Mandan, North Dakota— After 33 years of lift operations, a North Dakota skiing staple may close for good.
The Bismarck Tribune was the first to report yesterday that Huff Hill Ski Area would close for good. Today, the ski area announced that they are closing. The key reason for their closure is their lease. After the end of their long-term lease, the ski area was only being offered a year-to-year lease, which made it challenging to justify significant capital projects. When ski areas run under lease agreements, they are typically in place for decades, not year-to-year.
Huff Hills planned for $1.3 million in significant capital investments, which included a new ski school/rental building, expanded snowmaking, an improved electrical system to add night skiing, an alpine race course expansion, and a renovated base area setup.
The reason why this doesn’t seem to be a definite closure yet is because Andrew Beck, who’s the Mountain Operations Manager at Huff Hills, still believes they can figure something out with the landowners:
“We’re still hopeful that there’ll be some kind of a simple way through. If there was a solution that presented itself tomorrow, we wouldn’t say no just because we made this announcement.”
The landowners have yet to release a statement on the matter. If they aren’t able to reach an agreement, the lifts and buildings will be removed from the property this summer.
If this is it, cheers to Andrew Beck and the Huff Hill Ski Area crew for all their hard work in providing affordable winter recreation to the Dakotas over the past 33 years.
Mountain Stats
Trails: 16
Lifts: 4
Vertical Drop: 450 feet
Location: Mandan, North Dakota
Image Credits: Huff Hills Ski Area
