You don’t have to be a skier to appreciate and enjoy Copper Peak…but it doesn’t hurt.

Located near Ironwood in the Upper Peninsula, Copper Peak is home to the World's Largest Artificial Ski Jump, with the highest unobstructed view - 1,782 feet above sea level - in the entire Midwest. It’s the only ski flying hill outside of Europe.

The ski jump is a 35 degree, 469 foot run, built in 1969 for a little over one million dollars. The chairlift to the top is an 810-foot ride, or, if you wish, take the 18-story elevator lift. Once at the tip-top, you can see nearly 40 miles in every direction.

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Copper Peak sits on the Michigan Historical Site of Chippewa Hill, which became part of Michigan’s “copper mining frenzy” of the 1840s. Pits were dug but the quantity of copper was disappointing – there wasn’t enough to warrant extensive mining.

The site was accepted for a marker in 1971, receiving one in 1974. It reads: “At an altitude of more than 1500 feet, 300 feet above the surrounding terrain, this location was the southern-most area in Michigan to offer a prospect of producing copper in commercial amounts. The Chippewa Copper Mining Company began work here in 1845, sinking a still-visible tunnel into the granite rock. No copper was ever produced, although around 1900 the Old Peak Company made further explorations. In 1970 a 280-foot ski slide, the highest in the world, was completed on the peak in time for the western hemisphere’s first international ski flying tournament here. Skiers record flights of nearly 500 feet from this slide”.

This is an awesome place to visit, with or without snow, and especially during fall’s peak color season.

Check out the photos below and see what I mean!

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