Ilsa Minor | Daily Press Cooper Sanville, 13 of Gladstone, shows off his snowboarding skills on a jump in the terrain park at the John & Melissa Besse Ski Hill in Gladstone Thursday afternoon. The season is winding down at the ski hill, but area youth are making the most of the recent heavy snows while the hill is still open.

GLADSTONE — The season is winding down at the John & Melissa Besse Sports Park ski hill, but according to Gladstone Parks and Recreation Director Jason Davis, it has been a good year.

Last season, the ski hill’s operations were scaled back to only include weekend tubing due to the pandemic. While the tubing was popular, the restrictions meant the park’s popular after school program was put on hiatus. This season, the program returned and so did the children eager to learn how to handle the slopes.

“We’ve taught a lot of kids how to ski and snowboard, and there’s a lot of kids up there everyday, which is good,” said Davis of the program, which takes place on Mondays, Thursdays and Fridays beginning in January.

Between 40 and 60 kids participated in the program on any given day this winter, including students bused in from the Gladstone School District as well as Rapid River Schools, Mid Peninsula School and Holy Name Catholic School.

Some of the students learning to ski and snowboard this season were younger than in years past, with some as young as kindergarten. For those young skiers and snowboarders, Davis recommended parents accompany their children — at least in the beginning.

“It’s always good to have the parents up there with them just in case they don’t like it or they don’t catch on, but then you have the other aspect, too, of usually kids learn better when other people are teaching them — other than their parents,” said Davis.

Most students can participate in the program independently right from their first day. Davis describes it as “four-and-a-half hours of cheap babysitting,” noting a day or season pass covers access to the hill for the program.

As children progress and become more proficient skiers and snowboarders, many move on to other regional skiing facilities. Others decide to make the hill their own by helping to redesign the terrain park portion of the ski hill, which is revamped each season.

“Every year we’ll have a handful of kids want to help develop the terrain park. Move this rail over here or put this barrel over here to grind on, or make different jumps in different areas,” said Davis. “These kids are vested in it. Once they spend a couple hours shaping jumps and then moving different rails, they all talk about it.”

While the after school program is undoubtedly the biggest draw to the hill, it’s not the only thing that brings winter enthusiasts to the sports park. Tubing, which takes place exclusively on Saturdays and Sundays, draws both youth and adults to the hill. Even during the season’s cold snaps, it was possible to see between 150 and 200 tubers on the hill in a single day.

“The warm weather helps, people get out. The cold weather obviously doesn’t help, but honestly, the kids don’t care. It’s the parents,” said Davis, adding he would tell parents to stay in the chalet while their kids enjoyed the snow.

The park is also busy with other events, such as school field trips and private parties, that take place before or after the regular skiing and tubing hours.

Recent heavy snows have been a boost at the hill, but despite the heavy snow cover, the season is drawing to a close. Skiing, snowboarding and tubing will end March 13.

“In the past we’ve thought, ‘hey there’s snow on the ground, let’s try keeping it open,’ and it just dies down. Everyone’s thinking baseball, and I think people are just thinking spring,” said Davis.

For more information about the ski hill and after school program, visit www.gladstone.org.