Heather Dourron, whose Cleveland Township home overlooks Sugar Loaf Mountain, witnessed in real time yesterday as the crew from Kalamazoo’s Taplin Enterprises leveled the hotel and other structures at the defunct Sugar Loaf ski resort property. As of 5pm Thursday evening, she says, “The iconic bell tower is still there.”

The idle resort — shuttered since 2000 — had become blighted due to neglect and vandalism. (So much so, the Cleveland Township Board of Trustees passed a blight elimination ordinance in January 2020, as a first step in taking action against former owners of the resort.) For years, the Leelanau Office of Emergency Management received consistent calls — sometimes multiple in a week — with reports of trespassers at the privately held property.

“I am glad no one was ever hurt inside; I have seen countless kids and people going into it over the years,” shares Dourron, adding, “I was saddened by its derelict condition, but ecstatic the building part of Sugar Loaf Mountain is being cleaned up. I’ve been waiting for a decade for this day.”

Environmental consulting firm Envirologic, based in Kalamazoo, is overseeing the ongoing cleanup at Sugar Loaf on behalf of the owner. To date, that “owner” has only been identified as a private group of investors with a Leland address. 

The mystery investors purchased Sugar Loaf one year ago from Sweet Bread LLC, whose president Jeff Katofsky had designs on restoring the property to a year-round luxury resort. Those plans, which included “limited” downhill skiing, came to a complete halt during the pandemic — much to the dismay of who those wanted to see the dilapidated buildings removed, snow sports of some kind to return to the mountain, or, at the very least, for the beloved landmark to stop languishing.

Sugar Loaf’s halcyon days as a ski hill started in the 1940’s: According to legend, Leelanau School students cleared one of the first rudimentary ski slopes at the then county-owned land. Sugar Loaf Winter Sports Club was then incorporated as a nonprofit in 1944, run by 119 “Life Members,” which precipitated the professional clearing of the Sugar Loaf slope in 1946, under the direction of Hans “Peppi” Teichner. Teichner had arrived in the county after being a Sun Valley instructor and training ski troops at Camp Hale, Colorado, during WWII.

During the 70’s and 80’s Sugar Loaf — at this point privately owned — had six lifts and 600 acres of terrain, including a steep 700-foot drop that made it a draw for serious skiers across the Midwest. “The Loaf’s” nightlife was also known far and wide.

Dan Matthies, a local skier and former instructor, who now owns family-run Chateau Fontaine winery near Lake Leelanau, notes that Sugar Loaf was once the largest taxpayer on record in this county. Even now, he considers the heyday at the mountain as “the best time of his life.” As he shared with John Clary Davies, who wrote about the “sudden, tragic death of a Midwestern oasis” in the Dec. 2016 issue of POWDER magazine, “I can’t go up on that hill. Because I lose it. That’s how much I’ve been in love with that mountain. To see one of the greatest ski hills in the state of Michigan lie dormant, and watching it just deteriorate…is really, really hard to do.”

As of press time there are no disclosed development plans for the ski hill or overall property, which remains completely closed to the public, and Leland’s Ross Satterwhite, who represents the current owner, was not available for comment. He previously stated, “The owner is looking forward to the completion of the work and finally eliminating what sadly had become an unattractive nuisance and eyesore in the community. We are also very appreciative of the ongoing support received from the township, county officials and neighboring residents during this process.”

Leelanau County Planning Director Trudy Galla, describes the past 20 years at Sugar Loaf as “a long road, because of several changes of ownership, changes in plans, and the fact that it’s a large piece of land that is looked upon as being ‘public’ property: ‘that’s our ski resort, our place to hike and spot to take wedding photos.’”

And because of nostalgic attachment to the hotel and lodge itself, until recently many in the community held a glimmer of “hope they could be refurbished or rehabilitated,” says Galla. To help move projects into a state of redevelopment, the Brownfield Redevelopment Authority in the county used U.S. EPA grants and state loans to do two studies at Sugar Loaf under two different owners.

She says it was on the walk-through of the building and the property with then owner Jeff Katofsky and his crew, in October of 2018, that the grim reality of the effects of trespassing and vandalism, water and animal intrusion sunk in.

She describes the rapid decline: “I did one walk-through, then this one a year later. I was shocked. The hallway for example — because of water intrusion, I thought I was walking on green carpet, but the entire hallway was moss. It was really a disappointment, because we knew there was no saving it now. There was no choice but to tear it down.”

During the studies, contaminated vermiculite construction blocks were found on the property as was a fuel oil tank. “And there are still rumors of another large fuel oil tank,” says Galla. “As you know demolition sometimes has surprises. We will have to see if — in this demo — they find anything else.”

The questions circulating now, especially among those with ties to the resort: will anything of the old lodge be saved? Galla says Jeff Hawkins of Envirologic, who is overseeing the work, has indicated that some of the large timbers may be able to be preserved.

And as for the land itself?

“This property is spectacular. The mountain here is now unblemished,” says Dourron. Referencing Sugar Loaf’s most infamous run, Awful Awful, she adds, “Now it’s just the name of the ski run, not the appearance of a resort that once brought so many of us skiers joy and good memories.

“Sugar Loaf the mountain is still here, and it’s a beautiful place.”

Pictured: The demolition of Sugar Loaf Mountain Resort, 8:48am Thursday, Nov. 4 by Dourron.