Mt Bohemia, Upper Peninsula, Michigan (off the grid) 2/20/12

At the suggestion of PDQ I decided to visit a ski area in Michigan's Upper Peninsula called Mt. Bohemia. My son Aaron, his friend Hartman and I were heading to Montana and after looking at the areas web site and figuring this might be our best chance to get there decided to go the 300 miles out of our way to check it out. I'm sure glad we did. Mt Bohemia like the rest of the country had a rough snow year. Although conditions more resembled decent spring skiing we could still see the potential of this small gem.

Bohemia usually thrives on lake effect storms off of Lake Superior. I always thought Mad River was somewhat off the grid but Mt Bohemia brings new meaning to the term! There is no snowmaking and since the groomer broke down several years ago there has been no grooming much to the delight of the regulars. The lodge/ticket booth/grill are located in a yurt as are the bar and just about everything else with the exception of a few cabins for rent. There is a great common room where you can gather with the other people who are staying there. We chose to spend the night in the hostel/yurt to save a few bucks. If you had a group of 4 or a larger group it would be worth renting a cabin or a yurt which would hold 10 probably.

We arrived about 10am after driving out to the end of the peninsula. The whole drive out we kept wondering where the mountain was until we started going downhill and realized we were on the top of the mt. the whole way. After booting up we went to buy our tickets and as we were doing so I asked the ticket salesman(Lonnie) for some advice on the best places to go as the trail map is a little hard to figure out. He said if we waited a few minutes he would go out with us and show us around. We later found out he was the owner. He along with his wife and a few others operate the Mt., talk about low key! He showed us around and we guickly realized that you can ski just about anywhere you want. Almost no place is off limits. While only 900 or so of vert the terrain is amazing. Imagine the best parts of Gore all rolled into one or a slightly smaller version of MRG. Lots of rock outcroppings, dropoffs and other terrain features to make a tree/woods skier salivate! Cliff hucks of up to 30ft for those inclined.

We had a great time and saw firsthand the potential of Bohemia if there was more snow. Now the reality. Bohemia is a 17 hour drive from western NY in good weather so a day trip is out of the question! Anything short of 4 days of skiing is probably also. The saving grace might be the fact that you can buy a season pass for $99 on the first Saturday of December.($340 any other time) I'm not quite sure why they have this setup but it sounds like a deal to me.I will probably take a chance and buy one with the hopes off watching the weather and trying to hit it during a stretch of lake affect storms and recruiting a few others to the cause.(PDQ?) If you like an adventure and a totally no frill ski area (except for what really counts, the terrain) then this place is for you. If not don't bother.  All in all a great time and well worth the detour.I'm glad we got to experience it.

PS, sorry I didn't include trail names with the photos. If you skied there you'd know they don't mean much! Also, I'm sorry there's so few photos but I was having so much fun I forgot to take more.  


Hartman in "Outer Limits"


Aaron in "Outer Limits"

Great report -- I've always wanted to go there.

Here's what it looks like under better conditions: link

The Meatheads ran a few segments in their earlier movies. Did they break 200"s of snow this year? Looks like you had some decent weather at least. If you got any more shots it'd be cool to see them as well. And that pass deal, wow!

I'll agree that it's a hell of a drive. I went up there from Buffalo last year for a club competition at school. Stayed in Houghton/Hancock and went up to Copper Harbor.

Driving up towards Copper Harbor I got super excited because there was actually some mountainous terrain. I was wondering if there was any skiing up that way, other than the little Mt Ripley ski area.

I doubt it'll ever happen, but I considered going to MTU (in Houghton) for school. They get a free seasons pass to Ripley, but I would definitely make the trek farther North for the skiing. Hell, I'd ride a snowmobile there!

MTU has a requirement where you have to join a tech club before graduating. In one of the clubs, they make skis, snowboards, skateboards, and wakeboards.

I checked out their trail map... looks like a pretty awesome place!

Good call Rochester Mark (and PDQ).  Think about it... while it was 3 hours "out-of-the-way" when it is ever going to be more on the way then when you are driving from NY to Montana.

That TR that James linked to on FTO... is a great one, and I think there is another good one on FTO somewhere. I believe it's a bit of a telemecca. Did you see tele skiers?

Conditions look pretty good to me. Nice one!

Harv, it was 300+ miles out of our way not 3 hours! Still it was well worth it. We did see a few freeheelers and also a couple of snow boarders. A nice mix of all types. There wasn't anymore than 50 people there I'd guess. As for the conditions they were fine by me but Bohemia averages over 270in. a year and really need it to maximize the amount of terrain you can ski.

$99 for a seasons pass is worthwhile. Lift tix are $50 per day if you pay with a credit card and $54 if you pay in cash. What's up with that? Usually it's the other way around. I guess they don't want to have cash up there. Weird.

Mt Bohemia isn't easy to get to though. I applaud Mark's effort. Glad I suggested it! Wish I coulda been there!

Rochester Mark wrote

Harv, it was 300+ miles out of our way not 3 hours! ...

Wait I thought you Western NY'ers drove 100 mph?

How much snow did Bohemia get this year vs the 270 avg? What percentage was open?

How was Montana!

No one expects the Spanish Inquisition!

Mt Bohemia was just the beginning of an epic 2 month ski trip, which not only included skiing in Montana, but skiing in British Columbia and Utah! They put a few miles on.

I hope that Mark will write up a report for Montana. C'mon Mark! Let's see another TR in this forum!! You are our idol!

Powderqueen wrote

Mt Bohemia was just the beginning of an epic 2 month ski trip...

Still skiing?

Harvey, I'm back to the land called reality. We were gone 5 weeks actually but the trip was definitely epic. I will get a few trail reports together as soon as I collect some photos. PS reality isnt all its cracked up to be!

Man that sounds like my kinda joint.

Here is a photo of one of the yurts at the base that my son took. The runs that you see in the background are about it for traditional open runs. Except for a few in the woods everything else is trees.