Kody Herman has more logistics to consider than most student-athletes in Leelanau County.

The Glen Lake cooperative ski team also includes skiers from Leland and Suttons Bay.

Herman, a senior on the Glen Lake cooperative ski team, has to figure travel time and gasoline costs as he makes the nearly 100-mile round trip to practice at Crystal Mountain in Thompsonville.

“I was just trying to figure out how to get there with one of our vehicles in Traverse City,” he said.

Herman is one of four Suttons Bay students participating in the cooperative ski team, which is hosted by Glen Lake but also includes students from Leland. Joining him are senior Molly Branson, her younger sister, sophomore Abby Branson, and freshmen Shannon McGovern, a freshman.

“We lost three good athletes to graduation in Matt Ness and Kris Marin from Suttons Bay, and Jeremy Brown from Glen Lake,” longtime coach Mark Fisher said.

Glen Lake seniors Sarah Wiesen and Eric Henry are also part of the cooperative ski program, along with underclassmen Macy Henry (Eric’s sister) and Jack Kerby-Miller. Both Macy Henry and Kerby-Miller are 10th graders. And rounding out the roster are Leland students Peter Rennie and German foreign exchange student Kai Neller.

“Not having Sugar Loaf has really taken a toll on skiing,” said Fisher of the resort, which was last open for skiing in March 2000. “Sugar Loaf was convenient. It takes a much larger effort to get involved. Yes, it takes a sacrifice, but the rewards outweigh the demands.”

Unlike years past in which Mother Nature failed to cooperate by providing snow for the slopes, there has been ample opportunity to ski this season. In addition, several team members made a 7-day trip last month to Colorado to hit the slopes and get their legs under them.

Fisher sees his boys’ and girls’ teams to be right in the middle of the pack of the Lake Michigan Ski Conference. Look for Manistee and Benzie Central as teams to beat, he said.

The team will open the season Tuesday at the Petoskey Invitational at  Boyne Highlands. It is scheduled to be on the slopes at Crystal Mountain on Wednesday, Jan. 9, and again next Thursday at the Cadillac Invitational at Caberfae Peaks.