For those of you who frequent Perfect North Slopes, you have the chance to ski at the earliest time in the 40 year history of the slopes. The slopes announced Wednesday that they will be opening this Friday the 15th at noon. The Snow Cams have looked very exciting considering it’s the middle of November. This is thanks to large part the record low temperatures that we have been experiencing since last week. Let’s take a look back at the 40 year history of Perfect North Slopes.

The Slopes have been open since the 1980-1981 season. A lot has changed since that first season. The lift tickets and rentals were cheap and the experience was a lot different.

The lift tickets cost $7 during the week and $10 on the weekends to rent equipment it cost $9. The only way to get to the top of the hill was by hanging on to a tow rope. The first season saw 6,200 guests come through.

Compare those to today’s numbers. We will have well over 6,000 during a normal week.  The cost has also gone up since we have improved upon the overall experience thanks to having five lifts and more trails. The cost for a lift ticket now cost $52 and rentals cost $28.

The first four years didn’t see a chair lift until the first one was installed before the 1984- 1985 season. The numbers of people coming through has increased over the years since the first years. As the numbers increased so did the need for a larger lodge. The main lodge was added and the west lodge were added onto the growing resort.

The 2002-2003 season brought a new attraction to the ski and snowboard resort, tubing. Tubing was added by popular demand for an alternate to skiing and boarding. Since that season the tubing park has grown into over 20 lanes of tubing. The tubing park now has its own parking lot, ticket area and foot court. New for the 2019-2020 season you can rent out one of the party tents for birthday parties and other events. Tubing has seen participant numbers grow over the years with improved runs.

One of the most famous people to begin there skiing career from Perfect North Slopes, Nick Goepper was welcomed home after bringing home the silver medal in freestyle from the Olympics. 

Nick Goepper, a Lawrenceburg native grew up skiing at Perfect North Slopes. Nick lived five minutes from me and used to babysit me and his little brother when we were younger. Nick found his passion for skiing at Perfect and his passion grew into a life and career.

When he was in his 20’s he moved to Colorado so he could perfect his tricks. Nick was apart of the team USA during the 2014 and 2018 Olympic games winning the bronze in 2014 and silver in 2018. Nick came home and was honored as a hometown hero. Every once in a while you can still run into Nick at his hometown ski resort Perfect North. Just last year as I was working my ticket window Nick showed up and bought a lift ticket. Nick says he loves coming back to the place where he fell in love with the thing that made him who he is today.

This season is the 40th season in operation at Perfect North. Since the opening in 1980 hundreds of thousands of people have gone down the slopes. This year we are planning a year long celebration that started back last season with 40% off passes for the 2019-2020 season. I sold the 2nd most in the office selling 43 season passes for this year. This week we blew snow for over 40 hours giving a great start to the 40th season. Friday the 15th will be the earliest we have ever opened in the 40 years. Make sure to plan a trip to Perfect North Slopes this winter.