Ski and Snowboard News, Deals, and Events

Ski Snowstar, located in the Coal Creek Valley above the Mississippi River near the Quad Cities, has been recovering from the Midwest floods that took place during the summer.  General Manager Ed Meyer reports they lost the dam on their lower snowmaking pond, and adjacent to where Coal Creek enters the property behind lifts 3 and 4, a sharp cliff now exists when about an acre of land that originated about 120 feet up the hill slid into the creek area.

Snowstar added a new deck and benches in the rental area, and a teaching hill observation deck.  This will allow parents easy access to a place where they can watch the kids programs.  Snowguns were also placed along the top of Pluto's Plunge, which will hopefully address a past snow problem area.

Work has been ongoing with the terrain park where riders will find many new features this season including more rails, boxes, table tops, hip jumps, quarter-pipes and rollers.  There's even a Bismarck Giant Battleship complete with cannon and dragon tail. 

You will get a $10 weekday lift ticket or a $15 weekend lift ticket from opening day through Dec. 24 if you bring a food pantry donation. The area averages about 75 days of riding and skiing per winter.  This will mark Snowstar's 27^th winter of operation.  They opened in 1981 with one lift and three trails.  Nearly 750,000 skiers and riders have visited the area since that time.