In a Consumers Power brochure published around 1959, Major Mountain is described as located 9 mi north of Clare 1 mi west of US-27. Snowsnake Mountain is described as 9 mi north of Clare and 1/2 mile west of US-27, so this puts them 1/2 mile apart. Major Mountain is listed as having 6 slopes, the longest 1200′ with 3 tows. It was open on weekends and had snacks available at the area.
With nearby Snowsnake having 9 slopes, the longest 1600′ with 4 tows and night skiing, it is perhaps not surprising which area survived until today.
Now the areas would be located just west of US-127 on E Mannsiding Road (exit 168). On the satellite, the ski trails and fairways of Snowsnake are clearly visible. Not so for Major Mountain. If you have any information about skiing at Major Mountain, especially when it opened and closed, please post it or use the instructions on the About MILSAP page to send it to us.
Howdy,
In a funny way kind of way I got my start in Alpine racing world at Major Mt. in the spring of 1975.
Coach Rodger Sharp (Clare HS) invited some younger kids and a few free dogs to a pot luck ski race day at Major Mt. I gave coach Sharp and a lot of the athletes a big grin when I ripped through the Bamboo course backwards.
Somehow I made the varsity as a 6th seed racer the next couple of years and ironically for a team that trained at a hill like Major Mt our boys team made it to the state finals in 1976 and the girls made it in 1977. Hiking up hills to pack snow ( half the time to get up them when the rope tow didn’t work), using a spud and sledge hammer to make holes for the bamboo and In 1977 Coach Sharp decided to put lip stick on a pig by having a pot luck for all the teams that came to our race (that included Traverse City and Cadillac). As far as I know that was the start of pot luck traditions at the HS Level.
Brad Miller
PSIA-C Alpine Ed-Staff
Coach TC Central