LAKEWOOD, WI (WTAQ-WLUK) – A small ski hill run by a family in Northern Wisconsin is undergoing a facelift. Closed for a quarter-century, Paul Bunyan’s Ski Hill could be reopening its doors by next month. The ski hill is in Lakewood, about nine miles north of Mountain.
Re-opening it has been on the family’s to-do list for nearly a decade.
“It’s kind of always been our dream and when COVID struck we kind of just said ‘OK, here’s our time because our business was slow,” Wendy Kerscher said.
“We restored everything: the T-bar, the rope tow had to be rebuilt and gone through,” TJ Kerscher said. “I brought engineers out here to inspect.”
TJ Kerscher’s dad purchased the hill in 1986, but nine years later, was forced to close it.
He tells FOX 11 it’s been that way for 25 years.
“It was pretty much grown over, you could hardly even tell the hills were even there anymore. In a lot of areas they had to be cut all open.”
“It was a mess, honestly, we never really touched it once we lived here we just let it do its own thing and grow up,” Wendy added.
Luckily, TJ Kerscher’s son started an excavating company after finishing college.
“So I had access to heavy equipment. It was kind of a family project, myself, my wife, my two boys, with my sons excavating equipment we went and cleaned the whole place up.”
The family spent over 1,000 hours removing a couple hundred trees from this hill. They hope by the end of the year, they can replace those trees with a couple hundred skiers.
“Most of it was sweat-equity, just a lot of manual labor went into it,” TJ explained.
“They are a true example of a entrepreneur,” Oconto County Tourism manager Samantha Boucher said. “They have so much passion and drive. They will also play a crucial role in keeping our lodging and restaurants open throughout these winter months.”
“This is going to be a hobby business for us,” TJ told FOX 11. “We’re doing this on the side, obviously, we don’t want to lose money on this, but our goal is to make money.”
They plan to add six more runs, snow shoeing, and a skating rink in upcoming years.
“I love seeing just that the kids are going to be out here again and families,” Wendy said.
The Kerschers are making that happen… as a family.
They’re still working on prices, with the goal of being an affordable, family-friendly ski hill.
They hope to open by Christmas.
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