UP residents make the most of the recent snow in Marquette County

MARQUETTE, Mich. (WLUC) - With the holiday weekend’s winter storm now over, many Upper Michigan residents are using their remaining time off between Christmas and New Year’s to enjoy the fresh snow.

The Marquette area saw about 14 inches of snowfall over the weekend. Monday, in addition to working on removing and moving it, many got outside to have some fun. Popular sledding hills, like the one at Harlow Park, saw families sledding and having fun.

One Marquette Mountain Resort employee, Cole Grindling, says he and his friends look forward to the winter weather.

“There’s something magical about winter,” Grindling said. “There’s no other time of the year like it, just the snow in itself is magical and being able to snowboard in it and ride on it and do all these fun activities in the snow, you’ve got to get out, everyone up here, they know, you have to get out in the snow, that’s what we want.”

The Marquette Senior High School ski team took advantage of the snow as well. Their season officially started in November with dry land training.

Monday was the team’s first practice on actual snow. Head Coach Lili Lockwood says it’s a game-changer for practicing in actual race conditions.

“This storm that we got really, really helps because it definitely helps with the base of the snow allowing us to practice in gates rather than in stubbies or brushes which mimics real race training but doesn’t actually exemplify it,” Lockwood said.

The team has 28 members, four of whom are seniors. They’ll be competing in the Houghton Invite on January 3 at Mount Ripley.

“I want today’s training to be as smooth and confidence-instilling in our athletes as possible so they can be in a good head space going into this week of practices,” Lockwood added.

For the week ahead, milder temperatures are expected.