Tyler Lukasiak of Maple City and Richard Robertson of Empire, both 20-year-old Northwestern Michigan College students, were enjoying fresh snow and the lack of lift lines at The Homestead in Glen Arbor Township on Friday afternoon as they took a day off from their studies.
NEW SKIER Diana Kint of Crete, Illinois, masters the “snow plow” on one of the beginner hills at The Homestead last week.
“It’s pretty quiet here right now, but things will definitely pick up over the (Martin Luther King) holiday weekend,” said Robertson who also teaches snowboarding part-time at The Homestead.

In fact, by Sunday, Robertson was working with youngsters enrolled in a 4-H Ski and Snowboarding program at The Homestead through the Michigan State University Extension in Leelanau County. But the 4-H program will take a break this weekend – the Martin Luther King Day holiday weekend – because so many “guests” are expected to show up at The Homestead.

“We had good numbers during the Christmas and New Year break before everybody headed back to work and school,” explained Neil Kalee, head of the ski and snowboarding school at The Homestead. “The weekend immediately following following New Years is usually pretty quiet – but then it picks up again for MLK Day and our first four-day weekend of the year.”
LOCAL SNOWBOARDERS Tyler Lukasiak, left, and Richard Robertson, were enjoying good snow and no lift lines at The Homestead late last week.
Even before most people get off work on Friday, slopes at The Homestead are likely to be filled with locals. It so happens that Friday is a teacher “in-service” day at Glen Lake Community Schools, and The Homestead is offering discounted lift tickets and rental fees on Jan. 14 and Jan. 17.

Meanwhile, the relative handful of people on the slopes late last week seemed to be enjoying themselves.

Novice skier Diana Kint from Crete, Ill., was staying at a relative’s condo at The Homestead along with her husband, Peter, daughter, Anja, and her daughter’s friend Catherine Werner.

“This is just such a beautiful place, and we don’t have anything quite like to where we’re from in Illinois,” Diana Kint said. “We’re having a great time and hope to come back.”

The Homestead’s director of snow sports, Logan Price, said the weather has been cooperating recently despite a thaw right before the New Year holiday.

“As soon as the temperature went back down, we turned on our snow guns and have kept them running,” Logan said. “All the lake effect snow we’ve been getting has helped, too. It’s shaping up to be a very good season.”