If you squint your eyes while looking up at these steep-sided, rocky hills north of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, you can almost imagine you’re in Colorado.
It’s that rugged-looking. And as in the Rockies, you can see an almost alpine glow on those rare cloudless days when the early morning sun turns the hilltops to gold.
As a result, this Canadian ski mountain has a feel that’s different from the slopes in neighboring Michigan, which are built on knolls, ridges and, at least near Detroit, on bulldozer-built dirt piles.
Searchmont Resort, an intentionally laid-back kind of place, carries the warmth of an old-style ski area.
Owner J.J. Hilsinger despises glitz. What he wants is for people to have fun. He calls it “funability.”
For skiers, it begins with a guy in a goofy, striped Cat-in-the-Hat topper who helps you unload the skis from your car right by the ticket window. He laughs and jokes and, best of all, he saves you from trudging a long distance with your slats on your shoulder.
Next, Searchmont lures skiers and nonskiers out to have fun. “The strategy,” Hilsinger says, “is to provide so many options for sliding down a hill that nobody can really say no.”
Searchmont offers 18 downhill ski trails, snowboarding, some of the Midwest’s prettiest and most interesting cross-country skiing, snowshoeing trails, ice skating and five zippy chutes for tubing.
Searchmont also has a number of superlatives to recommend it.
Since its opening in 1984, it has had the highest vertical drop in the Midwest. This year, it can also claim the Midwest’s longest snowboard park and longest beginner’s run.
Vertical drop is the distance from the top of the mountain to the base. For Searchmont, that’s 700 feet. The highest in Michigan’s Lower Peninsula is Boyne Highlands at 550 feet. The Upper Peninsula has three mountains of 600 feet or higher.
The newly extended snowboard park runs a half-mile, complete with spines, a quarter pipe, rollers and table tops.
The beginner’s ski run, called Cloud Nine, is three-quarters of a mile long. “We are in the beginning and intermediate skier business,” Hilsinger says, but Searchmont indeed has some challenging advanced slopes.
These include the narrow, bumpy trails through the trees to the far left, called Hard Drive, and the deceptively named User Friendly.
But most of all, unlike many Midwestern ski areas with short runs, you don’t feel like a yo-yo skier at Searchmont — going up and down, up and down, nonstop.
The runs are just long enough at Searchmont — as long as 1 1/4 miles — to let most skiers stop once or twice before standing in another lift line.
Many northern Michigan skiers, who live within easy driving distance of the Soo, look on Searchmont as one of their favorites. They like the variety of terrain, and they say some of the slopes are more challenging than Boyne Mountain and the atmosphere is extremely friendly.
The cross-country skiing is particularly good. Searchmont has 18 1/2 miles of trails. They vary from fairly level paths along the valley floor to a lacework of trails up the side of a ridge that offer dramatic vistas over the adjacent valley.
And coming back from the top is a treat. You can basically glide downhill nonstop for a full mile.
Although Searchmont has a lot of positives, including relatively short lift lines, it also suffers a few negatives.
It can get cold — Canadian-style, wind-off-Lake-Superior cold.
Hilsinger contends that, on average, Searchmont is only 5 degrees colder than the Michigan ski areas. That may be true. But I remember some occasions up there when I thought my face would freeze off and I’d have to carry it home in a paper bag. This year, if El Nino acts as predicted, the days should be noticeably warmer, however.
Also, the resort has few places to stay — 12 townhouse-style villas and three chalets.
That means most U.S. skiers must find hotel rooms in Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, 30 minutes or so to the south. The good news is that Soo Canada has lots of terrific and inexpensive hotels, as well as some fine restaurants. And remember, in Canada you get a 30-percent break on the U.S. dollar.
So if you’re headed that far, you might as well stay a while.
DETAILS ON SEARCHMONT
Getting there: From Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, drive north on Ontario Highway 17 and look for the signs marking a right turn onto Ontario Highway 556 to Searchmont Resort. It’s 29 miles from the Ontario city.
Lodging: The resort has 12 townhouse-style, two-bedroom villas and three chalets with three or four bedrooms. All units sleep four to six people. Prices can be as low as $58 per person per day, including lift ticket, if you get accommodations for six adults.
If you can’t stay at the resort, Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario, offers lots of choices, including major hotel chains.
One favorite of skiers is Algoma’s Watertower Inn; another is the Ramada Inn Indoor Resort, with a knockout water slide for the kids.
These and a number of other hotels offer Searchmont packages that include lodging, lift tickets and, in many cases, breakfast.
For a free brochure on Searchmont that lists hotels and prices, call 705-781-2340.
Resort stats: Vertical drop: 700 feet. Slopes: 18 trails, five chutes for tubing. Three-quarter-mile green run; half-mile snowboard park. Nordic: 30 miles of groomed trails for skating and classic. Skiable terrain: 60 acres. Terrain difficulty: 20 percent beginner, 60 percent intermediate, 20 percent advanced. Lifts: one quad, one triple, one double, one poma, one lift for snow tubing. Snowmaking: 90 percent coverage.
Facilities: Schools for downhill and cross-country skiing, snowboarding and racing. Children’s center for ages 6 months to 7 years. Rental shop with shaped skis, conventional skis and Oxygen snow boards; sportswear boutique. Food at the Eatery, a cafeteria, and drinks at Bernard’s Bar.
Lift fees: $30 U.S. a day for adults; $15 for ages 6-12; free for children 5 and younger.
Information: Call Searchmont Resort at 705-781-2340.
