Perfect North Slopes

I started skiing at Perfect North in January of 1991 with a middle school ski club.  I've seen it grow and improve a great deal over the years.  When I learned to ski the lodge was about 30% of what it is today, there were only 3 chair lifts, a lot less snow making, and 8 fewer runs.  Back then the big deal was the "all night ski" on Fridays and Saturdays until 4:00 AM.  I rarely took part but I can remember there being 100 or more people in line to buy lift tickets on Friday evenings when our school group would head home.  It was quite the party scene.

The ski area now draws families from all over Ohio, Kentucky, and Indiana.  In fact it is quite common to see groups from as far away as Tennessee or Alabama there on the weekends.  The ski area has expanded to 5 fixed grip lifts (3 triples and 2 quads) and more surface lifts than I can recall.  They have spent a huge amount of time and money updating and expanding the snow making system which has paid off big time.  I guesstimate that they can go from bare grass to a 2 foot base in about 2 to 2.5 days of snow making over most if not all of the ski area. 

The downside to all these improvements is that the crowds can get huge, but they do their best to manage it.  They have one of the largest rental fleets in the country which can accommodate thousands of skiers.  They are constantly working to improve the overall experience especially new skiers.  You won't find gourmet food like at Deer Valley or Snowbasin but you will get good quality food at fair prices including a Cincinnati favorite LaRosa's pizza.  The biggest attraction these days might actually be their tubing hill which has doubled or tripled in size since it opened.  It seems to be the favorite activity of those with small children and school/church groups alike.  It also makes the ski hill appear busier than it actually is when you pull in to the parking lot(s).  Despite seeing the biggest crowd in my 20 years of skiing there between Christmas and New Years last year I rarely ever see a lift line that compares to what it was like in the mid 1990's.  Still those of us that have skied there for a long time know how to maximize the fun.  Arriving early is a must to get the best conditions and smallest crowds.  The peak hours are between 12:00 and 5:00 so skiing outside those hours mean you will have best experience.  They use to have a large racing program that was very active.  With rise of interest in the terrain park the racing program sort of faded away but much to my delight it seems to be making a come back.  There are quite a few kids that really taken an interest in racing which seems to have also increased the interest of adults.  It has also been great to see the return of Nastar racing which went away for a year or two.  The ski school added an adaptive skiing program over the last few years which has made skiing available to a lot of people that normally would not have had the chance to try it.

Unfortunately the worst part about skiing in Indiana is well beyond the control of the ski area...the weather.  Its common to see several big freeze/thaw cycles in our short 3 month season.  It seems like we had a stretch of about 10 years where we had spring conditions for the last week of December and first week of January which was immediately followed by very cold conditions.  Fortunately when that does happen the snow making crew goes work coating the slopes with a several feet of new snow. 

With all the changes and improvements its almost like an entirely new ski area from when I started more than 20 years ago.  It may not compare to the Rockies or even the resorts of the north east but it is my own little slice of heaven 3 months out of the year.