Trail Planning Begins For Rib Mountain State Park as Research Shows Skiable Days Dwindling

WAUSAU, Wis. (WXCO) – A concept plan with hiking, climbing, bouldering, mountain biking, and shared use is being created to combat climate change.

The Wisconsin Department of Natural Resources announced Tuesday that it has begun the conceptual trail planning process for a property-wide trail plan at Rib Mountain State Park.

The concept phase begins the implementation of the property master plan approved by the Natural Resources Board in December 2022.

The concept plan includes all elements of trails at the property that were included in the master plan, including hiking, climbing and bouldering, mountain biking, shared use, snowshoeing, snowmobiling and alpine skiing.

The DNR is completing the conceptual trail planning work in collaboration with many key local partners, including the Friends of Rib Mountain State Park, Greater Wausau Prosperity Partnership, Marathon County, the village of Rib Mountain, Wisconsin Climber’s Association, Granite Peak Corporation and the Central Wisconsin Off-Road Cycling Coalition.

Rib Mountain State Park is poised to be a central Wisconsin destination for natural resource and recreation enthusiasts.

“We’re excited to begin work on the trail plan while maintaining the property’s valuable and unique natural resources,” said Diane Brusoe, DNR Fish, Wildlife and Parks Division Administrator. “Being able to collaborate on this plan with our valued partners helps to ensure a balanced and sustainable approach to recreation development at the property.”

“We trust that the DNR and key stakeholders will protect the park landscape, the Talus Forest State Natural Area, along with the current hiking and snowshoe trails at Rib Mountain State Park while designing an enhanced trail system for additional recreational opportunities,” said representatives of the Friends of Rib Mountain State Park.

The department anticipates a public engagement period as part of the trail planning process in early 2025.

Consistent with the park’s master plan, the DNR is committed to providing existing and additional year-round recreational and educational opportunities that are suited to and compatible with the physical and ecological characteristics of the property, as well as developing trails that provide high-quality experiences across the spectrum of skill levels.

For more information and to get signed up to receive project alerts, visit the Rib Mountain State Park webpage.

Since its earliest days, the park has been an important asset to the Wausau area. The mountain remained undeveloped until 1929, when a special committee of the local Chamber of Commerce spearheaded a drive to have a road built to the summit, which was completed in 1931. During the 1930s, Civilian Conservation Corps workers created hiking paths, developed a campground, and built a gazebo in the park. They also cleared the first ski runs, installed a T-bar lift and built a beautiful shelter house at the base of the mountain’s north slope, which opened in December 1939 and is still in use today as part of the ski area.

Downhill skiing has been a focal point of Rib Mountain State Park (RMSP) from its early years and remains an important feature for the community. Over the last four seasons, an average of more than 160,000 skier visitor days were recorded annually. The ski operation draws out-of-town visitors that pump millions of dollars of spending each year into the local economy. Public uses of RMSP have diversified over time and the property has become a popular destination for the community throughout the year.

Today, the park annually receives more than 400,000 visits, including both the ski area and the rest of the park. The park drew a record number of visitors in 2020 when over 640,000 visits were recorded – a nearly 60% increase in visitation from the average of the previous five years.

Rib Mountain State Park is one of the largest DNR properties adjacent to a metropolitan area. Land use trends suggest that in the ensuing decades the park is likely to be increasingly surrounded by residential and other urban and suburban developments. As such, there is an opportunity for the DNR to provide outdoor recreation and other types of nature-based experiences in partnership with the City of Wausau, the Town of Rib Mountain, and the surrounding communities. Indeed, the department’s hope is that the park becomes even more of a community asset and a destination for residents and visitors.

Popular activities in the park are hiking, picnicking, snowshoeing, enjoying the views from the observation tower, and attending events at the amphitheater and Friends Gathering Space building. For exercise, many residents walk up and down the paved trail adjacent to the entrance road. The amphitheater, which was constructed in 1996 and holds about 200 people, has been a very popular amenity and is booked nearly every summer and fall weekend. It is a particularly popular spot for weddings.

A primary interest of many Wausau area residents is to enable the city to become an International Mountain Bike Association Ride Center. A Ride Center designation recognizes large-scale mountain bike facilities that offer a wide range of experiences and demonstrate the best practices in mountain bike trail design and construction. The evaluation criteria to become a Ride Center (there are three levels – gold, silver and bronze) are comprised of key aspects of high-quality mountain bike destinations and include, but not are limited to, trail experiences, services, community involvement, tourism and promotion. Typically, Ride Centers move up in rating over time as additional opportunities and attributes are added and support facilities are further developed. To date, only six places in the U.S. have been awarded a Gold Level Ride Center designation.

The Wausau region supports many existing mountain biking trails and associated services that are needed to qualify for designation as a Ride Center. A missing component of achieving a high-level designation is the lack of a lift- or shuttle-served mountain biking opportunity. If bike specific, gravity-oriented trails are developed at RMSP, utilizing a ski lift or shuttle service on a regular schedule to transport bikers to the top of the mountain would provide a distinctive experience and bolster Wausau’s application to be a high-level Ride Center.

The current lease agreement with Granite Peak Ski Hill was initiated in 2000 and runs for 30 years.

In their research, they found that few outdoor activities are as reliant on prolonged and consistent cold temperatures and snowfall as downhill skiing. In some ways, downhill skiing is a climate change “canary in the coal mine” and much research and media attention has been focused on how climate change will impact the ski industry in the decades to come.

Climate scientists use complex models that project future temperature and precipitation patterns based on different scenarios of greenhouse gas emissions. These scenarios represent different levels of success in society’s efforts to reduce global anthropogenic emissions.

The Wisconsin Initiative on Climate Change Impacts (WICCI) is a statewide collaboration of scientists and stakeholders formed as a partnership between UW-Madison’s Nelson Institute for Environmental Studies and the DNR. WICCI’s goals are to evaluate climate change impacts in Wisconsin and foster solutions. WICCI climate scientists have “down-scaled” global climate models to project how the state’s climate has been changing and how it might shift in the decades to come. Notably, WICCI scientists have described historical trends and developed future projections for temperatures and precipitation by seasons of the year and regions of the state. In February 2022, WICCI released an updated assessment report, Wisconsin’s Changing Climate: Impacts and solutions for a warmer climate.

WICCI’s work indicates that the amount of change in temperature and precipitation is projected to vary by both season and region of the state. Although the average daily temperature is projected to rise in the spring, summer and fall, the greatest warming has occurred, and is projected to occur, during the winter. At about a 5 degree Fahrenheit increase by 2041-2060 from the temperatures experienced from 1980-2010.

In addition, an approximate 10% increase in winter precipitation by 2041-2060 is projected. Which is likely to be rain or freezing rain.

“The ski hills that my company forecasts for over the past 20 years in Michigan and Wisconsin have definitely seen an increase in rain and fog throughout the winter season. Some 30 or 40 years ago it was more common to be able to open the ski hills in mid-November. Now it’s been pushed back to late November or even December.” says Tony Schumacher, owner of Great Lakes Weather Service. “I would expect the snow making season to continue to get shorter for Granite Peak as the climate warms. Especially with the early and late season shaved off. Current average high temperature from late December through February is generally in the low to mid 20s for Wausau, so even if the temperature goes up a few more degrees that should still leave quite a few days where snow making is possible. They will just have to be more efficient and selective about it.”

The report also shows that northern parts of the state are projected to warm, particularly winter nights, more than southern Wisconsin. climate models predict that the number of skiable days will continue to decline, and the ski season is projected to be reduced from five to approximately three months.

Some research addresses how, despite a reduction in the number of days when snow can be made and an increase in the number of rain and freezing rain events, snowmaking and other adaptation techniques can improve the viability of downhill skiing operations.

Granite Peak has recently made substantial investments in its snowmaking capabilities, as all runs have snowmaking guns.

According to SE Group’s evaluation, as climate change reduces the number of skiable days, by the middle of the century there is likely to be a loss of approximately 41,500 “skier days” at Granite Peak primarily due to delayed opening and earlier closing dates.

The Wisconsin DNR wants to ensure that the state park continues to play an important role in the community. They want to take advantage of the park’s unique features, that are “best fits” based on those features, and meet regional and statewide natural resource and recreation needs. Providing a vision and framework for the use, development and management of RMSP for the next 15 years and beyond.