July 15, 2025 • 30 mins
If you’ve been a listener of this program than you may have heard me mention before that I grew up in New England. I spent the first 18ish years of my life in New Hampshire. When I got to high school, snowboarding became a huge part of my life and personality. It was what my friends and I loved to do all winter long. I was happiest when I was on a mountain.
My favorite thing to do was get to the top of the highest peak at any ski resort and just look around at the world. These are images that, even though I saw them nearly 30 years ago, I still have burned into my memory. I think snowboarding was what really made me fall in love with nature and the outdoors.
When you live in New England you have pretty easy access to some world class ski resorts. And of course everyone always hears about Colorado and Tahoe. Basically it was always New England or the Rocky Mountains. When you talk about the Midwest, it was always about corn fields and how flat it is. Ski resorts weren’t exactly top of mind. Let’s change that story today.
We’re taking a look primarily at two wonderful resorts in Wisconsin and Michigan. They are part of the Midwest Family Ski Resorts properties. They actually have three, but we’re only going to focus on two. Lutsen Mountains and Snowriver Mountain Resort. With me to open my eyes about skiing and snowboarding in the midwest are Greg Fisher, the chief marketing officer, and Charlotte Skinner, she’s the chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
My favorite thing to do was get to the top of the highest peak at any ski resort and just look around at the world. These are images that, even though I saw them nearly 30 years ago, I still have burned into my memory. I think snowboarding was what really made me fall in love with nature and the outdoors.
When you live in New England you have pretty easy access to some world class ski resorts. And of course everyone always hears about Colorado and Tahoe. Basically it was always New England or the Rocky Mountains. When you talk about the Midwest, it was always about corn fields and how flat it is. Ski resorts weren’t exactly top of mind. Let’s change that story today.
We’re taking a look primarily at two wonderful resorts in Wisconsin and Michigan. They are part of the Midwest Family Ski Resorts properties. They actually have three, but we’re only going to focus on two. Lutsen Mountains and Snowriver Mountain Resort. With me to open my eyes about skiing and snowboarding in the midwest are Greg Fisher, the chief marketing officer, and Charlotte Skinner, she’s the chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hey, what's up everyone. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff save Pierre and this is episode thirty seven.
If it's your first time checking out the program, welcome
to the show. I really do appreciate your time. Delightful
Destinations is a show that I created so I could
talk to representatives from different locations around the country and
learn more about these beautiful places that are just all
(00:22):
around us. I am always looking for an excuse to
get out of the house and go check out something new,
and I hope this show will help inspire you the
next time you're looking to escape the daily grind. If
you've been a listener of this program, then you may
have heard me mentioned before that I grew up in
New England. I spent the first eighteen ish years of
my life in New Hampshire. When I got to high school,
snowboarding became a huge part of my life and personality.
(00:44):
It was what my friends and I love to do
all winter long. In fact, I think I was happiest
when I was on a mountain. My favorite thing to
do was get to the top of the highest peak
at any ski resort and just look around at the
world around me. These are the images that even though
I saw them nearly thirty years ago, I still have
them burned into my memory. I think snowboarding was what
(01:05):
really made me fall in love with nature and the outdoors. Now,
when you live in New England, you've got pretty easy
access to some world class ski resorts, and of course
everyone always hears about Colorado and Lake Tahoe. Basically it
was always New England or the Rocky Mountains. When you
talk about the Midwest, though, it was always about cornfields
and how flat it is. Ski resorts weren't exactly top
of mind. So let's go ahead and change that story.
(01:28):
Today we're taking a look primarily at two wonderful resorts
in Wisconsin and Michigan. They're part of the Midwest Family
Ski Resorts properties. They actually have three in the group,
but we're only going to focus on two here today,
Loots and Mountains and Snow River Mountain Resort. With me
to open my eyes about skiing and snowboarding and how
special it can be in the Midwest are Greg Fisher,
the chief marketing officer for Midwest Family Ski Resorts, and
(01:51):
Charlotte Skinner. She's the chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
Nice to meet both of you.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, nice to meet you too. Thank you for having
us pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I got to tell you, I don't know if you
guys have listened to this podcast at all before, but
I grew up in New England and I'm just going
to tell you from my personal experience, we didn't hear
a lot about Midwest skiing, I'll be totally honest with you.
So I'm excited to learn more about what you guys
have to offer over there, because for us, it was
always you know, New England has their history, and then
there was also you know, Denver and the Rockies and
(02:19):
all that. But Midwest, obviously, I know there's stuff there,
but it wasn't something that we ever really heard a
lot about. So I'm very excited to hear more about
the Midwest Family Ski Resorts.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
We're three properties here in the Midwest. We have Luted Mountains,
which is up in northern Minnesota. It's on the shores
of Lake Superior and the Sawsmooth Mountains. It is one
of the most beautiful mountains you'll have in the Midwest
that anywhere in the country really that offers just this
amazing view over you know, one of the largest inland
(02:50):
seas in the world, and you.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Didn't really compare that. I know you grew up in
New England.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I worked in New England for years, and I can
tell you that this mountain and the views that this
place offers, we'll break right up there with some of
the biggest mountains in the East that showcase the mountains
out there too. Snow River Mountain Resort is there a
second resort that's up on the up Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
right over the Wisconsin border. It's two different peaks, Jackson
(03:18):
Creek's Summit and then Black River Basin. They offer kind
of two different skiing experiences. We just installed a six
passenger chairlift at Jackson Creek and that is the only
one of its kind in the up and then down
down where we're at I'm in Wassaw and we're at
(03:39):
Granite Peak Ski Area, which is the largest one in
Wisconsin and has three high speed chairlifts.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Is seven hundred feet of vertical here. You can get
a lot of ski.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
In in a very short amount of time, a lot
of vertical up and down, up and down, and we
have a superior snowmaking system.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Here that really can rival.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Anything in the country when it comes to snowmaking and
the power of it, so we get.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Open really quickly.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
We don't have to rely too much of mother nature
here in northern you know all of our resorts it
stays cold our too. Northern resorts Lusen and Snow River
definitely get lake effects snows. Especially Snow River it gets
over two hundred inches of annual snowpoll which is powder
friendly stuff in the winter time.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Greg, I'm curious where did you work in New England?
Just out of curiosity.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I worked at was marketing director at Mount Snow for
ten years. Then I lived up in North Conway and
worked for a company in marketing Peak resorts. We own
att Attached and Wildcat, so I made North Conway my
home for five years.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I love north Conway. It is I grew up in
New Hampshire, so that's one of my favorite places. Every
summer I'm like, can we I tell my wife and
dont I'm like, can we please make a trip to
north Conway please? And we haven't done it in the
last ten years, but it's on the list every single year.
It's beautiful up there. But hearing you talk about where
you guys are now. I mean, just sounds incredible, and
I feel like for a lot of folks here on
the East Coast, maybe it's an untapped resource that people
(04:58):
haven't really checked. Doubt yet because I shouldn't assume everybody
listening is from the East Coast, but I'm based in Baltimore,
so I assume many of our listeners are tuning in
because they know who I am through our radio station here.
But yeah, just it sounds beautiful. I know we're going
to focus on a couple of your mountains here today.
And something else that I think people underutilize mountains for
is the summertime. Like I think people forget how beautiful
(05:20):
the scenery, how beautiful the hiking and everything can be
at a ski resort when there's no snow on the ground,
Like you just have this vision of ski resort. That's it.
But there's so much to offer, So let's start with
the Lutsen Mountains. Tell me what's the exciting stuff that's
going on in the summertime.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well up at Lutsen, we have some amazing offerings all spring,
summer and ball. We have the only gondola that is
in the Midwest that kind of spreads across goes from
the base of Eagle Mountain over to the top of
Moose Mountain, and it goes across the river, the popular
river valley that flows right through the middle of Lootson Mountains.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So Luten's comprised of four different peaks.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
And over at Moose we have a summit chalet that
offers this expansive, beautiful view of Lake Superior and the
surrounding the Sawtooth Mountains. And it's called the Sawtooth Mountain
because it makes like if you look at it from
an angle from I would say that the northeast down
it looks like literally a saw that goes right across
an upside down saw.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And the gondola, like I said, expands this beautiful river
valley and just is it's a unique experience to go across.
We also offer an alpine slide, which are few and
far between in this country. As somebody who's from New Hampshire,
I know there's a couple of them up there.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
It's really exhilarating to control your own speed.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
My two sons and I are going up in a
couple of weeks to go experience that they've never been
on the Alpine slide, I can tell you that there's
a lot of these ziplines and stuff like that that
go through woods and everything. But to control how you
go and zip down through it is really is really
quite fun, you know. But loosen that those are only
just like two of the things that are there to offer.
(07:03):
The whole area is something that is truly unique.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know. It offers like two.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Hundred miles of single track mountain bike trails that are
right at your doorstep. The Superior Hiking Trail goes right
through the heart of Luton and that goes all the
way up through to Canada. And then there's the Gitchy
Gammy Trail. Is that how I pronounce it? I always
mess that?
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So that is a paved trail that goes all the
way along Route sixty one and the Lake Superior shoreline,
and it's paved so you can take any kind of
bike and e bike or cycle, run, walk, whatever you got.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
And it stretches all the way down. Does it go
all the way down to Duluth Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's what they're that's what they're working on connecting too.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yes, yeah, so it's it's it's really long, and then
it goes all the way up to you know, Grand Ray,
which is this beautiful town north of Lutsen, about about
twenty minutes away that it's kind of a little harbor
town on Lake Superior, and it's got this beautiful two
jetties that come out a lighthouse. The Coast Guard has
been stationed there, and there's just all these sorts of
(08:09):
galleries and great breweries.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
And places to go up there.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So it's, you know, Luisen's kind of a it's like
a really good base camp. Obviously, we have tons of
activities at our place, but there's so much more to
do outside of the area.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Lutsen is really at this point considered a very, very
much so a world class summer destination. People come from
all over for the boundary waters, for the north shore
of Lake Superior. Our job is in fact a lot
easier in the summer from the standpoint.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Of reaching more people because.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
People already kind of know what the area has to offer,
and what we can offer as a resort is being
right in the heart of all of that adventure.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Whether you're into the.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Camping or the hiking, you want to do explore the
town of Grammar Ray, which is just riddled with all
these art galleries and this history of art that really
is interwoven into the fabric of that community. Lutsen is
really this established space camp for adventure on the north
shore of Lake Superior.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
It's so interesting to me to hear you say that
summer is actually easier for you guys. And that's because
I always have the opposite impression of ski resorts and
ski resort areas because to me, it's just like winter
is what people know about, and maybe they just kind
of forget to come back in the summer. So it's
fascinating to me that for what you guys have, maybe
winter seems to be the thing that you've got to
try to find a way to attract a few more
(09:28):
people to come to. But just hearing you talk about Lutsen,
I mean, I'm painting this picture in my own mind
of what it looks like, and it's just this beautiful
expanse of just, I don't know, wonderful outdoors.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
And you know, another thing, in the spring kind of
an area where I always say it's a little not
as one of our key factors, but in the springtime
waterfalls are like, yeah, abound all over the place.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
The snow runoff that goes on, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
All of these rivers and streams all flow down into
you Lake Superior, and there's just these amazing waterfalls that
pop up all over the place.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Is one of the largest ones in the country is up.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
There like a free flowing one that flows that you
can get to.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
It really is beautiful country. For sure.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
When you said, you know, the picture that's in your
head is just this beautiful kind of outdoors picture, I
think that, you know, one of the things that makes
Loosen really unique is you know, if you think about
these coastal towns that are on the coast of California,
and people enjoy going up there and getting away from
the city a little bit, but they still enjoy the
comforts of what they enjoy about living.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
In the city.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
You know, good coffee, good restaurants, shopping things to you know,
art galleries to go look at. And I think that
that really is what you know, makes Lutsin's outdoor feel
so unique, is that you can come to the Midwest,
you're on this huge body of water that makes you
feel like you're on the side of an ocean. And
on top of that, we have all of these cute
(10:58):
stores and businesses that have really developed Loutson in the
surrounding area into really like a destination for a developed
destination for guests to come explore.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
They get their outdoor time, but they.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Also get those experiences that can appeal to more than
just that outdoor seeker, you know, if there's multiple people
in the family looking for different types of experiences. The
breadth of experience that you can find on the North
Shore is really unique.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Lake Superior there and the
way you described it, because my limited experience with the
Great Lakes is just being in Chicago and seeing the
lake there next to Chicago. But there are places where
you will go on Lake Superior here where you're at
where you will look out and you will see nothing
but water and it will feel like you are at
the ocean. I'm so glad you made that comparison. I
always think back to again my growing up in New Hampshire.
(11:44):
We had Lake Winnipesaki, which is not a great lake,
but it is a very large lake. But even there,
when you look in the horizon, you saw mountains like
you still saw land on the horizon. But I'm looking
at a map of where Lutsen is right now, and
like where Lake Superior is. It's like there's gonna be
spots where you see nothing thing but water. It's going
to be the same as standing here, like where we
would be like Ocean City, Maryland, just looking out at
(12:06):
the Atlantic. Like that's what it's going to feel like.
And that's a cool vibe to have where you're at.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
It's one of the few unique things and that even
in the winter. I mean, there are very few ski
areas that you know, Tahoe has a handful of them
that are right on that lake. But to feel this
feeling where you're skiing down the hill and you can't
see the other side of the body of water, you
just feel like you're almost skiing into the ocean.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That is such a unique experience that you have so
any big events coming up this summer that you guys
want to highlight.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
But we host a bunch of weddings and really in
the fall when we get we get really ramped up
August into the fall with our business and people are
just really coming up to enjoy the outdoors.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I can only imagine a wedding out there. Now that
you just said that, I hadn't been thinking about that,
But now that you said it, oh my gosh, Like
the beauty and the pictures from those weddings must be unbelievable.
We've talked a lot about Loots in here in Minnesota,
but let's go across Lake Superior a bit. Let's go
into the Upper Peninsula or up as you call it.
I love I haven't heard that before, So I love
(13:03):
hearing that that new phrase. Snow River Mountain Resort, that's
one of your other ones. It tell me more about that.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, So Snow River came on board with with our
three properties back in twenty twenty two. You know, it's
the perfect like Loots, and you know, Snow River has
a lot of these awesome activities in and around the
whole facility and region. You know, we're on the south
shore of Lake Superior, so really Loosen is kind of
(13:30):
like due north, kind of due northwest, a little bit
more north than where Snow River is located.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
But like Snow River has, you know the.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Sportsback trail harks back trails that we have a stable
for people if they want to come in and bring
their horses, they can go across our two properties that
are you know, kind of connected as this beautiful forest
that's between the two.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
And it also has its own.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Waterfall called Gabreu Fall that you can go and hike
down to or get to from an easy walk right
from the road that goes into Black River Basin, which
is you know, our sister resort. There's a ton of
really cool things like the Black River Scenic Byway, Copper Peak,
which is the ski jump facility that you can see
from the top of our hill off in the distance.
(14:14):
It's getting completely renovated to offer world class ski jumping
and training in the future. The Porcupine Mountains are located
near US Windmen Trails, which is a section of trail
systems that's down in Wisconsin, which is right over the border,
so you're pretty much frosted to Michigan and then within
like twenty minutes you can be in Wisconsin. So it's
(14:36):
really right on the border of the two states. And yeah,
you've never heard the terminology up but you know, anybody
lives up in the up is known as a u burn.
So it's a really beautiful part of the state and
it's you know, as somebody who travels from about two
and a half hours to go up there. It's quite
(14:56):
nice to get into a little bit more of nature,
tons lakes, tons of streams, tons of just beautiful countryside
to enjoy.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I think something I've really enjoyed when doing this podcast
is hearing the slang that local people use for areas
like here in Maryland. I don't know how familiar you
are with Maryland, but Maryland is designed kind of awkwardly
with a bay that sort of goes up on the
east side, and everybody on the main part of the
state will always call that the Eastern Shore, like the
part of the state that's separated by the water. I
just found out I've lived here for sevent to eighteen years.
(15:26):
Eighteen years. I just found out that they call us
the Western Shore, and I was like, I've never I mean,
it makes sense logically, but I literally have never heard
that until doing this podcast, and now here I am.
I have very limited experience in Michigan. I think the
Detroit Airport at about as closes as I've come to
spending any time in Michigan. But yeah, never knew up
was the abbreviation for that, and I kind of love that.
(15:47):
Tell me a little bit more about So this is
what I love about what I'm reading and learning more
about your mountains is that you guys run the chair lifts,
the gondle, you have things moving in the summertime as well.
And I don't know if I see that at a lot,
Like there's a resort here in Maryland on the western
part of the state that my wife and I went
to a few years back and we were like, Oh,
can we go up there? And They're like, well, yeah,
if you want to walk And I was like, I mean,
(16:08):
we will because we got nothing to do today. But
it's interesting, like they have things in the top, but
you have to make your own effort to get there,
like they're not helping you get up there. So I
kind of love that you guys are running chairlifts. You
are giving an opportunity to people to get to the
top of the mountains in the summer to enjoy that
as well.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
It's something that we're doing at Snow River.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
We have a dinner every night at our Jack's Bar
and Grill, which is located right at the top of
us the summit of Jackson Creek, and you can take
a chairlift bride for any of our lodging guests are
they're paid. If guests want to come up and take
a chairlift bride, they can. You know, it gets as
(16:45):
in the summertime, it's beautiful. As the leaves start to
change their beautiful colors, it starts to get busier and
we start to offer a little bit more hours for.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Those types of time frames.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
As we get closer to August and stuff like that,
we'll start to ramp those up up.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Right now, we just offer them.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Kind of like that's twilight because it is close to
the longest day of the year here. But you know,
rides after you enjoyed drink or dinner with us.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I saw one of your hidden gems that you guys
have there is that I'm saying it right, Gabreu Falls.
Am I saying that right?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Gabrel Falls is the waterfall that's kind of right between
the two peaks between up at Snow River.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
So it offers like it's actually kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
You can go to the top and watch it go down,
and then you can get out of the bottom. You
can go swimming in it, and there's kind of like
these two cascading falls, so you can walk down to
one and sit and I guess the pool that's there,
or you can go down to the bottom and where
the river kind of flows down and get in there.
It's really easy and I've done it numerous times.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
It's kind of fun places to jump into.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I'm always fascinated by waterfalls and the areas around mountains
always tend to give you plenty of those. Like Again,
not to harp on this, but thinking back to growing
up in New England, you lived in North Conway area, Greg,
there was so many little spots you could just pull
off on the side of the row road, walk through
the forest for about five minutes and find yourself like
a little waterfall, a nice pool you can swim in.
(18:15):
It was just these things are all around you when
you're in this mountainous area and just again hearing you
describe that, it sounds awesome. You guys have all these
amazing experiences that people can find essentially on their own too.
They can explore and enjoy these things.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean, I will say that's you.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Northern properties, you know, Lusen and Snow River both remind
me very much New England style resorts, especially Lutsen, you
know it it is a big resort. It is a
destination in the winter time. In the summertime, you know,
there are times where you know we'll have to you know,
if the winds are coming in or their storms, you know,
(18:51):
we'll have to definitely shut down our lists. And that's
not a common thing in the Midwest because of low
lift profiles. But Lusen really acts as were like a
western ner Eastern resort where those types of things come
into play, especially in the winter time, not so much
in the in the summer, obviously, if you have lightning
or anything like that around, you know, you have to
shut down. But that's few and far between. I will
(19:14):
say it is very much like a big, big time resort.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
After tasting, yeah, I wanted to just chime in on
you know, you had mentioned that we run our lifts
and we have these kind of unique experiences that are
in the summer. You know, I think when we think
big picture about the three resorts that we have and
really when you when you ask to start this, you know,
what is Midwest skiing? You know, how would you kind
of think about that. In twenty twenty two, tea Time
(19:40):
Gravity Research did a documentary on Midwest skiing and the
independence of resorts back at that time, and there was
both Lutsen and Granted and Peak were part of that
documentary it's called in Pursuit of Soul too. And you know,
when we think about what our resorts have to offer
that would be appealing to anybody who have from the
(20:00):
East coast or the West coast, so the Midwest, you know,
we're really family oriented ski resorts, including you know, families
with children, couples, large groups of friends, families. You know,
we're really wanting to become this what's in people's mind
(20:20):
is the Midwest destination for outdoor recreation all year round,
and that we really lean into having destinations that don't
just call to one person in the family that is
the avid skier, the avid snowboarder, But how do we
build an experience that appeals to everybody in the family
and so that there's more to visiting. You know, when
(20:42):
you think of a vacation, there's the people who think
of a vacation and they're like, Okay, this vacation I'm
taking for an extreme sport and that's the main purpose
of that vacation.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
But that's a very small subset.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
I would say it's probably the overall pool of people
who are taking vacations, and certainly when you think about
a fan family and kids and different age groups, you're
going to want to have enough activities and enough amenities
to be able to keep all of those people interested
and excited about what that destination, what that vacation.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Experience can be like, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
And so Snow River is a relatively new resort to
our family of resorts. We purchased it in twenty twenty two.
We've had Lutsen and Granite Peak under common family ownership
for over two decades going on twenty five years, and
Snow River was a decision to add to that portfolio
(21:35):
of family of resorts. And the reason for that is,
you know, if you think about what we talked about
with Lutsen's destination being already established as this, you know,
this world class summer destination, and it's the Midwest only
gondola in the winter, and it has four different peaks
that you can travel between. That experience for what customers
(21:55):
are looking for for that Western ski vacation is something
that Lutsen has already developed and really put into the
minds of people. Whereas Snow River has all of those
same types of appeal. You know, when you look at
what Snow River and the surrounding area has to offer,
we we as the ski resort, don't really need to
come up with these brand new ideas of why people
(22:18):
should come in and visit Snow River. The Upper Peninsula
is gorgeous for all of the reasons that Greg mentioned,
and on top of that, they have some very cool
cultural things and stores that reflect that uper culture. It's
called YopE r is kind of the term for what
(22:38):
people in the up call themselves. And there's just a
lot of history and a lot of undiscovered, untouched adventure
to be had at Snow River. And so you know,
what we're really trying to help people realize is that
you know, Snow River is located. It's on the south
shore of Lake Superior, as you pointed out, basically a
straight line down south from where loots and is located,
(23:01):
across a huge body of water, and we're really curating
the experience to show people what is undiscovered, what is
this adventure that has not Snow Over story is just
at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Phases of being told.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
The overall feel of what our resorts have to offer
people from other regions. Is a full it's a comparable
experience to what you would expect by taking a vacation
out to a Western resort. You know, you think about
Park City, you think about Aspen, and you think about
people what pops into people's heads about the shopping and
(23:35):
the dining and you know, the music and what makes
that kind of a vibrant destination that you go and visit.
You know, we invest on average twenty five percent of
our annual revenues into capital investments, and all of that
goes back into investments that really make that guest experience
(23:55):
an equitable thing in people's minds, so that when they're considering, Okay,
I can go out to these larger, established resorts, or
maybe I have an interest in having that same type
of experience with updated lodging, high speed lifts, snow quality
that Okay, we can't replicate the mountains, but we certainly
can provide a very quality snow and terrain experience for customers.
(24:17):
The appeal to that is still being able to discover
these destinations and these towns and these regions that we're
located in. But maybe it's something that people haven't experienced before.
Whereas it's much more common to have a better understanding
of what that looks like at an Aspen or a
park city.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I think something else too that's running through my head,
and I hope the words come out the way that
I'm thinking about it, just hearing you talk about the
people that you're attracting to these resorts. When I think
about New England or I think about the Rocky Mountains,
I think skiing, snowboarding, whatever, it's a lifestyle for a
lot of people that live there, like it's something they
do every single weekend for months upon the year, that
(24:57):
it's a part of their world all the time time.
Where what I hear you describing is that it's an
activity for folks in your region where you want to
bring people in and let them experience. And like I
think I've gone to travel to Denver before and gone
to some of the mountains there with friends. I was
a much more active snowboarder than my friends were, and
I don't know if they had the same enjoyment of
(25:19):
going to these places because they were around you know,
elite skiers, elite snowboard and like it didn't feels and
comfortable to them because they're like, oh man, I'm not
doing as good like or whatever. There were't as many
activities for them. And what I hear you describing is
you've got activities for everybody, Like everybody is welcome. You're
going to have people that are really great at skiing
or that really love hiking and do it. But you're
(25:41):
also going to have the average person that just wants
to experience a trip in a mountain resort and have all,
like you said, like experience maybe you know park City,
but not going to Park City. And I think that's
a really interesting aspect to bring to it. I think
it's smart for you guys to develop something like that.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, you hit the nail on head.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
We see the same you know people year in, year out, weekends, weekdays.
You know, it is a lifestyle and it's definitely is.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
You know, we have a ton of season pass holders
that participate in you know, whether it's mid weekers, you know,
retirees that can just get out in the morning. You
see the same five guys. I see the same five
six guys every morning. They go out for a couple
of runs, have a couple of coffee. Usually they're gone
by lunchtime, and then on the weekends, we have a
whole other, you know, set of guests and season passolders
(26:30):
that roll in from all across the state.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
And you've been further beyond.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
I mean, I know we have season passolders here at
Granted Peak all the way down from Saint Louis. So
it's pretty remarkable that they make the track because it's
it's quite some far, but they see the value in
it and they can get out and ski, you know,
ten times every year and make a weekend trip of
it for their families.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
So it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I've taken a lot of your time here today. I
just have two last questions for you. One and you
mentioned the Saint Louis, but one is if people are
trying to come in for maybe a little bit further away,
where are the best places to fly in to visit
these resorts? What cities would use suggest, like, what what's
the best plan.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I'll let Charlotte take that one because she's a little
bit more of a world traveler than I am.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
But you have a number of airports that are in
and around all over a resources, so go ahead.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
Yeah, Duluth DLH is the best airport to fly into
for Luten. It's a regional airport, does have international flights.
You can also fly into Minneapolis, which is Duluth is
about a two hour drive to Lutsen, two and a
half hour drive to snow River, and Minneapolis adds about
two and a half hours to both of those. Snow
(27:40):
River actually has a regional airport that has a direct
flight believe it or not, from Chicago.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
On Denver air.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
And it flies right into Ironwood, which is ten minutes
from the ski area. So that's a pretty unique Usually
regional ski areas that are that far away don't have
a direct flight like that. So that's a good option
if you're located in Chicago or you're transferring through Chicago.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Like I said, it's a direct flight.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
And then for WAISA, for granted peak, there's Central Wisconsin Airport,
which is just about.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Again you're going to connect through Minneapolis or Chicago, but
they have quite a few flights going in and out.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Every day.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Oh that's perfect. All right. Last question for you people
that are listening right now, I'm sure a lot of
them are thinking about how they can plan their trip
to go and visit you. So where's the best place
to go for them to start planning and find out
more information.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Yeah, our websites would be a great place to start
leads in dot com Ski, Granite Peak dot com and
Snow River dot com.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Everything nice and easy. I appreciate that. Well. Listen, Greg Fisher,
chief marketing Officer, and Charlotte Skinner, chief financial Officer and
chief operating officer for the Midwest Family Ski Resorts. Thank
you both so much for your time. This has been
an eye opening experience and I hope that at one
point in my life I'll be able to get out
there experience these resorts as well. And if we make it,
I'll make sure I look you guys up on our way.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
That would be awesome. Hey, one quick question in one
favorite for him.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
So as somebody grew up on the East Coast that
have family in Baltimore and I actually, what's my first
ever baseball game at the Memorial Stadium nice back in
the day. Yeah, can you do me a favor and
send me like a bushel of crabs?
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Please send you a bushel of crabs.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, that would be fantastic, Actually, like two of them.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
One of the things.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I missed about the East coast is just the access
to shellfish and fresh fresh shellfish.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well, Greg, I've got your email. I'll see if I
can connect with you to make these crabs happen for you.
Thanks man, big thank you to Greg and Charlotte for
their time. My big trips for twenty twenty five may
be done at this point, but I am keeping these
mountains on the radar for a future winter trip. I'm
really hoping my daughter catches the winter bug at some
point so I have a better excuse to get out
(29:55):
there on the slopes again. And thank you to all
of you for listening to this episode of Delightful Destinations.
Until next time, to be well,
Hey, what's up everyone. Welcome to Delightful Destinations. My name
is Jeff save Pierre and this is episode thirty seven.
If it's your first time checking out the program, welcome
to the show. I really do appreciate your time. Delightful
Destinations is a show that I created so I could
talk to representatives from different locations around the country and
learn more about these beautiful places that are just all
(00:22):
around us. I am always looking for an excuse to
get out of the house and go check out something new,
and I hope this show will help inspire you the
next time you're looking to escape the daily grind. If
you've been a listener of this program, then you may
have heard me mentioned before that I grew up in
New England. I spent the first eighteen ish years of
my life in New Hampshire. When I got to high school,
snowboarding became a huge part of my life and personality.
(00:44):
It was what my friends and I love to do
all winter long. In fact, I think I was happiest
when I was on a mountain. My favorite thing to
do was get to the top of the highest peak
at any ski resort and just look around at the
world around me. These are the images that even though
I saw them nearly thirty years ago, I still have
them burned into my memory. I think snowboarding was what
(01:05):
really made me fall in love with nature and the outdoors. Now,
when you live in New England, you've got pretty easy
access to some world class ski resorts, and of course
everyone always hears about Colorado and Lake Tahoe. Basically it
was always New England or the Rocky Mountains. When you
talk about the Midwest, though, it was always about cornfields
and how flat it is. Ski resorts weren't exactly top
of mind. So let's go ahead and change that story.
(01:28):
Today we're taking a look primarily at two wonderful resorts
in Wisconsin and Michigan. They're part of the Midwest Family
Ski Resorts properties. They actually have three in the group,
but we're only going to focus on two here today,
Loots and Mountains and Snow River Mountain Resort. With me
to open my eyes about skiing and snowboarding and how
special it can be in the Midwest are Greg Fisher,
the chief marketing officer for Midwest Family Ski Resorts, and
(01:51):
Charlotte Skinner. She's the chief financial officer and chief operating officer.
Nice to meet both of you.
Speaker 2 (01:56):
Yeah, nice to meet you too. Thank you for having
us pleasure.
Speaker 1 (01:58):
I got to tell you, I don't know if you
guys have listened to this podcast at all before, but
I grew up in New England and I'm just going
to tell you from my personal experience, we didn't hear
a lot about Midwest skiing, I'll be totally honest with you.
So I'm excited to learn more about what you guys
have to offer over there, because for us, it was
always you know, New England has their history, and then
there was also you know, Denver and the Rockies and
(02:19):
all that. But Midwest, obviously, I know there's stuff there,
but it wasn't something that we ever really heard a
lot about. So I'm very excited to hear more about
the Midwest Family Ski Resorts.
Speaker 3 (02:28):
We're three properties here in the Midwest. We have Luted Mountains,
which is up in northern Minnesota. It's on the shores
of Lake Superior and the Sawsmooth Mountains. It is one
of the most beautiful mountains you'll have in the Midwest
that anywhere in the country really that offers just this
amazing view over you know, one of the largest inland
(02:50):
seas in the world, and you.
Speaker 4 (02:52):
Didn't really compare that. I know you grew up in
New England.
Speaker 3 (02:55):
I worked in New England for years, and I can
tell you that this mountain and the views that this
place offers, we'll break right up there with some of
the biggest mountains in the East that showcase the mountains
out there too. Snow River Mountain Resort is there a
second resort that's up on the up Upper Peninsula of Michigan,
right over the Wisconsin border. It's two different peaks, Jackson
(03:18):
Creek's Summit and then Black River Basin. They offer kind
of two different skiing experiences. We just installed a six
passenger chairlift at Jackson Creek and that is the only
one of its kind in the up and then down
down where we're at I'm in Wassaw and we're at
(03:39):
Granite Peak Ski Area, which is the largest one in
Wisconsin and has three high speed chairlifts.
Speaker 4 (03:43):
Is seven hundred feet of vertical here. You can get
a lot of ski.
Speaker 3 (03:47):
In in a very short amount of time, a lot
of vertical up and down, up and down, and we
have a superior snowmaking system.
Speaker 4 (03:54):
Here that really can rival.
Speaker 3 (03:57):
Anything in the country when it comes to snowmaking and
the power of it, so we get.
Speaker 4 (04:02):
Open really quickly.
Speaker 3 (04:04):
We don't have to rely too much of mother nature
here in northern you know all of our resorts it
stays cold our too. Northern resorts Lusen and Snow River
definitely get lake effects snows. Especially Snow River it gets
over two hundred inches of annual snowpoll which is powder
friendly stuff in the winter time.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Greg, I'm curious where did you work in New England?
Just out of curiosity.
Speaker 3 (04:23):
I worked at was marketing director at Mount Snow for
ten years. Then I lived up in North Conway and
worked for a company in marketing Peak resorts. We own
att Attached and Wildcat, so I made North Conway my
home for five years.
Speaker 1 (04:37):
I love north Conway. It is I grew up in
New Hampshire, so that's one of my favorite places. Every
summer I'm like, can we I tell my wife and
dont I'm like, can we please make a trip to
north Conway please? And we haven't done it in the
last ten years, but it's on the list every single year.
It's beautiful up there. But hearing you talk about where
you guys are now. I mean, just sounds incredible, and
I feel like for a lot of folks here on
the East Coast, maybe it's an untapped resource that people
(04:58):
haven't really checked. Doubt yet because I shouldn't assume everybody
listening is from the East Coast, but I'm based in Baltimore,
so I assume many of our listeners are tuning in
because they know who I am through our radio station here.
But yeah, just it sounds beautiful. I know we're going
to focus on a couple of your mountains here today.
And something else that I think people underutilize mountains for
is the summertime. Like I think people forget how beautiful
(05:20):
the scenery, how beautiful the hiking and everything can be
at a ski resort when there's no snow on the ground,
Like you just have this vision of ski resort. That's it.
But there's so much to offer, So let's start with
the Lutsen Mountains. Tell me what's the exciting stuff that's
going on in the summertime.
Speaker 3 (05:36):
Well up at Lutsen, we have some amazing offerings all spring,
summer and ball. We have the only gondola that is
in the Midwest that kind of spreads across goes from
the base of Eagle Mountain over to the top of
Moose Mountain, and it goes across the river, the popular
river valley that flows right through the middle of Lootson Mountains.
Speaker 4 (05:57):
So Luten's comprised of four different peaks.
Speaker 3 (05:59):
And over at Moose we have a summit chalet that
offers this expansive, beautiful view of Lake Superior and the
surrounding the Sawtooth Mountains. And it's called the Sawtooth Mountain
because it makes like if you look at it from
an angle from I would say that the northeast down
it looks like literally a saw that goes right across
an upside down saw.
Speaker 4 (06:19):
It's pretty cool.
Speaker 3 (06:21):
And the gondola, like I said, expands this beautiful river
valley and just is it's a unique experience to go across.
We also offer an alpine slide, which are few and
far between in this country. As somebody who's from New Hampshire,
I know there's a couple of them up there.
Speaker 4 (06:38):
It's really exhilarating to control your own speed.
Speaker 3 (06:42):
My two sons and I are going up in a
couple of weeks to go experience that they've never been
on the Alpine slide, I can tell you that there's
a lot of these ziplines and stuff like that that
go through woods and everything. But to control how you
go and zip down through it is really is really
quite fun, you know. But loosen that those are only
just like two of the things that are there to offer.
(07:03):
The whole area is something that is truly unique.
Speaker 4 (07:07):
You know. It offers like two.
Speaker 3 (07:09):
Hundred miles of single track mountain bike trails that are
right at your doorstep. The Superior Hiking Trail goes right
through the heart of Luton and that goes all the
way up through to Canada. And then there's the Gitchy
Gammy Trail. Is that how I pronounce it? I always
mess that?
Speaker 4 (07:24):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 3 (07:26):
So that is a paved trail that goes all the
way along Route sixty one and the Lake Superior shoreline,
and it's paved so you can take any kind of
bike and e bike or cycle, run, walk, whatever you got.
Speaker 4 (07:39):
And it stretches all the way down. Does it go
all the way down to Duluth Charlotte.
Speaker 2 (07:44):
That's what they're that's what they're working on connecting too.
Speaker 3 (07:46):
Yes, yeah, so it's it's it's really long, and then
it goes all the way up to you know, Grand Ray,
which is this beautiful town north of Lutsen, about about
twenty minutes away that it's kind of a little harbor
town on Lake Superior, and it's got this beautiful two
jetties that come out a lighthouse. The Coast Guard has
been stationed there, and there's just all these sorts of
(08:09):
galleries and great breweries.
Speaker 4 (08:12):
And places to go up there.
Speaker 3 (08:13):
So it's, you know, Luisen's kind of a it's like
a really good base camp. Obviously, we have tons of
activities at our place, but there's so much more to
do outside of the area.
Speaker 5 (08:24):
Lutsen is really at this point considered a very, very
much so a world class summer destination. People come from
all over for the boundary waters, for the north shore
of Lake Superior. Our job is in fact a lot
easier in the summer from the standpoint.
Speaker 2 (08:39):
Of reaching more people because.
Speaker 5 (08:41):
People already kind of know what the area has to offer,
and what we can offer as a resort is being
right in the heart of all of that adventure.
Speaker 2 (08:49):
Whether you're into the.
Speaker 5 (08:50):
Camping or the hiking, you want to do explore the
town of Grammar Ray, which is just riddled with all
these art galleries and this history of art that really
is interwoven into the fabric of that community. Lutsen is
really this established space camp for adventure on the north
shore of Lake Superior.
Speaker 1 (09:08):
It's so interesting to me to hear you say that
summer is actually easier for you guys. And that's because
I always have the opposite impression of ski resorts and
ski resort areas because to me, it's just like winter
is what people know about, and maybe they just kind
of forget to come back in the summer. So it's
fascinating to me that for what you guys have, maybe
winter seems to be the thing that you've got to
try to find a way to attract a few more
(09:28):
people to come to. But just hearing you talk about Lutsen,
I mean, I'm painting this picture in my own mind
of what it looks like, and it's just this beautiful
expanse of just, I don't know, wonderful outdoors.
Speaker 4 (09:39):
Yeah, it really is.
Speaker 3 (09:40):
And you know, another thing, in the spring kind of
an area where I always say it's a little not
as one of our key factors, but in the springtime
waterfalls are like, yeah, abound all over the place.
Speaker 4 (09:54):
The snow runoff that goes on, you know.
Speaker 3 (09:56):
All of these rivers and streams all flow down into
you Lake Superior, and there's just these amazing waterfalls that
pop up all over the place.
Speaker 4 (10:06):
Is one of the largest ones in the country is up.
Speaker 3 (10:09):
There like a free flowing one that flows that you
can get to.
Speaker 4 (10:12):
It really is beautiful country. For sure.
Speaker 5 (10:15):
When you said, you know, the picture that's in your
head is just this beautiful kind of outdoors picture, I
think that, you know, one of the things that makes
Loosen really unique is you know, if you think about
these coastal towns that are on the coast of California,
and people enjoy going up there and getting away from
the city a little bit, but they still enjoy the
comforts of what they enjoy about living.
Speaker 2 (10:36):
In the city.
Speaker 5 (10:37):
You know, good coffee, good restaurants, shopping things to you know,
art galleries to go look at. And I think that
that really is what you know, makes Lutsin's outdoor feel
so unique, is that you can come to the Midwest,
you're on this huge body of water that makes you
feel like you're on the side of an ocean. And
on top of that, we have all of these cute
(10:58):
stores and businesses that have really developed Loutson in the
surrounding area into really like a destination for a developed
destination for guests to come explore.
Speaker 2 (11:07):
They get their outdoor time, but they.
Speaker 5 (11:09):
Also get those experiences that can appeal to more than
just that outdoor seeker, you know, if there's multiple people
in the family looking for different types of experiences. The
breadth of experience that you can find on the North
Shore is really unique.
Speaker 1 (11:22):
Yeah, I'm glad you mentioned Lake Superior there and the
way you described it, because my limited experience with the
Great Lakes is just being in Chicago and seeing the
lake there next to Chicago. But there are places where
you will go on Lake Superior here where you're at
where you will look out and you will see nothing
but water and it will feel like you are at
the ocean. I'm so glad you made that comparison. I
always think back to again my growing up in New Hampshire.
(11:44):
We had Lake Winnipesaki, which is not a great lake,
but it is a very large lake. But even there,
when you look in the horizon, you saw mountains like
you still saw land on the horizon. But I'm looking
at a map of where Lutsen is right now, and
like where Lake Superior is. It's like there's gonna be
spots where you see nothing thing but water. It's going
to be the same as standing here, like where we
would be like Ocean City, Maryland, just looking out at
(12:06):
the Atlantic. Like that's what it's going to feel like.
And that's a cool vibe to have where you're at.
Speaker 5 (12:10):
It's one of the few unique things and that even
in the winter. I mean, there are very few ski
areas that you know, Tahoe has a handful of them
that are right on that lake. But to feel this
feeling where you're skiing down the hill and you can't
see the other side of the body of water, you
just feel like you're almost skiing into the ocean.
Speaker 1 (12:27):
That is such a unique experience that you have so
any big events coming up this summer that you guys
want to highlight.
Speaker 3 (12:32):
But we host a bunch of weddings and really in
the fall when we get we get really ramped up
August into the fall with our business and people are
just really coming up to enjoy the outdoors.
Speaker 1 (12:43):
I can only imagine a wedding out there. Now that
you just said that, I hadn't been thinking about that,
But now that you said it, oh my gosh, Like
the beauty and the pictures from those weddings must be unbelievable.
We've talked a lot about Loots in here in Minnesota,
but let's go across Lake Superior a bit. Let's go
into the Upper Peninsula or up as you call it.
I love I haven't heard that before, So I love
(13:03):
hearing that that new phrase. Snow River Mountain Resort, that's
one of your other ones. It tell me more about that.
Speaker 3 (13:08):
Yeah, So Snow River came on board with with our
three properties back in twenty twenty two. You know, it's
the perfect like Loots, and you know, Snow River has
a lot of these awesome activities in and around the
whole facility and region. You know, we're on the south
shore of Lake Superior, so really Loosen is kind of
(13:30):
like due north, kind of due northwest, a little bit
more north than where Snow River is located.
Speaker 4 (13:37):
But like Snow River has, you know the.
Speaker 6 (13:39):
Sportsback trail harks back trails that we have a stable
for people if they want to come in and bring
their horses, they can go across our two properties that
are you know, kind of connected as this beautiful forest
that's between the two.
Speaker 4 (13:51):
And it also has its own.
Speaker 3 (13:52):
Waterfall called Gabreu Fall that you can go and hike
down to or get to from an easy walk right
from the road that goes into Black River Basin, which
is you know, our sister resort. There's a ton of
really cool things like the Black River Scenic Byway, Copper Peak,
which is the ski jump facility that you can see
from the top of our hill off in the distance.
(14:14):
It's getting completely renovated to offer world class ski jumping
and training in the future. The Porcupine Mountains are located
near US Windmen Trails, which is a section of trail
systems that's down in Wisconsin, which is right over the border,
so you're pretty much frosted to Michigan and then within
like twenty minutes you can be in Wisconsin. So it's
(14:36):
really right on the border of the two states. And yeah,
you've never heard the terminology up but you know, anybody
lives up in the up is known as a u burn.
So it's a really beautiful part of the state and
it's you know, as somebody who travels from about two
and a half hours to go up there. It's quite
(14:56):
nice to get into a little bit more of nature,
tons lakes, tons of streams, tons of just beautiful countryside
to enjoy.
Speaker 1 (15:04):
I think something I've really enjoyed when doing this podcast
is hearing the slang that local people use for areas
like here in Maryland. I don't know how familiar you
are with Maryland, but Maryland is designed kind of awkwardly
with a bay that sort of goes up on the
east side, and everybody on the main part of the
state will always call that the Eastern Shore, like the
part of the state that's separated by the water. I
just found out I've lived here for sevent to eighteen years.
(15:26):
Eighteen years. I just found out that they call us
the Western Shore, and I was like, I've never I mean,
it makes sense logically, but I literally have never heard
that until doing this podcast, and now here I am.
I have very limited experience in Michigan. I think the
Detroit Airport at about as closes as I've come to
spending any time in Michigan. But yeah, never knew up
was the abbreviation for that, and I kind of love that.
(15:47):
Tell me a little bit more about So this is
what I love about what I'm reading and learning more
about your mountains is that you guys run the chair lifts,
the gondle, you have things moving in the summertime as well.
And I don't know if I see that at a lot,
Like there's a resort here in Maryland on the western
part of the state that my wife and I went
to a few years back and we were like, Oh,
can we go up there? And They're like, well, yeah,
if you want to walk And I was like, I mean,
(16:08):
we will because we got nothing to do today. But
it's interesting, like they have things in the top, but
you have to make your own effort to get there,
like they're not helping you get up there. So I
kind of love that you guys are running chairlifts. You
are giving an opportunity to people to get to the
top of the mountains in the summer to enjoy that
as well.
Speaker 4 (16:23):
It's something that we're doing at Snow River.
Speaker 3 (16:25):
We have a dinner every night at our Jack's Bar
and Grill, which is located right at the top of
us the summit of Jackson Creek, and you can take
a chairlift bride for any of our lodging guests are
they're paid. If guests want to come up and take
a chairlift bride, they can. You know, it gets as
(16:45):
in the summertime, it's beautiful. As the leaves start to
change their beautiful colors, it starts to get busier and
we start to offer a little bit more hours for.
Speaker 4 (16:56):
Those types of time frames.
Speaker 3 (17:00):
As we get closer to August and stuff like that,
we'll start to ramp those up up.
Speaker 4 (17:03):
Right now, we just offer them.
Speaker 3 (17:05):
Kind of like that's twilight because it is close to
the longest day of the year here. But you know,
rides after you enjoyed drink or dinner with us.
Speaker 1 (17:16):
I saw one of your hidden gems that you guys
have there is that I'm saying it right, Gabreu Falls.
Am I saying that right?
Speaker 5 (17:21):
Yes?
Speaker 3 (17:21):
Gabrel Falls is the waterfall that's kind of right between
the two peaks between up at Snow River.
Speaker 4 (17:29):
So it offers like it's actually kind of cool.
Speaker 3 (17:32):
You can go to the top and watch it go down,
and then you can get out of the bottom. You
can go swimming in it, and there's kind of like
these two cascading falls, so you can walk down to
one and sit and I guess the pool that's there,
or you can go down to the bottom and where
the river kind of flows down and get in there.
It's really easy and I've done it numerous times.
Speaker 4 (17:50):
It's kind of fun places to jump into.
Speaker 1 (17:53):
I'm always fascinated by waterfalls and the areas around mountains
always tend to give you plenty of those. Like Again,
not to harp on this, but thinking back to growing
up in New England, you lived in North Conway area, Greg,
there was so many little spots you could just pull
off on the side of the row road, walk through
the forest for about five minutes and find yourself like
a little waterfall, a nice pool you can swim in.
(18:15):
It was just these things are all around you when
you're in this mountainous area and just again hearing you
describe that, it sounds awesome. You guys have all these
amazing experiences that people can find essentially on their own too.
They can explore and enjoy these things.
Speaker 4 (18:28):
Yeah, one hundred percent. I mean, I will say that's you.
Speaker 3 (18:30):
Northern properties, you know, Lusen and Snow River both remind
me very much New England style resorts, especially Lutsen, you
know it it is a big resort. It is a
destination in the winter time. In the summertime, you know,
there are times where you know we'll have to you know,
if the winds are coming in or their storms, you know,
(18:51):
we'll have to definitely shut down our lists. And that's
not a common thing in the Midwest because of low
lift profiles. But Lusen really acts as were like a
western ner Eastern resort where those types of things come
into play, especially in the winter time, not so much
in the in the summer, obviously, if you have lightning
or anything like that around, you know, you have to
shut down. But that's few and far between. I will
(19:14):
say it is very much like a big, big time resort.
Speaker 5 (19:17):
After tasting, yeah, I wanted to just chime in on
you know, you had mentioned that we run our lifts
and we have these kind of unique experiences that are
in the summer. You know, I think when we think
big picture about the three resorts that we have and
really when you when you ask to start this, you know,
what is Midwest skiing? You know, how would you kind
of think about that. In twenty twenty two, tea Time
(19:40):
Gravity Research did a documentary on Midwest skiing and the
independence of resorts back at that time, and there was
both Lutsen and Granted and Peak were part of that
documentary it's called in Pursuit of Soul too. And you know,
when we think about what our resorts have to offer
that would be appealing to anybody who have from the
(20:00):
East coast or the West coast, so the Midwest, you know,
we're really family oriented ski resorts, including you know, families
with children, couples, large groups of friends, families. You know,
we're really wanting to become this what's in people's mind
(20:20):
is the Midwest destination for outdoor recreation all year round,
and that we really lean into having destinations that don't
just call to one person in the family that is
the avid skier, the avid snowboarder, But how do we
build an experience that appeals to everybody in the family
and so that there's more to visiting. You know, when
(20:42):
you think of a vacation, there's the people who think
of a vacation and they're like, Okay, this vacation I'm
taking for an extreme sport and that's the main purpose
of that vacation.
Speaker 2 (20:51):
But that's a very small subset.
Speaker 5 (20:54):
I would say it's probably the overall pool of people
who are taking vacations, and certainly when you think about
a fan family and kids and different age groups, you're
going to want to have enough activities and enough amenities
to be able to keep all of those people interested
and excited about what that destination, what that vacation.
Speaker 2 (21:13):
Experience can be like, you know.
Speaker 5 (21:14):
And so Snow River is a relatively new resort to
our family of resorts. We purchased it in twenty twenty two.
We've had Lutsen and Granite Peak under common family ownership
for over two decades going on twenty five years, and
Snow River was a decision to add to that portfolio
(21:35):
of family of resorts. And the reason for that is,
you know, if you think about what we talked about
with Lutsen's destination being already established as this, you know,
this world class summer destination, and it's the Midwest only
gondola in the winter, and it has four different peaks
that you can travel between. That experience for what customers
(21:55):
are looking for for that Western ski vacation is something
that Lutsen has already developed and really put into the
minds of people. Whereas Snow River has all of those
same types of appeal. You know, when you look at
what Snow River and the surrounding area has to offer,
we we as the ski resort, don't really need to
come up with these brand new ideas of why people
(22:18):
should come in and visit Snow River. The Upper Peninsula
is gorgeous for all of the reasons that Greg mentioned,
and on top of that, they have some very cool
cultural things and stores that reflect that uper culture. It's
called YopE r is kind of the term for what
(22:38):
people in the up call themselves. And there's just a
lot of history and a lot of undiscovered, untouched adventure
to be had at Snow River. And so you know,
what we're really trying to help people realize is that
you know, Snow River is located. It's on the south
shore of Lake Superior, as you pointed out, basically a
straight line down south from where loots and is located,
(23:01):
across a huge body of water, and we're really curating
the experience to show people what is undiscovered, what is
this adventure that has not Snow Over story is just
at the beginning.
Speaker 2 (23:13):
Phases of being told.
Speaker 5 (23:14):
The overall feel of what our resorts have to offer
people from other regions. Is a full it's a comparable
experience to what you would expect by taking a vacation
out to a Western resort. You know, you think about
Park City, you think about Aspen, and you think about
people what pops into people's heads about the shopping and
(23:35):
the dining and you know, the music and what makes
that kind of a vibrant destination that you go and visit.
You know, we invest on average twenty five percent of
our annual revenues into capital investments, and all of that
goes back into investments that really make that guest experience
(23:55):
an equitable thing in people's minds, so that when they're considering, Okay,
I can go out to these larger, established resorts, or
maybe I have an interest in having that same type
of experience with updated lodging, high speed lifts, snow quality
that Okay, we can't replicate the mountains, but we certainly
can provide a very quality snow and terrain experience for customers.
(24:17):
The appeal to that is still being able to discover
these destinations and these towns and these regions that we're
located in. But maybe it's something that people haven't experienced before.
Whereas it's much more common to have a better understanding
of what that looks like at an Aspen or a
park city.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
I think something else too that's running through my head,
and I hope the words come out the way that
I'm thinking about it, just hearing you talk about the
people that you're attracting to these resorts. When I think
about New England or I think about the Rocky Mountains,
I think skiing, snowboarding, whatever, it's a lifestyle for a
lot of people that live there, like it's something they
do every single weekend for months upon the year, that
(24:57):
it's a part of their world all the time time.
Where what I hear you describing is that it's an
activity for folks in your region where you want to
bring people in and let them experience. And like I
think I've gone to travel to Denver before and gone
to some of the mountains there with friends. I was
a much more active snowboarder than my friends were, and
I don't know if they had the same enjoyment of
(25:19):
going to these places because they were around you know,
elite skiers, elite snowboard and like it didn't feels and
comfortable to them because they're like, oh man, I'm not
doing as good like or whatever. There were't as many
activities for them. And what I hear you describing is
you've got activities for everybody, Like everybody is welcome. You're
going to have people that are really great at skiing
or that really love hiking and do it. But you're
(25:41):
also going to have the average person that just wants
to experience a trip in a mountain resort and have all,
like you said, like experience maybe you know park City,
but not going to Park City. And I think that's
a really interesting aspect to bring to it. I think
it's smart for you guys to develop something like that.
Speaker 2 (25:57):
Yeah, you hit the nail on head.
Speaker 4 (25:58):
We see the same you know people year in, year out, weekends, weekdays.
You know, it is a lifestyle and it's definitely is.
Speaker 3 (26:07):
You know, we have a ton of season pass holders
that participate in you know, whether it's mid weekers, you know,
retirees that can just get out in the morning. You
see the same five guys. I see the same five
six guys every morning. They go out for a couple
of runs, have a couple of coffee. Usually they're gone
by lunchtime, and then on the weekends, we have a
whole other, you know, set of guests and season passolders
(26:30):
that roll in from all across the state.
Speaker 4 (26:32):
And you've been further beyond.
Speaker 3 (26:34):
I mean, I know we have season passolders here at
Granted Peak all the way down from Saint Louis. So
it's pretty remarkable that they make the track because it's
it's quite some far, but they see the value in
it and they can get out and ski, you know,
ten times every year and make a weekend trip of
it for their families.
Speaker 4 (26:52):
So it's really cool.
Speaker 1 (26:53):
I've taken a lot of your time here today. I
just have two last questions for you. One and you
mentioned the Saint Louis, but one is if people are
trying to come in for maybe a little bit further away,
where are the best places to fly in to visit
these resorts? What cities would use suggest, like, what what's
the best plan.
Speaker 3 (27:09):
I'll let Charlotte take that one because she's a little
bit more of a world traveler than I am.
Speaker 4 (27:14):
But you have a number of airports that are in
and around all over a resources, so go ahead.
Speaker 5 (27:19):
Yeah, Duluth DLH is the best airport to fly into
for Luten. It's a regional airport, does have international flights.
You can also fly into Minneapolis, which is Duluth is
about a two hour drive to Lutsen, two and a
half hour drive to snow River, and Minneapolis adds about
two and a half hours to both of those. Snow
(27:40):
River actually has a regional airport that has a direct
flight believe it or not, from Chicago.
Speaker 2 (27:46):
On Denver air.
Speaker 5 (27:49):
And it flies right into Ironwood, which is ten minutes
from the ski area. So that's a pretty unique Usually
regional ski areas that are that far away don't have
a direct flight like that. So that's a good option
if you're located in Chicago or you're transferring through Chicago.
Speaker 2 (28:07):
Like I said, it's a direct flight.
Speaker 5 (28:09):
And then for WAISA, for granted peak, there's Central Wisconsin Airport,
which is just about.
Speaker 2 (28:16):
Twenty twenty five minutes.
Speaker 5 (28:17):
Again you're going to connect through Minneapolis or Chicago, but
they have quite a few flights going in and out.
Speaker 2 (28:23):
Every day.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Oh that's perfect. All right. Last question for you people
that are listening right now, I'm sure a lot of
them are thinking about how they can plan their trip
to go and visit you. So where's the best place
to go for them to start planning and find out
more information.
Speaker 5 (28:35):
Yeah, our websites would be a great place to start
leads in dot com Ski, Granite Peak dot com and
Snow River dot com.
Speaker 1 (28:44):
Everything nice and easy. I appreciate that. Well. Listen, Greg Fisher,
chief marketing Officer, and Charlotte Skinner, chief financial Officer and
chief operating officer for the Midwest Family Ski Resorts. Thank
you both so much for your time. This has been
an eye opening experience and I hope that at one
point in my life I'll be able to get out
there experience these resorts as well. And if we make it,
I'll make sure I look you guys up on our way.
Speaker 4 (29:04):
That would be awesome. Hey, one quick question in one
favorite for him.
Speaker 3 (29:08):
So as somebody grew up on the East Coast that
have family in Baltimore and I actually, what's my first
ever baseball game at the Memorial Stadium nice back in
the day. Yeah, can you do me a favor and
send me like a bushel of crabs?
Speaker 1 (29:22):
Please send you a bushel of crabs.
Speaker 3 (29:24):
Yeah, that would be fantastic, Actually, like two of them.
Speaker 4 (29:27):
One of the things.
Speaker 3 (29:28):
I missed about the East coast is just the access
to shellfish and fresh fresh shellfish.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
Well, Greg, I've got your email. I'll see if I
can connect with you to make these crabs happen for you.
Thanks man, big thank you to Greg and Charlotte for
their time. My big trips for twenty twenty five may
be done at this point, but I am keeping these
mountains on the radar for a future winter trip. I'm
really hoping my daughter catches the winter bug at some
point so I have a better excuse to get out
(29:55):
there on the slopes again. And thank you to all
of you for listening to this episode of Delightful Destinations.
Until next time, to be well,
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