MARQUETTE, Mich. — Marquette Mountain is investing more than $1.5 million into snow-making upgrades this year, adding new infrastructure and equipment across five ski runs.
The improvements include the installation of four snow towers on Contour, one tower each on Chute and Shaker, a snow lance on Logan’s, five new manual hydrants, and upgraded power pedestals. Three TR8 tower fans will also be replaced with more efficient TT9 models.
In addition to the fans and towers, the project includes more than 8,000 feet of new piping and electrical cabling to replace infrastructure that is over three decades old.
“It’s a very aging infrastructure here,” said Kaet Johnson, general manager at Marquette Mountain. “The pipe that’s in the ground on those runs is over 30 years old. It was old mine slurry pipe, so it’s starting to fail.”
The upgrades are expected to allow the resort to open high-traffic runs like Chute, Shaker and Contour earlier in the season by providing direct water and power access—eliminating the need for temporary workarounds.
“We’ve always had to bring in power and water from other runs and run it through the woods, so that always slows the process down,” Johnson said. “This should speed all of that up.”
Johnson also noted that the changes will help the resort adjust to warming weather patterns and unpredictable snow windows.
“The climate is changing, the weather is changing, we don’t get the early snow-making windows we used to get,” she said. “So all of this makes making snow more efficient. It also makes making snow safer for our staff.”
Construction is underway, and the resort aims to have the upgrades completed in time for the 2025 winter season.
