and grooming improvements were highlightedat Caberfae Peaks for the 2012-1013 season. after a recent snowfall! It could take decades, hope Im still around to see it! Many American service personnel returning from Europe had been The electric tow ropes were a major improvement from the gasoline engines that powered tows at many The Storm Skiing Podcast was just four months old at the time, and I hadnt perfected the harder-than-youd-think art of recording a two-way conversation. chair lift era. Built in 1962, Everyone else will love getting to the extended top of the North Peak in one ride, and being the first chair people see, will be a lot more impressive than the little Hall double. Improvements for the 2018-2019 snowsports season will provide exciting additions to this effort. It wouldnt make sense for Caberfae to buy and relocate a similar lift from another area, only to remove Bo Buck a few years later. Many of those days are at Caberfae. The ruins of the BoBuck base station are near the old Star lodge in the Backcountry.

(LogOut/ These changes have given the resort a new identity and attitude, something that surprises skiers returning to Caberfae after a several year hiatus and delights skiers visiting the resort for the Thirty-two additional energy efficient snowmaking fan gunswere added, with 22 of the new snow In the part of my brain warehousing ski memories there are days and places that live forever. Five hundred and eighty acres were set aside for development of a year round recreation area, including the prime highlands with steep The existing North Peak Quad was installed on a built up North Peak. the ski school to teach as many as 500 lessons per day on a weekend. A postcard from the 1956-57 season (issued by Avery Studios of Saranac, Michigan) noted that 47,000 skiers visited Caberfae that winter. *Another source confirming many of the dates above: https://www.michiganskier.com/caberfaehistory/. The result can be seen in todays base area that includes a ticket I always wondered what happened to the Mt Maria Hall double. lift total to five (at the time). Looking even further into the future, there is a plan to build a backcountry lift that will service a fourth peak that has not been built out yet. *Click on a photo for a larger size and caption. Hard to guess at what they are planing but possibly a lift could go back into some of the 2/5 of the old territory that is no longer accessible. office building and a rental building which opened in 1996, the Blackmer Day Lodge which debuted in 1999 as northern Michigans biggest day lodge, the refurbished 36-room MacKenzie Lodge hotel Before the 1942-43 season, a dozen more trails were cleared and several rope tows were installed. has a wonderful write-up of Caberfae (pgs. There are several interesting areas to explore BC. Theyre far from done: in the podcast, we talk about a massive project that will add a new lift and a third peak for the 2022-23 season, future development of the Backcountry, and more. How we went from a ropetow kingdom bereft of snowmaking to a modern resort forged out of vision, willpower, patience, grit, and determination that, four decades after the family acquired it, is still a work-in-progress, was a story Id been waiting my entire skiing life to hear. The skier drop-off area overall resort experience for skiers and boarders. Was there ever a double chair also at Bullnose or Tournament? Lastly, the resort added additional seasonal lockers for rent. Caberfae stood just 90 minutes from my house and I became a regular, returning on swirling weekends and quiet spring weeknights when I lapped empty chairs in long March sunsets after school. As the 1960s dawned Caberfae was still in expansion mode. I descended them like an inept paratrooper dropped at velocity over a decline, my gear twirling apart from me in acrobatic freefall with each concussive wipeout. tradition of making and grooming the best snow in the region. Podcast #50: Caberfae Peaks, Michigan Co-Owner & GM Tim Meyer. has been revamped.

treetops ski midwest resorts several major taking place projects renovating spending ridge million making - Listen to the podcast for discount codes on subscriptions and merch. Shelter is the main artery out of the base. A 1971 postcard from the era shows a group of college students on spring break under a banner that Caberfae stood just 90 minutes from my house and I became a regular, returning on swirling weekends and quiet spring weeknights when I lapped empty chairs in long March sunsets after school. Any information on these lifts would be greatly appreciated. The area offers another 5 to 7 more open runs, trees, glades, chutes and plenty When I f. as a novice skier trained poorly at the single-lift bumps downstate I stood in dumbstruck awe of the place, its teeming peaks and lift network sprawling off into the woods. I pretty much stay on the dark side of South Peak till Im bored or exhausted, then do a last couple runs in the backcountry. Change), You are commenting using your Facebook account. An area then known as The Bowl is now the site of South Peak. very slow and incredibly noisy, the overhead chains spewed greese on the skiers riding on the chairs. Underfoot you'll reap the benefits of increased snowmaking and the addition to I would guess it was a new installation because the earliest Ramsey lift removed from Mount Snow was in the 60s (South Bowl double). they will probably build it halfway there and then start building up that peak for an eventual chairlift. The first thing The installation of a new triple chair should be in operation for the Couldnt they also do the Shelter replacement and the backcountry lift with one new lift with a small amount of earth moving? backcountry signage/entrance on the right hand side. The resort says theyre excited to bring something new to their skiers. It might be the end of ski season, but Caberfae Peaks is already preparing for the next season.

This site requires JavaScript to run correctly. I kept thinking I could resolve the issue and delayed posting. The drive terminal is still in place with half the chairs lined up on the ground in front of it. But I didnt care, I just loved it. The yet-to-be-named run will flow skiers right from Smiling Irishman, accessible from the North Peak Quad and the Vista Triple increased demand for more ski trails, the toboggan slides were eventually abandoned and Caberfae became strictly a ski area. No one in Michigan at least the community I grew up in in Michigan pays anyone to do anything they can do themselves. West Ridge could be either the 1959 or the 1963 Doppelmayr T-bar (there could be more installations that we dont know of yet). Tim Meyer, Co-Owner and General Manager of Mountain Operations at Caberfae Peaks, Michigan. The big change for 2016/2017 was the addition of a brand new triple chairlift, The Vista, on North Peak.

Click on a lifts name for pictures. View in fullscreen. Looks like they are planning on the new lift taking Shelters base location, so Shelter will be pulled out Summer of 22, Number one chair was move and call the club chair. Opened in the 1930s, the complex grew by the 1970s into what Chris Diamond described in his book Ski Inc. 2020 as a sprawling series of hills served by 20-plus rope tows, five T-Bars and a chairlift, spanning some two miles from end-to-end. A 1966 copy of Americas Ski Book describes Caberfae as being equipped with six T-bars and sixteen rope tows on 270 vertical feet. Here is the 1980 trailmap, which looks like it was spun out of the ditto machines that stamped out my early grade-school classwork sheets: Today, nearly everything on that trailmap has been permanently abandoned. Many places at Caberfae were so far away from the resort's base area that constructing chair lifts to them was cost prohibitive.

Tim Meyer, Co-Owner and General Manager of Mountain Operations at, In the part of my brain warehousing ski memories there are days and places that live forever. Club and Shelter were new lifts put in at the same time. Its a Cadillac of a lift, its a really nice lift, so its fitting.. A lot of the old terrain was sacrificed for the North Peak. Any reason why they left the Clubhouse towers out there despite it being taken out of service in 2016? I think it may happen as long as enough people continue to fill the slopes. Take warning: there is no grooming, no snowmaking and no lift access. This new lift and area is sure to be popular for first-timers and families. They couldnt have been new as Hall became part of Van Roll in 82. Looks like they might be bringing back Bo Buck? #1 T-bar ran up the exact alignment as the original Ramsey double, so it would seem plausible that it may have been modified. other ski areas. gathering spots. That was followed by adding three more runs the following first time. The resort's name has Scottish roots. Their vertical expansion of two central peaks was accompanied by a horizontal contraction from the far-flung borders and the closing of a dozen-plus lifts, which they could never adequately cover with snowmaking, Diamond writes. Caberfae is the closest decent vertical for those in southern Michigan. Ive been waiting 25 years to have this conversation. chair. Id say replace South Peak with another triple or quad and then move that lift to the expansion you mentioned. This was a spin-off from the popular teen movie "Where the Boys Are" and Caberfae's way of saying "We're still the place to be.". Forest from their summits. A transition was in Caberfae's future. present ski area by Kenneth MacKenzie of Chicago in 1919. I started skiing at a very young age in the 1960s, my parents and us kids had season passes going back to 1962, yikes!! Marie International Bridge Changing to New Toll System, 11-Year-Old Girl Hit by Boat and Killed in Hillsdale County, ICYMI: Charlevoix Restaurant Closes Early Due to "Rude" Venetian Festival Guests, and More, Local Army Veteran Opens Enchanted Wood Designz and 20 Lake Trading Post in Harrison, Downtown Cadillac to Welcome Re-Imagined Sidewalk Sales, Charlevoix Restaurant Closes Early Due to "Rude" Venetian Festival Guests, UPDATE: Mother Arrested in Death of a 2-Year-Old in Alpena County, Michiganders Purchase 4.5 Million Mega Millions Tickets. The highest elevation in the now abandoned areas is only a 200 foot vertical and most of it is less. Skyview Lodge is a special building at Caberfae Peaks, and the management went out of their way to save and restore the structure. Caberfae, the Scottish name for Stags Head, was granted to Colin Fitzgerald, Many of those days are at Caberfae. A lot happened in the late 80s and 90s and Im not 100% sure of every detail but I think the following is accurate. You cant practically get into the backcountry from Shelter, it is entered from Smiling Irishman uphill.

Certainly not a 137 vertical version. Bo Buck survived 1992, along with West Ridge and #6 T-bars. (formerly the Edelweiss), and a swimming pool/hot tub in front of the MacKenzie. Anyway Tim said the Caberfae expansion would be called East Peak with a chairlift. They were going to move the Club lift to more parallel Shelter but go further up, but a new quad is less staff than two doubles. I wrote this story about a 5-year-old who hitched a ride on the Shelter Double with me a couple years ago. Its pretty unreal that BO Buck parts have been sitting on the ground for 30 years. Caberfae may be the most constantly evolving ski resort in America. It does not help that Caberfae had a lot of lifts before various consolidations in the 80s. Ah. Would also like to see the North Peak Quad move and replace the South Peak Triple and see a HSQ or HS6 on the North Peak. CABERFAE PEAKS HISTORYPART 1 BEGINNINGS. *Click on a photo below for a larger size and caption. boarders of all levels, but this season novices will find themselves in the spotlight. Better snow and more of it will benefit skiers and Confusingly this new lift was known as First Peak before being called Shelter again a few years later.

Through the late 1970s Caberfae was an expansive operation. That is not correct.

A 87 maps also does not show a quad* A 88 map shows a quad though so either a lift got installed for just a few years or the date is off a few years. An improved highway system and regularly scheduled snow trains The dirt is coming from a long ridge that used to have a T bar. Snow, Vermont in 1957. I hope they take on an expansion project in the future to ease some of the congestion that can occur. Terrain updates: A new ski trail was cut to North Peak this summer. machines tower mounted on the Canyon, No. Enjoy the beauty of North Michigan at Caberfae Peaks, where you can always find fresh tracks A dozen tumbling freefalls did not discourage me from its charms. My point here is that Meyer and his family are Pure Michigan in that sense. But the audio was compromised, filled with a conversation-from-space crackle that I couldnt scrub out. private stock company in 1967, thus ending thirty years of management by a non-profit board of directors. The first official opening of Caberfae was held in January of 1937. as "Number One" being built. By 1985, the only rope tows on the mountain were the instructor tows and the Shelter tow. Deals like this just made the resort The new group was issued a non-profit After running for the 1959-60 season, the chair was dismantled and sent back to the manufacturer. They built up a ridge on Smiling Irishman to receive this lift, but alongside this, they are slowly building up a large pad toward the backside. Check out the Ski A dozen tumbling freefalls did not discourage me from its charms. Long lines on weekends and a very old lift that isnt worth improving. It would be one thing if it was either south or west facing terrain, but most of it was north facing. Following the stakes and marked trees, below and through the Mountain Slayer run, it looks like the base station for this top station location will be right to the left of Shelter, not the old Bo Buck base station. The lift construction will begin in the next couple of weeks. I was the 5th wheel. permit to operate the ski area by the U.S. Forest Service. No.1 was removed at that time. Things look bleak for the dean of Michigan's ski resorts. They could have easily been relocated from another mountain, or on lift installation surveys prior to 1963. Here is the interview: Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in: You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. novices and experts. What this means is that Caberfae Peaks (LogOut/ The new peak should be planned to allow for slope side lodging as this is lacking at Caberfae and is something lots of families are looking for. Five T-Bar lifts were added between 1959 and 1963: Bull Nose, Number One, Stag's Head, West Ridge, and Tournament. The new trail runs out near the Shelter lift now but expect a new Triple chair to replace this next season.

Michigan Skier Mobile is available for your phone or tablet. towers. It is unclear if it was a new installation or a relocation. It was fun! But yeah, a double isnt enough. The stats in the table correspond to their original installation. South and a quad chairon North gave the resort an entry into its future. After a return to single-chairlift Snow Snake, I stood in dumbfounded amazement at the base of Caberfae, four or five chairlifts sprawling across its two humped peaks poking like a giant snowy camel from the flatlands outside of Cadillac. When I met Meyer on the slopes of Caberfae, he was walking across the base area in a snowsuit, carrying a crackling walkie-talkie. And way down to the side and behind of this new spot they are building up a larger pad with the dirt from the old West Ridge in the backcountry. During the summer of 1967 two chair lifts went up and both were in operation in time for the Chirstmas week. The sale, though, spurred a flurry of activity over the next few years. I may have figured out how to fix the spreadsheet. There was not a Riblet on north peak. I wonder if most of Bo Bucks parts were used for Clubhouse, but for some reason Caberfae wanted a newer drive/tension terminal. The area originally encompassed 28 square miles and was intended as a cattle ranch. This made the extension of intervened and the ski area was not operated during that time. CABERFAE HISTORYPART 4 -- REBIRTH AND RESURGENCE. If you want to listen to it here is the site: https://www.stormskiing.com/p/podcast-50-caberfae-peaks-michigan. The anticipated vertical drop of East Peak is around 400 ft.. That was until the Meyer Family of Cadillac, locals who had been skiing Caberfae since they were kids, bought the ski area. While the outside operation was being transformed, so was the core skier service area. Caberfae Peaks near Cadillac, Added

says: "Caberfae - Where the boys and girls are." The Hall doubles are really not bad lifts, far more advanced with less maintenance than the old Riblet. winds. Crossing into Michigan by land invariably takes you past signs welcoming you to Pure Michigan. The 13-year-old slogan extolls the states vast forests, lakes, rivers, and wildlife, but it has been commandeered by prideful Michiganders to evoke the tireless community DIY spirit of the people themselves. Looks like East Peak is slowly growing towards a distant peak that used to be skied. I agree that the Riblet quad was never installed. Milsap lists a 1959 Doppelmayr T-bar with a length of 1250 feet. It would be odd to shut a lift down and buy a second lift of the same type rather than reuse some of it but its possible. This is a crowd that just loves skiing for the motion and the thrill of it, for the sensation of downhill freefall. Skiers are now lured by a $99 season So maybe parts of it were used elsewhere, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bobo_Newsom. United States, it has been a touchstone for thousands of Midwest skiers spanning generations. Probably that plus the snowmaking. T-bar #6 was probably the 1975 Hall T-bar, there are photos of the lift in operation where the towers look like normal Hall T-bar towers. Hope this helps clear up the confusion in the spreadsheet Feel free to correct me if I did get anything wrong. A triple chair on Eliminating all of that backcountry terrain is likely the only reason Caberfae is still around. Everyones searching for skiings soul.

It As Meyer says in the podcast, their market is the recreational skier. Snow making is where most resorts spend their money in the Midwest. and access 15 km of groomed trails right from the resort. Change), You are commenting using your Twitter account. In the hotel you will find new carpeting in all 36 rooms and Beaties Bar & Grill. The area remained closed until the winter of 1946-47. From the mid 80s to the early 90s, Caberfae started to consolidate what it had, removing, replacing, and abandoning the many surface lifts they operated. The original Michigan destination ski resort is is better than ever. The podcast above is great, worth a couple listens. I sent the above to Tim Meyer ahead of an interview I had scheduled with him. I had thought they were bringing back the Bo Buck lift but now I see it makes more sense to get rid of Shelter at the same time, installing a new Doppelmyr Quad at that prime spot. At the same time, Caberfae has eschewed the Midwest urge to clear-cut its small hills to accommodate the downhill masses trails thread through the forest on the lower mountain, especially on North Peak and off the Shelter Chair, and the wall of trees segregating the baselodge from the slopes create a sensation of rambling bigness unusual for the Lower Peninsula. The Magic Carpet and new base area for 2018-2019. This chairlift would extend from the bottom of the lift to the ski resorts new peak. Shelter in 91, and Clubhouse in 92. This engine was later replaced by a Packard Motor Car engine. made Caberfae accessible to over 35,000 skiers a season. The lift was removed in 1960 after only a few years in operation. had tremendous community support. Vestiges of those early efforts still remain today. As the 1970s drew to a close, however, financial difficulties became a reality for the resort. Opened in the 1930s, the complex grew by the 1970s into what Chris Diamond described in his book, as a sprawling series of hills served by 20-plus rope tows, five T-Bars and a chairlift, spanning some two miles from end-to-end. A 1966 copy of. Just North and East of the North Peak is another Summit that Could be, should be, the future expansion plan if there is a desire to expand. For the 2013/2014 winter season, Caberfae opened the only backcountry skiing & riding in the Lower Peninsula. Added to this is over 1000 feet of larger diameter snowmaking pipe on South Peak to allow for better flow, less friction loss, and a higher PSI. winter, the largest single terrain expansion to date. Tournament T-bar also had those 1960s era Doppelmayr towers, so it would be safe to assume that it could be the 1963 Doppelmayr T-bar. The United States Forest Service co-operated, and a winter ski area was created, with a Civilian Conservation Corps building and a single ski run, known 1,000 Pound Statue of "World Famous Cow" Installed at Botanic Garden in Traverse City, Former President Donald Trump Endorses Tudor Dixon for Governor, House Approves Bill to Help West Fight Wildfires, Drought, UPDATE: Clare County Sheriff's Deputy Passes Away After Falling From Horse, Short's Brewing Company Has Had 'Enough' Dealing with Rude Customers, Sault Ste. The carpet lift, similar to a conveyor, will run Due to high maintenance costs and the Beattie's Bar and Grill in the MacKenzie Lodge. Because of his ancestral background and the large number of deer herds in the area, he called it Caberfae. Always have wanted to hike around the old slopes in the Summer and see what I can find.

With all of this happening on the slopes, perhaps This brings up the question of if Clubhouse was a relocation from Bo Buck or relocated from another area. grooming fleet. Conditions and Weather page, all brought to you compliments of Coyote Crossing Resort. The stock company that owned the area was looking to either sell or close the area and I would love to see a new peak. The artificial hills create a sensation of above-treeline skiing that is otherwise absent between Sugarloaf and Loveland.

even more popular. , this one documenting my inaugural ski season rambling over the Michigan flatlands as a teenager. 128-132). They changed with the times. A big earth moving project happened, I think in 1992*. In 1939, operation and control of the area was It looks to me that they are getting ready to bring back BoBuck after several decades of absence They built up earth forming a ridge on the far edge of the now super widened Smiling Irishman looks like a location for the BoBuck line top station, the old location underground now. I dont know how to fix the table on this page but a few things to consider; The lift labeled Clubhouse and Shelter in the table on this page was originally installed as #1 double chair and as Bo Buck respectively. By the time the 2020-21 season came around, I was embarrassed to go back to Meyer to ask him to re-do a thing he had already done. Nordic skiers will be able to rent XC equipment at the Peaks Caberfae out of bankruptcy, they also set a course to reclaim the resort's former glory. The upgrades for the 2017-2018 season continued to change the look and feel of the resort. The end of World War II signaled the reopening of Caberfae Ski Resort near Cadillac, Michigan. snowmaking to the outer boundaries a tough proposition. Starting chronologically, Caberfaes first aerial lift was a Ramsey chain double bought from Mount Snow, VT, built in 1957. cut the trees and reshaped the land and made the improbable inevitable. CABERFAE HISTORYPART THREE TRANSITION TIME. Caberfae also The name of Caberfae was applied to the land around the The place is absolute joy, no pretense, no arrogance, as down-home as Up North gets. Caberfae is probably the most affordable ski area besides hickory and holiday, both of which are much smaller, one is just tows and the other is two ancient lifts. They have parts from two Hall doubles and soon a third. additional T-Bar, #6, was added to the service on West Ridge. turned over to a newly created group, the Caberfae Winter sports Club, Inc., which was formed by the Caberfae Ski Club and the Cadillac Chamber of Commerce. you'll see will be the new balconies on the McKenzie hotel, the addition of timber trusses and a renovated exterior. The concept of hiring movers, for example, still confounds me, and I moved myself at great hassle but little expense - at least 10 times within Manhattan before settling in Brooklyn five years ago. Trying to re-find the reference for that Bo Buck may have been earlier but they were all similar Hall Doubles. Tim fails to correct the interviewer, the Club base WAS removed along with the little tow rope to allow easy passage from the lodges to the North Peak lifts. I have only found three installations on record, which are the two you have in the spreadsheet (1975 Hall, and 1963 Doppelmayr). Making matters worse, a poor design caused many of the metal parts to warp over the Mount Snow converted one of its Ramsey doubles into a T-bar, so it wouldnt be out of the question for Caberfae to have reused what they could. On skis, one can bypass the Shelter lift at the bottom by skating uphill a bit beside Arlos Deck to make it to the trail to the North Peak lifts. to the array of tow ropes this gave Caberfae twenty lifts servicing 35 trails during the mid-60s. Shelter, the new yet-to-be-named run described earlier, and the backcountry area. West Ridge T-bar, which ran parallel on a longer alignment to #6, had 1960s Doppelmayr T-bar towers.



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