BELLAIRE — Shanty Creek Resort in Antrim County will be one of the earliest ski resorts in Northern Michigan to shut down for the season.
The director of marketing at Shanty Creek Resort, Lindsey Southwell, said the warmer weather just hasn’t been cooperating. For them, the season has been all about adaptation.
“This Saturday will be our last day of the ski season. Typically, we’re open until the end of March, so that’s a little disappointing,” said Southwell.
The early end of the ski season comes after a late start.
“We typically start our season Thanksgiving weekend if all things work out. Sometimes it’s a little bit later by a week or two,” said Southwell. “We didn’t have snow-making temperatures. Typically snow-making on average, the temperature needs to be 29 degrees, and we had very few of those days,” said Southwell.
She said their team worked tirelessly and creatively to keep snow on the hills, “taking snow, putting it in the back of a truck, driving it to the top of the hill and filling in spots so people could even ski during Christmas week.”
Shanty Creek said the short season contributed to a drop in business, but people’s perception of this winter season didn’t help either.
“That is always a challenge here at the resort when there’s not snow outside your door. People have a hard time believing we actually have snow here at the resort,” said Southwell.
However, they’re still look to end on a high note with their Slush Cup on Saturday.
There is one silver lining – Shanty Creek expects to have their five golf courses open by the end of the month. Most years that wouldn’t happen until the first week in May.
