Opening Day at Indianhead
3 ways to Set Yourself Up for a Great Ski Season
The race to open isn’t every resort’s goal. Some ski areas prefer to build a deeper base so they can stretch their season well into spring. Most ski areas here in the U.P. take a balanced approach, making snow for weeks before opening day and continuing well after, covering their terrain as thoroughly as possible to keep skiers and snowboarders safe.
Chasing Snow, Not Just an Opening Date
The whole point of moving to the Upper Peninsula was to chase the snow and ski as much as the season would allow. Opening day, no matter how modest, is always part of that promise.
Snowriver, still affectionately known by most as “Indianhead”, opened for the season on November 28, the day after Thanksgiving for the 2025-26 ski season. They kicked things off with one green run, Voyager’s Highway, serviced by their six-pack high-speed chair.
Was it the most exciting opening day lineup? Not exactly. But sliding back into skis for the first time of the season felt incredible. One run was more than enough to remind me why I wait all year for this.
Opening Day at Jackson Creek was technically day two of my 25–26 season. I spent my personal opening day at Trollhaugen in Dresser, Wisconsin, where, surprise, they also only had one run open. They do open their park early, but you’ll have to read that opening day blog to learn more about that adventure.
Still, Snowriver felt like home, and that made all the difference.
Rookie Mistakes
Back to opening day reality, people tend to be flustered and forgetful at the start of the season. Skiing is like riding a bike in the sense that muscle memory will get you down the hill, but not in the sense that you can trust yourself to remember all your gear.
Someone always forgets a glove. You wear too many layers. Your bibs feel tighter than you remember. The list goes on.
I felt lucky that my home hill is only ten minutes from my house. I was confident I had the day completely handled.
Oh, how wrong I was.
How can someone spend an entire offseason prepping and still grab two left-handed gloves and leave a pasty in the oven? And why does every resort handle season passes differently?
There I was, standing in Snowriver’s outdoor ticket line with my RFID season pass in hand. I walked up to the window, ready to go, when the woman inside the ticket window said with a sympathetic chuckle, “You’re good… head over to the hill.”
Cue the cold walk of shame.
Finding the Flow Again
From there, the day only got better. The corduroy was crispy, snow was falling, and after about ten top-to-bottom laps on the same run, it was time to call it a day.
One run might sound boring to a lot of skiers and snowboarders, but I love early-season days like this. They’re the perfect opportunity to hone skills before the season gets into full swing. Each lap, I set a small goal, take a different line I noticed on the last run, ride switch a little longer, or clean up something that feels awkward.
I focus on the boring stuff now so that later in the season, my muscle memory is stronger than my fear.
Midwest Magic
I’ll happily take laps on a high-speed chair while the rest of the world still thinks it’s preseason. A lot of people don’t care much about a Midwest opening day, you won’t find 45-minute lift lines like Snowbird or anywhere out West.
But at Indianhead, you will find a community of skiers and snowboarders who want to be there just as badly as you do. That’s probably my favorite part of early-season skiing: watching everyone shake off the rust and look ahead to the season with goals, excitement, and possibility. It makes me giddy.
Nothing beats the magic of opening day. The season is a blank canvas, so many memories to make and new friends to meet.
I don’t know about you, but I took a lot of extra steps this offseason, like moving to the U.P. to make this season better than the last. Because that’s always the goal: to be better than you were the day before and to enjoy another day in paradise.
Three Things You Need for a Perfect Opening Day
Opening day always feels chaotic, but after a few seasons, I’ve learned there are three things that can truly make or break it: food, gear, and snow.
Fuel Your Body
Skiing is basically a full-body workout, like going to the gym or going for a long run. It takes a lot of energy. Getting enough protein and fiber in your meals is so important, especially on opening day when your body hasn’t fully adjusted yet.
For lift snacks, I usually lean toward fast-acting carbs, fats, a little sugar, and some protein. It sounds kind of awful, but endurance athletes know how to keep a body moving without a crampy crash, so I trust them. My two go-to snacks are a pocket PB&J and pocket pickles for electrolytes.
Lunch for me, and the people I ski with, usually doesn’t happen in the lodge. It’s almost always packed in a brown paper bag, hillside. My absolute favorite chalet-packed lunch came from my good father: a curry tuna cranberry-apple sandwich, with extra pickles for electrolytes (clearly a theme).
Dial In Your Gear
During the preseason, you hopefully got as antsy as I did and tried on all your gear only to realize how much attention it actually needed before opening day. Here are a few things I do every preseason that make opening day so much better.
First, I check all my gear for tears, stains, and proper fit while I’m trying everything on. Then I repair anything that needs it. Gear with holes goes to the seamstress (aka my mother), and stains get treated.
To really get my gear into skiing shape, I take the time to re-waterproof everything. This makes such a difference, and I will never skip this step again. Even if something isn’t 100% waterproof, water-resistant gear keeps you warmer than leaky gear, and in emergency situations, you’ll be thanking yourself. (I’ll go into more detail about the products, the process, and the results in another post.)
The night before opening day, I go through an actual checklist I keep on my phone and make sure everything is either packed or ready to be packed. It’s taken four seasons to build a routine and learn all the different gear needed for different conditions, but once you take the time to plan your trips, they become that much more enjoyable. (I’ll also go over how I plan for ski trips in a future post.)
Respect the Snow
This one seems like a no-brainer, but once people get to the resort, they tend to lose all common sense and treat the summit like a free-for-all.
We, as skiers, need to respect the boundaries resorts put up for our own safety. We have no idea what’s underneath the snow the way the staff does. Opening day for about 90% of ski resorts happens during preseason conditions, and we should just be excited that the hill is open at all.
Be patient. The rest of the mountain needs snow, and it’ll come.
