| Route 66 | Cities | Beaches |
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Perfect North |
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| Perfect North is Midwestern skiing’s best example of the old “if you build it, they will come” line. Created on the back end of a family farm in 1980, expanded each year as finances allowed, and carefully managed with customer relations a priority, this Indiana ridge has become the finest day resort in seven states and one of the three best between New England and the Rockies. Realize coming in that, with only a 400 foot vertical, PN’s runs will be short. But they are very well designed and provide more punch than any of its day slope rivals. PN offers one of the top 10 cruising runs, and the best learning area and rental facility in the region. The lodge is designed for ideal viewing. Built in '80, expanded in '91 and '94, it houses a spacious retail outlet and upper and lower lounging levels. | Hot doggers coming down Center Stage and the black diamond terrain park entertain those eating lunch, warming up around the fireplace, or relaxing out on the sundeck. There is plenty of parking close to the lodge, easy pickup and dropoff pull ins, and tractor drawn shuttles cycling over to the tubing run, western slopes, learner area and far parking lots every five minutes. Each year PN has added more snowmaking nozzles until their coverage is excellent. The north facing ridge and heavy tree cover keep snow on the ground except for prolonged warm spells. Despite all these state of the art amenities, Perfect North group and individual prices undercut everything in the region. It is the ultimate midwestern skiing bargain, especially with season tickets. |
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PN is easily accessible, only a few miles off I-265, the interstate bypass around Cincinnati. People from points South have even made PN into a weekend destination. Lawrenceburg is a charming and historic old river town only a few miles away, and various hotels, motels and restaurants have sprung up, along with new gambling casinos. For those staying overnight, PN keeps its slopes open and lighted until 3 am. Fridays and Saturdays. As one mother from Nashville, Tennessee, explains, “ We’re not Olympic skiers. As a family, we just like to take a skiing weekend two or three times a year. We can come up here on good interstates, get good prices for both skiing and lodging, and enjoy a day and a half out on the snow. I can sit in one place in the lodge and watch my youngest taking lessons over in the learning area, turn slightly in my seat and watch my middle son skiing beginner slopes, then turn further around and watch my husband and oldest son on the advanced slopes. Lodge food here is not overpriced as at the major overnight resorts. We can come up here three times for what it would cost for one weekend at one of those places.” |
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Snowboarding is back at PN. Although they were one of the first resorts open to boarders in '89, bad attitudes and rude manners soured the family, and they banned their use for a decade. In '02 they tried again, and found behavior more acceptable. But during the ban, locals grew up skiing, and now boarders are just 12% of the total lift tickets sold. PN's black diamond terrain park is the only such facility in the region designed more for skiiers than boarders. Perfect North’s main value, though, is as a low cost, convenient entry point where beginners learn to ski and hone their skills before heading off to the larger overnight resorts. Because it is just outside Cincinnati and close to Louisville, Lexington, Dayton and Indianapolis, it can get crowded on weekends and holidays. Weekdays are ideal. Snow days off from school are great if you can get organized at the very last minute. |
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