Olympian Hosts 'Ride With Nick' Day at Michigan Ski Area

Originally posted on SNOWBOARDER | By Josh Sullivan | Last updated Dec 31, 2024 1:29 PM ET

Nick Baumgartner is a snowboarder, an Olympic gold medalist, and a dad, but before owning any of those titles, he was a Yooper.

It’s a badge he’s still incredibly proud to wear. So much so, that he hosts a “Ride with Nick” event at his home mountain, Ski Brule.

Local rippers got the chance to snowboard with Baumgartner at the mountain where it all began for the snowboard journeyman on Sunday. They have another chance to do so Tuesday, December 31, 2024.

Baumgartner first discovered snowboarding when he was 15 years old at Ski Brule. A star athlete in football, baseball, and track and field, he discovered snowboarding while he was already in high school. That led to a long career as a snowboard cross rider, in which he competed at the 2010 Olympic Games in Vancouver, 2014 Olympic Games in Sochi, and 2018 Olymic Games in South Korea. He finally won a gold medal in the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, as a part of the mixed snowboard cross event with Lindsey Jacobellis. Both of them are still on the U.S. Snowboard team, and vying for a spot at the 2026 Olympic Games in Italy. Baumgartner will be 44, and Jacobellis will be 41 at the time of those games.

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Despite his success and fame as an Olympian and X Games medalist, Baumgartner always returned home to Iron River, Michigan. He famously built a snowboard cross track around his home ahead of the 2022 games, and still trains at Ski Brule on occasion. He told the local news channel WLUC that sharing his love of snowboarding with others is one of the best parts of being an Olympian.

“I’ve made so many amazing memories here over the years, to be a little part of that for so many other people is so cool. To have it come full circle and be able to ride with these kids, stoke them out, get them excited, and get them out of their comfort zone a little bit,” Baumgartner told WLUC.

Ski Brule is open from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. and 4:30 p.m. to 7:30 p.m. on New Year’s Eve. There are 11 lifts and 17 total runs. Its summit is 1,860’, and has a modest vertical drop of 500’. Thanks to the cold and snowy winters in Michigan’s Upper Peninsula, Ski Brule stayed open for 164 days during the 2023-2024 season.

This article first appeared on SNOWBOARDER and was syndicated with permission.

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