Mention Michigan’s Upper Peninsula to mountain bikers, and they immediately think of Copper Harbor or Marquette. But there’s a ski resort south of those two destinations that wants to become the area’s newest summer riding destination.
Pine Mountain Resort has long been known as a ski and golf resort. However, it has recently added mountain biking to its list of summer activities and is hopeful that riders from both inside and outside the state will start flocking to its newly built trails.
Singletracks recently spoke with those involved in creating the trails at Pine Mountain to get the story of how the new trails came to be.
For most of its history, Pine Mountain has focused on winter sports
According to its website, Pine Mountain was opened in December of 1939 by Fred Pabst of the Pabst Brewing family. He had created a ski lift and wanted a place to promote it.
After World War II, two veterans purchased the resort. They added snow-making capabilities, along with grooming and aerial lifts. It also became the only ski-in/ski-out resort in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula.
The resort added golfing to its list of outdoor activities in 1996 with the completion of a $12 million course, which is ranked as one of the top golf courses in Michigan. However, as mountain biking grew in popularity in other parts of the state, the resort’s owners showed no interest in including it as a resort activity.
Chad Susott, the current president of the Dickinson Trail Network (DTN), grew up close to the resort and spent a lot of time there. “It has always been a dream of mine to see trails built there, but the resort ownership at the time wasn’t amenable to the idea,” said Susott.
A change of ownership brought a change of heart
In 2022, ownership of Pine Mountain changed hands again when StorieCo, a real estate investment company, purchased the resort. Shortly thereafter, it began discussing the possibility of building trails on the resort’s property with DTN.
Susott told Singletracks that the area’s economy is dependent on tourism, and local ski resorts had been struggling with a lack of snow and shorter winters in recent years. DTN, which was founded in 2019, has already built 20 miles of singletrack in the area, which are generating excitement among local riders.
Fergus Washington-Smith, a senior analyst with StorieCo, said that the resort and DTN had productive discussions in 2023 that led to the resort’s decision to build a little over four miles of trail on its property, along with DTN building an additional two miles of trail on adjacent county property.
Interestingly, these discussions took place while the Ski Bowl lawsuit was being settled. Susott was worried that news of the case would kill their plans, but his fears did not become a reality. “We got ahead of it and showed [the resort] what we could do with design, maintenance, and signage to prevent a similar incident. They were positive about it and very collaborative.”
A DTN Volunteer became the chief trail builder for the project
Even though DTN was instrumental in helping the resort decide to build trails on its property, its status as a non-profit organization prevented it from actually building the trails at the resort. Instead, the resort contracted with Steve Veihl of Iron Goat Trail Construction, who is a volunteer trail coordinator with DTN, to build the new trails.
Veihl had created a master plan for the resort on behalf of DTN. He was familiar with other Midwest resorts that had trails and formulated a design based on the resort’s desire for a family-friendly bike park that would cater to every type of rider.
He began building in April 2023 and finished the four miles of fresh singletrack in November that year. “There’s a lot of hills here, but not a lot of exposed bedrock,” said Veihl. “We have a plentiful amount of rocks. The soil has a high clay content for holding berms, but still drains well.”
Veihl was able to blend the machine-built trails he created on the resort’s property with the hand-built technical trails DTN constructed on the adjacent county property to create a trail system full of variety. “I think we ended up with a fairly progressive trail system that has totally transformed what our local community is comfortable with when it comes to riding,” said Veihl. By providing features like blue trails with optional black diamond features, Veihl said local riders are pushing beyond their comfort zones and improving their skills.
2024 provided a glimpse of how popular Pine Mountain’s new trails could become
2024 was the first time Pine Mountain ever offered mountain biking as a summer activity. To help make it a success, DTN purchased and fabricated a shuttle trailer and donated it to the resort because its ski lift was not equipped to handle bikes. Additionally, the resort leased a small hut located at the top of the mountain to a local bike shop, which used it to rent out bikes and offer repair services.
Janet Novak, the resort manager, thinks the 2024 season was a success. “When talking to guests who stayed here last year, they all loved the trails,” she said.
Washington-Smith heard similar comments. “The feedback has been positive. People are looking at it as a destination instead of a stopping place on the way to other biking destinations.”
Veihl was happy with the results as well. Plus, he enjoyed getting feedback from riders who used the trails during that first season. “At the end of the summer, I applied the feedback to make adjustments to the trails and gave the resort plans for future trails.”
2025 will be a critical year for Pine Mountain as the resort looks to the future
The resort is hopeful that the 2025 summer riding season will be a resounding success. In addition to being added to the Loam Pass, Pine Mountain has invested in adapting its chair lift to accommodate bikes so even more riders can be shuttled to the top of the mountain. It will also host the Pine Mountain 500, a new endurance event, in August of 2025.
Susott hopes all these things will generate enthusiasm and excitement for the trails. “We have a geographic advantage when it comes to visiting riders. They have to travel through our area to get to more well-known destinations like Copper Harbor and Marquette.”
Depending on the success of the 2025 season, the resort might expand its MTB offerings in the future. “We would love to explore more options, and are working to host more events,” said Washington-Smith.
Veihl has already given the resort plans for future trails. He is sitting on the edge of his seat to see how successful the 2025 season will be. “I’m pretty happy with the trails and think they’ll do well.”
Shuttle ticket prices for the 2025 season have not been announced as of press time. Be sure to check Pine Mountain’s website for updates.
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