We have decided not to be open to the general public for the 2019-2020 winter season at the Lodge.
Up until this week, we were working towards being open from December 26th to March 30th. Doing so would have marked the 3rd winter season that the Lodge would be open during the winter (the Lodge was open during the winters of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010). However, we were not able to answer several questions that we wanted answered before making that final decision to be able to stay open during the winter season.
The main questions that we wanted answers to before being open in the winter for the general public were:
- What do we do during the Monday-Tuesday-Wednesday period each week? (revenue)
- What buildings to keep open — have to keep open — to be able to create the atmosphere we want to be known for at the Lodge? (operations)
- How certain are we that the water lines won’t freeze, and that we all guests will have access to running water? (operations)
- How certain are we that we have the necessary snow removal equipment? (operations)
- How many staff members would be needed to service the guests, and who those people would be? (operations)
During this winter we will do some more tests with the facilities, including keeping 6 cabins and 6 hotel rooms heated, keeping the water going to those units, and snow removal for those units. This will provide us more data for when we do open to the general public during winter, and thus more assurance that we will be able to offer a fun.joyous.adventuresome experience for guests during the winter.
Our last day during the 2019 summer season for Lodging will be October 27th. That weekend, a Cyclo-cross event will be held in Copper Harbor, with one of the races being on the Lodge property (on October 26th).
Once we select the date in May 2020 that we will open for the general public for next year’s summer season, we will let everyone know.
[ Update: May 1, 2020 will be the first Lodging date for the 2020 summer / fall season ]
Thank you for all you have done with the KML and for keeping the public informed on your plans. We look forward to Spring 2020 and beyond! Good luck with your facilities tests and hopefully we will be able to enjoy some winter activities there in the future.
Glad to see your approaching this venture with such logic!
Good Luck with everything, hope it works out so you can have a great winter next year!
Looking forward to a visit this summer, will definitly make a visit to the Lodge!