TEMP
68°F
Trails
While we still have three more weekends to go I wanted to write and express my gratitude to our guests, passholders, our staff, ski patrol volunteers, GPST program participants and the local community for another fantastic season here at Granite Peak.
I think this may have been my favorite season of my career as I really feel at home here and that is thanks to you and the local community. While my family and I have not found a home yet (if you’re selling let me know!) we have been welcomed with open arms and have found some great friendships.
The 20-21 season was successful but trying given the restrictions in place of the pandemic and our building capacities. Lifting those this season really let us do what I feel was a true ski season. Full capacity restaurants & menus, a full event calendar & plenty of additional activities for you to enjoy.
EVENTS
Event management is how I started my career and it will always be a big part of the resort culture here as long as I’m around. Last weekend was fantastic. It was so cool to see so many families enjoying & participating in the spectator friendly pond skim and cardboard sled race. But that carried through with many of our events this year including the massive slopestyle and of course, our kids friendly Grom Jams. I’m happy to say that we are already slotting in dates for next year’s events and I think you’ll find that it will be very similar to this year’s slate.
Staffing across the country has been an issue and if you are in-tuned to the ski industry it was a big deal at some big resort conglomerates. I’m really proud that we were able to maintain our operations steady through the season with little interruption. After 115 days of operation yesterday’s Dasher closure was the first time we couldn’t run a lift due to staffing challenges. Our lift operations manager Ryan Spiess came to us from Copper Mountain this past fall and has stepped right in as a scheduling master.
Capital Improvement Planning
What’s going to happen here over the summer! Nothing. Ha! That’s an April Fool’s joke. Our year round team doesn’t just go off to the beaches we all work together to better our ski area.
We have another huge summer of capital projects aimed at improving our services and operations for you! Here’s a sample of some of the key things we have going on this summer.
- A new 2022 Prinoth Bison X Winch Cat is currently being built for Granite Peak and will be added to our fleet in the fall!
- Two new Can Am Defender 6x6s have joined our garage
- A trail mower that attaches to a groomer with rubber tracks has been purchased which will allow us to mow our trails this summer keeping growth minimal and come fall make snowmaking more efficient.
- 10 New SMI Polecat Fan Guns will be installed this fall primarily in the middle of the ski area near Lower Birch, Miracle, Aspen, and the transition from Upper to Lower Dusky.
- Blitzen & Santa are receiving unloading deck upgrades
Because we lease the operation of the ski area from the DNR there are somethings we need to ask permission to do especially to the Historic Chalet. We are in the process of receiving permission and the necessary permits to do the following:
- Expand the kitchen. We will remove the bathrooms, add grab and go windows and create more menu items for inside and outside dinging.
- Expand the lower bathrooms.
- We know that bathrooms at Granite Peak are an area of need. We will be looking to expand the current footprint of the bathrooms adding much needed stalls to both the women’s and mens rooms making these the main facilities centrally located for our ski area.
- Expand the Historic Deck.
- Yes we are looking to continue the expansion of the Historic Deck. Intentions are to follow the bump out of the current deck by adding two raised sections on either side of the bump out with additional seating.
- Move the Pizza Shack to the old Prancer Lift Shack and create another food outlet option.
- My intentions here are for something sweet. Waffles, donuts or maybe crepes. Who knows but it will be different and we wish to create a fun seating area on that flat area that currently has picnic tables.
- The area where the pizza shack is now will become more seating with potential for grab and go window for mixed drinks from the bar.
- A new roof on Sundance
- Parking lot repairs.
- Landscaping
- Rental remodel & moving the Tuning Shop to the Snowboard Room for a better footprint and access point for guests.
- New Walk-in Freezer & Fridge Storage at Sundance.
The off-season is really not an off-season for us. In all honesty the ski season is the fun part for us. It’s hard work but we enjoy it and it’s why we all work in the ski industry. The summer and fall is where we planning, timelines and cooperative management come into play!
Expansion, DNR & Mountain Biking Future
Finally I was invited to and attended the CWOCC (Central Wisconsin Off-road Cycling Club) 10th Anniversary Party last night. I am not an avid mountain biker but have worked on a ton of mountain bike events including a few national championships and love the culture. My son Ronan picked up mountain biking last year and I intend to get more involved with it this summer. We are hopeful that in the future with the proposed expansion we can welcome mountain biking to Rib Mountain and Granite Peak. I hope to work with organizations like CWOCC, Iron Bull and more to offer summer activities & events in the future. This place is beautiful and one of a kind in Wisconsin. We are hopeful to hear from the DNR soon on the proposed expansion of Rib Mountain and where the future will take us.
For now we have plenty to do. Including three more weekends of skiing. Hopefully I’ll see you out there.
Thanks again for the amazing season. I look forward to welcoming you back for our 85th season in 22-23 but maybe I’ll see you on the slopes before we close up on the 16th.
Greg
Visited just last week for the first time and it was great! Really wonderful facility with awesome staff. Only complaint is lack of quick “snack” options, which was of course due to late season and one of the dining areas being closed. Glad to see that there are plans for another food outlet choice – but please keep in mind more “grab and go” options (simple candy bar, chips, etc) for those of us that just need a fast bite to get back on the mountain!
John yes 100% agree this year was the first year we went to this new late season Historic Model and that is 100% our intentions is to improve grab and go in Historic. Thanks for skiing with us this season.
I don’t like the idea of losing the upstairs ladies room ( and men’s room)if that is what this means. People will have to walk through the dining room/ bar to get to the steps that go downstairs . Those are not easy to traverse in ski boots either. It doesn’t make sense to expand the deck and then not have restrooms nearby .
This is a valid concern. Going downstairs in boots is not the easiest of tasks, and the entrance from the slopes to the deck area is not safe today, as there are no steps directly to the deck level. There needs to be a new set of metal non skid steps installed from the ski racks at slope level, deck down to the Historic deck level with a non skid landing btween the current steps that lead from the rental area up to the new historic deck,, and new steps up to slope level. What is in place now is bush league. In other words, extend these steps up the skier level with a metal step structure
This is in the plans!
Awesome. Love the idea of adding waffle or crepe option…there’s just something about those foods that appeal to people on skis! Regarding the bathrooms…if electric/force air hand dryers could be added, it would be appreciated….not only do they reduce materials going to landfill, they also are great to warm chilled fingers in January! 😉 Keep up the improvements and keep making GP a great place for everyone. BTW tho… a winch cat? Are there trails at GP that I’m overlooking, which are steep enough to require the winch? Chestnut Mtn, down in IL, has Warpath (arguably the steepest full run in the midwest) and it doesn’t require a winch; so just curious where the winch would be needed at GP.
Troy we will be looking at trying to keep our new bathrooms as environmentally friendly as possible with low water toilets/urinals and hand dryers. We winch a ton of our trails. You are correct that you don’t have to winch trails to groom them but moving snow from below up is much better than moving snow from up to down. We winch trails such as Western Frontier, Exhibition, Carver, Superstition and Sundance often. When you ski around look for barrels that have red spray paint on them. They are “pick points” for our winch to hook on to and are steel beams that go into the ground.
Thank you very much for allowing ski bikes at Granite Peak this past season. I already purchased my pass for next year and so did my wife, who is a skier. You and your staff run a great operation at Granite Peak, keep up the great work.
Would be nice to have Sundance open on weekday am to change into ski boots etc.. that little room in old chalet basement isn’t good. And door opens and brrrrr.
And maybe some large lockers or area to stir our ski bags versus those tiny lockers or lugging stuff back to car prior to skiing. My ski bad won’t fit into those large lockers. I’m not personally concerned of someone stealing my used shoes and socks and good with stashing it somewhere. Perk ally don’t need to lock that up.
Pine Mt built like wooden cabinets along one wall which is great.
Just a thought.
Also I noticed on FB a rise in ski theft. So maybe bring back the old ski corral idea ?
Otherwise keep up the great work! I look forward to next season as I retire 6/3/22 !!!
Paul Hillmer
I assume you are talking about the end of the season and having Sundance simply open to boot up. Cubbies are something we will be looking into. We won’t keep the lockers in the lower Historic anymore and think we can offer some sort of storage area. Theft wasn’t on the rise it unfortunately happens and we will look into more ways to help our guests to keep their gear safe.
Where is the old Prancer structure?
By elevated “following the bump out” do you mean on the ground but above the current glass partitions?
The old Prancer lift shack is over toward Blitzen. It’s near the area where we had the tent up last year and have picnic tables out and about this year. We would extend the two areas on either side of the bump out and extend the glass.
Granite Peak:
After many years of being a past ski instructor and Ski Patroller on Rib Mountain I would like to thank you for an awesome ski season with great snow. I can honestly say that I enjoyed skiing this year more than I have in the last 20 or more years and that this year alone I have skied more runs than I have in total in the last 15 or 16 years. You can be assured that before the season pass rates increase this summer that I will be out to purchase a pass for the 2022-2023 season.
Keep up the good work and again, thank you.
Sincerely and respectfully,
George Klein
What a fantastic comment to read. Thanks George see you next season!
For those who don’t downhill ski in the family perhaps a cross country trail should be added to the plan.
otherwise my wife and I thought you guys did a great job again this year!
We liked that you move around the moguls and terrain parks from year to year. the mogul fields should be broken down more often to make sure that there is one that is always ski able and not a ice mine field.
Thanks,
2 long term pass holders
Thanks Rick! It would be difficult to incorporate a XC trail but maybe with expansion opportunities that could present itself. Thank you for your loyalty!
Great season GP! Skied on the last day – Saturday. Great conditions. Still plenty of base left. Any chance of a re-opening next weekend?