Mountains/Hills close to Grand Rapids

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II_strapped_II

Member
I am currently in Columbus Ohio, and was planning on moving to Denver in October, but due to some unfortunate events it looks like that may not happen for a little while. In September I will be moving to my parents house in Hasting Michigan just outside of Grand Rapids. I was just wondering where some of you guys from that area ski, and what to expect. Any insight would be fantastic. Thanks guys.
 
yo man, I go to school at Grand Valley State University in Grand Rapids. There is a lot of "hills" around in the area. I always ski at Bittersweet which is Otsego Michigan, great park with a speed quad lift and not bad other runs. But other than that there is Cannonsburg, Timber Ridge, Caberfay (spelling?), Crystal Mountain, and Both Boynes up north. But if your looking for park, bittersweet has the best in the LP (IMO) and is only going to be better next winter. Hope this helps, at least you have names of places to google
 
I live in Grand Rapids. Probably the best hill near by is Cannonsburg. It's about a 20-30 minute drive for me. Rumor has it that it was recently sold to a new owner and I don't know what's going to happen to it next season. But they have a semi decent park and nice people. Join the fun.
 
theres not a hill you didnt name i dont think...except some closer to me in the thumb ... like mt holly and pine nob. otsego has always been know for there park too
 
Cannonsburg is a ten minute drive from me on the North side of GR. Real fun place to ride. South of town about 45 minutes are Bittersweet where Hornbeck grew up, real legit, and then Timber Ridge which is also really fun.
 
we should have a pretty good park at cannonsburg again this year, come on out! always need more skiers there to congregate with
 
I'll be at cannonsburg

and it did get sold. to a guy with a 15 year old son that super into park so that should be getting better
 
Live in GH currently. Ski kinda everywhere. Work in GR. School in Kzoo this fall @ Western.

First off, we ought to meet up and have a lil NS session at a ski area. Pictures, follow-cams, gopro's, etc.

Second off, heres my input on the ski areas.

Bittersweet - between GR / Kzoo. Cannonsburg last year really stepped up their game with the park and I hear Cannonsburg and Bittersweet are going at it for "best lil park close to a big city". They are worth frequenting for your park needs.

Need a little more area to play with, and tired of skiing down the same face? Try going up north to Crystal. Crystal puts a map of their terrain park up, which is fairly accurate. You can find a half pipe here some years, some of the kickers can be really impressive.

Nubs Nob - they had a jump line, heard it was removed way back couple of years ago. Although they do have a half pipe with its own tow, tons of faces to ski off from so you can take a break from the park and not get outrageously bored. Also if you look at the map of the place, look at the T1 glades I think it is? Anyways, short hike up there and you can find A. some powder. B. a perfect place to build kickers in the "MICHIGAN BACK COUNTRY MAN!" The place is big though, tons of lifts, and because of Boyne Highlands being across the street it isn't too busy.

Boyne Mountain - they have a legit half pipe, a junior pipe. Pretty decent amount of stuff to do. Although it is a way up north. I don't know, its fun.

Shanty Creek is pretty fun. They have multiple faces to ski down atleast. 2 terrain parks. I don't recall an impressive jump line really, but the did have enough features to play around on.

Caberfae - no park worth visiting what so ever.

Crystal $28 lift tickets. Shanty Creek $10-20 lift tickets.

Since you are in hastings....you'll probably be considering cannonsburg / bittersweet the most.

dont waste your time at caberfae, even for the $9 lift tickets. its just not worth it really unless you have a free ride up there or something.

Nubs Nob is probably overall the most fun resort to check out given the terrain they have to mess with. They have a ton of lifts, not the fastest all of them, but they have hardly any waits. Even on a Michigan 10 inch dump.

Crystal is pretty busy sometimes, and the slow lifts make it ehhh.

Bittersweets high speed to the top is pretty nice and a good way to get to the park.

If you are interested in carpooling....let us know on here. We like to save that chedda if we can.

Timber Ridge sucks btw, dont go there.

I think Nubs needs to have some NS'ers build kickers way back in the gladed areas that stay virtually untouched even in snow storms haha. That way you got tons of terrain, the pipe, terrain park, and then some back country jumps.
 
Bigger and better plans for cannonsburg again this year! Also, i just ordered a gopro HD and a bunch of different mounts yesterday so im pretty pumped. haha i just had to quote that and rant a bit just because you said something about it and im in class not studying like i should be
 
Boyne Mountain

Nubs Nob

Shanty Creek

Crystal Mountain

Boyne Highlands (if they have a legit park setup)

are all the michigan "super legits" in terms of places that will give you plenty of places to monkey around on. Any NS'er here will tell you that. Although as you notice, they are way the fuck up north, and yeah. for the drive, you are just better off skiing local unless you are craving an expansive terrain to work with, and working with some different terrain parks.

You just don't find somethings that you do at other parks ya know.....

Key things though cost wise.

Shanty and Crystal will always be cheap with liftopia. Either boyne is worth it i guess.

You can buy this michigan skiers gold card, I paid $189 for mine. It got me admission to every ski resort in michigan but bohemia one time. it paid for itself because nubs nob is like $55. either boyne place is like $55. than crystal is $29 on a liftopia pass. shanty is $20ish on a liftopia pass. cannonsburg / bittersweet are both about $20. it saved me money. you can google this card up. and i would suggest it probably, since its what i did to try everything that michigan offered.

Oh yeah. Mt. Bohemia, if you are willing to drive like a day up north, and then a day back down, and time the powder just right....you will have the time of your life. i personally have to say, fuck that. 2 days in a car? i mys well just fly to utah.

They actually have 900ft or something vertical to work with, and its mainly difficult terrain especially for michigan standards. I don't think thy even have a terrain park, but if you are looking for say the "most hardcore skiing in michigan", i would say thats it. i haven't even been there, just watched youtube videos. I might have to say it looks like thye have too have many trees. Aka, cut some of the fucking trees down so you can actually have runs through there. Most of the mt. bohemia videos i see are people who are traversing through trees trying to avoid them (not that i blame them). they have yurts and shit.
 
Bohemia is great just the way it is. Never any lift line, no beginners to get in your way, 100% ungroomed, shuttle bus that runs around the entire perimeter of the property. Hot laps first chair til last it never gets old. That is if you enjoy "east coast" style glades, tight and steep. otherwise there are 3 or 4 very long open trails. Just make sure and wear a helmet because if you get ballsy there is a chance of falling in a consequential situation. Definately worth the trip up, hit marquette one day and bohemia the other. Been up and had great conditions about 7 out of the 8 trips.
 
wiCannonsburg or Bittersweet are your best options. Both parks keep getting better every year. Cannonsburg is more homegrown IMO. Their boxes,rails, and jibs are all made on hill and has more urban setups than Bittersweet. Bittersweet has a lot of rails,jibs,boxes, and other odd setups you usually wouldnt find anywhere else. Both have good jump lines so it up to you with what you like to hit. Cannonsburg usually has little kids all over but the park crew is always fixing everything they decided to run over making them probably one of the best park crew is the LP. The crew is mostly all NS'ers so they know exatly what we wanna hit. Bittersweet is basically the same with their park crew. Biggest advantage for Bittersweet which is the high speed lift they have that gets you to the top in roughly 2 minutes. All up to how you ride and what you like.
 
just found out im going to western this winter semester.

so i will be hitting up bittersweet.

, and i don't even tink its worth it to drive up north anymore. its just so much time in the car for just a smidget more of terrain. I'd rather save the gas for a trip out west.

bittersweet had a little less ghetto feel to it than cannonsburg.

bittersweets high speed lift is where its at. i only had a chance to ski there one day in spring 09 but oh well.

i bet college kids / high school kids tear up the park all day long at bittersweet since its like what 15 minutes away from wmu?
 
yeah your right i have a family member at western and thats where he and his buddies ride all the time. and theres a couple really sick street spots they hit regularly too.
 
Bittersweet is good most of the park in Spencers vid is bittersweet and all of it in the second edit is bittersweet, as legit as you can get in Michigan

http://www.youtube.com/v/T6Pj3SXYKsI">

B-Team Hits Bittersweet from B-TEAM on Vimeo.

They have the park put together really nice with sick features
 


Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

Courtesy of Newschoolers.com

some move videos from bittersweet last year
 
I can't believe how much things have changed around here. I skied a ton back in high school at Cannonsburg (I'm 31 now). I plan to get back into skiing this year (bought my first pair of twin-tips in the off season) and can't believe how nice Cannonsburg and Bittersweet look now!
 
anyone here got the inside hook for a job at bittersweet?

i will be needing all the cash i can get this winter to support everything i want to do in life. 2..3. jobs
 
Hey guys When do the hills in michigan usually open? I checked and boyne said their opening day is sometime late November, is this fairly accurate? sorry to keep buggin, I just have the itch. Thanks guys
 
they "race" each other to open, but lets face it. its michigan. it depends on the weather.

just stay tuned to the websites. they will tell you they need 29 degree or lower sustained temps for them to make snow. they will begin making snow as soon as its possible obviously.

if i were to put money on any hill in particular it might be nubs nob. just because they have an arsenal of snowmaking equipment like none other.
 
I ski nuns about every weekend. The used to have a 22 foot pipe but they are taking that out and putting in a new jump line on a different hill that should be sick!
 
Word, at least most hills have webcams and what not.

Beginning of the season in Michigan is a shit show with the ever changing weather...and I'm stuck feeling like a crackhead from constantly checking the websites to see if they are gonna open for the day or not.

 
most usually schedule opening day for the day after thanksgiving. I rode boyne mountain last year opening day and got knee deep powder all day. 26 inches fell that week rode double black powder all day. pray it happens again.

ps student season passes at boyne are 250.00!!!
 
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