High school ski season struggling to reach the starting blocks

HARBOR SPRINGS — There may not be another Michigan High School Athletic Association sponsored sport that relies on outside factors as much as the ski season.

Sure, golf has to wait for things to clear up and dry out, baseball and softball are no fun with a water-logged ball, but skiing takes the cake.

No snow simply means no season and that’s how the 2023-24 campaign has gone so far.

Around the Petoskey and Harbor Springs area, it’s been an issue for many wanting to hit the slopes – not just at the high school level – but particularly for powerhouse programs like the Northmen and Rams.

“Obviously it’s been a bit of a slow start with weather conditions not cooperating how we would prefer, but we’ve been making the best of it and we’ve been on the snow quite a bit doing some free skiing and some drills and exercising,” Petoskey coach Ben Crockett said. “Hopefully as soon as we’re able to race we’re going to be in good shape to be able to do that.”

Just when the season will and can get going seems to be the biggest question at the moment for everyone.

The annual Petoskey–Harbor Invite, a race that brings teams in from throughout Northern Michigan and the state, has already been called off after being originally scheduled for Monday, Jan. 8.

While it’s not the first ski season to be dealing with a lack of snow, it’s come with warm temps that have also made it near impossible to build up any base on the area hills with the snow guns.

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Nub’s Nob is home to both Petoskey and Harbor Springs, along with Petoskey St. Michael, though they’ve been operating with just a handful of runs open to start the season.

In Crockett’s eyes, it could be worse, though.

“We’re in better shape than a lot of schools in the fact that we have an open ski area,” he said. “Even up in the U.P. I’m hearing that they’re struggling to stay open without any snow, so it’s hard to complain.

“(Nub’s) has a three-day window here where it looks like the temperatures will be cold enough. Then it might warm up again. It might be a bit of a struggle to get the season going, but what can you do.”

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Like Petoskey’s teams, Harbor Springs and coach Brewster McVicker have been just putting the focus into other areas of training.

“The kids are working and mother nature is just telling us we need to work more on skills,” McVicker said. “So, that’s what we’re doing. A lot of fitness and a lot of skills work.”

McVicker is hopeful things will soon change and the pack on the hills will be solid enough to get gates in and skis flying past them.

“We just need more depth right now,” he said. “There have been races going on in the Midwest. It’s a challenge for sure, but there’s been other events going on out there with very little training for anybody.

“Right now we’re just hopeful we’re going to be able to have our first league meet on January 11 at Nub’s Nob. If we just pray a little more for colder temps, I think we’ll be OK.”

The Rams were supposed to open the season this week near Houghton at Mont Ripley, though even that far north had to make the decision to temporarily close until conditions better.

Harbor’s girls are coming off a season of a regional title at Nub’s Nob a year ago, while the boys also headed to states with a third place regional finish.

For Petoskey's boys, it’s been four straight state championships – including a 2023 regional title – to get the dynasty built back up, while the PHS girls earned a runner-up finish at the finals last season.

Both teams return some solid skiers, though none better than Petoskey’s Marley Spence, one of the state’s best the last couple years, regardless of division.

“We’ve graduated some strong seniors, but Marley Spence is coming back on the girls side and she’ll obviously be in good shape,” Crockett said. “Then for the boys, we’ve got some underclassmen who are definitely going to be competitive. I think it’s going to be good.”

Petoskey’s first Big North race is scheduled well beyond when Harbor and the Lake Michigan Conference teams are set to start, with a Schuss Mountain hosted event on Monday, Jan. 22 starting things off.

In the meantime, Crockett will keep the team training on the little things and hope for more snow, just like everyone else.

“We’ve been making the best of it,” he said. “One of the things is we’ve been able to focus on some fundamental skiing stuff that in times we’ve had to skip over some getting ready, so it’s been a mixed bag, but it’ll be helpful in the long run that we’re able to do some of that work too.”

Contact or send game stats/info to Sports Editor Drew Kochanny at dkochanny@petoskeynews.com. Follow him on X, formerly known as Twitter, @DrewKochanny, and Instagram, @drewkochanny

This article originally appeared on The Petoskey News-Review: Ski season for Petoskey, Harbor Springs and others off to slow start