All Hail Midwest Skiing!

From skiing rivers to snowcat snowboarding, in a land that’s predominantly flat, there’s plenty of on-snow adventure.

You’ve gotta love the Midwest people. They’re resourceful. Given a geography and climate of challenges, they adapt, improvise and make happen what they want to have happen.

Which is why the news of Midwestern snowcat skiing tickles me right where I like it most.

I went to college in Ohio. Spent my youth visiting relatives in Illinois and later visited my brother at the University of Iowa. The land in those places contrasts directly with the mountainous terrain I love most.

But I loved being in the Midwest. The people were friendly, the lifestyle adaptive. After all, they get the frigid, wind-blown winters, the hot, humid summers, and springs filled with biting insects. You’ve got to be intrepid and adaptive to weather that.

But, I’d never skied the Midwest til last winter. In March, I spent a long weekend at Lutsen Mountains in Minnesota.

What an eye-opener.

Lutsen ranks among the Midwest’s largest ski resorts in terms of skiable acreage, trail count and vertical drop. But, it isn’t large by most skiers’ standards. Yes, the skiing is fine. But it’s the attitude that makes the place exceptional. They know how to make the most of things.

I mean, while I was there, we skied a river.

How do you ski a river? Well, you do it on Nordic skis on snow over ice, of course—but the whole river skiing story is a separate one from this.

The point is that these guys know how to milk their assets for everything they’re worth.

Which is why I, upon learning that Ski the Porkies (which I’d not heard of til this announcement came to me) was initiating snowcat skiing in Michigan, smiled ear-to-ear. Grinned like a Cheshire cat. This is definitely beyond cool, I thought. This is the beautifully thinking outside the box.

So, next time you hear westerners or easterners talking trash about Midwestern ski/riding, set ‘em straight. Challenge them to ski a river or take on the Porkies’ cat skiing.

Related Article: Snowcat Skiing in Michigan?