Boyne Highlands – Page 12

Boyne Highlands – Zoo-de-Mack Bike Bash – May 21 – 22, 2016

The Zoo-de-Mackinac is a weekend of huge parties with great bands, one of the most scenic bicycle rides in the country, a lot of sunshine, views of the mighty Mackinac Bridge, and one magical island.

THIS IS NOT A RACE! The Zoo-de-Mackinac is a collection of outdoor enthusiasts (3,500 in 2011) who want to enjoy a little physical exercise together in one of the most beautiful areas in the state of Michigan. The bike ride starts Saturday morning at Boyne Highlands Resort and spans 51 miles along Lake Michigan on a paved road with very little automobile traffic.

Riders pedal through rolling countryside and trillium covered forests, along sandy beaches, and are surrounded by breathtaking views of Lake Michigan from 400′ high bluffs. We stop approximately half way, at a unique place called the Legs Inn for a leisurely lunch and to swap stories.

The ride continues on to Mackinaw City, where Arnold Ferry boats have been chartered for the ride over to Mackinac Island. Once on the magical island, check into your hotel and stroll into town to forget the aches and pains from the day’s ride. As the evening wears on, the island comes alive with The Gatehouse, Pink Pony, and Horns hosting post ride parties with incredible live bands!

Zoo-de-Mack Website

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Boyne Highlands – Huck Finn Skier/Boarder X – February 10, 2013

The Huck Finn crew will be at Boyne Highlands to run a Skier/Boarder X competition on the Mac Gully course. This event is open to all skiers and snowboarders who want to go fast and race “head to head” with competitors in their own division. Must be a USASA member in order to compete.

The Huck Finn Series of events are sanctioned by USASA and top finishers will earn points towards an invite to nationals.

For more information about the Huck Finn series of events and about how to become a USASA member please visit www.bonehedx.com.

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Boyne Highlands Resort Celebrates 50 Years – January 31 – February 2, 2014

The 1963/64 Season – Today

Since opening for the 1963/64 winter season Boyne Highlands Resort has maintained a rich tradition of providing guests with a timeless retreat, to which they are warmly welcomed to an uncomplicated and positive sporty experience.

Join us for a full season of special events and treats including our 50th Anniversary Celebration Weekend, January 31-February 2, 2014. The weekend begins on Friday with a special welcome, night skiing, classic movie, horse-drawn wagon rides, and musical entertainment. Saturday evening highlights include a tribute dinner party, live music, fireworks, and much more.
A special lodging package with a commemorative gift will
be available.

The Story of Boyne Highlands Resort

With skiing on the upswing and Boyne Mountain doing well, Everett Kircher, founder of Boyne Resorts, figured it was time for another move.

The Harbor Highlands ski area in Harbor Spring was founded by 27 stockholders from Petoskey, Harbor Springs, and area resorters, and started in 1955 with an expansion in 1958/59. A total of five runs had been cut which extended less than halfway to the top of the ridge and uphill transportation consisted of a pomalift and four rope tows. A small day lodge with a bar and restaurant had been built at the base of the hill. But soon the owners ran out of money, amassed considerable debt and were forced to close down. After being closed for two seasons, the ski area went up for sale. When Kircher decided to buy the property, he insisted on paying off the creditors as well as making sure that all the shareholders recovered their full investments. He said at the time, “I’d like to go into the area with everybody feeling happy about the deal and about Boyne.”

Kircher committed the next year to planning and went on to purchase and additional 2,900 acres of land adjacent to the Harbor Highlands ski area in order to create his vision of a large year-round ski and summer resort. During planning, Kircher, his wife, and six-year-old son, John were squeezed together on a double-place chairlift at Boyne Mountain when Kircher thought, “Wouldn’t it be great to have a three-passanger chairlift instead of just a two? A triple?” And so the phone call was made to chairlift manufacture, Riblet, and they agreed it could be done. When Boyne Highlands opened in the winter season of 1963/64, guest were greeted to not one, but two, of the first triple chairlifts ever built.

Boyne Highlands was instantly praised. The New York Times said, “The new development underscores the fact that Northern Michigan, once known only as a summer resort area, now attracts sports enthusiasts and vacationists on a year-round basis. Winter sports, in fact, have grown phenomenally in this region.”

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Boyne Snowmaking: Making Winter When Mother Nature Fails

Sure, Mother Nature can make beautiful stuff.

She’ll wow you when you wake up to a lovely few inches of glittering flakes as rare and precious as diamonds. But Mother Nature is an unpredictable and sometimes temperamental creature. She’ll tease you and taunt you with a mid-October four inches of surprise powder that will urge you to trade your shorts and t-shirts for snow scrapers and ice melt. And then she’ll follow up with a November that feels a little more like a June, leaving you sweating in your preemptively-donned snowsuit.

But, when Mother Nature fails to provide, it is mankind that steps in.

Man, coupled with machine, tames and harnesses Mother Nature’s processes to create winter. He utilizes the same raw ingredients as Mother Nature–water, air, and energy–to produce a winter that he can rely on. After years of growing frustration with Mother Nature’s untimeliness, a tool was invented to control what no man previously could.

Invented in 1950, the snow cannon could blast a mid-February sized supply of man-made snow. Soon after, Boyne Mountain began experimenting with the snowmaking process, even patenting their own Boyne Snowmaker which was six times more energy-efficient than most systems. While other snow guns could make snow at 28°F degrees, Boyne could make snow at 30°F.

Like mathematicians correcting a difficult equation, the Boyne Mountain Snowmaking Crew has perfected the process of snowmaking over many years to reach more complex, precise and efficient capacities. Boyne recently unveiled a new and improved snow gun called the Boyne Low-E Fan, which makes better snow, is easier and less expensive to use, and makes more snow faster with little water wasted in the process. The crew starts the process with a reservoir of water which is then forced through a pipeline up the mountain. The water is allotted to a series of valves and pipes to the areas where snow is needed.

Next, the Boyne Mountain crew adds air. In the old days, Boyne added air to their snow guns with a huge, military-grade compressor, affectionately known as “Big Bertha,” that could be heard all over Boyne City. However, today the Boyne Low-E Fan Guns take air from twin screw style compressors which save energy and completes the perfect formula at a much quieter level. Now that the process is complete, the Boyne Mountain Snowmaking Crew steps back to let the magic happen. Heavy duty snow flies through the air and falls to the ground, piling up on those dainty little flakes that Mother Nature left.

While Mother Nature can gift us with unique, magical flecks that float down from the sky, she does not always supply enough to feed the hunger for hefty loads of snow that winter-lovers require. It is then that the Boyne Mountain crew steps in heroically to rescue the season. Thank you, Boyne Mountain Snowmaking Crew!

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