Crystal Mountain
Crystal Mountain is a ski area located in the state of Michigan in USA. The resort is in the town of Thompsonville, MI.
We recently ranked all of Michigan's ski resorts, so you can see where Crystal Mountain stacks up against all its nearby ski hills!
Season Passes
Crystal Mountain 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 Crystal Mountain around the resort. Check out the available options with the form below.
Crystal Mountain Terrain Overview
Crystal Mountain has a total of 45 ski trails, which are serviced by 8 ski lifts, gondolas and/or trams. Crystal Mountain is considered a smaller than average ski area, with only a maximum of 85 acres available to ski. This area is equivalent to 34 hectares, 0.1 square miles, or 0.3 square kilometers.
Crystal Mountain's slopes see on average 125 inches (3.2 meters) of snowfall a year. That is almost 10 feet every year!
Total Runs
45
Lifts
8
Skiable Acres
85(0 km2)
Annual Snowfall
125"(318 cm)
Crystal Mountain Elevation
Crystal Mountain has a summit elevation of 1,132 feet, or 345 meters. However, not all of that elevation is able to be skied. The base of the ski slope sits at 757 feet above sea level, creating a ski hill that is 375 feet (114 meters) high. This is referred to as the slope's vertical drop - or a measure of how high the skiable hill is.
Crystal Mountain has a very low summit elevation. The summit of this park is one of the smaller ones in the country.
Summit Elevation
1,132'(345 m)
Vertical Drop
375'(114 m)
Base Elevation
757'(231 m)
Crystal Mountain Difficulty Level
Difficulty Score™
34.3out 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
Crystal Mountain has 85 total skiable acres, which can be broken down into the three main groups of difficulty: Beginner, Intermediate, and Expert.
Crystal Mountain is a beginner-friendly ski area, with about 25% of its trails as easy. However, it also has a fair share of more difficult runs - which account for the remaining 75%.
Beginner
25%(21 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
49%(42 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
26%(22 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 Crystal Mountain good for beginners?
Crystal Mountain 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 75% of its trails rated at or above intermediate.
Crystal Mountain Location
Crystal Mountain is located in the state of Michigan, USA. This ski area is nearest the town of Thompsonville, MI.
Address:
Thompsonville, MI 49683 USA
View on Google Maps
Website:
crystalmountain.com
GPS Coordinates:
44.51000, -86.00000
Getting to Crystal Mountain
By Car: If you are driving, you would set your GPS to either the ski resort's name (Crystal Mountain), its coordinates of 44.51000, -86.00000 (latitude, longitude), or simply drive towards the town of Thompsonville, 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 Crystal Mountain.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Milwaukee Mitchell International Airport | MKE | Milwaukee, WI | 144 mi |
| O'Hare International Airport | ORD | Chicago, IL | 199 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 Crystal Mountain.
| Name | Code | City | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|
| Cherry Capital Airport | TVC | Traverse City, MI | 26 mi |
| Muskegon County Airport | MKG | Muskegon, MI | 93 mi |
| Pellston Regional Airport of Emmet County Airport | PLN | Pellston, MI | 94 mi |
There may also be much smaller regional airports next to Crystal Mountain, 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 Crystal Mountain.
| Name | Location | Summit | Difficulty Score™ | Distance |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Caberfae Peaks | Boon, MI | 1,545 ft | 37% | 24 mi |
| Ski Brule | Boon, MI | 1,861 ft | 39% | 24 mi |
| Snow Snake | Harrison, MI | 1,230 ft | 29% | 24 mi |
| Swiss Valley | Jones, MI | 1,200 ft | 32% | 24 mi |
| Mt. Holiday | Traverse City, MI | 440 ft | 36% | 28 mi |
| Schuss Mountain at Shanty Creek | Bellaire, MI | 1,125 ft | 36% | 49 mi |
| Timber Ridge | Gobles, MI | 941 ft | 24% | 59 mi |
| Hanson Hills | Grayling, MI | 1,362 ft | 15% | 62 mi |
| Alpine Valley | Elmira, MI | 1,210 ft | 33% | 64 mi |
| Boyne Mountain | Boyne Falls, MI | 1,120 ft | 28% | 69 mi |
| Treetops | Gaylord, MI | 1,345 ft | 29% | 76 mi |
| Petoskey Sports Park | Petoskey, MI | 791 ft | 0% | 78 mi |
| Bittersweet | Grant, MI | 850 ft | 29% | 79 mi |
| Nubs Nob | Harbor Springs, MI | 1,338 ft | 31% | 85 mi |
Crystal Mountain Stats
| Name | Statistic |
|---|---|
| Summit Elevation | 1,132 ft |
| Base Elevation | 757 ft |
| Vertical Drop | 375 ft |
| Trails | 45 (25% Beginner, 49% Intermediate, 26% Expert) |
| Lifts | 8 |
| Skiable Acres | 85 |
| Avg. Annual Snowfall | 125 inches |