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We're Open Detroit: Detroit ski businesses enjoying benefits of heavy snowfall

Cross-country skiing
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INDEPENDENCE TWP. (WXYZ) — In our “We’re Open" report, local ski hills are enjoying this recent snowfall with more people hitting the slopes. It’s been a different ski season for many especially dealing with the pandemic.

After a large snowfall, what’s the best thing to do? Outdoor winter sports and if you like downhill skiing, seeing all this fresh powder on the slopes is like Christmas Day.

“It’s a great way to get outside and enjoy the weather,” said general manager at Pine Knob Rob Shick.

Pine Knob in Independence Township is taking full advantage of this recent snowfall.

“It took about 4 or 5 hours to dig ourselves out and everybody started to come out to enjoy the fresh snow,” Shick said.

He says it’s been a pretty good ski season. However, dealing with the pandemic has put a lot of restrictions on what operators can and can’t do.

“Not being able to have people indoors until Feb. 2, we had to recalibrate everything that we were doing,” Shick said.

Even with restrictions, that hasn’t stopped people from coming out.

“My favorite part about skiing is probably going fast. It’s a lot of fun just zooming through the hills,” said 9-year-old Brad Bagley.

Bagley says this snowfall was a nice surprise and enjoys hitting the bigger slopes.

“It’s a little bit more challenging to go down them and not fall,” he said.

Shick says business is going well and he's thankful for everyone who has come out to hit the hills.

“It’s great, I mean we sell fun, that’s what we do here,” he said.

Local ski hills are open, just be sure to check their website for hours of operation.

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