It may be a four letter word but it's such an important part of a winter vacation that we think it deserves mentioning. It wasn't random chance that this location was picked for a ski resort. The south shore of Lake Superior is well known for receiving large amounts of snowfall. The process is known as "Lake Effect Snow" and it is the result of Canadian air masses flowing south over the open surface of Lake Superior. The relatively warm water causes large moisture laden cloud banks to form. These are then pushed up and over the hills that ring the lake which causes the clouds to drop their moisture in the form of snow...lots of it!

During one of our average winters, we receive over 200 inches of natural snowfall. In three of the last ten years, we were hit with over 290 inches! This amount of snow would cripple most parts of the country but our local population is made of hardy stock. Yoopers, as the locals are called, know how to deal with heavy snowfalls and tend to take it in stride. Roads are plowed, walkways (and frequently rooftops) are shoveled - life goes on. Most skiers worry about finding enough snow to play on, some of our guests even worry about there being too much. Here is what we do to make it enjoyable for you:

• Early in the season or when Mother Nature is stingy, we make snow. Since we know how unpleasant hard, icy manmade snow can be, we do our best to make our snow a little lighter and drier than you will find at many other resorts. This results in us making a bit less snow in a comparable amount of time but many of our guests have made positive comments on the results.
  
  
• Some people want every inch of terrain groomed, others want to ski in powder. We try to accommodate both. When we get a snowstorm, priority is given to getting the easiest (green) trails fully groomed so that beginners don't have to fight to get down the hill. The more difficult (blue) trails are pretty thoroughly groomed too but a few patches of powder are left where the terrain is steep enough to ski through it and where we want moguls to form. The most difficult (black) trails are mostly left alone except for a few passes on one edge for those more experienced skiers whose knees can't handle powder any more. Since ungroomed snow eventually gets rutted and firm, all of the terrain will be groomed within a day or two of a storm. Hopefully, this gives everyone a chance to enjoy the snow in their favorite form.