After years of talking it up, we finally put together the Michigan Snowball Run with the help of the Michigan Snowsports Industry Association. The gist of it was to make a grand tour through Michigan, visiting as many of the state’s ski areas as possible within a 24-hour period. The Snowball Run coincided with National Learn to Ski and Snowboard Day (January 11) and would help showcase Michigan’s abundance of ski areas. Inspired by a previous effort in Vermont where a crew led by Pat Bridges (then-editor of Snowboarder Magazine) visited 12 ski areas in 24 hours, we had our sights set on the number 16.

The Michigan Snowball Run — By The Numbers

16 ski areas visited in approximately 23 hours, 15 minutes.

424 miles (approximately) on the actual route.

851 miles (approximately) in total, including driving to/from staging areas before & after.

2 rope tows (actually, a lot of these areas had ropes, we rode chairs everywhere except Hickory Hills, because they don’t have chairlifts)

1 snowmobile crash

1 cameo with Batman of the Slopes

About 3 gallons of coffee

5 beers

The Michigan Snowball Run Begins

I split out of work a little bit early on Friday, piling the last of my gear on top of gear in the back of the Jeep, gassed it up and hit the road to rendezvous with Sabato and our driver, Bobby, who had volunteered at the eleventh hour.

Bobby and I had grown up around the block from one another and had shared a lot of adventures in our youth. We spent countless nights at local skate spots from the Porno Banks to the Mitzelfeld’s gap to handrails at Oakland University or Musson Elementary. He had his own snowboard (a Noah’s Ark Sims) so in the winter we’d ride together at Pine Knob. But, as life has a way of happening, for one reason or another we’d been mostly out of touch for the last 20 years. So while he was the “new guy” in the crew, it didn’t take much for us to pick up right where we left off, and he also brought experience gleaned from bikepacking and adventure racing which would prove valuable as the trip went on.

With daylight fading and 220 miles between us and our starting point, we settled in for the drive, as Sabato & Bobby getting to know one another as Bobby and I reminisced about times past and caught up on the past 20 years.

We’d be starting our run from Boyne Highlands, with a courtesy ride up the Heather chair at 9:01 pm (they close at 9:00 pm), and I wanted to make sure we had plenty of time to stretch out, meet our contact for lift tickets and whatever media they might want to do.

Boyne Highlands

Boyne Highlands gave us an ace sendoff with high fives from their mascot Pawz and a brief Q&A with a local news channel, Sabato and I rode Heather up, strapped in to a few cheers from the patrollers ready to do their last sweep, and bombed Heather back to the base. Snow conditions were fast and relatively firm, but overall really nice for 9pm!

Bobby, who’d been milling around in the snow in sneakers (a tactical blunder which he owned: “I can’t believe I didn’t bring boots…”) for the past 40 minutes was probably more anxious to get back in the car than any of us, so we piled in and made the 3 minute drive across the street to Nubs Nob.

Nubs Nob

Arriving 20 minutes before close, I guess we shouldn’t have been surprised that the ticket window at Nubs Nob was closed. Fortunately we flagged someone down and they took us to the front desk, where our passes were waiting. We made two quick laps at Nubs Nob, and jumped back in the waiting Jeep to make our way down M-119 skirting Petoskey where we would pick up US-131 for the remainder of the drive to Boyne Mountain.

Boyne Mountain

Celebrating its 70th anniversary, Boyne Mountain was running a 70-hour marathon which allowed us some leisure, not running up against the clock on Friday night.

We were in the lift line by 10:52 PM and ended up stacking a few laps, riding until about midnight before we called it a night — we still had a 40 minute drive to Treetops Resort just East of Gaylord where we’d be lodging for the evening and resuming our trip first thing in the morning.

Treetops Resort

This is maybe the point where a younger crew would’ve raged out, but being in our mid- to late-30s and beyond, we knew better. I think we collectively drank 4 and a half beers that night while settling in to our hotel room, telling stories and reviewing our route plans for Saturday.

Oh-Seven-Thirty came awfully early but I woke a few minutes before my alarm. Bobby was already up, debating whether he should try to find a decent cup of coffee but reluctantly settled for the hotel’s instant brew. Sabato and I kitted up, loaded up the Jeep and made our way to the upper parking lot adjacent the top of the ski area and the Legends on the Hill restaurant.

While the groomer put the finishing touches on the slopes, we sipped our to-go coffee from Legends, awaiting clearance to take our first run of the day. We got the callback just shy of 8:45 AM, strapped in, and made our first descent through soft, untouched corduroy. At the bottom we were met with high-fives and opted to take another quick lap as Bobby pulled the car around to pick us up in the lower lot.

Otsego Resort

The Otsego Resort would be our second scheduled stop for the morning, a short drive back down Wilkinson Road and M-32 towards Gaylord. Another “upside down” ski resort, we grabbed our lift tickets at the summit, strapped in for not-quite-first-chair (there were a few people already riding up when we got there) and made our short descent, ducking into and out of the terrain park. Conditions were similarly pristine: the area had received some much-needed snowfall a day or two prior, and it had freshened up the slopes.

In the flat morning light we took the two-seater back to the summit and skated over to the service drive where Bobby was pulling the Jeep around for us.

Taking US-131 south from East Jordan on our way to Schuss Mountain, we drove right through the shadow of Mount Mancelona which was a bit of a wild card for us: not on our official itinerary, we were going to play it by ear and evaluate a possible extra stop en route.

Mancelona is a bit of an oddity, a former ski area with an interesting history and an uncertain future, but we were 8 minutes or so behind schedule and it seemed prudent to leave that sort of adventure for another day when Sabato and I can fully immerse ourselves in the experience of riding the second-oldest (and uncertified) T-bar in operation, or a 1964 Tucker snow cat to access the remains of a ski area that shut down 20+ years ago.

After a brief discussion, we decided to proceed along our scheduled route to Schuss Mountain and Shanty Creek.

Schuss Mountain

Schuss Mountain takes me back to where it all began: my grandmother used to live about 30 minutes from Schuss, and for Christmas one year she got ski lessons for me and my brother. I am not sure if any photographs remain from that fateful day, but I can pretty clearly remember being fully gapered out (I’m certain I was wearing a throwback NY Yankees ballcap) and doing the hideous bumble-bee “tuck” that all beginner skiers do. In any case, it’s been all downhill from that day at Schuss Mountain. Thanks, grandma!

Bobby dropped us off next to the ski shop in the circle drive at Schuss Mountain, Sabato and I unloaded and hoofed it about 100 yards towards the yellow lift where our contact Steve was waiting for us. This guy was a rock star: ready for us with tickets, took us to the chair and waited for us to complete our run, when Bobby pulled around to pick us up Steve led the way in his Ford Explorer through a few winding roads to our next stop at Shanty Creek (the meandering back roads were a bit of a concern for us ahead of time: on more than one occasion Google Maps has brought me into a service drive or a golf course instead of to the ski area).

Shanty Creek Resort

We were in for a little bit of a surprise at Shanty Creek, which along with Schuss Mountain comprise the two downhill ski areas operated by the Shanty Creek Resort group. Steve told us that regrettably, they often have a very hard time keeping snow on the slopes at Shanty (we didn’t have time to press for details, but I’m guessing it’s an aspect and/or wind issue) and in marginal winters like this one, the slopes were not yet open. However, they had reserved one of their downhill tubing lanes for our exclusive use. I figure that’s the equivalent of a steep bunny hill, complete with a Magic Carpet surface lift ride back to the top, so we’re going to count it.

Final handshakes & thank yous in order, we clambered back through the Lakeview Hotel, shed a few layers in the parking lot because we had a longer drive out towards Traverse City and hit the road.

Mt. Holiday

Our contact, Ann, met us out front at Mt. Holiday and gave us star treatment: snowmobile rides down to the lift and an escort to cut the line ahead of all the racers. They also provided box lunches for our crew to keep us going through the day! A non-profit ski area, Mt. Holiday serves the Traverse City area with affordable skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, zip lines (lift tickets are about $20 midweek or weekend evenings, or $34 for a full day weekend).

Lack of snow has been rough on some of the areas and Holiday was no exception, but they had a small terrain park set up from the back of the lodge, and the main slopes were full of young kids in full race gear fulfilling their need for speed.

On our sled ride back to the parking lot, things went a little bit sideways. Literally. The operator needs to negotiate a somewhat steep embankment, and I don’t know if he didn’t have the right angle, or didn’t give it enough gas, but all of a sudden that sled started stalling out and I see his foot hitting the ground trying to keep us right. To no avail. In slow motion I can tell that sled is going over, I chucked my board and supermanned my way off to get out of its rollover path. The only injuries were sustained by the sled (the driver was likewise embarrassed for dumping me), and I got to keep its light as a souvenir.

Safely back in the Jeep we made a quick detour to Crusted Creations on 14th Street en route to Hickory Hills.

Hickory Hills

One of a few remaining municipal ski areas in Michigan, Hickory Hills is operated by Traverse City parks & rec, and like nearby Mt. Holiday offers a local and very affordable option (day tickets are around $20). A magic carpet serves the beginner trail and a series of surface lifts (tow ropes) provides uphill access to the downhill runs. Older kids in speed suits were taking time trials, while families and younger children were getting their first taste of snow on the bunny hill as we made a few passes up and down.

About 30 minutes ahead of schedule, we met Bobby back in the parking lot and crushed a few slices of that pizza while making our second tough call of the day: The Homestead ski resort in Glen Arbor was almost in reach, but our best estimates figured it would be at least an hour’s setback, which would’ve really put our last stop or two at risk. Knowing that our next two stops would likely be the busiest of the day, we made the call to press on towards Crystal Mountain.

Crystal Mountain

Crystal Mountain was enjoying a busy Saturday, fortunately we’d planned for this! We met our contact in the drop-off lane right next to the Loki high speed, Bobby idled the Jeep waiting for us as we made what was probably the day’s quickest visit, even with a brief media interview and an obligatory chat with Batman of the Slopes.

Caberfae Peaks

My home away from home for much of the winter, Caberfae Peaks is in my opinion the best bang for your buck in Michigan, with season passes going for $219, respectable (for the midwest) vertical, a little bit of off-piste terrain, lax glade policies, and fun side hits. However, the “main” chairlift is an ancient 2-seater that serves mostly beginner-rated terrain. It was a no-brainer to avoid this lift on a Saturday afternoon so we strapped in and one-footed down from the lodge to the new Vista Triple chair, which is the highest chairlift in the lower Peninsula at 1,561’ above sea level. This also gave us a full top-to-bottom take from Caberfae’s North Peak, ducking and weaving our way through slower-moving traffic.

Back in the car, we were facing the 2 longest stretches of driving: 1h15m to Snow Snake in Harrison and then and 1h40m from there to Mt. Holly. We’d also be losing daylight somewhere before we got to Mt. Holly, and might need to gas up to complete the journey, so the 30-ish minutes we had banked by omitting Mancelona or The Homestead seemed to be working in our favor for the time being.

For the latest updates, follow @agnarchy on Facebook:

Snow Snake Ski & Golf

We drove in the back way from M-115 to M-61, but if you’ve driven anywhere north of Clare on US-127, you’ve driven right past Snow Snake (probably without even realizing it). Like many ski areas, Snow Snake is diversified with tubing lanes and winter fat bike trails, and also offers zip lines and golf in the warmer months. The only remaining downhill ski area in the middle of the state, Snow Snake operates afternoon sessions on weeknights and all day on weekends for about $30.

It’s not fancy, there’s no valet or fine dining and it’s in a region of the state known for its flatness, lack of snow, and frequent winds, all challenging factors for a ski area. So I get the warm fuzzies at places like Snow Snake where the employees know all the local kids by name. Sure they don’t have massive vertical, tons of acreage or the latest in snowmaking technology, the lodge was jamming, everyone was smiling or in good spirits, there were plenty of people out on the slopes enjoying themselves.

However they’ve managed over the years, Snow Snake has carved out a niche for themselves that gives me hope for the rest of the industry.

Mt Holly

We started losing daylight towards the end of the nearly 2 hour stretch between Snow Snake and Mt. Holly, but had been able to gain a little time back on I-75, pulling up to the front doors at about 5:15 PM. We were pushing it on fuel, so Bobby dropped us off and made a run to the gas station while we headed in.

We made straight for the service office instead of calling our contact there (General Manager Mark Tibbits), but the lady at the desk wasn’t expecting us or aware of our mission. She ended up radioing Mark who said our passes should be in will-call. She sorted through those envelopes frontwards and backwards but didn’t find anything for us, before she decided to just cut us some tickets anyways, “If I get in trouble, I get in trouble” she laughed, though I assured her she wouldn’t.

As we were fixing the wickets, she came out to inform us that the hill closes for grooming between 5:30 and 6:00 PM — having grown up riding these hills I knew this, but it was something I didn’t factor in to any of our planning, “If you run, you might still be able to catch the chairlift” she advised.

Sam and I one-footed down to the high speed and quickly skated up to get the literal second-to-last-chair. No joke. The lift op pointed at the people behind us as we were loading and said “Last chair”. At the top, patrol had already begun funnelling people out of certain areas and towards the base to make room for a quick pass by the groomer, so we bombed down Woodward, jogging over to Canyon for a fast screamer back down to the parking lot just in the nick of time.

Pine Knob

About 20 minutes south of Mt. Holly, Pine Knob also closes for interim grooming between 5:30 and 6:00 PM so our near-miss at Mt. Holly worked out just about perfectly: if we’d arrived any earlier at Holly, we’d be burning clock at Pine Knob waiting for them to re-open.

Instead we got there as they were reopening and I think they were just a little bit surprised to see us ahead of schedule (we were now about 40 minutes up).

Pine Knob was my old “home” ski area, and I’ve spent countless hours lapping the Timberline terrain park tow rope there, unfortunately we didn’t have the luxury of time to dally around, but I’ve been keeping an eye on their instagram: pound for pound, Timberline is the best terrain park in the state of Michigan right now, with creative streetstyle sets, jumps, and snow features like hips and volcanos.

Alpine Valley

In relatively “safe” territory now (my family lives nearby, so even a vehicle-related setback might not have derailed us) and ahead of schedule I rang up Brian Snabes at Alpine Valley who assured me there were tickets waiting for us at the window, and made out for the second-to-last stop of the evening through the winding roads and lakes of north Oakland County.

No hassles at the ticket window, we were greeted by Kevin and another gentleman who escorted us to the lift and let us cut the line. We made two quick and otherwise uneventful laps through the mini park still 45 minutes ahead of schedule.

In hindsight, I think we each felt a little regret for punting on both of Mt. Mancelona and The Homestead, but we had to make those calls relatively early in the day, with a lot of ground yet to cover. We were back in the Jeep around 7:15 PM with about a 25-minute drive standing between us and the final stop of the Michigan Snowball Run, Mt. Brighton.

Mt Brighton

An hour ahead of schedule was more than we could’ve ever hoped for going in to this, but we pulled in to the parking lot at Mt. Brighton right around 7:45 PM, sent a text to Jessie who was taking some twilight laps on her own and came out to ride the celebratory chair with us. We broke protocol (and probably tempted fate) by getting a few quick photos/videos out of the way for Brighton’s marketing team, and skated over to the chair shortly after 8 PM.

We made two fast laps down before deciding the prudent move would be to belly up to the bar for a beer and to finally relax after pushing it for the past 24 hours.

Summing it Up

We were pretty stoked about the outpouring of support we’d gotten throughout the event, I think we expected some amount of media but to be facing TV news crews in parking lots was a bit of a surprise. But we did this with Michigan ski resorts in mind, so we were definitely thrilled that they owned it as much as they did, using our silly little road trip to help promote their own industry. We could not possibly have accomplished this without Bobby behind the wheel, and it was great to get reacquainted with a childhood friend during the course of our adventure. We’d like to also express our gratitude to Mickey from the MSIA, without whose efforts this whole idea would never have gotten off the ground.

As we suspected, all bets would’ve been off had we encountered any bit of bad roads or weather. That’s really the only thing that will come between us and a potential world record attempt in the future.

All told, it was a lot more fun than I expected it to be, but at the same time it was also a lot of work and focus, and not something I’d be looking to repeat any time soon.