Update:
Minocqua Winter Park
"Our ski foundation is committed to do whatever we have to do to survive." By Greg Marr It was, by any measure, a horrible season for winter sports lovers in the
upper Midwest last year. Pockets of fine snow existed in places like Michigan's Upper Peninsula, but far from the Midwest's population centers. With the ground brown instead of white until late in the season, most ski center operators could do little but gaze out the window and pray for snow.
All ski areas suffered but none more so than Minocqua Winter Park in northern Wisconsin. The financial plight of MWP was chronicled in these pages last January. Rumors have been flying last year
that the heralded ski center was closing, that another poor year would force it to shut down.
With five of six seasons (now six of seven) being poor snow years, skier visits were down considerably, and MWP has depended on skiers to drive its financial ship. Last year, we noted that without the necessary income from user fees, MWP would be forced to continue to borrow funds for its daily operation, and it's essentially borrowing from itself. The foundation had money set aside for
grooming equipment but has had to borrow from that fund for day to day operations.
"We've been living off that money for a couple of years," said Llona Clausen, former manager of the ski center and currently on the Lakeland Ski Touring Foundation board, which runs Winter Park, "and when we use this money, we will eventually have to pay it back. We've just borrowed it to stay afloat." That money is running out.
Clausen and foundation president Raulf LaMarche
were adamant, however, that MWP would be open last season and be open for the foreseeable future, regardless of what Mother Nature brought or didn't bring.
No one could have foreseen last season, however.
When the snow didn't come and the skiers stayed home, MWP shifted into crisis mode and managed to do as they said open when the snow finally arrived. But it was too little too late to be of much help financially.
Over the spring and summer, the buzz has been that there's
no way MWP can open. I've heard the rumors.
"We have been hearing that the rumor mill has us as being closed," says Clausen. Well, we can put that to rest. "We will be open," Clausen adds.
"The biggest news update is that the Minocqua Winter Park Trail Fund got its 501(c)(3) in July," points out Clausen, "so we now can take charitable donations. This has been a big effort."
Actually, MWP could accept charitable donations before
anyone can accept donations the difference is now the giver of the donation gets a tax deduction. Large corporate donations don't usually come unless the donation can be deducted.
"The main function of the Trail Fund is to pay for new grooming equipment and serve as a land trust," Clausen said last year. "We're hoping for sizable donations into that fund."
The thinking is that the Trail Fund will finance all the grooming equipment, upkeep and wages to take that
financial burden away from trail fees, which have been responsible for funding all that plus the chalet and other services. If all goes well with the Trail Fund, and snow returns, there's even the possibility one day of a reduction in the trail fees.
Snow is the key, however, everyone knows that and everyone is tired of waiting for it to happen. Telemark Resort had great success with its man made snow loop last year and a number of Alpine centers welcomed the skinny ski crowd with
early morning hours. Snow making, once seen as impractical and too expensive for cross country trails, is now being looked at as the savior of the sport. MWP is now on the list of Nordic centers looking at making what Mother Nature hasn't been delivering lately.
"We did get a $4,800 grant to hire an engineer to design a snow making system," says Clausen. "We hope to get the design work done this fall, and begin work on more grants and fund raising to begin work in early snow
production."
An engineering firm has already consulted with the MWP board and there's a strong possibility that limited snow making will be available for the coming season. "It's labor intensive and expensive to set up," says Clausen, "but we could have one (snow making) gun operating this year for $27,000."
As for what gets covered with the man made snow, there are several options. The simplest is to blow piles of snow and physically move it to where it
is needed. On the other end is drilling hydrants, laying piping and have guns placed along a trail. The cost for something like that is in the neighborhood of $250,000.
At this point, Clausen says the most practical thing would be to cover an area in front of the chalet and fashion "about a kilometer of trail" that would include a portion of the former downhill slope to make a course Clausen describes as "hilly and challenging." Clausen says that having snow making
capabilities has aesthetic as well as practical value.
"The area in front (of the chalet) gets baked and kicked by the wind. Making snow in front would make it look nicer when people drive in."
There can be decent conditions on the trail in the woods, where the snow is sheltered and more protected from sun and wind, but people will sometimes drive away if the first thing they see is a patchy, icy, windblown open area by the chalet.
"If you have snow making
(even in a reasonably good season), you can patch bare spots," Clausen adds. "You have the ability to make the trail system hold up."
This optimism for the coming season comes on the heels of the worst season in 50 years. The season at MWP was about five weeks long. In a good year, MWP has 17,000 skier visits, in an average year it's about 11,000 skier visits. This past winter, there were fewer than 2,000 skier visits.
"We were open most of February and part
of March," Clausen points out. "It was rock skiing in January, and I mean rock skiing. If people wanted to go out, it was free. I remember on Saturday in January, we opened, although there wasn't enough snow to groom. Before we opened, I had gone out and skied in a track. Other people skied in another 4K or so, then all day people showed up and skied in our tracks. Some people donated the full trail fee for that. People were very generous."
With little to no income, MWP
was forced to run as a bare bones operation, laying off its paid staff and running with volunteers.
"The volunteer effort was amazing," says Clausen, "and the most amazing volunteers were those people who are normally paid staff but volunteered their time. Shelly Richard, the manager of MWP, volunteered countless hours working on the accounting and office work. Dave Sconzert, one of the main trail groomers, also volunteered many hours of grooming time. Another volunteer
of special note was Lisa Bogumill, our kitchen angel. A kitchen run by volunteers can quickly become a kitchen of chaos but Lisa volunteered on numerous occasions to organize the kitchen and not only keep it going but still offer great food."
"The Northwoods Ski Touring Association volunteered for all kinds of jobs, from cleaning the chalet to helping with the ski race."
"It was really tough but we got through it," Clausen adds. "We had to accept
that things weren't going to be perfect. I learned that we just had to muddle through it. If the track was set on the wrong side, if the cash register was screwed up, it didn't matter. Everyone was trying to do their best."
Clausen herself often spent long hours opening the chalet, running the ski shop when her husband, Dan, was away, selling tickets, cooking, occasionally grooming trails and then cleaning up at the end of the day. She says the skiers who did turn out were
"very kind and patient with the volunteer staff."
Other volunteer help included the time of attorney Kevin Breslin, who did the legal work on the 501(c)(3), and MWP secretary Sally Hammerslag, who worked up the Trail Fund bylaws. Contributors to the fund so far have included individual skiers with donations ranging from a quarter to thousands of dollars, and the Marshfield Clinic of Minocqua and the main office of Marshfield Clinic. Minocqua area skier and physician Jim
Mullen donated the flags and flag poles for the Adopt A Flag program, which will allow people to make a donation to a variety of national flags and have their names placed on a plaque at the base of the flag pole. Mullens also donated a teepee for the children's play area.
Special events played a major role in keeping MWP afloat last year. The annual Australian Wine Tasting Party has become more and more popular each year, with all the wine samples donated by a local retailer, Trig's.
(Trig's, by the way, has the best wine selection you'll find outside of a major metropolitan market; I make it a stop on all my trips to Minocqua). The Howard Young Cup ski race in March, sponsored by Ministry Health Care, and the Bail Out Bike Race in May, sponsored by Marshfield Clinic, brought in much needed cash, as did a new event, the Valentine's Day Dinner Dance. This new activity, with a silent auction, was the biggest fund raiser of all, netting $5,000.
Thanks to the volunteer
efforts, the generosity of skiers and the community, and the special events, MWP survived a disastrous season. Amazingly, it turned out to be about a break even year, financially.
"Our ski foundation is committed to do whatever we have to do to survive," says Clausen. "We'll do everything in our power to stay afloat. Snow making is high on the priority list. We're also hoping for room tax dollars to help out."
"The main thing now is to squelch the rumors
that Winter Park is closed. Even last year, when we were open, I talked to people who heard Winter Park was closed. Yes, we had a terrible snow year but we've done a lot of fund raising and will do more. We're not going to let the thing die."
| |
