When Morgan Siemer shared her frustration on Facebook about the management of the Hickory Hills Recreation Area, she wasn’t expecting much response. Instead, the post – which was published on New Year’s Day and called out Hickory’s failure to open any ski runs over the holiday season – garnered dozens of replies from other disappointed skiers. Hickory held its official opening day four days later, with a single run open, and as of mid-January, the ski area has just four of its 16 runs available.

Why has Hickory Hills been so slow to get going when other local ski areas have been open for a month?

It was a New Year’s Eve morning run with her husband that got Siemer thinking.

“We ran up to Hickory, and we thought for sure the snow guns would be on, because it was so cold that our eyelashes were freezing while we were running,” Siemer tells The Ticker. “But it was like a ghost town up there. And it rubbed me the wrong way, because my kids are the fourth generation of our family to be skiing there, and I felt like there had to be something that we could do as a community to get this place up and running.”

“I’m not one to normally post about stuff like this but when Mother Nature has given you everything to get the ski hill open for the season, it’s 17 degrees and not a snow gun running or even one tow rope installed and it’s January 1st…something’s not right,” Siemer wrote in her post.

It prompted more than 30 comments, all expressing agreement with Siemer’s sentiment. “This makes 3 years in a row that Hickory was not open for the kids during vacation,” one person wrote. “Come to Holiday, we’ve been rolling since the 20th,” another commented, referring to Mt. Holiday in East Bay Township. A third individual encouraged local taxpayers to demand answers from the City of Traverse City, which owns and operates Hickory Hills.

“The refrain was, ‘This can’t keep happening,’” Siemer says. “A lot of people feel like the city is putting Hickory on the backburner. It doesn't seem like it’s a huge priority for them.”

Two days later, Hickory announced it would open for the season on January 4 with only two of its shortest runs – Fast Tammy and Magna Carta – available. Hours later, the ski area reneged, announcing that it had “experienced an equipment issue with the tow operation on Magna Carta that cannot be resolved by tomorrow,” leaving Fast Tammy the only run for opening day.

“Kids were hiking up the hills because they wanted to ski and [the city] didn't have any of the ropes installed,” Siemer says.

While some of Hickory’s troubles have been related to inconsistent weather, Deputy City Manager Deb Allen says most of the problems stem from staffing woes.

“We started the season a little bit behind the eight ball, admittedly,” Allen says. “We had a staffing change, with the Hickory Hills manager retiring, and so there was kind of an information gap there in terms of processes.”

The city announced last July it was looking for someone to replace longtime Hickory manager Barry Smith. Per Allen, the top two interviewees both ultimately declined the position. As a stopgap, the city “identified internal staff that agreed to step up, acknowledging that [running a ski area] is not necessarily their particular expertise in terms of management.”

“We pretty much said, ‘Well, we're going to do the best we can,’ but this is obviously not what we had hoped or intended for this season,” Allen admits.

Still, Allen insists it was everyone’s intention to have Hickory up and running on or around December 19. Bad luck intervened.

“All of the usual preventative maintenance checks were done early, back in the fall,” Allen says of Hickory’s snow guns, tow ropes, and other infrastructure. “But then, as systems were sitting and waiting, that’s when you go back and an issue pops up.”

Allen says a meeting is already on the schedule this week where the city will discuss “goals and objectives for the next year” with the Hickory Hills advisory committee and the Preserve Hickory Hills nonprofit group. Those goals could include everything from finding a long-term manager to hiring a consultant with expertise in winter recreation parks, to give recommendations on improvements and investments.

“We can do better, and I can tell you that there is a commitment from city leadership to sincerely look at what our options are to protect Hickory and ensure its viability,” Allen concludes. “There’s such a community commitment to this asset, and we want to be doing everything that we can to be supportive and transparent.”