Free Women's Skiing and Mardi Gras Beads Party Cancelled at Mount Bohemia After Legal Threat

Another day, another chapter for what might be the North American ski industry’s most unique online resort presence.

This time, Mount Bohemia, the famous ski area on Michigan's Keweenaw Peninsula, announced that it had to cancel the “women ski free” and “beads contest” parts of its Mardi Gras Madness event planned for March 7, 2026.

The reason, according to Mount Bohemia? A legal threat. The ski area’s Instagram account shared a series of email screenshots that allegedly explained why letting women ski free would expose the ski area to potential civil complaints and private litigation.

Based on the post, it’s not clear where the email came from.

Tap or click below on Mount Bohemia's Instagram post to look through the slides. Keep reading for more.

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The email cited the Michigan Elliott-Larsen Civil Rights Act, which prohibits “discriminatory practices … based upon religion, race, color, national origin, age, sex, height, weight, familial status, or marital status.”

The email said that letting women ski for free “directly conditions the cost of entry to a public accommodation on gender.”

So, Mount Bohemia wrote that it had to cancel the deal “With great sadness but with advice from our legal consul.”

“This would have been expensive and time consuming litigation even though we would expect to prevail,” the ski area added.

Still, per the Instagram post, the “limbo contest” and “man carries women” events during Mardi Gras Madness will continue. The ski area also wrote that it plans to have “thousands of beads for anyone to take and give out to whoever you want.”

Last season, Mount Bohemia had prizes for the women who amassed the most beads. The overall winner took home a lifetime season pass. The contest, apparently, drew inspiration from a similar Bourbon Street, New Orleans, Mardi Gras tradition (or public nuisance, depending on who you ask). 

To those unfamiliar, Mount Bohemia is often lauded as a mountain that bucks assumptions about what Midwest skiing can be. It’s steep and known for large lake effect snowstorms. And, in interacting with the broader world, the ski area takes a bit more of a dressed-down approach on social media than its corporate counterparts.