Cascade Mountain is situated in Wisconsin, about thirty minutes from Madison, 2 hours from Milwaukee, and three hours from Chicago, Illinois, making it very accessible to anyone in the metro area of all three cities. The mountain itself has a reputation for being difficult, with the majority of its runs being in intermediate and expert runs, though more beginner-level runs have been created in recent years.
Cascade Mountain is still very intermediate-level based, though it does have beginner runs. The mountain itself has a huge 44 runs, with the total skiable terrain being about 175 acres and the longest run being a mile. Of those 44 runs, 36% are for beginners, 41% are for those at an intermediate level, and 23% are for experts. It’s worth noting that there’s no advanced runs.The step up from intermediate here is to expert with the double black-diamond runs. The vertical drop is 460 feet, making this mountain even more challenging. There’s also 4 terrain parks here, with two half-pipes, so there’s no end to the challenges possible here.
There’s 9 total lifts, two being high-speed quads, two regular quads, three triples, and two doubles. There’s also three rope-tows, but with the difficulty and drop of this mountain, chair lifts would be more feasible than a rope-tow, especially if someone was going to one of the longer runs at the top of the hill.
Cascade Mountain is not a resort, so there’s no on-site lodging. There is, however, a lot of off-site lodging and many places to choose from, including a resort with a full waterpark. However, most don’t stay the night, as Cascade Mountain is considered a day-tip ski and snowboard area due to its location and proximity to nearby cities. It would be completely possible for someone to take a daytrip up to the mountain from Chicago without having to stay overnight.
Lift hours at typically 10 AM to 9 PM, but during the weekends, that changes to 9 AM to 10 PM. Tickets for full-day open to close are $60. There’s discounts for buying more than one day, though.
Tickets can be bought at the Cascade Mountain website.