Devil's Head

[Jayonnaise]

I'm new to the midwest and tryna get a feel of the resorts. Devil's Head has been recommended a lot.
I grew up skiing the rockies and I know the midwest hills aren't as long or whatever, but I've been seein a lot of bad reviews for the rooms.
What's the vibe there?

[sempai]

I've been seein a lot of bad reviews for the rooms.
What's the vibe there?

Rooms? What do you mean? If you mean the lodging rooms, I don't know because I've never been. They look decent online. I have also never been to Devil's Head skiing. I've heard that it is a good place to go. It looks like fun (as fun as the Midwest gets). Granite Peak is not too far from that area. It's one of the Midwest's largest. There are fun little "resorts" to go to in the tri-state (MN, WI, MI) area. Nothing comparable to western resorts, of course.

Came back to the post to add this link: https://www.skiresort.info/ski-resor.../slope-length/. You and others might find it interesting.

[shortydude]

I'm new to the midwest and tryna get a feel of the resorts. Devil's Head has been recommended a lot.
I grew up skiing the rockies and I know the midwest hills aren't as long or whatever, but I've been seein a lot of bad reviews for the rooms.
What's the vibe there?

jayonnaise, welcome to SBOL and the Midwest. I live near Champaign IL. I've been to Devil's Head many times. It has a pretty laid back hometown vibe. Today I paid off the balance on a trip to DH the second weekend in January. This is with my ski club. We'll take a luxury bus from Champaign up to Portage Wi. Saturday we'll ski DH and Sunday we'll do Cascade. Then back to Champaign Sunday night. All I have to do is make it to the bus Friday afternoon. The rest is a preplanned party.

Where do you live? I can give better info if I know that.

There is a small place not too far from DH called Tyrol Basin. I don't think they have rooms there at the hill. But, they were voted the best terrain park in the Midwest for several years in a row. Last time I was there (~3 years ago) they had a giant inflatable jumping bag.

Something you may find interesting is a group called CMSC - Chicago Metropolitan Ski Counsel. Most of the ski clubs in a 200 mile radius of Chicago belong to CMSC. Every year CMSC puts on a convention and invites every resort in the world to come and set up a booth. All the clubs in CMSC will send a group of delegates to the convention and shop for trips to go on the next year. So the resorts compete head to head for dollars that are going to be spent and they put together the best package prices they can. You can tag along on trips with other CMSC clubs if their going somewhere you want to go.
http://www.skicmsc.com/_ClubMap.cfm

[Jayonnaise]

Rooms? What do you mean? If you mean the lodging rooms, I don't know because I've never been. They look decent online. I have also never been to Devil's Head skiing. I've heard that it is a good place to go. It looks like fun (as fun as the Midwest gets). Granite Peak is not too far from that area. It's one of the Midwest's largest. There are fun little "resorts" to go to in the tri-state (MN, WI, MI) area. Nothing comparable to western resorts, of course.

Came back to the post to add this link: https://www.skiresort.info/ski-resor.../slope-length/. You and others might find it interesting.

Yeah, I was meaning The rooms, but it looks like it has enough apres stuff that I'll be entertained.
as long as it has wifi, we'll be fine.

[Jayonnaise]

jayonnaise, welcome to SBOL and the Midwest. I live near Champaign IL. I've been to Devil's Head many times. It has a pretty laid back hometown vibe. Today I paid off the balance on a trip to DH the second weekend in January. This is with my ski club. We'll take a luxury bus from Champaign up to Portage Wi. Saturday we'll ski DH and Sunday we'll do Cascade. Then back to Champaign Sunday night. All I have to do is make it to the bus Friday afternoon. The rest is a preplanned party.

Where do you live? I can give better info if I know that.

There is a small place not too far from DH called Tyrol Basin. I don't think they have rooms there at the hill. But, they were voted the best terrain park in the Midwest for several years in a row. Last time I was there (~3 years ago) they had a giant inflatable jumping bag.

Something you may find interesting is a group called CMSC - Chicago Metropolitan Ski Counsel. Most of the ski clubs in a 200 mile radius of Chicago belong to CMSC. Every year CMSC puts on a convention and invites every resort in the world to come and set up a booth. All the clubs in CMSC will send a group of delegates to the convention and shop for trips to go on the next year. So the resorts compete head to head for dollars that are going to be spent and they put together the best package prices they can. You can tag along on trips with other CMSC clubs if their going somewhere you want to go.
http://www.skicmsc.com/_ClubMap.cfm

Whoa, that's a lot of great info Shorty! Yeah, I'm in Chicago and Wilmot is the closest but Devil`s head is the closest resort place. Looks like a fun place.
Devils head and cascade look so alike. I'll have to check them out too! And The CMSC.
damn I have a lot of homework now, it's all good since I'm so FRIGGIN excites much wow!

And thanks dude!

[shortydude]

Jay, I'd suggest checking out and visiting several of the Chicago clubs. They all have very different personalities. Some are way more outgoing and competitive than others. But, they all are all about having fun. You'll know when ya hook up with the right club.

My ski club does stuff all year round. A couple years ago we even officially changed the name to Ski & Adventure Club.
Some of the things we do besides ski trips are:
- First Friday Happy Hours every month at various interesting places in the area.
- Monthly house parties with various themes or occasions.
- most weekends we get together and do something like hikes, biking, camping, Frisbee golf, kayak trips, curling etc.
- warm weather trip in the middle of winter to Cancun, Caribbean or a couple years ago was a sailboat in Croatia.

Don't be too surprised if it takes a while for some people to warm up to you. But, I can guarantee that when you go on these week long trips, you're basically living with them for a week and you get to be pretty good friends with shared experiences.

[shortydude]

As far as DH vs Cascade goes, one day at each is plenty for the skiing. I mean you typically won't stop much at all on each run if at all. Each run only takes 2 - 5 minutes. You can easily do all runs 4 - 6 times in a day. It's just a lot more interesting to do the same # of runs the next day on different set of runs at the other one rather than the same set of runs That's why staying in Portage on Friday & Saturday nights gives more flexibility on hitting both.

From Chicago it would be an easy drive Saturday morning to one, then stay in Portage Saturday night. Then hit the other spot on Sunday and drive back Sunday evening.

[shortydude]

BTW, Tryol Basin is closer than DH. It's just West of Madison.

[shortydude]

Jay, did you happen too see all the ski trips that are originating from Chicago this year? I saw one to Whitefish that includes air fare, 7 nights lodging and 5 days lift tickets for $1300. If I wasn't already signed up for a trip at that same time I'd be all over that one. It should be easy to meet up with some of the local clubs at at the local hills. That would be a good way to meat a bunch of new people.
http://skicmsc.org/_Report_TripsEventsPublic.cfm