Photo of Marquette Mountain by Rick the Photo Guy

The Western Upper Peninsula is home to 10 ski hills and some of the finest skiing and snowboarding in the Midwest. Among the hills you’ll find great variety… family resorts, backcountry skiing, terrain parks, touristy resorts, and more secluded hills. I haven’t been to all of them yet, so far I’ve been to six of the ten. You can expect to see me as a regular at Marquette Mountain this season.

Big Powderhorn Mountain

Bessemer, MI (map it)
www.bigpowderhorn.net
Season Pass: $285 to $385
Runs: 29
Lifts: 9
Vertical: 600 feet
Longest Run: 5,280 feet
Skiable Acres: 253

During the off season Big Powderhorn has made several additions to their hill, mostly in the terrain park. They have added rails and boxes and are home to some of the longest rails in the Midwest, including a 115 foot long rail. Last year the addition of “Katie’s Catwalk” became the newest, steepest, and narrowest run at Big Powderhorn.

Powderhorn also features: terrain park, instructional programs, kid’s programs, racing programs, ski/snowboard rentals, ski shop, cross country skiing, ice skating rink, horse-drawn sleighs, swimming, dining facilities, lodging, and snowmaking.

Blackjack Ski Resort
(closed for 2008-09)

Bessemer, MI (map it)
www.skiblackjack.com
Runs: 20
Lifts: 6
Vertical: 465 feet
Longest Run: 5,300 feet
Skiable Acres: 101

Unfortunately, Blackjack has been closed for the 2008-09 season.

“Accordingly, Blackjack management has decided to suspend operations for the coming ski season. Blackjack ski resort will be closed for the 2008-2009 ski season.

New marketing plans are being undertaken to find a buyer. Blackjack owners want to sell the business in its entirety. The Steiger family and Blackjack share holders wish to thank all the people…. from skiers and snowboarders, lodging guests, lodging owners, to employees, businesses, and local news media who supported us at every moment beginning with our opening day Dec 26, 1977.

We have had 31 ski seasons and we are grateful for all the people we have met and friendships we have made.”

– Blackjack website

Indianhead Mountain Resort

Wakefield, MI (map it)
www.indianheadmtn.com
Season Pass: $273 to $405
Runs: 28
Lifts: 9
Vertical: 638 feet
Longest Run: 5,300 feet
Skiable Acres: 200+

Indianhead is one of those strange hills where the lodge is at the top of the hill rather than the bottom. And with Blackjack closed for the season you can expect to see a little bit longer lines at Indianhead this year.

Indianhead also features: terrain park, instructional programs, kid’s programs, racing programs, ski/snowboard rentals, ski shop, cross country skiing, ice skating, sleigh rides, health club, dining facilities, lodging, and snowmaking.

Marquette Mountain

Marquette, MI (map it)
www.marquettemountain.com
Season Pass: $309 to $429
Runs: 25
Lifts: 4
Vertical: 600 feet
Longest Run: 8,400 feet
Skiable Acres: 147

Marquette Mountain has one of the youngest groups of skiers and snowboarders due to Northern Michigan University being nearby. They also feature the best (in my opinion) terrain park in the Upper Peninsula. This year they added additional snowmaking to the east side trails. Look out for lots of great events, competitions and more. Now that I live in Marquette you’ll be sure to see some photos from some of the Marquette Mountain events.

Marquette Mountain also features: terrain park, instructional programs, kid’s programs, racing programs, ski/snowboard rentals, ski ship, snowshoeing, dining, snowmaking, and night skiing five days a week

Mont Ripley

Ripley, MI (map it)
www.skimontripley.com
Season Pass: $150 to $310 (free for MTU students)
Runs: 24
Lifts: 3
Vertical: 440 feet

Mont Ripley has probably seen more changes than any other hill in the last several years (other than Mount Bohemia of course, which is still quite new). Last year Mont Ripley opened a new chairlift on the east side of the hill and opened a few new trails. This year all Michigan Tech students get to ski/snowboard for free, with a season pass included in their tuition. Mont Ripley is also offering a couple new packages with their 4-day pass and full season rental.

Mont Ripley also features: instruction programs, racing league, ski/snowboard rentals, ski shop, dining, and night skiing six nights a week.

Mount Bohemia

Lac La Belle, MI (map it)
www.mtbohemia.com
Season Pass: $340
Runs: 71
Lifts: 2
Vertical: 900 feet
Longest Run: 9,240 feet

Mount Bohemia has now been open for a few years. They continue to market themselves as a “no beginners allowed” backcountry hill with expert terrain and boast the highest vertical drop in the Upper Peninsula at 900 feet.

Mount Bohemia also features: ski/snowboard rentals, ski shop, dining facilities, and yurts!

Norway Mountain

Norway, MI (map it)
www.norwaymountain.com
Season Pass: $129 to $259
Runs: 17
Lifts: 6
Vertical: 500 feet
Longest Run: 5,300 feet
Skiable Acres: 60

For the 2008-09 season Norway Mountain has added additional seating to their lodge, revamped their ski shop and ski school areas, added a new “Piston Bully Snow Groomer”, and a new 2nd season of the expanded learning area.

Norway Mountain also features: terrain park, instructional programs, kid’s programs, racing programs, ski/snowboard rental, ski shop, dining facilities, lodging and snowmaking.

Pine Mountain Resort

Iron Mountain, MI (map it)
www.pinemountainresort.com
Runs: 26
Lifts: 4
Vertical: 500 feet
Longest Run: 5,280 feet
Skiable Acres: 340

This season Pine Mountain has put additional effort into pricing instructional and family packages. Their Sunday Family Day package will run from noon to 4 p.m. and includes lift tickets and rentals for a family of 4 for $69. They will also offer three free learn to ski/ride days on December 13, December 14, and December 21.

Pine Mountain also features: terrain park, instructional programs, kid’s programs, ski/snowboard rental, ski shop, swimming, dining, lodging, snowmaking, and night skiing five nights a week.

Porcupine Mountains

Ontonagon, MI (map it)
www.skitheporkies.com
Season Pass: $340
Runs: 42
Lifts: 2
Vertical: 787 feet
Longest Run: 5,800 feet
Skiable Acres: 320+

The latest improvement at the Porkies is the new snowcat access for over 100 acres of backcountry terrain. However, this year the double chair will not be operated.

Porcupine Mountains also features: instructional programs, kid’s programs, ski/snowboard rentals, ski shop, cross country skiing, showshoeing, dining, and lodging.

Ski Brule

Iron River, MI (map it)
www.skibrule.com
Season Pass: $296 to $401
Season pass:
Runs: 17
Lifts: 11
Vertical: 500 feet
Longest Run: 5,300 feet

Ski Brule has long been marketed as the best “family ski resort” in the Upper Peninsula and continues to be the first to open and last to close (most seasons). To continue to make this happen they have added additional snowmaking equipment for the season. They have also put a large effort into revamping their terrain parks.

Ski Brule also features: terrain park, instructional programs, kid’s programs, ski/snowboard rentals, ski shop, cross country skiing, tubing, snowshoeing, ice skating, dining, lodging, snowmkaing, and night skiing.

Out of the 600+ players in the NHL, there is only one who was born and raised in the Upper Peninsula, Jeff Finger. Born and raised in Houghton, Finger was selected in the 1999 NHL Entry Draft.

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During the last two seasons in the NHL Finger played for the Colorado Avalanche. During the 2007-2008 season he logged 72 games (of an 82-game season) and showed signs of a promising career in the NHL. He finished with 19 points as a defenceman.

On July 1st, Finger was signed by the Toronto Maple Leafs for a whopping 4-year $14million contract. On October 9th, Finger will make his debut with the Maple Leafs in their season opener against right here in Michigan against the Red Wings.

Previous shirt won by Kimberly in Reston, VA

A big thank you goes out to our friend Joe who hooked us up with the Jeff Finger connection, he also snagged this photo out in Colorado.

There are also 6 more Yoopers who have played in the NHL.

Back in February we reported on one of the ugliest maps we’ve ever seen of the Upper Peninsula (or Michigan for that matter). We asked all of you if you knew of any maps that were similar. Many times I’ve heard reports of maps that didn’t include the Upper Peninsula, mislabeled it, and various other scenarios.

On November 8th, the Daily Press of Escanaba reported another such story titled, “U.P. loses its identity”.

The earlier map we mentioned actually did have some justification. The outline they used is the actual state outline of Michigan which extends into the middle of Lake Superior, Lake Michigan, and Lake Huron. Now I would like to see the justification for this example.

As reported by the Daily Press the map (pictured above) was noticed by social studies high school students at Escanaba Area High School.

As you can see in the map every state is colored in and labeled with the two-letter abbreviation. However, for starters, the Upper Peninsula isn’t colored in like the rest of Michigan. And why is it labeled “IL” for Illinois!?!?

The students took it upon themselves to take action.

“We were studying suffrage before the Depression and it had a map of all the states and the U.P. was not included. We thought it was a little bit degrading, like we weren’t part of the U.S. It’s kind of ridiculous.”

–Jack Klim

According to the article the students have written a letter to the publication company informing them of the error and went further to include some information about the Upper Peninsula (which is 1/3 of all the land in Michigan by the way). The book is titled, “United States History: Modern America (Michigan edition)”

Does anyone else have more examples of unfortunate Upper Peninsula maps?

A shoutout to Katie M. for sharing this article with us. Thanks Katie!

Photo taken by yours truly overlooking Lake Michigan from US 2

We made our first sale at Yooper Steez on February 22nd, 2008. We’ve come a long ways since then.

Thanks to our awesome readers we have had a to of great feedback from Yoopers across the Upper Peninsula, the United States, and the world. Not to mention hundreds of visitors who simply love the U.P. We have also had the pleasure of educating people on a few things about the Upper Peninsula and continue to strive to bring fresh content to the site.

I thought I would take a minute to share a few statistics. In the last 3 months…

• RSS subscribers have increased by 46%
• Number of visitors have increased by 102%
• Search engine traffic has increased by 41%

A big thank you to everyone who has commented!

Comments lead to discussion and conversation on a blog and are one of the driving forces behind any blog. In the last three months Yooper Steez has seen a huge increase in people leaving comments. Thanks for taking interest.

Our top 10 commentors

1. Ben Carlson
2. Jen I.
3. John Ellenich
4. Barb and Lowell
5. Nick T.
6. Rachel F.
7. Sue
8. Robert
9. Paul Pouttu
10. Stephanie P.

Here are the top blog posts bringing in a lot of the comments and site traffic

• Ugliest Michigan Map Ever!
• The 8 Essential Winter Hats of a Yooper
• Power to the T-Shirt
• What Actually Constitutes “Northern” Michigan?
• Is this the Most Ridiculous “Yooper” Definition Ever?
• The Big Boy Graveyard: Rediscovered 7 Years Later
• “Big Louie” Moilanen, Once the Tallest Man in the World
• “Can you see to the other side of Lake Superior?”
• WLUC TV6 Gets a Facelift: What do you think of the new logo?
• Journey to the Top of the Mackinac Bridge
• Origin and First Use of the Word “Yooper”
• 2008 Mont Ripley Hot Dog Snocomp

Got steez?

Our Yooper Steez shirts have now been photographed in five of the seven continents: Africa, Asia, Europe, North America and South America. If you know anyone who’s going to Antarctica or Australia let us know! Thank you to everyone who has submitted photos and keep them coming!

Here are some highlights of where our shirts have traveled to.

• 30 Rock, New York City, NY
• Harvard, Cambridge, MA
• On a hot air baloon, Salem, NH
• Golden Gate Bridge, San Francisco, CA
• Portom, Finland
• Okavango Delta, Botswana
• Rosarito, Mexico
• Buenos Aires, Argentina
• Forbidden City, Beijing, China
• Innsbruck, Austria
• Budapest, Hungary
• The Giant Bean, Chicago, IL
• Garmisch, Germany
• Daytona Beach, FL
• Chancellorsville, VA
• Pike’s Peak, CO

Shipping across the world

We are proud to say that our t-shirts have now been shipped to 27 states. Take a look at our list. If you know someone in a state that’s not listed here, let’s see if we can get a shirt out that way!

To highlight a few of our sales you’ll be interested to know that shirts have gone to one NHL player, our very own Jeff Finger from Houghton, an army base in Afghanistan, and even a Vice President of the Travel Channel.

• California
• Colorado
• Florida
• Illinois
• Indiana
• Kansas
• Louisiana
• Massachusetts
• Maryland
• Michigan
• Minnesota
• Missouri
• Montana
• North Carolina
• New Hampshire
• Nevada
• New York
• Oklahoma
• Pennsylvania
• South Carolina
• Tennessee
• Texas
• Virginia
• Vermont
• Washington
• Wisconsin
• West Virginia

In addition we are also proud to say we have shipped Yooper Steez shirts to five countries so far. But as you’ve seen earlier they have been photographed and traveled to many many more.

• Afghanistan Army Base
• Canada
• Egypt
• Finland
• Germany

Earlier today I was talking with my friend Kevin in Marietta, GA. I met Kevin for lunch there over a year ago (where I had a very tasty calzone at the Marietta Pizza Company just NW of Atlanta).

Kevin, having spent time in Marquette years ago and being a generation older than me, has done a great job of informing me of what Marquette used to be. He’s mentioned a few things that have gone missing over the years and what he educated me about this afternoon was Bunny Bread.

Kevin told me about a sign that was once famous in Marquette… a sign for Bunny Bread. And apparently the sign was taken down several years ago (it outdates my young memory, I’m only 25). Kevin inspired me to do a little research and find out where the sign went to.

After a little research I have an answer for my friend Kevin, and hopefully for some of you out there who may have been wondering whatever happened to the sign. (The sign is even mentioned in Marquette’s Wikipedia entry, so you know it has to be an icon then.)

Though I haven’t been able to find an old photo (yet) of the Bunny Bread sign in Marquette, here is a duplicate one that is in Anna, IL.

*This sign matches what used to be right here in Marquette.

There was another Bunny Bread plant with a sign in Marquette, MI. The sign came down in 1990 and went into storage. In 1996, it was installed at the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum in Marquette. The entrance lobby, partly designed by children, was built high enough to include the bunny’s ears. The sign’s neon tubing was replaced with blue rope light.”

–Super Signage

Yes! The sign still exists today, and absolutely everyone is welcome to come and see it at the Upper Peninsula Children’s Museum.

Though it’s a small photo you can see the bunny just inside the entrance, facing out of the large window.

In addition there has been some great dialogue on Pasty.com about the old Bunny Bread sign. To sum it up best Ed C. wrote the following…

“The Bunny Bread sign was the signal to our three kids that we had “arrived” in the U. P. after a long trip from Detroit to the Copper Country.”

–Ed C.

It’s signs like these that often make towns unique (I should know as apparently I’ve become some sort of hometown expert). What is ironic is that day I met Kevin he made sure I got a photo of another famous sign right there in Marietta. Marquette used to have it’s Bunny Bread sign, Marietta has it’s 30-foot tall Kentucky Fried Chicken sign.

*If anyone has an old photo or has seen one of the old Marquette Bunny Bread sign please let me know.

I figure we could all be a little better off if we all knew Michigan’s state symbols a little better. Though most of us have read them or seen them elsewhere, not many people can run through them all off the top of the head. So for today, a brief Michigan education on something we could all probably brush up on.

Bird: American Robin

Fish: Brook Trout

Flower: Apple Blossom

Fossil: Mastodon

Game Animal: White-tailed Deer

Gem: Isle Royale Greenstone or Chlorastrolite

Mammal: Wolverine

Nicknames: Wolverine State, Great Lakes State

Reptile: Western Painted Turtle

Soil: Kalkaska Sand

Song: My Michigan

“My Michigan” is not the song of Michigan, it is merely considered a song of Michigan. You can read more about the history at Michigan.gov.

Stone: Petoskey Stone

Tree: Eastern White Pine

Wildflower: Dwarf Lake Iris

2004 Michigan Quarter

Anything else you think we should have be a symbol of Michigan, or the U.P. for that matter?

Last night I arrived in East Lansing where I’ll be giving a couple lectures this week at my alma mater, Michigan State. I crashed at my cousin Sara’s place (who is from Sutton’s Bay, north of Traverse city) for the night.

This morning, my cousin’s roommate’s boyfriend came and visited with me for a few minutes and this is how the conversation went.

Dude: So are you from the Sutton’s Bay area as well?

Me: No, I live in Marquette.

Dude: Oh, in Wisconsin.

Me: No, in the Upper Peninsula.

Dude: Where is it about?

Me: North Central Upper Peninsula.

Dude: Ok, so in the Petoskey area?

Me: No, north of the bridge.

Dude: Oh… uhhh, ok i think I know what you mean… (as conversation ends awkwardly)

Maybe I can give him the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he’s not from Michigan originally. Obviously he is confused if he was wearing at Michigan State University shirt and he goes to the University of Michigan. Perhaps his first thought was Marquette University, which is in Milwaukee.

It’s not the fact that I’m offended as a Yooper that bothers me. It’s the idea that this guy may have grown up in Michigan and does live here now. There is absolutely no reason he should not know where Marquette is, or what “North Central Upper Peninsula” means.

I’ve always been big on geography, especially Michigan geography and the Great Lakes region.

The irony is that tomorrow evening I’m giving a lecture to some undergrad students about hometowns and even hometown stereotypes. At least I have an anecdote to start the lecture with now.

Does anyone else have similar stories?

Many of you have read my previous post of the old post regarding the “Legend of the Big Boy Graveyard”. Thanks to an incredible amount of search traffic to Yooper Steez due to that post, and an excellent response from readers, I think I have some information you will all be happy to hear!

First off, a big thanks goes out to Katrina who e-mailed me a new top secret location.

I feel that what used to be called the “Big Boy Graveyard” can no longer be dubbed as such. As the previous photos showed there was a third Big Boy lying on the ground with a hamburger along side it. It was more of a dump site.

Now however, it’s not so much a graveyard as it is an entrance to a chained off driveway to the dump site. They have the same role as those ridiculous lions you see at the end of driveways in what are usually gated off houses. However, they don’t quite fend you off as much as the lions. But I think most people would agree there’s still a bit of creepiness to it when seeing this great American icon out of context.

Enjoy the photos…

*I know, there are no Big Boys in this photo. But this is the drive back to their location and it was a beautiful fall afternoon.

For those of you who are in the Upper Peninsula and interested in headed to Negaunee to seek out the Big Boys please let me know. Since it is on private property I don’t want to post the information publicly on here with a map and then have a dozen people show up on his/her property. So if you would like to know, shoot me an e-mail and I’ll let you know.

Know of any other strange locations in the Upper Peninsula? Drop a comment below, we’d love to hear about it.