Crystal Mountain, Michigan

Active Family Vacations and Destinations

Crystal Mountain Michigan

If you are looking for a fun active vacation for the whole family, consider a ski trip!

If you have never skied before, like me, it can be difficult to step out of your comfort zone and try something new (like skiing for the first time in your forties). Trying new experiences, especially as a family, can teach some valuable life lessons and expand your horizons. In this case, we (the kids and I) had never been skiing before and we ended up liking it so much that we are planning on going skiing every year!

This trip, we visited Crystal Mountain Resort in Thompsonville, Michigan.

About the Mountain

This Crystal Mountain has 58 downhill slopes with 8 lifts and a good variety of difficulty levels (green/easiest to black/hard). They also have the ability to make their own snow and have night skiing as well as cross country skiing. Rentals are available for all your equipment.

Accommodations

Beautiful day on the slopes, Crystal Mountain

Crystal Mountain has a cute little ski village feel with a variety of accommodations. They have cottages, homes, studios, condos, suites, townhouses, and hotel rooms for rent. We stayed at the Inn at the Mountain. The room we stayed in had a Murphy’s bed in the living area with a small kitchenette and living room with table and chairs. There was also a separate bedroom with a king size bed. The room was clean, perfect for our needs, and looked out over the ice skating rink in the middle of the village. I really liked the convenience of having the kitchenette to store drinks, snacks, breakfast foods, and to have the ability to heat up leftovers in the microwave.

Skiing

FYI, I had never really been skiing before so I will be explaining things from a novice point of view. When you go skiing, unless you have your own equipment, you will need to rent these daily. This includes skis, boots, goggles, and helmets. We purchased helmets and goggles beforehand because that was my preference. I didn’t really like the idea of renting helmets and goggles. You will also need to purchase lift tickets for each day that you are skiing.

If you have never been skiing, I would definitely recommend lessons. Crystal Mountain has a variety of lessons to meet your needs. They have ski school (full day and half day), semi-private lessons, and private lessons. Click here for all their options for lessons.

We enrolled both our kids in the ski school for two days and I had a 2 hour private lesson. The first day, I was nervous and the kids were too. The instructors at the ski school were so welcoming and friendly to the kids.

My private lesson was amazing. He started, and I am not kidding, with how to put on everything. We went down the bunny hill a couple times and we were off to the slopes. By the end of the ski trip I was skiing on blues (intermediate).

While skiing, and the kids were in ski school, we were able to get some adult time with friends skiing on the slopes and eating lunch together. We also caught up with the kids in ski school and “spied” on them a bit. They were having a blast every time we saw them!

The kids enjoyed ski school and were so proud of their progress on skis. They were so excited each day when we picked them up to show us what they could do. Upon pick up, the ski instructors talk to each parent and they will let you know how your child is doing and what they are working on.

Tips-

If you enroll in any lessons you get a discount on your ski rental and lift tickets and if you are staying on property you get additional discounts on lift tickets and lessons.
If you are staying on property, you have the ability to take advantage of the ski valet. At the end of each day you can check-in your skis so you don’t have to carry them around everywhere. You get a number and the next day you bring them your number and you get your skis. It’s like coat check, for skis.
If you are staying on property and have the ski package, skiing is included the full first day on arrival. We arrived around lunch time and were able to ski the entire afternoon prior to checking into our hotel room.
Give yourself plenty of time to rent your skis and get fitted. Typically first thing in the morning is the busiest time with the longest lines. If you arrive the night before, it would be best if you rent your skis the night before to take advantage of shorter lines. Call ahead to see what time you can go in the night before.

Food

The Thistle Pub and Grille is the “fanciest” restaurant but you can still walk in there with your ski boots on. The sirloin chili is to die for and a must have! Other favorites were the seared cauliflower, truffle butter Thistle Fries and The Thistle Burger.

Tip-Waits can be long at peak times. Sending someone over to put your name on the list while everyone is getting ready is a good way to avoid waiting at the restaurant.

The Wild Tomato is great for the whole family. There is a soup and salad bar. Some favorites were the Michigander Panini, Fish Tacos, and the Bavarian Pretzel.

We also ordered pizza and salad from Bestie River Pizza and Subs one night which was delicious.

The Clipper Cafe offers quick service cafe foods if you want to grab a quick lunch and get back to the slopes.

There is a convenient store on the main street which has a good variety of wines, food, and typical convenient store items. It is fun to try locally made items and they sell some great Michigan food items. The chocolate covered cherries and cherry candies were a hit.

Everything in the village is withing walking distance.

Activities

Crystal Mountain has a very nice spa area. We went swimming in the pool and took advantage of the fitness center. The fitness center, from a trainer’s standpoint, was really nice. They had TV’s, treadmills, elliptical machines, stationary bikes for cardio. There was a studio where they have classes which you can use for core work or bands. Their weight machines were nice and they had plenty of free weights, dumbbells, and kettle bells.

Other activities that are available at Crystal Mountain (in the winter) include ice skating, an outdoor hot tub, cross country skiing, fat tire snow biking, and snowshoeing.

Crystal Mountain also hosts skiing events as well as fun events for the holidays and spring break.

If you are looking for a fun, active family vacation, skiing is a great option!

Even if you have never been skiing before, I would encourage you to all try it together. It is a fun family activity that the family can continue for years, even when the kids are grown and are young adults.

Coming from personal experience, if you have never skied or if you have young children, Crystal Mountain Michigan is a great place to start. If you are experienced skiers, we were there with other families who are very experienced skiers, one who was a ski instructor out west, and they all love Crystal Mountain.

If you would like more information visit their website by clicking here.