After the Ice

In this episode, we head to northern Michigan, where a late-season storm left one of the Midwest’s largest ski resorts encased in ice. The Highlands, part of Boyne Resorts, took the brunt of a March 2025 weather event so severe it shattered tree limbs like matchsticks, buried trails, and left parts of the property without power for weeks. What followed was a massive recovery effort—bolstered by grit, camaraderie, and a whole lot of chainsaws. SAM’s senior editor Katie Brinton and publisher Olivia Rowan sat down with The Highlands general manager Mike Chumbler, resort services director Mari Kissinger, area manager Robby Ortlieb, and Boyne Resorts vice president of mountain sports development Jeremy Cooper to hear how the team navigated danger in the immediate aftermath, rallied help from across the Boyne network, and turned a crisis into an opportunity to strengthen community and prepare for the future. Read "After the Ice" in the September 2025 issue of SAM.

You can listen to After the Ice online on Radio and Podcast. Open the player on this page to stream the available audio.

After the Ice is an episode from PodSAM by SAM Magazine.

This episode is 49:04 long.

This episode was published on Sep 22, 2025.

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