Winter is here! This means snow and outdoor fun! And Nubs Nob is one of the premier ski locations in Michigan. Ben shares with us not only his love of skiing but also how this is a family favorite of snow-bound Michiganders.
Links:
Nubs Nob Ski Area Website
Nubs Nob Facebook
Address:
500 Nub’s Nob Rd.
Harbor Springs, MI 49740
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Transcript:
Cliff Duvernois: [00:00:00] Hello, ladies and gentlemen, and welcome to the show. My name is Cliff DuVernois. And today we’re going to be talking about one of my favorite sports that is skiing, and we have Ben Doornbos on the line with us today. He is the general manager of nubs knob ski area. Ben, how are you?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:00:48] I’m great. Thanks cliff.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:00:50] Excellent. Thanks for being on the show today. Why don’t you tell us a little bit about where you’re from and where you grew up.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:00:55] So I’m from Petoskey, Michigan. although I grew up in Holland, Michigan, so lifelong Michigander. I’ve been in the Petoskey area since 2008. And absolutely love it up here.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:01:06] Excellent. And. From where you grew up, how did you get involved with scheme? What was it about skiing that attracted you to it?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:01:14] it’s the wrong place at the wrong time? Pretty much.
no, I would. My past two, a. Being a GM at nubs knob was an interesting one. Grew up in Holland, Michigan. And graduated from high school, 1999 ended up at Northern Michigan university. it took some time off before I joined university. And then, after NMU I met my wife. Who’s a Petoskey native.
And we moved here to be near her family. And I actually started working, in the rental department here at nubs. Now making like $9 an hour back in 2008. just to get through the winter and then I have, a captain’s license and I was going to be working as a captain in the summertimes. but this turned into a full-time job and,
You know, Many years down the And I’m very happy to be here. It’s it’s a very cool spot to be.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:02:05] Excellent. And how long have you been, have you been skiing?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:02:08] Oh, as a skier, I’ve been, you know, a dad and mom took me when I was a kid. but the, you know, in Holland we don’t have as many slopes as we do here up North. So we’d go three or four times a year. So I’ve been skiing since I was a kid, but I didn’t really, really get into it until. know, I was at Northern Michigan university and I was more into Nordic at that time than anything.
but when we moved to the Petoskey area in 2008, I got really heavy into Alpine and tele scheme.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:02:35] Excellent. Now, when you talk about Nordic, what do you mean by that?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:02:38] classic skiing, cross-country skiing, skate, skiing, you know, all of the above.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:02:44] Excellent. Now, what was it necessarily about, about working at Nubs DOB. Cause he, if you’re, if you’re general manager. You could pretty much go. You don’t have any ski place that you want to go, but it’s something about nubs knob is there. And what is it about nubs knob that, that, that has attracted you? That is keeping you there.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:03:03] Well, skiers in Michigan know that, you know, nubs is the place to go. If you really, really enjoy quality snow, we don’t do anything here other than, make snow and groom snow. You know, we’ve got. Some food service and some small amenities, but it’s basically all about the scheme. And so for the person who loves to ski, this is really a place to be. And, that, that was me back in 2008, I knew nubs from being a kid. And my dad would always talk about this as like ski Mecca for, you know, people in Michigan. And, so when we moved to the area, I didn’t know anything other than nubs NAB was here.
I’m in the Petoskey Harbor area. So that’s why I came here was because I was, I knew it from being a kid and, its reputation. still stands up as being absolutely the place where skiers go. So that’s what landed me here was just the interest in the sport.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:03:55] Excellent. And so for nub stops, how many runs do you have?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:04:00] We have 53 runs.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:04:02] Sweet Moses. So that would keep somebody occupied for at least what an hour or two.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:04:07] Yeah. If you try to ski and, and some people do that, that’s they come to the Hill and they ski it left to right. all three faces and you know, that’s a couple hours. That’s almost three hours of skiing. If you’re going to do every single run here,
Cliff Duvernois: [00:04:20] And that is back to back.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:04:22] Yeah. And that’s back to back. No stops.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:04:24] Yeah. Cause that’s. I can tell you from somebody, somebody who skis that would be, that would be a huge commitment. Usually after one ski, I have to take a break for half an hour forty-five minutes for I can go on to the next run.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:04:35] Yeah. There there’s quite a bit of train here. We also have. nine separate Glade runs. and those gladed areas are becoming increasingly popular too. So not only do we have, you know, we’re known for. Groomers and, steep runs. we’ve got some of the longest steepest terrain in the state, but we also have some incredible gladed areas as well.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:04:55] So when you say gladed areas, what do you mean by that?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:04:57] Series where we’ve left trees, but we’ve taken, a lot of the trees out. So it’s scalable. Obviously the woods in Michigan is, are pretty sick, so he couldn’t just ski. Through the woods without taking out some of the, the brush and understory. And, you know, when you do that, that’s called Glading out a run. So you leave the natural snow. So we don’t make snow in those areas. And you just, you know, as a skier,
You like it cause your Dodge industries and you’re dealing with a natural snow. and it’s, it’s kind of a unique experience as opposed to skiing a wide open groomers run.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:05:27] Right. Exactly. So you kind of got, you’ve kind of got both for those people that don’t want to wrap themselves around a tree. You have runs where there are no trees.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:05:35] Yeah, we do. Yeah. And we, you. know, we’ve got everything from a beginner runs. We’ve got one run called easy mile, which is, which is literally a mile long, starts at the top of the Hill. And it snakes its way down for beginner skiers. I think a lot of people in the Midwest are surprised to hear that we’ve got to run that’s a mile long and we actually have two beginner runs that are, both, almost a mile long. So there is, there is still quite a bit of train here. Yeah, we don’t have the vertical, but you know, my boys who are eight years old and five years old,
For my younger one to get down that mile long run, it takes them almost a half an hour. He likes, you know, he falls some bunch though, too.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:06:12] Sweet Moses a half an hour. Now that would be fun. I mean, I kinda know a thing or two about skiing, but just spending a half an hour, just slightly coasting you’re way down a mountain. That to me sounds like a lot of fun.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:06:23] Yeah. Yeah. If you don’t fall and you can get it done a lot sooner, faster than that. But with, with him, that’s what it takes us. And, but we have a good time doing it.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:06:30] Yeah. And that’s, by the way, that’s me. I’m, I’m the fall-down guy. I, for a number of years with skiing, I was like, I think I would have won a trophy. If I entered a competition, I was like the world’s fastest snowplow skier for some reason. I could not get my skis to, could not get my skis parallel. My feet went always just go into that. I think that’s it’s pizza, French fry, right? Pizza, where you cross your cross, the tips of your skis slowed
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:06:55] Yeah. We call it a snowplow, but yeah, sometimes they, it pizza then, you know, you just gotta let them run a French fries and, you get down fast. That’s for sure.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:07:04] Yeah. When your skis are lined up side by side that’s, that’s French fries and you’re right. And I, I was brave enough once I think I had my skis for like maybe two weeks or something and I committed to doing French fry and I was literally just cannon ball in town. Yeah. Like warp speed. So I’m surprised I did not wrap myself around a tree. So, you know, let’s talk about, let’s take a step back here because I know there’s a lot of people out there that thinking, you know, I might like to try skiing.
But how do I do it safely? If, if somebody, if somebody is approaching you, you’re like, Hey, Ben. You know, what, what can I do to like, get into the sport? I’d like to try it out. I don’t want to break my leg because growing up that’s the whole reason why I didn’t ski was because everybody kept telling me, Oh my God, you’re gonna break her leg and come to find out. That’s not the case. So what would you say to somebody that’s like thinking like, Hey, I want to get into this.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:07:46] Well, you know, if you’re living in Michigan, you got a ski. I mean, If you don’t ski might as well move to another state. So if you’re not skiing downhill, at least get out the cross country skis, but you gotta be a skier. If you live in Michigan, I’m passionate about that. I’m in the best way to get into the sport.
Is through a lesson, you know, when we have a really great ski school here. very professionally run and that’s really the best way to do it. And even for the advanced to expert skier, you know, taking a lesson, can really increase your enjoyment of the sport. So that, that would be my first tip is, is get a lesson.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:08:23] Excellent. And let’s talk a little bit about, a little bit about the quality of the snow, because that’s one of the things that really. Our hit me when I was skiing in different places. I’ve skied in Michigan, I’ve skied in Colorado and I’ve skied in, California. And I know that the term that they use for that is powder. And I don’t know if it’s still, the term powder or not, but let’s talk a little bit about the
When people go out skiing and there’s the Michigan snow, what can they expect?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:08:50] Well, I think there’s a lot of misconception about the Snell and Michigan. people say, Oh, it’s icy in, in the Midwest. And, snow. Isn’t very good. And I think that a lot of that misconception is carrying over from one sport was experiencing a boom, maybe in the, you know, seventies and eighties.
when frankly, the technology wasn’t there both on the snowmaking side and then even more so on the grooming side. the equipment we use now, we’ve got these, you know, we have four groomers here at nubs knob and it costs like $300,000 a machine. And. When they, till up that snow, it’s absolutely amazing how it changes the snow surface.
also the technology I’m making snow has come a long, long ways in the Midwest. There’s just the sport doesn’t really exist without manmade natural without mandates. No, obviously natural is great and it’s even better than the manmade. But manmade is important and, there’s been a lot of tech technological developments on making snow. That’s sure. It’s more dense.
Then natural snow, but, it’s skis very well and it’s not a icy. So I, I think, and I even remember that as a kid just. Really having a hard time with the snow surface as a new skier. That’s just not the case anymore. you know, I’m not gonna say it as champagne powder every day, but. ski surface, generally speaking is, is quite good. And especially at places like nubs nom, you’re going to get a pretty excellent snow surface almost every day.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:10:16] You know, when you bring up a really good point. Cause I was thinking of when I w way back in the day, when I first bought my ski equipment. And actually got out skiing was because it was one of those weird winters where it would get above freezing. So you would have the. The snow that was slightly melt. And then of course it would freeze at night and the next day I would go out there and it literally was, it felt to me anyway, it’s literally like I was skiing on, it was actually skiing on ice.
So, would you talk about this equipment that kind of grooms a trail you’re talking about? You know, kind of like eliminating that.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:10:48] Yeah, that’s for sure. I mean, and that that’s the worst is when you have a free Stoss cycle. Particularly you get that at the end of the, the winter where you get this freestyle freestyle, and that does make the snow tired. it’s got a different, it doesn’t have the adhesion to it. Other than with it’s a sheet of ice.
But at most ski areas, when you get this sort of sheet of ice situation where you’ve got a, a thought that leads right into a freeze, you know, here at knobs, what we’ll do is we’ll close down the slopes and we’ll actually regroup it, and break it up in it that the tiller technology is so good. Now that it’s not like you’re skiing on big ice chunks. It’s, it’s a much, much better surface than I think.
most people realize if, especially if they haven’t been skiing in a decade or something, it’s. What we’re able to do now with snow surface technology is incredible.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:11:37] No, that that is absolutely excellent. And let’s talk a little bit too. About, I want to talk about the equipment because equipment has come a long way. And I don’t think, I don’t think it carries the same stigma that it did before, because like I said, it’s, you know about bricky legs and I’ve skied a number of times I have wiped out a number of times. I have never once.
Broken leg. So let’s talk a little bit about, the, the, the equipment. Does it sign of equipment? And you know how it’s preventing people from not getting maimed on the slope.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:12:05] Sure. So, and I actually had my, one of my best friends growing up experience a spiral fracture when we were skiing, because he was borrowing as he, you know, he weighed like 58 pounds and he was borrowing his aunt skis, who is a whole lot bigger than he was. And this, the binding didn’t release pressured the tip when he was falling. And you can imagine the leverage of what’s created the spiral fracture in his leg.
Which is. Extremely painful, but that, that injury almost doesn’t exist. now, because the blinding technology is so good. But I would say that it’s very important for you to have your, Bindings tested. And most ski shops now have bonding testing machines where they’ll set that binding tension for your height, your age, your ability to ski, and when the ski should pop off, it will. that’s really the most important thing for safety on skis is that that binding,
Technology releases when it’s supposed to, but you got to get it checked out. and as you get older, you typically want to have the binding and release a little bit earlier. if you weigh more, you need to have a little bit more attention. So it doesn’t release too soon, but all of those factors are very important and, and any local ski shops should be able to help you out with that.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:13:17] And I just a quick story to kind of go along with what you were talking about there. So the, my, my skis just gave out, just because of being in storage, using whatever it was. The last time I went skiing. And I decided to rent and Dan have been a long time since I rented equipment, but I decided to, I decided to rent.
And when I went into the, the ski shop to actually get my gear, the gentleman behind the counter said, how much do you weigh? I did not know cause it had been forever and a day since I stepped on a scale. So I told him, I said, well, I said, well, I have one 90.
And I must have been a lot heavier than that. Because when I got out onto the slopes, It was a miserable time because the skis kept popping off my feet. When, you know, when I was out there. So, you know, my, my limited advice to people is that if you’re thinking about renting equipment, when you’ll go.
Just take a couple minutes and weigh yourself and make sure that when you rent the equipment, Be honest, don’t say that you way. One 50, if you weigh one 75, cause they’ll adjust it to one 50. Cause that’s what you told them.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:14:27] Yeah, that’s right. That’s a funny story. And the other thing that happens is if, when you say on the rental form beginner, intermediate, or expert, That will move you up in terms of, the tension on the binding as well. So if you tell them you’re a beginner skier, the ski will come off, much easier than if you tell them you’re an expert skier.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:14:46] Yeah, exactly. So. With regards. So you’re, you’re recommending school. We’re talking about equipment here. One of the things that I do want to make sure that we address is of course with, you know, the COVID coming. Yeah, well that COVID comment. Let’s try that again. With COVID being here. and you know, ski season coming around the corner and I’m sure that you and your staff have been, have been working hard to try to figure out how to do this. So first off, do you have ski rental?
Equipment at your facility. Second off. What are you doing there to try to keep people safe?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:15:16] Well, every ski operator in Michigan right now is completely focused on what’s going on with the Corona virus. fortunately in the state, we’ve had really good cooperation amongst the ski areas. So as a person enjoying the sport, I believe if you go to crystal or shit, Shani Creek or nubs DOB, or Boyne.
you’re going to have a very similar experience. but. All what we are all trying to do is keep the focus on the outdoor aspects of the sport. right now at nubs knob, we’re still allowed to run our rental department. It’s gonna feel very different, in terms of. how many people are allowed in the building?
the way we’re planning on running rental specifically here is it’ll be more like when you go to a restaurant and they’re at capacity and they send a text alert to your phone that says, it’s now your turn to enter the building. That’s how we’re going to do rentals here. We’re going to have. only a few groups of people in the building at a time.
And then when you come into the building, after you’ve received the text alert, you know, we’re going to have the same rental employees bring things to you. So it’s sort of you walking around the rental building will have a station for you to be seated. And we’ll bring all of the rental equipment to you. Everybody’s massed up.
And then, when it’s, once you’ve received all of your equipment, it’s time to head out outdoors and bring your shoes with you. so it’s going to be a different experience on the slopes this winter in Michigan. I, in some ways I think it’s going to be a special winter. you probably remember growing up and I do to his mom and dad would bring the, peanut butter and jelly sandwiches and we’d get dressed in the car. And I think that that’s going to be the experience, more of an old school ski experience in Michigan, this winter.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:16:54] Oh, that’s absolutely. I think about that and I think you’re yeah, you’re you’re right. Cause I remember seeing. You know, a number of people. you know, just eating out of the back of their SUV or the back of the truck, you know, they just pack a cooler. You know, they’re making sandwiches in there. you know, whatever it is, and then just, you know, kind of like a, it’s almost like a tailgate party at the, at the ski resort.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:17:15] Yeah, I think there is some opportunity, you know, and we’re certainly learning a lot of things right now with COVID protocols. Here at nubs knob, we, made a huge outdoor dining area we’ve built in like kind of a food truck venue. And we’ve also built in a slope side pickup. So you can order food from your cell phone now, so you can order curly fries and nubs not chilly right from the.
A chairlift on your cell and, pick it up at a slope side pickup window. so we’re getting ready to do all of this stuff. you know, remotely and outdoors. Not that the lodge is shut down. It’s not, but it will have capacity restrictions. And it certainly isn’t going to be like last year. So, we’re going to be below 50% capacity in our lodge. And when people are in here, they’re going to have to wear masks, of course. And, the only time the mask would come off is when they’re, when they’re seated and eating with their family.
And there’ll be spaced out part from other folks. but we also know that. You know, things are not getting better in the state right now with COVID. And I could see that, even that being. Further restricted. And to me, that all of that is kind of beside the point. You know, the main thing here is let’s keep the chairlifts running.
And let’s get a folks out scan and that that’s our goal at nubs is just to keep people skiing this winter. So if everything needs to be shut down and if, if things continue to get worse with the virus here, Our plan is to do everything we can do to keep the lifts moving so that, folks can get outside and enjoy winter with their friends and their family.
even if we have to say goodbye to the other stuff, you know, we’ll do the other stuff if we can, but we’re not making any promises because I think it’s important to keep the main thing, the main thing, which is just getting outside and enjoying the slopes.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:19:01] Yes. And I completely agree with that now for, for nubs knob. Do you offer anything else besides downhill skiing?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:19:09] Yeah, we do. we, we have cross country skiing, some of the best cross country skiing in the state. We’ve got over 21 kilometers of. Groomed trails and, they’re, they’re groomed wide enough for skate skiing. Or for classic scheme, we also have a snowshoe trail. and we’re actually adding on.
Yeah, we’re adding onto that snowshoe trail right now, so that the new snowshoe trail will actually take you all the way up to Pentel peak, which is well over a mile away from this lodge on the trail. And, that, that lodge overlooks the little Travers Bay. so we’ve got just a gorgeous snowshoe trail. this incredible cross country skiing here.
the snowshoe trail also doubles for uphill skiers, which you may or may not be familiar with that, but it’s increasing. area of interest for downhill skiers, but it’s actually. Getting skis that have, basically sandpaper on the bottom, what she calls scans and it’s removable, and he’s skins allow you to climb even very steep terrain. And then when you get to the top, you can ski down and we’re seeing a lot of increase in ’em.
All-terrain skiing or uphill skiing. along with snowshoeing and we’re anticipating a massive increase in cross country skiing this year, that would go along with everything else we’ve seen with COVID from a kayak sales and, you know, mountain bike, trail heads being flooded and all of that.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:20:30] Excellent. And you’re right. I have never heard of appeal scheme before that almost sounds completely just. I bought, I’m wondering to myself, what’s the appeal to that.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:20:39] Yeah. You know, I, it it’s, I actually got myself a set up last year and it’s, it’s cool. You know, especially in the Midwest, you can, it takes you about 15 minutes or so to climb up, you know, the 450 vertical we have here. you get to the top, you pop off the skis and you take off the skins and your heel has to be free for climbing mode. And then the he’ll give me, get locked back down to go downhill, go downhill, and then do it back again. So instead of using the lifts, you’re actually using.
The skis and the skin technology, but it allows you to get back into some places, that aren’t live, that don’t have chairlift access and, Kind of a neat thing to do.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:21:19] Yeah. And so for this right here, is this something that you would think is as more, and, and I know that skiing in general is just a, you know, a very. cardio centric sport, but uphill skiing. Is that, would you consider that to be like very cardio intensive?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:21:35] You know, I put it in line with snowshoeing and it’s, so it’s kind of like you’re out there on snow shoes, but then you get the bonus of getting to go a carved downhill when you get to the top.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:21:45] Excellent. Great. Now for, for somebody that’s coming to now stop. Cause I know we talked about, you know, what people could do to get in to ski. And I know we’ve talked about. things that they can do that, you know, keep them safe. what would be, you know, what would be some, some key things for maybe what are some, you know, if they’re coming in nonstop, what is some of the.
you know, maybe either some of the trails that they should, you. Definitely check out. What are some of the activities that they should do when they’re there? Give me, like, give me like your top three.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:22:12] Well, the very first one that I’d like to point out too is, our beginner area. So if you’re trying to get back into sport and we are anticipating that it’s certainly a resurgence and skiing this year. nubs knob and a few other skiers and Michigan have totally free beginner areas. And ours is a listserv. So there’s a chairlift called the purple left and it serves a very.
Low pitch run. So it doesn’t have a ton of grade to it, but it’s quite long. and that’s called big time and you don’t even need to have a lift ticket for this area. It’s totally free. you do need to have equipment. You can rent the equipment from us or bring your own equipment. But if you’re just wanting to dabble in this sport, there’s a completely free area, called the big time area. And that would be my first thing is just to encourage people who are dabbling with the sport or.
Interested. or see how their kids do with the sport is to try out that totally free area here at nubs knob. my personal favorite thing to do here at nubs knob is ride the green chair lift all the way to the top of the Hill. And then just carved turns coming down Valley. That is one of the premier runs in all of Michigan.
I’ve skied, I think most ski areas in the state, and you’re going to have a hard time beating, are intermediate run Valley for, just an absolute fun time on. On a groom, slow bit lasts a long time and it’s just got a perfect pitch. and then my last thing to do would be. Get all the way back to pin tail peak. One of the cool things about nubs non-bias were between Harbor Springs in Petoskey, and we are perched right above little Travers Bay. And when you get to the top of
Intel peak, not only do you have the slopes to ski, but you’ve got this incredible Vista. Looking out at a beautiful Lake, Michigan and little Travers Bay right there in front of you.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:23:55] Oh, man, that sounds absolutely gorgeous. And I do want to take a step back cause you were talking about. you’re talking about the Valley. Ron Howard is intermediate. If someone were coming to, if someone were coming to nubs DOB, and let’s say they’re getting into scheme, maybe they took a couple of classes when they were there.
At what point would you actually say to them? You know, what. You’re you’re ready to ski down Valley.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:24:17] That’s a good question. you know, the big thing is stopping. When it comes to skating. you can, you. If you can pull off that, hockey style stop and make that happen. You know, At almost any point to your left or to your right then, then you’re ready for, for Valley or our front runs.
but that’s, that’s the key, I think, is the stopping power along with the ability to know how to fall, but, you know, The Valley’s got a, just a mellow pitch and it just gets steeper and steeper as the run goes. So you get this steady build of momentum. And if you can get to the bat that bottom, that run and you don’t have a smile on your face, you’ve done something wrong and you gotta go try it again.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:24:55] I don’t know. It’s like a challenge, but I can’t help it. I love skiing. So I’m, I’m smiling all the time, even when I’m, even when I’m wiping out. I’m a, you know, I’m a garage sale all over the side of the mountain. I’m, you know, I’m still smiling cause that’s, you know, some people say that about golf, you know, better day golf, better than the office or something along those lines. For me, it’s skiing.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:25:11] I can relate to that.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:25:13] Yes, definitely. Okay. So people, if people want to follow what’s going on, check out, you know, maybe, you know, the ski conditions what’s happening out there, or, you know, whatever happens with, With COVID 19 in the future. What is the, what is the best way for them to follow you online and get all that info?
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:25:27] Definitely our website, which is nubs nahb.com. That’s N UBS and ob.com. if people are wondering where we’re located again, it’s the Petoskey Harbor Springs area. We’re actually right across the street from, another very premiere slope in Michigan Boyne Highlands. so I think that this is the premier destination for skiers in the state because you’ve got two incredible ski areas, right next door to each other. And, on nubs nahb.com, we actually have a live webcam. So you can actually look for yourself and see.
You know how the slopes are looking. You can check that out right now and see all of our snow guns in place. you know, we’re talking here early November and it’s almost 60 degrees outside, but, last year at this time I actually, all the snow guns were turned on and blast and snow. so I don’t think we’re going to be too far off from doing that soon. So the webcam is a great way to stay in touch with what’s.
You know, happening on the Hill. And then we also, once we get into this season, I write a blog every morning about, you know, the conditions and how things look on the slopes. And we try to be very honest in our slope reports. If the snow’s not ideal, we’re going to tell you about it. But, generally speaking, you know, like I said before, it’s amazing what we can do with snow surfaces now. So.
that that’s the best way to stay in touch with us as nubs nahb.com.
Cliff Duvernois: [00:26:38] Sweet. And for our audience, we will have all of those links in the show notes. Down below Ben. It’s been awesome. Talking with you today. Rapid about skiing. I can’t, I personally can’t wait. to get out there and hit some slopes. So thank you for taking time today to chat with us.
Ben Doornbos, Nubs Nob Ski Area: [00:26:53] Hey, thank you, cliff.