The situation for Craig and Anita Huffman of Toledo, Ohio, may be emblematic of what's happening with skiing in Leelanau County this season.

Skiers catch a chair lift ride to the top of a
ski run at The Homestead last week. Above,
snowmobilers Tony Sterly (left) and Kristen
Weber prepare to hit the trail from the
Benchwarmers parkinglot in Maple City.

The couple and their two girls were enjoying fresh powder snow at The Homestead resort last week.

But  they were staying at their condo adjacent to Sugar Loaf Resort.

“I’ve been coming up here for about 25 years now,” said Craig Huffman.  “And we bought the condo at Sugar Loaf about six years ago because we heard the resort was going to reopen.”

That didn’t happen however – at least not for skiing.  The last skiers schussed down Sugar Loaf’s slopes in March 2000.

“There aren’t that many places that are affordable in Leelanau County,” Huffman said.  “Of course, real estate prices at Sugar Loaf have gone way down, and it looked like a great deal six years ago.”

The resort’s owner at the time, a corporation known as Pacific XIX,  headed by Remo Polselli, reopened the resort in the fall of 2001.  Although some cleanup occurred and a restaurant reopened at the resort, work required to repair ski lifts and snowmaking equipment proved too big a challenge. The resort closed  in February 2002 after a second season of decent snow but no skiing.

Sugar Loaf chair lifts remained idle
last week, as they have since March 2000
when skiing at the resort ceased.

Sugar Loaf has remained shuttered since then despite an apparent change in ownership and repeated promises that its reopening was imminent.

“Last year when we were up here around this time, we skied at Caberfae and at Crystal Mountain,” said Anita Huffman. “The Homestead wasn’t even open over Christmas break last year because they didn’t have enough snow.  But this year, things are better at The Homestead than I’ve seen them in years,” she said.

Indeed, the slopes appeared well populated with skiers and snowboarders last week and early this week at The Homestead.  A healthy snowfall early in the season and low temperatures allowing snowmaking were responsible, according to Homestead officials.

The beginners' slope,
at The Homestead, was filled
with skiers taking lessons.

“You just can’t beat having good winter weather,” said Jamie Jewell-VanDuzen, a spokesman for The Homestead.  “It’s always been our goal to be open for skiing the weekend before Christmas – and this year we were able to do that because of the weather. Last year, it was just a little too warm.”

It was expected that warmer temperatures and a chance of rain forecast for this weekend would not do much to deplete a good “base” of snow on The Homestead’s slopes – snow gained though weeks of mostly solid winter weather that began early last month.

“We received a lot of last-minute bookings for the holidays because of the weather,” VanDuzen said. 

“There was fresh snow downstate, and that apparently prompted a lot of people to head north to go skiing,” she said.

Early this week, all five of The Homestead’s ski lifts were open, and 13 of its 15 runs were open.  It was expected that all 15 runs would be open this weekend.

In its heyday, Sugar Loaf Resort added about 200 jobs in Leelanau County every winter. 

Meanwhile, The Homestead has remained an employment mainstay, with a similar number of jobs added every winter.

Skis, poles and snowboards wait
for use at Glen Arbor Townships'
Homestead resort.

“This year, we had far more applicants than jobs available,” said Jewell-VanDuzen.  “It’s a little scary that so many people are still  looking for work.  I don’t know when we’ve received more applications for employment.”

Most of the employment applications were from local residents, Jewell-VanDuzen said, meaning, Leelanau, Benzie and Grand Traverse counties.  In years past, The Homestead has relied heavily on labor provided by foreign students working through an exchange program, but not in recent years, she said.

Meanwhile, reports that the sale of Sugar Loaf Resort may be imminent have remained unverifiable – although the Enterprise has been able to confirm that Brad Lutz of Omena may be a potential buyer.  Lutz has declined to provide comment on the record.

The resort’s current owner is listed as Kate Wickstrom, a Leelanau County native.   Wickstrom announced that she’d purchased the resort from Polselli in March 2005.  Since then, she has announced plans to reopen the resort several times – but with no results.