Since purchasing the Keweenaw Mountain Lodge in 2018, the Lodge leadership has been working to operate year-round. In March 2020, it was announced that the Lodge would have winter operations, and be a year-round operation.
During the summer of 2020, as Keweenaw Mountain Lodge leadership explored the winter outdoor activities for year-round operations, research was done on the snow terrain park that was operated by the county at the Lodge during the winters of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. In mapping out the existing snow terrain park, it showed that part of the snow terrain park was on the property that was sold in 2018 and part of it was on county property.
So in August 2020, the Lodge approached Keweenaw County to revitalize the snow terrain park in the same area where it operated during the winters of 2008-2009 and 2009-2010. With the original snow terrain park partly on Lodge property and partly on county property, the Lodge requested to have an easement put in place in order to operate the snow terrain park starting in the 2020-2021 winter. This proposal is provided below:
- KML Snow Terrain Park – Conceptual Plan (initial proposal that was presented at the Keweenaw County Board of Commissioner’s meeting on August 19, 2020)
The county commissioners examined the proposal during multiple meetings in August and September. After review and discussion, it was decided that the county would like to sell the property, as they did not want to have the liability of the snow terrain park along with the liability that goes along with the mountain biking trails on the entire property the county owned adjacent to the Lodge. The Lodge was a willing buyer for the adjacent property (~380 acres). Until the property purchase is finalized, the snow terrain park is on hold.