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Here's a great photo posted in the Friends of Sugar Loaf group by Scott Hedberg. Left to right they are Peppi Teichner, Jean Sweeny Raymond, Pixie Hoffman, Corky Beals, Bruff LaVan, Tom Kuhnan & Art "Major" Huey.

Peppi Teichner was a legendary figure in the the development of Michigan's ski industry. The Leelanau Conservancy's Teichner Preserve honors him and explains:

Hans “Peppi” Teichner is best known locally for having taught a region to ski – everyone from Helen Milliken to children with disabilities – and as one of the founders of Sugarloaf. But his history before coming to this country is equally as compelling. Peppi was a national ski champion from Germany – and a Jew –who was coaching the Spanish Olympic Team when Hitler rose to power.

When the Spanish Civil War broke out, he helped guide those who were fleeing Franco’s fascist regime over the mountains to France. A patrol spotted him, but he managed to out-ski his would-be captors. Still, his face ended up on wanted posters in the Pyranees Mountains, which forced him to seek haven in the U.S. When World War II broke out he helped train U.S. Army troops in the 10th Mountain Division.

Ultimately, after the war and stints teaching skiing in Sun Valley and Aspen, he settled in Leelanau. An army buddy had convinced him to come help plan a ski area that would one day become Sugar Loaf Mountain.

Teichner also was instrumental in developing Holiday Hills in Traverse City. I'm thinking that his army buddy was Stanley Ball. Anyone? See another photo of him right here, read a little more about the early days of skiing in Leelanau from the Enterprise,  and share and see photos of Sugar Loaf through the Sugar Loaf Mountain Club.

The Sugar Loaf Mountain Club is hard at work, getting the Loaf ready for skiing this winter - connect with them on Facebook!

A new article on the Glen Arbor Sun asks Will Sugar Loaf offer cross-country skiing this winter? It begins:

A breath of fresh air may have descended on Sugar Loaf. Just weeks before snow is likely to fall on the downtrodden Leelanau County ski hill whose chairlifts have sat idle for nearly 12 years, a local resort owner is developing a plan that would open the mountain to cross-country skiing and ice climbing — perhaps this winter.

Erik Zehender, fourth generation co-owner of Fountain Point Resort in nearby Lake Leelanau, is negotiating with Sugar Loaf owner Kate Wickstrom to lease the mountain from her and create the Sugar Loaf Mountain Club, a nonprofit that would offer backcountry and groomed trails to members of the club who, in Zehender’s words, “participate in the costs of insurance, grooming, outhouses, warming huts, parking, plowing, safety programs and other operating expenses.”

Empire resident and Director of Sales and Marketing at DW North, Rick Desrochers, and Glen Arborite Eric Luthardt, a Product Line Manager at Flow Snowboarding, have assisted Zehender. According to Wickstrom, those two “believe in Sugar Loaf and have stood by me. I wouldn’t go forward without them.” Desrochers and Luthardt have worked with Wickstrom for over a year, and she says they bring ideas to resurrect the resort lodge and mountain...

Read on at the Glen Arbor Sun for more about plans for this winter and share your thoughts on our Sugar Loaf thread!

Let me be the first to say "I doubt it," but in anticipation of a new burst of energy here, I'm rolling out a fresh post to replace the Turning the Page on Sugar Loaf post with its nearly 400 comments.

This week's Leelanau Enterprise reports that Sugar Loaf owner Kate Wickstrom met with Glen Dempsey, head of the Leelanau County Construction Authority. Dempsey intends to work with Wickstrom towards bringing the long-shuttered resort into compliance with county building codes.

Probably the highlight of the article - other than confirmation that Wickstrom now intends to sell the property - is Cleveland Township supervisor Rick Stein's statement to the township board that Sugar Loaf stands a "pretty good chance of being condemned if things don't happen there pretty quickly."

Thoughts? Comments? Post them below!

The photo is by Karl Kitchen and was posted to the Friends of Sugar Loaf Facebook group.

(still) waiting for sugar loaf, photo by farlane.

The lift line is looooooooong today...

I posted this photo in April of 2008 after Brad Lutz announced he was pulling out of a purchase agreement. While we're waiting, here's a new poll!

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Discuss at Turning the page on Sugar Loaf.

Jeff Smith of Traverse Magazine asks Can Sugar Loaf Mountain Come Back? After presenting a really excellent history of the resort from its founding in 1964 and through its sad demise (we're almost at the 10 year anniversary of its closing), Smith takes a look at what's going on right now. Some highlights:

Rumors are circulating that some kind of Sugar Loaf deal is in the wind involving an investment group headed by David Skjaerlund, from Owosso. Skjaerlund spent the past several months getting options on several Sugar Loaf town houses and nearby properties, according to Tony Mattar, who co-manages the town house association.

(County Commissioner Dave "Chauncey" Shifflet) has worked with county planner Trudy Galla to establish a brownfield development authority in large part to address any contamination issues at Sugar Loaf—subsequent studies of the buildings and underground storage tanks have found very little contamination. He and Galla have also laid the groundwork for a tax increment finance zone that could help the developer pay for demolition and cleanup costs.

...Shifflet has been beating the drum for a business center there for years now—high tech info-based businesses that just need a fat data pipeline to do their work. “We have an aging population. We have to figure how to attract young working families that doesn’t revolve around recreation. We need employment opportunities, like intellectual arts, multimedia content creation, maybe a film production studio. People working day in and day out, not just on the weekends,” he says.

Click to read much more at MyNorth.com, and if you have comments, please post them to our Sugar Loaf blog!

Photo credit:Sugar Loaf Mountain from Ski Michigan (see a couple more photos right here and get more Michigan skiing info at skimichigan.com!)

Comments are now closed on this post - head over to A New Leaf at Sugar Loaf to follow the ongoing cavalcade of folly that Leelanau's signature ski hill has become.

Over at the redoubtable Glen Arbor Sun, Jacob Wheeler asks if Sugar Loaf has a new suitor. Can Sugar Loaf Mountain Come Back? by Jeff Smith of Traverse Magazine offers a great timeline showing some highlights in the history of Sugar Loaf and some info about the present day.

Please post your information, memories and thoughts about Sugar Loaf Mountain below. I'd like to have us try and take the discussion to a level that moves Sugar Loaf past the sordid mess it has become over the last decade and a half and towards becoming a productive driver of Leelanau's economy once again. Click for the Sugar Loaf Poll!

I'd also ask you to start asking your elected officials at every level you can why an entity that directly employed hundreds of people and indirectly hundreds more has been allowed to fester for so long and what they are going to do to change this.

Here's the previous thread on Sugar Loaf from August - December 2010, the Glen Arbor Sun's Sugar Loaf Resort features and the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook. More links? Add them below...

Photo credit: Christie Petersen via "Friends of Sugar Loaf"

Photo: Whaleback by Jeff Gaydash

One of Leelanau County’s more famous geographical landmarks is known as The Whaleback, Carp Point or simply Whaleback. This distinctive point juts into Lake Michigan just south of Leland and forms the north point of Good Harbor Bay. When viewed from the north or south along the shoreline or just offshore, it is shaped like a beached whale, but I was told as a kid that Whaleback is actually named for its resemblance to a style of ship common on the Great Lakes called a whaleback.

Here's the Whaleback slideshow from the Leelanau(dot)com group.

Technically, Whaleback is a moraine, having been formed by earth and stones deposited there by a glacier. Specifically, The Whaleback is a drumlin, defined as “a long, oval mound of boulder clay molded by glacial action.”

Whaleback is protected by the Leelanau Conservancy as the Whaleback Natural Area. It's a beautiful trail leading up onto the bluffs looking out over Lake Michigan and the Manitou Islands. The trail is steep so be prepared, but the view is worth the effort of the climb. The Whaleback trail snakes through an area that is home not only to a variety of animals, but also, in the spring, to vast swaths of forest flowers such as trillium and columbine.

Cool things to do on the climb: spot trillium and columbines in the spring, spot freighters passing by when you reach the top, try to name the islands you see.

Spring Specialties: thimble berries, bird-watching
Summer Surprises: monarchs on milkweed
Fall Fun: brilliant colors
Winter Wonders: cross-country skiing, snowshoeing

Discussion closed here and continues at Turning the page on Sugar Loaf.

The headline reads Smith pulls Sugar Loaf bid: Sugar Loaf owner calls would-be developer 'a joke', and in it, Bill O'Brien of the Traverse City Record-Eagle reports that Liko Smith has withdrawn his bid for the long-shuttered Leelanau ski resort.

"I wanted to believe this was going to happen," Wickstrom said. "But he's obviously without the means to do anything."

Smith's website stated, "Unfortunately, at some point it is not healthy to (pursue) a deal," and he was pulling out of the project.

"I'm like the sixth buyer here, and I've got the farthest," he said.

Really? I wasn't aware that there were varying degrees of "nowhere" you could get to. Now we're left at the point where we were when Liko crashed into the scene this spring with one very important difference: a bunch of people are paying attention to Sugar Loaf.

We've decided to close our massive Sugar Loaf thread to new posts, add a link to the hibernating Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook and start anew here with the simple question, What now for Sugar Loaf?

Here's a preface to the preface. This comes via our Absolute Michigan web site. You probably know some of the background info we offer but there is some interesting reading, especially if you follow the link to Liko's web site and (under Friends of Sugar Loaf) read the letter from Skip Telgard of the Bluebird.

Today we're bringing you a whole lot of information about a Michigan landmark that is very near and dear to my heart: Sugar Loaf Mountain in Leelanau County. I am indeed a Sugar Loafer. I grew up skiing there, worked as a lift operator and was taken for thousands of dollars in services rendered but never paid for by the last management company to run the resort and was one of the leaders of a movement to try and acquire the resort as a community ski area. That effort was halted when the current owner, Kate Wickstrom purchased Sugar Loaf.

Since then, the resort has lain dormant. Then, about a month ago, Liko Smith emerged on the scene as a potential savior for the resort. Close on his heels were a slew of stories and accusations that have made many question whether we're climbing back on the merry-go-round of disappointment that has become synonymous with the name of Sugar Loaf. Today I'd like to present for your consideration a wide range of information including an interview with Mr. Smith on Absolute Michigan Radio co-sponsored by Traverse Legal, so that you can come to your own conclusions.

Jacob Wheeler of the Glen Arbor Sun has a feature looking at Liko Smith, his business connections and what it would take to resurrect the long-beleaguered ski resort:

Michael Berry, President of the Denver-based National Ski Areas Association, thought that reopening Sugar Loaf was entirely possible. Berry guessed that one could acquire new ski lifts and snowmaking equipment at Sugar Loaf for $4-5 million, and satisfy insurance company standards within two or three months (there are only two or three players in the industry).

...But one ski expert at a Midwestern resort, who asked to remain anonymous, doubted Berry’s optimistic prognosis for Sugar Loaf, and estimated that it would cost at least $10-15 million to buy equipment, make snow, and open the hills. He added that Smith would have to order lifts by next month, or there would be no way to get them in time for next winter.

...“Sugar Loaf would have to pull skiers away from (nearby resorts) Crystal Mountain, Nubs Nob and Boyne. … The market isn’t getting any bigger. Sugar Loaf would have to draw from the existing players.”

Click through to read more and other coverage from the Glen Arbor Sun.

If you'd like to meet Liko and hear more about his plans, there's a $100 Quad Fund mixer at Red Ginger in Traverse City. More about that and more from Liko at likosmith.com. (hint: click the "Friends of Sugar Loaf" for some interesting reading and insight into Liko Smith and the feeling in the community).

By far the most active discussion has taken place in the Friends of Sugar Loaf group on Facebook.

UPDATE 4/10: A reader sent a collection of annotated links that offers some interesting reading.

UPDATE 4/8: TV 7&4 has a report that includes an interview with Liko Smith that addresses tax issues. Definitely worth watching!

Yesterday the Traverse City Record-Eagle reported that Liko Smith, a Las Vegas-based entrepreneur is working to purchase Sugar Loaf Resort in Leelanau County:

The Las Vegas-based entrepreneur has big plans for Leelanau County's long-shuttered Sugar Loaf Resort, and he wants it open in a hurry. If all goes according to plans, he'll plunk down millions and have 100 rooms open at the resort's hotel by July 4.

"The key to this is speed and pragmatism," he said Friday.

The once-popular resort that covers several hundred acres in Cleveland and Centerville townships closed in 2000 amid a sea of financial troubles and back-to-back poor snow seasons. Multiple attempts to reopen never materialized.

Smith, 39, said he'd spend about $10 million to purchase the entire resort, an attached golf course and a supporting water treatment plant, parcels now owned by separate parties. He's been in contact with owners and hopes to finalize the purchase soon.

"All the contracts are being drafted; we expect to close by the end of the month," he said.

Then yesterday, in response to a slew of internet postings, the Record-Eagle followed up with news that he faces felony grand theft and embezzlement charges in California's El Dorado County, and is the subject of numerous derisive Internet postings about past business endeavors.

On Monday, Smith said "everybody makes mistakes," and said he remains committed to the Sugar Loaf purchase.

"If the citizens of Leelanau County and Traverse City want that place open; I'm the guy to do it," he said.

I did a lot of reading on Smith, both through articles about his endeavors linked from the Sugar Loaf Facebook group and other places as well as what he has to say on his web site. Sugar Loaf does need someone to come in and hit it very hard and very fast with a lot of money, something that Smith appears to bring to the table. Not having met or spoken with him, I find it hard to gauge whether or not he's a person who can be trusted to get the job done. Here's hoping...

The photos for this article were provided by Glen Arbor photographer Jeff Rabidoux. See these and a lot more beautiful landscape photos at lifeonthe45th.com.