January is the snowiest month of the year here. That turns out to be the easy part.
Harbor Springs in January is the month families skip because they assume it is the hard one. Deep winter, dark at five, nothing open downtown, kids hauled through a whiteout to a hill that may or may not be spinning.
The true version is better. January is the snowiest month of the year up here, both ski hills are running everything they have, the summer crowd left four months ago — and two specific midweek stretches in early January are the cheapest days of the season to put a kid on skis. Get the dates right and January is the easiest family trip Harbor Springs offers. Get them wrong and you pay holiday rates for identical snow. Below: the weather, the two weeks worth building around, how the hills differ for kids, and what a January day actually looks like.
If your dates are still loose, check availability at The Bird House before you buy lift tickets — the ski weekends set the rest of the trip.
Harbor Springs in January: what the weather actually does
The number that settles the argument: the Petoskey area averages about 37 inches of snow in January (1991–2020 normals) out of roughly 124 for the whole year. Nub’s Nob, seven minutes from our driveway, publishes its own long-run figure of 123 inches a year. Two independent sources, same story. January is not the risky end of winter. It is the middle of it.
Temperatures are cold and steady rather than brutal: average highs around 27°F, lows around 14°F. Unlike December, which is a month-long argument between snow and mud, January starts white and stays that way. The one thing that does not behave is lake effect — totals can swing from a dusting to half a foot across fifteen minutes of driving, so plan around the month, not Tuesday’s forecast app.
January is the most reliable ski month of the season and the least eventful month in town. The calendar downtown is quiet until Ice Fest in February. If you want a busy town, come in December. If you want snow, lift lines you can walk onto, and a house full of people, come in January.
The two January weeks worth planning around
The Highlands runs Family Ski Weeks — and two of the four are in January
The Highlands, eight minutes away, offers Ski Weeks on select midweek dates: January 4–7 and January 11–14, then February 1–4 and March 1–4. On those dates a free youth lift ticket (ages 7–13) comes with every adult two- or three-day lift ticket, plus discounted rentals and 50% off full-day Kids Camp lessons. Packages start around $80.
That is the single biggest lever on a family ski budget up here, and it only exists midweek.
Nub’s Nob charges holiday rates on only four January days
Nub’s published 2026–27 calendar puts holiday rates in effect January 1–3 and January 16–17. Every other day of the month is a regular-rate day.
Lay those two facts on top of each other and the answer falls out: January 4–7 and January 11–14 are midweek, regular-rate at Nub’s, kids-ski-free at The Highlands, and quiet at both. Those are the dates.
Two midweek stretches — January 4–7 and January 11–14 — are the cheapest days of the season to put a kid on skis.
The weekends, if midweek is impossible
- MLK weekend, January 15–17, 2027 (the holiday falls Monday the 18th). The Highlands runs an MLK Weekend event — music, tastings, après, family programming — and Nub’s is at holiday rates the 16th and 17th. Fun weekend, not the cheap one. Check our Michigan school break calendar before assuming the hills will be empty.
- January 22–24, 2027 is The Highlands’ Anniversary Weekend, with a Vintage Ski Race Saturday the 23rd, 1–3 p.m. at the Camelot Race Arena — free to watch, and the best twenty minutes of spectating your kids will get all trip.
- At Nub’s: Super NASTAR racing January 8 and 22, plus a race weekend January 23–24 when the Scarface run is closed to the public. Everything else stays open.
Dates set? Check availability at The Bird House — it sleeps 11, and the early-January midweek blocks are the ones two families tend to split.
Nub’s Nob or The Highlands? For kids it comes down to one thing
Nub’s Nob — ~7 minutes
Family-owned since 1958. 248 acres, 53 runs (15 rated easiest), three peaks, 427 feet of vertical, eight chairlifts plus a rope tow and a beginner conveyor. 97% of the terrain is covered by snowmaking across 320 guns — the reason a January trip here is a safe bet even in a thin winter.
Two details matter enormously for families. The beginner area is free, with its own chairlift and conveyor, any day the hill is open. And lift tickets are free for kids 8 and under (with a skiing adult) and for anyone 70 and over (with photo ID) — on a multi-generational trip that can erase half a day’s ticket bill. Our Nub’s Nob family guide covers which runs to start kids on.
The Highlands — ~8 minutes
435 acres of skiable terrain, more variety, and pricing built for planning ahead. Daily lift tickets start from $36 bought early; a SnowFlex pack (2–5 non-consecutive days, no blackouts) from $109; a Lake eFlex pack that adds Boyne Mountain from $119. Tickets load onto a $5 reusable RFID Go Card picked up at a kiosk — buy online before you leave home, not at the window. More on The Highlands here.
Little kids and grandparents → Nub’s, for the free beginner area and the free tickets at both ends of the age range. Kids aged 7–13 travelling midweek → The Highlands, for Ski Weeks. Staying four nights? Do one day at each. They are seven and eight minutes from the same driveway, so there is no cost to splitting.
What a January day actually looks like
The rhythm that works, in our experience, is two short trips instead of one long one.
- 7:30 a.m. — breakfast at the house. Eleven people eating in one kitchen is the whole argument for a house over hotel rooms.
- 8:30 a.m. — leave. Seven or eight minutes to the hill.
- 9 a.m. – 1 p.m. — ski. Lessons, if you booked them, run the morning.
- 1 p.m. — lunch back at the house. Families underestimate this one. A seven-minute drive means you eat at your own table, dry the gloves, and let the youngest nap instead of melting down in a lodge.
- 2:30 p.m. — the split. Whoever still has legs goes back up; whoever does not takes the little ones to Petoskey or downtown Harbor Springs.
- 4:45 p.m. — dark. Hot tub, fire pit, everybody in one room.
- 6:30 p.m. — dinner in, or out. Our after-skiing dining guide covers who will seat eleven in January.
The non-ski day
Every ski trip has one. Here is what fills it.
Petoskey’s Winter Sports Park is the best free afternoon in the area: two ice rinks, a sledding hill, a ski and snowboard area, and a warming house with a fireplace, concessions and free wi-fi. Admission is free, skate rental is $7, and there are free ice “scooters” for kids learning and a limited supply of loaner sleds. Published hours: Monday–Friday 3–8 p.m., Saturday and Sunday noon–8 p.m., plus noon–8 p.m. on Petoskey School District snow days. It typically opens late December and closes mid-March, and every feature is weather-dependent — the city posts a live open/closed board. Call (231) 347-1252 the morning you go.
In Harbor Springs itself, Kiwanis Park has the sledding hill and a warming hut; the city’s Sledding & S’mores evening was still listed TBD for 2026–27 in early September. And Deer Park behind the police station on Zoll Street — a fenced herd of whitetail deer, free — buys twenty unexpectedly good minutes with a four-year-old. Pond Hill Farm is 20 minutes out and open year-round on limited winter hours; call ahead. Our bad-weather guide and winter activities guide cover the rest.
What’s TBD, closed, or worth a phone call
Being straight about this is more useful than pretending:
- Neither hill had published 2026–27 daily hours or an opening day as of early September 2026. Nub’s has announced only its final scheduled day, April 4, 2027. Both historically open in the first half of December, so January is never in doubt — but confirm hours before buying non-refundable tickets.
- The Ski Weeks dates above are from The Highlands’ own lift-ticket page as of September 11, 2026. Re-confirm at checkout; promotions move.
- M-119, the Tunnel of Trees, is closed to through traffic and MDOT expects it to stay closed until summer 2027. Not a January drive anyway — and Pond Hill Farm, Thorne Swift and Birchwood Farms all sit south of the closure, reachable normally.
- Petoskey State Park’s day-use lot typically closes early November to early spring. Trails stay open for snowshoeing, but assume no plowed lot, no groomed track, no flush restrooms. A Recreation Passport is still required.
- There is no public ice rink in Harbor Springs. Repeated online constantly, and not true — the city lists a sledding hill and warming house at Kiwanis, not a rink. Nearest outdoor skating is Petoskey’s Winter Sports Park.
Where to base — and what January costs
A ski trip with kids lives or dies on the drive back. Wet gear, tired legs, dark by five. Twenty minutes each way is a different trip than seven.
The Bird House is a five-bedroom, three-bath house that sleeps 11, private and wooded between Harbor Springs and Petoskey. Central air, a dehumidifier, an open porch, a fire pit, a hot tub on the slab out back, and a downstairs kid zone with TV, games and a dartboard that absorbs a whole grey afternoon.
From the driveway: Nub’s Nob ~7 minutes, Petoskey State Park ~7 minutes, The Highlands ~8 minutes, downtown Harbor Springs ~10 minutes, Petoskey ~15 minutes, Pond Hill Farm ~20 minutes. Both ski hills, both downtowns and the skating park sit inside a twenty-minute ring.
On cost: winter rates start from $495 a night, against $895–$1,300 in peak summer. Split across 11 guests that is roughly $45 per person, per night — usually less than two hotel rooms, with a kitchen and five bedrooms attached. Rates are dynamic and holiday weeks price differently, so check your own dates. It is sized for groups of eight to eleven: two families splitting a ski week, or a multi-generational trip where the grandparents get their own floor and free lift tickets at Nub’s. A family of four does not need this house. A group of ten does. More in our ski-season rentals guide.
Book the snow month, not the guesswork
The Bird House sleeps 11 in a private, wooded setting between Harbor Springs and Petoskey — five bedrooms, three baths, a fire pit and a hot tub. Nub’s Nob is 7 minutes, The Highlands is 8, downtown Harbor Springs is 10. The early-January midweek blocks are the best value of the season, and they go first.
Check availability