Big Powderhorn
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort is a ski area located in the state of Michigan in USA. The resort is in the town of Ironwood, MI.
We recently ranked all of Michigan's ski resorts, so you can see where Big Powderhorn stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Big Powderhorn is a part of the INDY Ski Pass system. This allows you to buy one lift pass, and ski at all of the slopes that are also a part of the group.
Lodging Options
There are numerous options to stay at Big Powderhorn around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort Terrain Overview
Big Powderhorn has a total of 45 ski trails, which are serviced by 10 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Big Powderhorn is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 253 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 102 hectares, 0.4 square miles, or 1.0 square kilometers.
Big Powderhorn's slopes see on average 214 inches (5.4 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 17 feet every year!
Total Runs
45
Lifts
10
Skiable Acres
253(1 km2)
Annual Snowfall
214"(544 cm)
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort Elevation
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort has a summit elevation of 1,800 feet, or 549 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 1,200 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 600 feet (183 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Big Powderhorn has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,800'(549 m)
Vertical Drop
600'(183 m)
Base Elevation
1,200'(366 m)
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
39out of 100
DID YOU KNOW?
At Parks & Trips, we've created a proprietary Difficulty Score that attempts to show how difficult a particular ski slope is. We get to this number by combining a number of metrics for each resort and comparing them to its peers. Most of the score is based off the amount of easy-intermediate-expert slopes by acreage and the maximum vertical drop of the overall resort, but also includes a few lesser-used metrics as well.
Our algorithm compares each resort’s metrics with all others in North America, then assigns each a Difficulty Score, which we use to rank them accordingly. Resorts with a lower score are easier to ski than those with a higher one. However, a high score does not mean that the resort does not have any easy slopes, or vice versa. This is just an overall score given to the resort based on all its metrics grouped together.
Skiable Terrain by Difficulty Level
Big Powderhorn has 253 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Big Powderhorn is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 27% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 73%.
Beginner
27%(68 acres)
Beginner trails (identified by a green circle) are the easiest trails on the hill with a gradual 25% or less gradient, and are usually wide to accommodate beginner skiers.
Intermediate
40%(101 acres)
Intermediate trails (identified by a blue square) are usually the most popular and crowded runs, which have a slope of anywhere between 25-40%.
Expert
33%(83 acres)
Expert trails (identified by a black diamond... or two) are the hardest slopes on the mountain, and have very steep gradients over 40%.
Is Big Powderhorn Ski Resort good for beginners?
Big Powderhorn can be beginner-friendly, depending on the runs you take. While it ranks in the lower half of all North American ski areas in terms of overall difficulty, it still has 73% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort Location
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort is located in the state of Michigan, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Ironwood, MI.
Address:
Ironwood, MI 49938 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
bpla.com
GPS Coordinates:
46.49000, -90.10000
Getting to Big Powderhorn Mountain Resort
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Big Powderhorn Ski Resort), its coordinates of 46.49000, -90.10000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Ironwood, MI to get close.
By Air: If you are coming in from across the country, then you may need to board an airplane to get here.
A large airport has scheduled major airline service with millions of passengers per year. This type of airport always accepts international flights. Here are the closest large airport(s) to Big Powderhorn Ski Resort.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minneapolis–Saint Paul International Airport | MSP | Minneapolis, MN | 187 mi |
A medium-sized airport has scheduled regional airline service. This type of airport may or may not accept international flights. Here are the closest medium-sized airport(s) to Big Powderhorn.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Rhinelander Oneida County Airport | RHI | Rhinelander, WI | 67 mi |
| Houghton County Memorial Airport | CMX | Hancock, MI | 89 mi |
| Duluth International Airport | DLH | Duluth, MN | 102 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Big Powderhorn Ski Resort, but we didn't list them here due to the fact that no major airlines go through them.
Other Nearby Ski Resorts
Skiers will - especially if coming from far away - try and visit a couple different slopes all in the same trip. Here are the closest other ski slopes within 100 miles of Big Powderhorn Ski Resort.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Mt. Zion Ski Hill | Ironwood, MI | 1,400 ft | 33% | 3 mi |
| Snowriver Mountain Resort - Blackjack | Ramsay, MI | 1,650 ft | 42% | 5 mi |
| Snowriver Mountain Resort - Indianhead | Wakefield, MI | 1,935 ft | 49% | 6 mi |
| Whitecap Mountains Resort | Upson, WI | 1,750 ft | 38% | 15 mi |
| Mount Ashwabay | Bayfield, WI | 1,286 ft | 29% | 43 mi |
| Mont Ripley | Hancock, MI | 1,140 ft | 45% | 84 mi |
Big Powderhorn Ski Resort Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,800 ft |
| Base Elevation | 1,200 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 600 ft |
| Trails | 45 (27% Beginner, 40% Intermediate, 33% Expert) |
| Lifts | 10 |
| Skiable Acres | 253 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 214 inches |