The Story of The Highlands

Harbor Highlands Ski Club, a ski area in Harbor Springs, opens. It is the outcome of a brainstorming session among Petoskey and Harbor Springs local businessmen who were searching for a way to entice people to come to Harbor Springs, especially in the winter. They decide that a ski hill might be the answer, roll up their sleeves and start clearing slopes to create the Harbor Highlands Ski Area.

Harbor Highlands expands to add more trails, uphill transportation with three poma lifts, and a single rope tow. A small day lodge and restaurant are also part of the expansion.

The New York Times writes, “The new development underscores the fact that Northern Michigan, once known only as a summer resort area, now attracts sports enthusiasts and vacationists on a year-round basis. Winter sports, in fact, have grown phenomenally in this region.”

Boyne Highlands opens December 26, 1963. Kircher installs the world’s first bubble triple chair ever built. The resort also offers eleven trails and five lifts, the Highlands Inn with a dining room, cocktail lounge, swimming pool, cafeteria, and the Highlands Lodge. The rooms are some of the most charming and elegant rooms built.

John Bartley and his wife Jane, certified ski instructors and certifiably in love with skiing, want to open a hotel in Vail and decide to ask Everett Kircher for advice. His advice was that they open a hotel at Boyne Highlands. He leases them the land, helps with financing and is happy to have additional rooms for skiers. The Bartley's build their three-story, 70-room hotel at the base of the Boyne Highlands slopes, never to look back on thoughts of moving to Colorado.

Early days on The Heather with (from left) Chuck Moll, Boyne COO; Bill Fleming, ABC Sportscaster; Everett Kircher; Forrest Evashevski, UofM Quarterback 1948-49; Bill Winchester, Boyne Marketing Director.

Kircher continued to develop and obtain patents on snowmaking technology which set Boyne Highlands and Boyne Mountain apart from the competition. He patented and introduced the Boyne Snowmaker (a.k.a. Highlands Snow Gun) Early on when Everett realized that you could not always count on Mother Nature to provide good snow for skiing, he began researching the possibility of making snow and eventually formulated a system he could create himself – the Boyne Snow Machine.

In 1984, Everett Kircher donated Walloon Hills Ski Area to the non-profit, Challenge Mountain to be operated as a ski area for disabled and physically-challenged skiers. The ski area operates on the same premises to this very day.

Additional lodging was now being offered including one of the region’s first condo-hotels, Heather Highlands Inn.

The Convention Center opened and the south wing of the cafeteria.

A major improvement came with the install of the high speed four-place Heather Express. The lifts could move 2,400 skiers per hour up the hill.

The first 9 holes of the breathtaking signature Arthur Hills golf course opened in 1995. To this day it features classic Arthur Hills design features such as wide fairway landing areas, large bunker areas, and narrowing approaches with fascinating green complexes. The 11th hole begins a three-hole ascent to one of the highest points in lower Michigan and the magnificent view from the 13th tee.

SKI Magazine honored Everett Kircher as one of the "Top 100 Most Influential Skiers of All Time". Placing him beside Olympic athletes, inventors, and filmmakers such as, World Cup champion and Olympic gold medalist, Jean-Claude Killy and the popular filmmaker, Warren Miller.

Michigan's first lift-served Bike Park and Midwest's longest Magic Carpet conveyor lift opens. Introduction of the exclusive Boyne Bed sleep system. The First Tee of Boyne Highlands begins operation.

Expanded adventure sports includes Zipline Adventure Tours and winter horseback trail rides.

The Highlands' primary mark represents location, setting, and architecture, the core of the brand’s tradition – referenced in the iconic tower and flag.

The Spa at Boyne Highlands opened.

Boyne Resorts maintained Kircher’s legacy and continued the cutting-edge of snowmaking advancements; pictured above is the proprietary Boyne Low E Fan Gun, a unit proven to reduce energy use by 40% from older models while boasting significantly increased output of quality snow--possible at marginal temperatures. Snowmaking system is fully powered by proprietary Boyne Low-E fan guns.

A Michigan native, member of the Michigan PGA Hall of Fame and the Michigan Golf Hall of Fame has won more than 70 professional tournaments, competed in 19 national major championships with the top golfers in the world, and won 15 Michigan major championships including multiple Michigan Open, Michigan PGA Professional, Tournament of Champions and Michigan PGA Match Play titles. He has also won the Michigan Senior PGA Championship twice.

Featuring eighty-nine brand-new upscale guest rooms and bathrooms, offering a range of premium amenities, with numerous options to accommodate couples, families, business travelers, and large groups.

RFID Technology introduced for the 2021/22 season with scanning at all lifts. RFID facilitates direct-to-lift access for ticket and season passholder, and also provide a streamlined purchasing process enabling guests to purchase lift tickets or season passes online and reload a media card with additional ticket or pass purchases season-after-season.

As we look to re-establish our place as the Grand Dame of four-season resorts in the Midwest, Boyne Highlands is transforming into The Highlands.

The new Interconnect triple lift significantly improves the guest experience by providing better accessibility to the North Peak region's intermediate, family-friendly terrain.