Modern hotel room with two double beds, gray accents, and a wooden desk.

The Transformation Continues

As August arrives and fall begins to signal its arrival in the Northwoods, the many crews working across the resort continue pressing forward on countless projects. Work has been completed on the first-floor hotel rooms in The Lodge at Jackson Creek and the team is wrapping up work on the second floor this week. The renovations include new flooring, paint, furniture, and fixtures throughout all 20 rooms, including the bathrooms! The blue, pink, yellow, and green bathrooms are officially a thing of the past and I can't wait for our guests to see the new finishes. Simultaneous progress is also being made on the first-floor common areas inside The Lodge with new flooring, paint, ceilings, and furnishings on deck to be completed before the start of our winter season. The first few guests to see the renovations have been blown away by the incredible transformation our team has pulled off this summer. 

Black River Basin Chalet

The Lodge isn't the only building seeing a refresh this summer. The Black River Basin Chalet will also see some love. New flooring has already been installed across the entire first floor, a long-needed replacement of the wrinkled, duct-taped, and faded green carpet.

Large room with patterned carpet and wooden walls, empty chairs and tables on the left.
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Check out just how much more modern the whole building looks with the new carpeting. We hope to repaint some of the accent walls throughout to compliment the blue in the carpet and make the space feel more lively and fresh. On the second floor, the same carpet will be installed in the southeast side and bathroom hallway. A different dark grey carpet will be put down inside the Gabbro Grille. Along with the new floor the Gabbro Grille's stage is being relocated to the Northwest corner of the space to create more room for concertgoers, provide better flow during larger shows, and allow us to book bigger bands to play in that venue given the greater visibility. This rendering shows what we expect the space to look like when complete. New ceiling tile and lighting should really class up the venue for concerts, weddings, and bar/restaurant guests alike.

Band playing on an indoor stage with large windows and a stone fireplace.
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Person in yellow safety gear using a chainsaw in a lush, wooded area.

Brian's Dream

Brian has been busy this summer carving out new glades across Jackson Creek Summit. This past week his crew has been working on the section of wooded cliffs on the skier's right side of the East T-bar. This steep section is easily accessible from the top of the T-bar and has been enjoyed by a few daring folks over the years. Brian has been eying this area for glading since he started working here for its great pitch, unique cliffs, and easy access. Finally given the green light this season, the crew has made quick work of the lower half of the woods, making their way up past the cliffs as I write. When complete this will be our largest gladed area on the hill with over 3 1/2 contiguous acres. I can't wait to ski it!

Wild hillside with ski lift poles and trees under a pale sky.

Voyageur Express

Work on the new chairlift is ongoing. Over the past few weeks since the towers were installed, our team has been working their way down the mountain torquing all of the bolts to spec, one by one. That work should wrap up by the end of this week. With the towers now in place, our ground crew has been focused on re-vegetating all of the terrain that was disturbed during construction along the lift line. The sooner we can get vegetation growing on the steep sections of the disturbed slope, the better. The team has been attentive to building diversion ditches, spreading seed, laying straw mat, and setting up silt fencing in strategic locations to prevent the rain from causing erosion. It's great to see the new growth popping through already after only a week's time to germinate.

Excavator and dump truck working on a dirt mound, surrounded by trees.

The excavation team from Ruotsala spent the day yesterday, August 7th, backfilling at the drive terminal site. Since the new lift is unloading at a higher elevation than the surrounding terrain, the new foundations weren't placed very deep into the ground and extra material beyond what was excavated was needed to completely cover them. In the adjacent photo, you can see their excavator removing material from the former unloading site of the Quad Chairlift and placing it into a large off-road dump truck for the short trip to the top of the new lift. The big equipment quickly ate away at the mound and in no time it was completely gone. 

Construction site with an excavator on a dirt hill, surrounded by trees under a blue sky.

With all the dirt now in place at the top of the VX6, it is really starting to look like a lift could actually land there. For the last month or so it was looking like we were building one heck of a tree stand up at the top of the mountain. As of yesterday, we received our first shipment of terminal steel from Salt Lake City with the remaining components scheduled to ship out of Canada by the end of the week. I'm really looking forward to watching the terminals take shape towards the end of the month. Erik and the crew have been hard at work staging materials and preparing for the terminal builds to ensure a smooth and quick assembly once the crane is on-site. Stay tuned to our live cams and watch as the terminals go vertical. Soon, this thing is going to start looking like the real deal!

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Skiers glide through snowy forest trail in winter setting.