Little Switzerland to open for mountain biking: "To make the most of the warm weather"

SLINGER -- With unseasonably warm temperatures in November and the beginning of December, Little Switzerland is making the most of the cards Mother Nature has dealt and is planning to operate its bike park in addition skiing and snowboarding this coming weekend.

While temperatures have been 10 to 15 degrees above normal, the resort has still been able to make snow and currently has 3 of its 18 runs open daily.

“The last two years have provided excellent early season snowmaking.  We were able to open the hill in mid-November and by this time we were near 100% open,” said Mike Schmitz, co-owner and general manager of Little Switzerland.  “This year has provided below average snowmaking conditions, but we will resume snowmaking very soon and will open more terrain very quickly.”

In the meantime, the resort has decided to make the most of its below-average start by re-opening its mountain bike park.  The lift serviced bike park which features man-made jumps, drops, and banked turns, closed for the season in October to get ready for the ski season.  But given the warm weather, the resort has decided to open it back up for the rare opportunity to run it simultaneously with skiing and snowboarding.

“While we’ve been happy with the early season numbers we’ve seen given the weather, we saw a big opportunity to make the most of the warm weather by bringing in mountain bikers alongside our skiers and boarders,” Schmitz said.  “Given the great starts to the last few seasons, it would be easy to get discouraged by the weather.  By adding mountain biking, we couldn’t be more excited about this coming weekend.”