Blackjack, another of the major ski areas in the western UP, is right around the corner from Indianhead. Blackjack has 20 runs, the longest over a mile, on a hill with 465′ of vertical drop. They have 4 double chairlifts, a rope tow and a handle tow, terrain park, and halfpipe, but no night skiing.
If you have any recollections of the development of skiing in the western UP, please post them or send us your information via the directions on the About MILSAP page.
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Paul Steiger and his family developed Blackjack. It opened in December 1977. Paul was a lumberman and also an early investor in Big Powderhorn Mountain. The Steigers sold Blackjack about 2007 to an investor from Wisconsin. It’s in full operation with night skiing, snow making, dining, great bar with entertainment and ski in / out slopeside lodging. I worked their the first three years, the trails had been (mostly) cut by Paul’s logging crews years earlier. We built the lodge, 3 chairlifts, 2 ropetows and a maintenance garage…it opened Christmas eve day 1977.