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Skiing and the Heartland
In Northeastern Iowa, just outside of the old Mississippi river town of Dubuque, the Little Maquoketa River winds its way through the rolling hills and corn fields typical of this corner of the state. Not all that far from where the river meets the Mississippi, it bends and slows, passing by a hill slightly larger than most in the area. The specific topography of that location combined with the river’s depth at the bend allow for pumping the river water for snow-making and the creation through of an uncommon sight in Iowa: a small ski area.
Sundown Mountain Resort was founded in 1977. General Manager Mark Gordon, whose father founded the resort with a group of local families, describes the focus of the resort as making skiing accessible and affordable for Iowans. Gordon focuses on packaging lessons and rentals with weekend-only season pass options and learn-to-ski events. Sundown seeks to bring people into the sport who otherwise might not be exposed to it without the resort. Gordon points out that plenty of transplants to the ski towns in the Mountain West learned to ski in the Midwest. Some of those who learn to ski in Iowa also stay and become the parents of the next generation of kids to grow up skiing across the river from cornfields.