IPOS 2: The Rock Snowpark

The Rock used to be a landfill in the town of Franklin, Wisconsin. It was eventually covered by concrete and turned into a ski hill that opened in 1987. It was repurchased and renovated in 2017 by Rick Schmitz, owner of Little Switzerland and Nordic Mountain. The Rock is managed by Riley May; a charismatic, friendly guy who welcomed us to the Rock before promptly setting us loose into the frenzy that was their Spring Ruckus. A balmy 55-degree day and slushy conditions were the perfect way to experience the Rock’s upbeat park skiing vibe. But before we could get out and explore, we had a task: learn to ride the rope tow.

Rope tows and a sense of humor are all you need to have endless fun at The Rock. | Izzy Lidsky photos.

I’d grown up skiing at a large mountain in Colorado that had exactly one rope tow and it was really just there for when you didn’t have enough speed to get to the top of this little part of a hill so you could ski back down to one of many high-speed lifts. The whole Midwest rope-tow scene was completely foreign to me and it definitely showed my first time on the rope tow. After a couple tries, I had mastered the rope tow enough to get to the top of the hill and back down, but riding it with a camera pack was out of the question (if anyone’s figured out how to do this gracefully, I’d love to learn). So I took the little chairlift one run over back to the top of the Rock and pulled out my camera.

The community aspect of Midwestern skiing is undeniable. | Izzy Lidsky photo.

We were immediately swarmed by kids asking who we were filming for and asking what they could do for the camera. Between the stoke these kids had and the undeniable park steeze many of them were rocking, it made for a very fun afternoon of shooting. T-shirts or hoodies paired with bandanas, baggy pants, the iconic Full Tilt boots sticker on a helmet, and of course, leather gloves to protect your hands on the rope tow, were the necessary style. The kids spent hours sliding rails and hucking cork 7’s for us before evening hit and they peeled off cotton in favor of bathing suits for the pond skim that happened to be taking place that day. The Rock was a day of good, clean fun, and had me fired up on the Midwest park skiing and rope tow culture we were slated to see a whole lot more of. If the Rock showed me anything, it was that even an old landfill covered in snow can be the best playground in the world for the right person.

 The Rock was a day of good, clean fun, and had me fired up on the Midwest park skiing and rope tow culture we were slated to see a whole lot more of. | Izzy Lidsky photo.