Sugar Loaf

In 1942 the Leelanau County Chamber of Commerce bought 100 acres for a ski hill, and a newspaper ran an artist's concept for a winter sports development there in 1945. The hill opened to the public in 1947. A Consumers Power brochure from about 1959 listed four slopes and four tows, and a 1966 guide counted 50 acres of runs, two double chairlifts, a J-bar and snowmaking. The nearby Leelanau School kept its ski program there until the resort closed.^1,2,4

Jim and Pat Ganter opened Sugar Loaf Mountain Resort on the site in 1964, and a bell tower went up outside the lodge in 1969. In the 1970s as many as 3,000 skiers came on a busy day, to runs such as Manitou, Devil's Elbow and Awful Awful, called the steepest in the state. Near the end it listed 490 feet of vertical, six chairlifts and night skiing.^1,4,5

The resort slipped through the 1980s and 1990s and closed for good in 2000. Its buildings stood empty for two decades. SPV 45 LLC bought the property in 2020 and paid to demolish the buildings and take down the lifts in 2021 and 2022. It then offered 285 acres to the Leelanau Conservancy if the group could raise $8 million.^1,2,3,5,6

TodayThe Leelanau Conservancy is opening the 285-acre property as the Sugar Loaf Scenic Area on October 9, 2026, with trails for hiking and biking and hike-up skiing in winter, but no lifts. (2026)^2,6