BELMONT, Mich. — Blustery but sunny conditions and fresh powder made for the perfect day atCannonsburg Ski Area in Belmont on Sunday.
“Get them out of the house and have a good time,” said Kimberly Anderson, who brought her two sons skiing.
Winter sport enthusiasts have been eager to hit the slopes after a system dumped several inches of snow across West Michigan earlier in the week.
Kimberly’s son, Brennan, said, “We can hit the jumps and we can ski with our friends.”
Cannonsburg opened up on Friday, roughly three weeks after their normal start date.
“It’s been everything that we wanted, albeit a bit late,” said Danielle Musto, marketing director. “We had been building up and building up for opening weekend.”
Must estimates a few thousand people skied, snowboarded, or tubed at Cannonsburg over the past three days, which is comparable to years past.
Among those in the crowd was the Abbgy family, who lives in Texas.
“[We’re] tubing today and then we’ll ski some time this week,” said Judy Abbgy. “Just enjoy it.”
The family wants to experience it all while in town before they head back to warmer temperatures.
“I’m trying to expose them [his kids] to the things as a Michigander I once had and they’re learning to appreciate it,” said Scottie Abbgy. “Shoveling the snow, things like that, that I had to do growing up. I do all the driving around here.”
Elsewhere, Muskegon Luge welcomed snowshoers and cross country skiers.
According to the park’s Facebook page, they hope to open its ice rink and luge track sometime this week if the conditions stay cold.
At Mulligan’s Hollow Ski Bowl, smiles filed the Grand Haven community staple.
Musto says its nice to see the support after so many winter fun spots lost out on business because of the lack of snow.
“It was devastating to us because that [Christmas break] was when all of the families come out and spend day after day here so we definitely lost those few weeks in revenue,” said Musto. “But also, we hire employees in November so they were just waiting to punch in and start making money as well.”
