Granite Peak Ski Resort is a

ski area A ski area is the terrain and supporting infrastructure where skiing and other snow sports take place. Such sports include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow boarding, tubing, sledding, etc. Ski areas may stand alone or be part of a ski resort. ...

located in

Rib Mountain State Park Rib Mountain State Park is a Wisconsin state park near the city of Wausau. The park includes a ski resort, Granite Peak Ski Area, concession stand, picnic areas, a reservable amphitheater, a former quarry, observation tower, and 15.1 miles of ...

in the Town of

Rib Mountain Rib Mountain, also known as Rib Hill, is a glacially-eroded monadnock in central Wisconsin, located in the Town of Rib Mountain in Marathon County. Composed of quartzite covered with a softer syenite sheath, it was intruded about 1.5 billion ...

Marathon County, Wisconsin Marathon County is a county located in the U.S. state of Wisconsin. As of the 2020 census, the population was 138,013. Marathon County's seat is Wausau. It was founded in 1850, created from a portion of Portage County. At that time the cou ...

, south of Wausau. It features 58 runs and 4 terrain parks as of 2022 and boasts a vertical drop of . Granite Peak is the third tallest ski area in the

Midwest The Midwestern United States, also referred to as the Midwest or the American Midwest, is one of four Census Bureau Region, census regions of the United States Census Bureau (also known as "Region 2"). It occupies the northern central part of ...

, after

Mount Bohemia Mount Bohemia is the 5th highest point in the Keweenaw Peninsula and the 52nd highest prominent peak in Michigan with an elevation of . Mount Bohemia is host to a ski resort bearing the same name located at the northernmost portion of the Keweena ...

(900 ft.) in Michigan's Upper Peninsula and Lutsen Mountain (825 ft.) on Minnesota's north shore of Lake Superior. It is ten miles (16 km) north-northeast of

Central Wisconsin Airport Central Wisconsin Airport , referred to as "C-Way", is a public airport located southeast of the central business district of Mosinee, in Marathon County, Wisconsin, United States. It is owned by Marathon County and Portage County. It is incl ...

. When the ski area opened on the slopes of

in 1937, it was one of the first ski areas in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and the Car ...

Stowe Stowe may refer to: Places United Kingdom *Stowe, Buckinghamshire, a civil parish and former village **Stowe House **Stowe School * Stowe, Cornwall, in Kilkhampton parish * Stowe, Herefordshire, in the List of places in Herefordshire * Stowe, Linc ...

in Vermont had opened a few years earlier in 1934. Sun Valley in Idaho had become the nation's first ski resort in the western states in 1936. Skiing on Rib Mountain has been expanded significantly since 2000 when Granite Peak Ski Area took over ski area operations, increasing to 58 runs, with seven new chairlifts and a new base village. Rib Mountain State Park in which Granite Peak operates under a 30 year lease recently announced a new Master Plan which will add an additional 125 acres of terrain to the ski area footprint with plans for an additional two lifts and 8 additional trails. Four trails and a lift will be added in the plan to the east and four trails and a lift will be added in the west. Mountain biking, hiking and trails encircling the park are also in the plans for the future.https://dnr.wisconsin.gov/topic/fl/PropertyPlanning/RibMtn

References

External links

* Tourist attractions in Marathon County, Wisconsin Ski areas and resorts in Wisconsin Buildings and structures in Marathon County, Wisconsin Tourist attractions in Wisconsin {{Wisconsin-sports-venue-stub