Chippewa Hill
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Copper Peak Ski-Flying Slide (Chippewa Hill)
1970, Lauren A. Larsen, engineer. Black River Rd. (Gogebic County 513), Ottawa National Forest, 10 miles north of Bessemer
The Gogebic Range Ski Corporation erected this giant ski slide on Chippewa Hill with federal funds to alleviate economic distress. At construction, it was one of five such slides in the world; the others were in West Germany, Norway, Austria, and Yugoslavia. From this 282-foot-high and 469-foot-long Cor-Ten steel structure, ski fliers (jumpers) achieve speeds of 65 to 75 miles per hour before reaching the takeoff, more than 600 feet above the ground. An 810-foot-long chairlift carries them from the base of the hill to the base of the tower, and an elevator in the tower takes them to the top. Chippewa Hill is the site of the discovery of a rich copper vein reported in 1846.
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Location: Ironwood, MichiganRegional Overviews:Architect:Styles:no metadata available
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Citation
Kathryn Bishop Eckert, "Copper Peak Ski-Flying Slide (Chippewa Hill)", [Ironwood, Michigan], SAH Archipedia, eds. Gabrielle Esperdy and Karen Kingsley, Charlottesville: UVaP, 2012—, http://sah-archipedia.org/buildings/MI-01-GB8.
Print Source
Buildings of Michigan, Kathryn Bishop Eckert. Charlottesville: University of Virginia Press, 2012, 529-529.
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