Valparaiso, Indiana — Recently, we’ve seen the revival of various Midwest ski areas, and that trend appears to be continuing in the years ahead.
Peter Brooks of Skiers and Snowboarders of the Midwest reported yesterday that a new group has come in to revive Pines Peak (also known as The Pines) ski area in Indiana. This small ski area operated from 1962 to 2008. It’s a ski area we’ve covered in the past, as a few explorers shared video tours of what was an abandoned ski area.
The goal is for the first season to have just snow tubing. After that, skiing and snowboarding are on the table. This could be helped by their quad chairlift, which could be restored. If reopened, it would become the third active ski area in Indiana.
Multiple social media users confirmed that there are snowmaking guns on site, and clearing appears to be underway. So either they’re attempting a comeback, or they’re pulling an elaborate prank on me. If the latter is true, great work by everyone involved.
Midwest Ski Area Revivals
Due to the smaller vertical size than ski resorts out west and East, along with less strict land rules (i.e., less federal land), we’ve seen a series of Midwestern ski resorts come back from the dead in recent years. Spooky!
Revivals in the 2020s have so far included Paul Bunyan Ski Hill in Wisconsin, Adventure Mountain in Michigan, Tower Mountain in Michigan, Steeplechase in Minnesota, Norway Mountain in Michigan, Thrill Hills in North Dakota, and Nutt Hill in Wisconsin. Sleepy Hollow in Iowa is now being used as a synthetic ski and (mostly) tubing slope, but it could be revived for winter skiing in the near future.
While technically not a revival, someone is attempting to open a ski area in Minnesota that’s less than a mile away from the old Sugar Hills ski area. Mad Bear Alpine Area could open this winter.
Image/Video Credits: Abandoned or Cool, Skimap.org
