To celebrate 75th anniversary, Boyne Mountain will offer 75 hour challenge
BOYNE FALLS — If you’ve ever wanted to stay out skiing all through the night, Boyne Mountain’s latest challenge is made for you.
As part of their 75th anniversary celebration, Boyne Mountain is issuing a 75 hour challenge to see who can ski the most runs over a 75 hour period. The challenge starts at 2 p.m. on Wednesday, Jan. 10 and concludes at 5 p.m. on Saturday, Jan. 13.
“We are running the chairlift for 75 hours straight,” said Kari Roder, director of marketing for Boyne Mountain. “Whether it’s taking one run every hour for all 75 years that Boyne Mountain has been open or putting a team together and doing this as a team. Whoever can ski the most runs over the 75 hour period will win prizes, so that’s pretty fun.”
Participants can collect pledges to raise money for Challenge Mountain. Proceeds from registration fees and lift tickets will also benefit Challenge Mountain during this event.
“I love working with Challenge Mountain. They’re a great crew to work with,” Roder said. “They do a really good job of displaying all the different services that they offer, so I think it’s a really great thing for people to learn and understand what their programs are and who they’re for. They can be life changing for people. I’ve seen it from my own experience. My niece has cerebral palsy and I took her to Challenge Mountain and she skied with me and it was amazing.”
Chairlifts will be running as normal through regular business hours and the Hemlock chairlift will be running through the night during the 75 hours.
Event registration is $175 for adults and $75 for youth ages 17 and under. It includes a 4-day lift ticket valid Jan. 10-13. For season passholders, registration is $45 for adults and $30 for youth. This adds overnight access to your season pass.
Participants will also need to download the Boyne Mountain app as all tracking for the event will be done through the app.
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Charging stations will be available at the Eagle's Nest during the event, which will also be open until 2 a.m. for snacks and drinks. A live DJ will provide music from midnight to 2 a.m. on Thursday and Friday nights.
“Just know that there will be people who will ski all 75 hours if they can,” Roder said. “We did a 70 hour challenge five years ago and it was wild the people that were super dedicated and were out there all night long.”
But the 75 hour challenge is just the start of a weekend-long celebration for Boyne Mountain.
“We’re really celebrating our 75th anniversary all weekend,” Roder said. “We officially opened Jan. 10, 1949, so kind of fun to start the 75 hour challenge on the 10th. But it will lead into the weekend.”
Resort pioneer Everett Kircher bought the 40 acres of land with a single dollar and launched a skiing legacy in Northern Michigan.
The weekend schedule calls for parties and performances for everyone at the resort.
“We had grand plans of having snow sculptures, not sure that that will happen due to weather, but we’ll still keep our fingers crossed,” Roder said. “Then we have a nice reception and awards ceremony for the 75 hour challenge. We’ll have live music playing … We’re going to cap it all off with our first ever drone show at 9:30 p.m. on Saturday and then invite people to the Snowflake Lounge for a vintage ski sweater party.”
For full details about the 75th anniversary celebration, visit boynemountain.com/upcoming-events/75th-anniversary.
— Contact Jillian Fellows at jfellows@petoskeynews.com.
This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: To celebrate 75th anniversary, Boyne Mountain will offer 75 hour challenge
