TRAVERSE CITY — With nearly no snow and fewer resources than bigger resorts, community ski hills are once again struggling to open up.
The Executive Director of Mount Holiday in Traverse City, Jim Pearson said they’ve had a tough past two years, not opening last year until Jan. 19.
“We were in the same situation last year. It’s been four, five years like this,” Pearson admitted.
Pearson said they’re working hard to get open earlier this year, but continue to deal with challenges.
Being east of East Grand Traverse Bay, they get a lot of warmer weather and stronger winds which makes it harder to keep the snow from melting or blowing away. And while bigger ski resorts have hundreds of up-to-date snow guns, Mount Holiday has just a fraction.
“I’m working with a fleet of four relatively new modern type guns and eight to 12 older style guns. Our infrastructure is not as modern as it should be so it just causes a little bit of trouble when we don’t have cold weather,” Pearson said.
Despite the lack of snow, Pearson said they’re staying optimistic. They hope to have their first program start Tuesday Jan. 9 and have the tube run open later that week.
