Sugar Loaf's First Winter Back Starts at the Bottom of the Hill

"I can still see the chairlifts and people yelling off the lifts when you hit your jumps!" That's how Chad Jordan, the Leelanau Conservancy's infrastructure manager, described walking the old Sugar Loaf terrain to the Glen Arbor Sun in September. Jordan built the first snowboard park at Sugar Loaf.

There won't be any chairlifts this winter, or rope tows either. Sugar Loaf's first season back as a public place has 449 vertical feet between the parking lot and the summit, and the only way up is under your own power. With no lift setting the schedule, the skiable terrain grows one volunteer workday at a time. The Conservancy's own public promise for this winter is also narrower than the early buzz suggested.

A Hill That Sat Idle for 26 Years

Sugar Loaf started in the 1940s as a community winter sports club and closed as a resort in 2000. The empty resort buildings were torn down in late 2021. The Edmund F. and Virginia B. Ball Foundation bought the property in 2020 and paid for the demolition and cleanup. It then donated the land to the Leelanau Conservancy, and title transferred in March 2026, as the Leelanau Ticker reported.

The Conservancy's $8 million campaign covered public access, trails, restoration and infrastructure. It drew more than 1,100 gifts, some as small as $10, according to Interlochen Public Radio. Then on Friday, Oct. 9, 2026, the gates opened. The Leelanau Enterprise counted more than 1,000 people at the opening.

A turnout that size, on a Friday evening in October for a hill with no lifts, says how much the place still means to people. That pull is also why the details of the first winter matter.

The Part That's Ready Right Now

The Conservancy's opening page gives the visitor address as 4500 S. Sugar Loaf Mountain Road, Cedar. There are two crushed-gravel lots. The main lot on Sugar Loaf Mountain Road holds roughly 90 cars, and a smaller lot sits to the south on East Mountain Road, per the Leelanau Ticker. The Glen Arbor Sun put the two lots together at more than 120 cars. 9&10 News reported that after the opening event the property would be open 24/7.

From the main lot, the Summit Trail follows the old Snowcat path about half a mile to the top. The summit sits 1,059 feet above sea level, one of the highest points in Leelanau County. From there the Glen Arbor Sun's group looked out over Little Traverse Lake, Good Harbor Bay, Pyramid Point, the Manitou Islands and the Crib lighthouse. On the way up, the trail passes "Awful Awful" and its twin run, "The Wall," which still shows a scar from years of skiers.

The airstrip and golf course next to the hill are not part of the project.

What the Conservancy Has Actually Promised for Snow Season

Two sources describe this winter, and they don't promise the same amount.

• The Conservancy's FAQ, updated after opening: The Sugar Loaf page answers "Will there be cross-country skiing?" with a yes, welcoming cross-country skiers this winter. It also asks visitors to stay on designated trails while staff and contractors keep working on restoration and recreation projects.
• Staff expectations, as of September: Speaking to the Glen Arbor Sun, Jordan said the legacy runs "will all be available and open to folks to ski" this winter. He compared it to an alpine resort where "you can poke around and see what looks fun that day." The Sun listed splitboarding, alpine touring, telemark and glade skiing as possibilities.
• The longer plan: The Conservancy lists backcountry skiing, snowshoeing and a sledding hill as part of its long-term vision.

Cross-country skiing is the winter activity the Conservancy has put in writing. Backcountry turns on the old runs are clearly the goal and staff expect them, but the property's own page doesn't yet confirm them as a winter offering. The Glen Arbor Sun reported that the Conservancy hopes to groom parallel-track cross-country trails. That means grooming is something to look for when the snow arrives, not something already announced. Before heading out with skins or a splitboard, check the Sugar Loaf page for current guidance.

The Old Runs Are Being Reopened by Hand

Lift-served hills open terrain by grooming it. At Sugar Loaf, volunteers with loppers are doing that work.

The Michigan Backcountry Alliance, known as MiBCA, partnered with the Conservancy on three workdays to improve backcountry ski zones, according to the group's September newsletter.

1. Thursday, Sept. 17: a lighter evening of stick clearing and limbing low branches, ending with a grill-out on the summit.
2. Sunday, Sept. 27: working the zone skier's left of the old Manitou run and cleaning up Awful Awful so it can become a gladed run this winter.
3. Sunday, Nov. 8, 1 to 5 p.m.: working on a series of individual lines off the old Devils Elbow trail.

The first two days are done. The third is still ahead, and it's posted on MiBCA's Sugarloaf group page. According to the newsletter, volunteers sign up through MiBCA and fill out a Conservancy volunteer waiver, which takes two or three minutes. MiBCA says membership doesn't require payment.

Manitou, Awful Awful and Devils Elbow all come from the resort era, and each is getting work in a planned order. A season like this grows run by run, depending on how much clearing happens before the snow does. Jordan told the Glen Arbor Sun that many legacy runs "are pretty open still," so the starting point is good.

Sugar Loaf also fits a pattern. MiBCA's project list includes Mt. Frederic near Grayling, Lake Louise Christian Camp near Boyne Falls and Avalanche Mountain Preserve in Boyne City. The same newsletter says the group's glading permit at Mt. Frederic, a former ski area between Frederic and Waters, was approved. It describes that hill's open slopes as skiable but often crossed by heavy snowmobile traffic. Old Michigan ski hills are coming back as places to climb and ski down, and Sugar Loaf is the one in Leelanau County.

The Climb Shapes Everything That Comes Next

Without lifts, the design of the property comes down to the grade of the climb. The next big addition makes that clear.

A 9.5-mile switchback mountain bike network is planned to open in spring 2027. Jordan gave that estimate to the Glen Arbor Sun, and the Conservancy's FAQ says 2027. Those trails keep an average grade of 7 to 10 percent, which is beginner level, all the way to the summit. "It's not just elite mountain bikers that will be able to ride here," Caleb Garone, the stewardship project manager, told the Sun. Mountain biking has history here too. In the late 1980s, Sugar Loaf hosted the National Off Road Bicycle Association's national championships.

The resort's leftovers are being reused for the climb. The Conservancy saved about 20 of Sugar Loaf's red lift chairs. Once they're powder coated, they'll be placed around the property as rest spots. Some will sit out in the open at viewpoints, and some will be tucked away and left off the map on purpose. The chairs that used to carry people up the hill will now be places to rest on the way up.

The rest of the build-out runs on a five-year plan. It includes a covered pavilion and gathering space at the summit, a picnic area and a kids' play area near the parking lot, a sledding hill, a nature play area, universal-access features and ecological restoration aimed at water quality in the Good Harbor Bay watershed. None of these has a completion date yet. Closer in, 138 native trees and shrubs are set to go in this late autumn as a buffer between the parking area and the Sugar Loaf townhouses.

The Calendar From Here to Spring

With the property open around the clock, the first snowfall that sticks will be the first real test of how those 90-some spaces on Sugar Loaf Mountain Road hold up on a powder morning.

If you're thinking about a home within an easy drive of the Summit Trail, or wondering how new public land like this fits into the value of a property nearby, Traverse City Real Estate knows this part of the county well. Schedule a Consultation, and we'll talk it through over coffee.