Ski Snowstar is a winter sports park, also known as Snowstar, located in Andalusia, Illinois

Andalusia, Illinois

Andalusia is a village in Rock Island County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,050 at the 2000 census.-Geography:Andalusia is located at ....

. Andalusia is a very small town located just 10 minutes from the Quad Cities

Quad Cities

The Quad Cities is a group of five cities straddling the Mississippi River on the Iowa–Illinois boundary. These cities, Davenport and Bettendorf and Rock Island, Moline, and East Moline , are the center of the Quad Cities Metropolitan Area, which, as of 2010, had an estimated population of...

. Snowstar has 28 acres of ridable terrain consisting of 14 different hills. 25% of the terrain is beginner, 50% is intermediate, and 25% is advanced. There are 32 snow guns that cover 100% of the riding terrain and can produce enough snow for a season to last 75 days. Snowstar also has a tubbing hill. It has 5 lanes with a 68 foot vertical drop and a magic carpet to take you back to the top. Snowstar’s lodge is 6,000 square feet with a cafeteria, a bar, a pizza and sub shop, two fire places, and a patio for cook outs.

History

In 1979, 70 acres of land was purchased to build Ski Snowstar. It opened in the winter of 1981–82. The first year only 6 acres of the land was ridable, consisting of 2 main hills, one intermediate and one advanced, and 1 small beginner hill. There was a four-person chair lift for the big hills and a cable tow at the top of the beginner hill. They also had 3 snow machines that covered all the hills. grooming tractors, and lighting for night time. Back then, the one lodge consisted of a cafeteria, lounge, ticket office, ski school, ski patrol, rental, and a gift shop. In the summer of 1982 they decided to expand and built another intermediate hill now making the park 11 ridable acres. In addition, they added another quad chairlift.

Today, the lodge only consists of an upstairs cafeteria, a bar and a pizza and sub shop downstairs, and two fire places. There is now a separate welcome center where you can get your lift tickets and do group check ins. The welcome center is attached to the rental shop where one can pick up all their rental equipment. Snowstar also has a separate building for the Ski Patrol.

Annual Events

In the winter of 2007–08 Snowstar put on its first competition called King of the Hill. It has been an annual event ever since. The competition has been sponsored by companies such as Zumiez and YNot Ink. It usually consist of three different age groups depending on how many people of each age sign up and has different divisions for skiers and snowboarders.

Another new annual event is the visit of the Kalvery Snowboarding Team. They made their first visit to Snowstar in the winter of 2009–10. The Kalvery group tours around the mid west, visiting smaller sized winter sports parks, Snowstar being one of those parks. In the winter of 2010–11 they put on a competition for the local riders in the form of a rail jam. This competition is planned to now be an annual thing, as well.

Mountain Information

• Summit elevation - 790 ft.
• Vertical rise - 262 ft.
• Ridable area: 28 acres
• Average annual snowfall - 38 in.

Trails

• Total trails - 14
• Beginner - 25%
• Intermediate - 50%
• Advanced - 25%
• Terrain parks - 1

Features

• Quarter pipe
• Hip jumps
• Spines
• Table tops
• Rollers
• Rails
  • 20’ flat-down-flat
  • 20’ flat-down-disaster
  • 20’ augie flat-down
  • 21’ battle ship
  • 20’ double barrel flat
  • 12’ A-frame
• Boxes
  • 45’ bismark giant battle ship
  • 40’ flat slide
  • 14’ slide
  • 6’ mini
  • 30’10” cannon
  • 20’ dragon tail

External links

• skisnowstar.com