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It's the annual celebration of America's first six-seat, high-speed lift, which was installed at Boyne Mountain in 1992. You get six lift tickets for the price of one Friday, Dec. 19.  

You could call the Mountain the Microsoft of the ski industry with all the "firsts" that have been introduced here over the last six decades.  Founder Everett Kircher bought the hillside where Boyne Mountain sits from a potato farmer, who called it "a useless piece of farmland," for $1. He installed the Heartland's first chairlift in 1947 and the rest is history. 

Recognizing that uphill transportation and capacity were the keys to success in the fledgling ski industry, he garnered several industry firsts as he kept pushing the envelope.  Kircher later followed - in order - with the world's first triple chair in 1964 at Boyne Highlands, the first quad chairlift in 1969 at the Mountain, Michigan's first high-speed lift at the Highlands in 1990, followed by the six-seater two years later.

He's also given credit for bringing snowmaking to the Midwest and refining snowguns to make the most of the Great Lakes moist winters.  Both the Mountain and Highlands have been recognized by national ski publications for providing some of the best manmade snow in the Lower 48. 

It's a worthy celebration.  Skiers, not only in the Great Lakes Region but everywhere, owe Kircher a debt of gratitude for all the innovations that have made skiing and riding a lot easier and more accessible for the masses.