It’s time to venture into the Northern Michigan outdoors and conquer the slopes. Welcome, ski season. Whether you’re a first-time skier or a pro, here’s what you need to know about the 2015-16 season of Northern Michigan skiing at Boyne Mountain Resort in Boyne Falls.


The conversation below is part of a series of MyNorth interviews with Northern Michigan ski resort managers about the 2015-16 downhill season.

We ask Ed Grice, president and general manager Boyne Mountain Resort, in Boyne Falls, to share what he wants downhill ski and snowboard fans to know about the 2015-2016 winter season.

Let’s start with something that just floats to the top. Tell us the first cool thing that comes to mind about Boyne Mountain now.

One exciting thing is the readers of Freeskier Magazine just voted Boyne Mountain as the No. 1 ski resort in the Midwest for freeskiing, and Transworld Snowboarding magazine ranked Boyne Mountain No. 1 in terrain parks among the top five Midwest ski resorts.

That has to feel good.

There is a lot of effort that goes into it, certainly, all for our snowboard and freestyle skiers.

Are there any behind the scenes changes people should know about?

We have enhanced our Boyne Low E Fan Gun [snow-making machines]. We changed the nozzle design so it makes snow four times faster, and it uses a lot less air, which is expensive to produce. Plus it makes a drier and higher quality manmade snow than regular guns.

Any thing to mention in the “low-profile but important” category?

We are increasing our lift time on the Ramshead lift so that will give more acces to the Ramshead terrain park.  And we’ve expanded our snowboard fleet by 160 boards. Also we have expanded the fat tire trails from 5 kilometers to 10 kilometers. It’s crazy the kind of terrain you can get over on those bikes. We have six fat tire rental bikes, but many people bring their own.

We’ve heard there’s a good bit of off-hill changes at Boyne Mountain. Tell us about those.

One big thing is we’ve had a complete makeover of the spa at Boyne Mountain—a very refreshing decor—and we are in the process of adding new pedicure chairs and adding all new fitness equipment in the fitness area. Also, our retail team is putting the final touches on a new North Face Store, and that will be open for the ski season.

What about the food and beverage side of things?

We have a brand new restaurant called 40 Acres Tavern opening on December 5. It will also be located on the Village Lane. It will feature over 40 different beers, with eight Michigan craft beers on tap and a pub menu. We are really excited about that.

Anything else?

We are all just waiting for Mother Nature, looking at the forecast.


More Northern Michigan Skiing

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Photo(s) by Ed Grice