Anyone have any experience skiing with wolverines?

I am asking because it looks like I being transferred to Indianapolis, and it looks like for any sort of regular skiing that is going to be my best bet. Junior Ski Partner and I are exceedingly unhappy about this turn of events but, well, I need to keep my job. So I guess a lot of road trips are in the future. Have to make good use of this last season in the Mid Atlantic.

On the other hand, the unit I will be working with has some convenient locations on the Austrian border, Southern Germany, Chile, Salt Lake City, Ellicotville NY, and Richmond of course. I plan on visiting all of them

Always enjoy talking about midwest skiing. I have more experience skiing with badgers than with wolverines, but here are my 2 cents anyway.

The only Michigan resorts I have been to are in the upper peninsula. Resorts up there are generally ~500 ft in vertical, but with a lot of natural snow. You can definitely have a good ski experience up there. Unfortunately, that's a 10 hr drive from Indianapolis - you'd have a shorter drive going to any of the WV resorts!

There are a couple resorts in the upper part of the lower peninsula that I have always wanted to try. Nub's Nob is consistently ranked near of the top of midwest resorts - slightly less than 500 ft vert, multiple trail pods, top of the line snowmaking, some tree skiing. Still an 8 hr drive for you, roughly the time it would take to get to Canaan Valley. Boyne is another popular MI resort, closer to a 7 hour drive from Indy. Caberfae Peaks is closer yet, looks fairly interesting, but would still be a 6.5 hour drive. Again, I have never been to any of these.

I know nothing about the resorts much further south than this in MI, but I don't think they would be worth your time. Mt Holly, near Detroit, for instance, would be about a 5 hour drive for 350 vert ft, and not a ton of natural snow to go with that either. But I have never been there so maybe you can find a local with first hand knowledge.

For a quick fix you may be better off heading south. I believe Robbie Allen wrote a couple articles on ski resorts in southern indiana and seemed to think that they were fun. Paoli peaks is 2 hrs away and Perfect North is less than 2 hours away. Maybe Robbie can chime in here.

Skiing from Indianapolis, wow that's a toughie, although there is skiing in IN.
Distances from Indianapolis according to mapquest:
Perfect North, IN: 1:30 hrs/90miles
Paoli Peaks, IN: 2hrs/100mi
Caberfae Peak, MI: 6:15 hrs/400miles
Boyne Highlands, MI: 7:30/475mi
Seven Springs, PA: 6:50/400mi
Mt. Bohemia, MI: 12/640mi
Timberline, WV: 7:50/430mi

Summit County, CO: 17:30hrs/1150mi

I'd get an Epic pass and drive to Summit County for weeklong Christmas and Spring break trips

Good idea from wgo to check Robbie Allen's stories: http://www.dcski.com/columnists/index.php?columnist_id=13

"Skiing from Indianapolis, wow that's a toughie", I'll bet a lot of folks say that about skiing out of Virginia too

I'd like to ski Mt. Bohemia.
http://www.mtbohemia.com/
Sounds interesting, but in not too many more hours you could get to the front range in CO. I have skied the Indiana Dunes near the Illinois line off I-90. The highest one is ~ 200 ft. above Lake Michigan and there is decent pitch. I'd also like to ski the Sleeping Bear Dunes which is pretty far up the LP of Mich. on the eastern shore of the lake. Both the latter are 'backcountry' and you'd have to climb for it. Probably the best thing about those little midwest ski areas is night racing leagues. A disproportionate number of NASTAR national finalists come from the Midwest every year. Lindsey Vonn started at a 300 vert. hill near Minneapolis.

Check out the page link then scroll down to select a resort. Ohio and IN resorts closest....(Mich are 4ish Hr away). Not a lot of vert but good track & skate... its all sliding!
:-) Indianapolis is a very nice city!

http://www.skiersedgeproshops.com/snow_conditions.html

Thanks all for the input everyone.

Denis that Mt. Bohemia place looks wild. It does have lifts though. Gotta love the yurts.

Some Hoosiers will drag me up to Michigan I am sure but for the money looks like the resorts in WV, Holiday Valley and 7S are gonna be the best bets.

I'll make it work.

Thanks KeithT for the Perfect North link. Looks like for a 90 minute quick hit it would be fun. The layout looked better than I imagined and it had TREES.