From Feb. 20 to 22, skiers will launch themselves hundreds of feet off of the Pine Mountain Ski Jump in Iron Mountain.
But something else will be in the air at this year’s annual competition: the beginning of the tower’s first elevator, which could help draw more tourists to catch the views from up high.
The first phase — the foundation and a steel shaft — was completed in November. Once fully installed, the elevator will allow skiers and off-season visitors alike to get near the top of the jump’s 176-foot-tall tower without taking stairs.
“There’s people that come up here during the summer. Lots. It's a very, very high-traffic area, but the older people cannot go up to the top of the tower,” said Nick Blagec, president of the nonprofit Kiwanis Ski Club, which operates the jump.
“They all want to have that big view,” he said.
The ski club has already spent a little over $1 million on the elevator project, money that it raised in part through event sponsors and donations. In 2024, the club received $1 million in debt relief from the state to help cover the costs of a project loan.
Blagec said the club still needs to raise about a million more to purchase the actual elevator and finish the project, which he hopes will happen within the year.
Each year, the ski club hosts a Continental Cup, a competition sanctioned by the International Ski and Snowboard Federation.
“It's the biggest event in our area during the course of the year,” said Dave Kasten, the executive director of the Tourism Association of the Dickinson County Area.
Gundlach Champion wrapped up the first phase of construction on the Pine Mountain Ski Jump elevator in November. (Courtesy of Gundlack Champion) The event brings in more than 10,000 spectators who tailgate in shanties and it draws athletes from around the globe vying for spots on national teams.
But it’s a step below the federation’s World Cup. The vertical lift could give competition organizers the chance to take their event up a notch, but it probably won’t.
“They tell us we do need (the elevator) for World Cup events, however we are not thinking of having a World Cup at the moment,” Blagec told Bridge Michigan in an email.
“There’s people that come up here during the summer. Lots. It's a very, very high-traffic area, but the older people cannot go up to the top of the tower.”NICK BLAGEC | president of the Kiwanis Ski Club which operates the jump
The club held World Cups on Pine Mountain in 1996 and 2000, before the rule book required an elevator. Those higher-caliber events can bring in money if they’re televised, but they’re expensive to host. Blagec said they cost around half a million dollars, “a lot more” than a Continental Cup.
“You pay all flights for all teams and many more people,” he said.
For Blagec, the elevator is less about expanding the ski jumping competition and more about making the jump more accessible year-round. He said that, right now, the club allows the public to buy tickets to check out the views in the summer and fall, about once a month.
“If the elevator was in place and working, it would be open a whole lot more,” he said.
Designs for the second phase of the elevator project were just completed in January by Integrated Designs Inc., a firm based in Marquette. Construction is being led by Gundlach Champion, an Iron Mountain-based company that upgraded the tower from wood to galvanized steel in 2020.
“The guys that work here, they remember climbing the old scaffold when they were kids,” said Gundlach Champion President Stan Kaczmarek.
The tower apparently used to have lax security, so a lot of locals would climb it.
“Everybody has a story about climbing the old jump,” Kaczmarek said. “Now, they’ll be able to get to the top again with the elevator.”
The Pine Mountain Ski Jump is not the only one in the state. There’s also the Suicide Bowl Ski Jump in Ishpeming and Copper Peak, a decommissioned ski jump that is undergoing plans to be restored.
This article first appeared on Bridge Michigan and is republished here under a Creative Commons Attribution-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.
