits: Snowriver Mountain Resort
