December 1978

[Attak man]

All I can say is WOW....I am looking at pictures from xmas break 1978 at my grandmother's house in Woodruff Wisconsin...the snow must be 3 feet deep in her yard, and the plow banks are over 6 foot high!!! We had snow forts/tunnels everywhere...I wish I could show you these pictures...but they are on slides (yes...I am that old...lol).

I just can't believe it...what the **** happened to winter up here??? I mean the snow in this picture...if I didn't tell you where it was...you would swear it was somewhere in the U.P....I can't even imagine how deep the snow must have been in the keweenaw that year (1978).

I gotta quit looking at these old pictures.....they just make me sad that we don't get snow like that anymore.

 

[bigvin]

Isn't it amazing on how it USED to be?
THAT is when I fell in LOVE with winter.
Remember those orange balls that one would put on the radio atenna's
so you could look for them at intersections,... because the banks were
so darn high?
Maybe we will NEVER see that again?
If everything is "cyclicle" then is sure is taking its turn
"coming back around"
Memories are all we got left. Enjoy them.

 

[98panther]

I have a bunch of pictures taken on me from the early 60's in the Twin Cities.
The snow banks were over the top of my head. Haven't seen anything like it since and doubt I will ever see snow that high again.

I probably wasn't 3' tall yet though

 

[timo]

i remember that winter clearly. we have pictures of our ranch house that were were able to walk upa drift on the side of the house and make a slide we would slide down on our buts or sleds from the roof of the house. It was prolly 12 feet tall.

 

[whitedust]

Heck the weather change in the just the last 10 years boggles the mind! Jan 15th & no 25 below zero heck it use to do that in March with dramatic drops then up to 40F in same day. Mild winters Ok but no snow at all is killing the northwoods. Probably just shut down snomo biz in winter if this continues as losing their butts.

 

[Attak man]

Heck the weather change in the just the last 10 years boggles the mind! Jan 15th & no 25 below zero heck it use to do that in March with dramatic drops then up to 40F in same day. Mild winters Ok but no snow at all is killing the northwoods. Probably just shut down snomo biz in winter if this continues as losing their butts.

Yep....many business owners up here are hanging on by a thread...the ones that barely survived the last 3 winters are really struggling...I bet we will see at least 5 northwoods bars close for good by april 1st.

 

[moosehead]

Yep....many business owners up here are hanging on by a thread...the ones that barely survived the last 3 winters are really struggling...I bet we will see at least 5 northwoods bars close for good by april 1st.

We are still coming up regardless to give business owners money in a few weeks. It's our only weekend out without the kids. Grandma will have them that weekend. Still good time to be up north even without sleds. We will have to stop and see you Attak man. Fish trap it is..

 

[keweenaw22]

The winter of 78-79 was one of the snowiest winters in the keweenaw snowiest ever recorded actually. Delaware recorded 390 inches of snow that year some of the snowiest spots in the keweenaw probably hit 400 inches i know delaware is the area that records the snow but i know areas where the snow is always deeper so its safe to say some areas up in the keweenaw in the high elevations got 425 inches of snow that winter maybe more.

 

[loriwlrc]

Attak mn you hit it on the nail, not just bars!!!

 

[lotoftoys]

In the winter of 78/79 I worked construction (iron worker) at the addition to the Empire Mine in Palmer. We spent more time digging for iron than hanging it. One of the crane operators was from White Pine (nick name was blacky I think) said ther total was 410". We have reservations in Boulder Junction second week of February. I am going snow or no snow for some down time and help the motel and bar business. This winter is a shame.

 

[Pizza Man]

Our very first trip to the U.P. was that winter (78-79) and we went to Mohawk.
When we got there on Thusday, they had 125 inches of snow. We tried to get to Copper Harbor on friiday and the snow was coming over our sleds.
We met a DNR groomer with a V Plow on the front.
They asked us where we were going and we said CH.
They told us we would never make it by trail.
They said to go to the nect cross road, turn left to Hy 41 and take the road.
We did that and made it there and back.
The next day we went south passed H/H and ran into the same amount of snow.
It snowed hard every day we were up there.
That ended up to be the big snow as shown by the Totum Pole in Calumet

 

[lenny]

Our very first trip to the U.P. was that winter (78-79) and we went to Mohawk.
When we got there on Thusday, they had 125 inches of snow. We tried to get to Copper Harbor on friiday and the snow was coming over our sleds.
We met a DNR groomer with a V Plow on the front.
They asked us where we were going and we said CH.
They told us we would never make it by trail.
They said to go to the nect cross road, turn left to Hy 41 and take the road.
We did that and made it there and back.
The next day we went south passed H/H and ran into the same amount of snow.
It snowed hard every day we were up there.
That ended up to be the big snow as shown by the Totum Pole in Calumet

did that kinda set a president for you and your crew? I mean how do you compete with that the following years and not kinda fell a slight let down eh!

 

[mezz]

I wish I had pictures, or slides for that matter of any of that winter. It was truely epic, to have a winter like that again with the sleds of today would be fantastic! Probably as many stucks, but, could go further between them! Real Good memories!-Mezz

 

[bigvin]

Man,..
To have SO MUCH snow,.. that the groomer has to have a V-plow!
and the DNR says "take the highway!"
Now that right there,... A W E S O M E!!!!!!!
If only we could experience that today!
Ah,...the old days!

 

[bearrassler]

That was a great winter in ND and NW MN also, I remember we set a few record high temps around Nov 10th and then it turned cold and did not get above freezing until mid March, we were riding in the White Earth area of NW MN on Thanksgiving weekend and could go about 100 to 200 yards and then get stuck, the sleds were not made for that much snow at that time, and also we had a very bad flood in late April of 79 when the snow finally melted that shut our town down for about a week.

 

[mnuser]

Unfortunately I don't think we will ever see that type of winter again. The winter we had when we were kids are a thing of the past. Kinda sad. Love winter. Favorite season. Love to shovel snow. Love to ride. Love to run the snow blower.

Ice fishing sucks.....

Oh well, as a result I spend a lot of time in the weight room and playing hoops. I guess there is a positive side....

 

[Admin]

Was a big year in Chi-town too. I have some pretty vivid memories of the big one in Jan. Hit on a Monday, got sent home from school early on Monday and no school for the rest of the week!

I also remember the big year of 95-96 up here. 50+ inches fell in the 5 days we were here. Nearly froze to death trying to get across Point Mills on the Dreamland trail. Lost the trail in a total whiteout in the fields you used to cross. Got to Quincy's and stripped down to my underwear to dry out. Twas the last time I did not ride without gortex. That same trip in Jan 96 we were going from Ontonagon to Greenland and fought super deep snow the whole way. We were wondering why in the heck the trails had not been groomed. As we got closer to Greenland, we got our answer. The groomer had gotten stuck in the snow! They had two other groomers daisy chained to it to pull it out. They had to unhook the drag to pull the groomer out of the snow. No drifts, no ditch the groomer went into, just deep snow on the level.

It will happen again, when? ELIFINO!

-John

 

[Pizza Man]

I do have pics of our trip and will try to post them.
Give me a few days.
I may need help as they are old and I'll have to figure out how to get them on here.

 

[sifarmer]

I think us younger guys have a better chance at the lotto than
a winter like that. But, love the stories anyway, keep em Comin

 

[Trees4Traction440]

first time i was ever in the KEW was probably that 95 season, I remember the houses in south range were burried up to the second story..they all looked like 1 story homes. My parents took us up there the next summer to visit friends and i didnt recgonize the town becasue the houses were 2 tall story houses haha!! crazy how weird its been last 2 seasons, Ill always love sleds and riding but ive had so many epic trips riding on what they got now interests me none