CHTC Board

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Current board members

Lori Hauswirth - Executive Director After 17 years full-time with the local regional planning organization, Lori has happily taken on the challenge of supporting the CHTC with her grant writing and organizational skills. Since moving to the Keweenaw from Marquette in 1996, Lori has been extensively involved in all aspects of trail riding and building. She has been director of the Keweenaw Chain Drive Festival for many years, organizes the local summer youth mountain biking program and is a long-time volunteer for the Trails Festival among many other volunteer activities. Lori lists riding Red Trail in the pouring rain during her first ever mountain bike race as one of her favorite Copper Harbor memories and yes, she has the first place trophy to show for it. Her loves include exploring new riding destinations, her partner Bill (whom she met at a Monday night ride) and her two adopted dogs, Meeko and Ryder.
Aaron Rogers - President Aaron came in search of epic snowboarding at Mt. Bohemia and stayed to build epic bike trails in Copper Harbor. A man with a vision for greatness, Aaron built upon a foundation of great trails on great terrain and turned them world class. Now a contracted professional trail builder with IMBA Trail Solutions, Aaron’s heart remains in Copper Harbor. Fortunately for us (and his wife Amanda), he prefers to build trails in Copper Harbor but also dabbles farther south on the Peninsula. If you find Aaron, it will be at the end of a newly built trail at the controls of the mini-excavator or with Pulaski in hand. If you can’t find him, it is most likely because you can’t catch him. He’s as good a rider as he is a trail builder.
Sam Raymond - Vice President Spending summers in Copper Harbor since the early 1970’s and becoming an avid mountain biker while living in the rocky mountains of Colorado during the mid 1990’s, Sam saw an opportunity to establish Copper Harbor as a mountain biking destination, with the dream that one day it become recognized as “the Moab of the Midwest”. The original visionary for what the trails could become, Sam purchased the Keweenaw Adventure Company in 1998. He began creating the “legacy” trails and passionately directing the formerly known Fat Tire Festival, thus helping to build the foundation for Copper Harbor riding. Though he’s recognized as the reigning air guitar champion of Copper Harbor, we don’t know how he has time to practice in between kayak outings and mountain bike shuttles!
Amanda Wais - Secretary Amanda came to snowboard at Mt. Bohemia and never left. With a passion for writing, Amanda shares her love for Copper Harbor through various forms. You can be inspired by her writings about life in da Harbor at www.daharbor.blogspot.com or in her book “Little Slice of da Harbor.” Each day she makes it a goal to get out and enjoy the fresh air and solace of the Keweenaw. When not writing, you’ll find her bartending during the busy seasons of summer and winter, on the trails or in search of local berries to make homemade wine.
Christina Smigowski - Treasurer Christina is an accountant in her day job and likes numbers so much she agreed to be our Treasurer. She is originally from the area and moved back with her husband, Tim, for the recreation opportunities in the Keweenaw. In her free time, she enjoys shooting birds (with her camera) and keeping Tim on course as the navigator in off road rally car competitions. Her favorite memory of Copper Harbor is finally conquering the roll down on the Red Trail thanks to an orange line painted by her husband and the cheers of her group ride friends. We’re thrilled she loves mountain biking and is willing to keep our books in order.
Steve Peters - Trustee Steve was coaxed to Copper Harbor back in 1994 kicking and screaming, but hasn’t left yet. He swings hammers during the day and is responsible for much of the handiwork you see around the town. If you dump out his camelbak you’ll find just the essentials: water, multi-tool, tube and pump. He prefers an 80+ degree sunny day with a northwest wind at 10 mph. Maybe someday he’ll get to live in a tropical place with his beautiful wife and daughter, but while he’s still here, we appreciate his talents and studliness.
Tony Schwenn - Trustee Tony has been a fun-loving, curly haired fixture in the Harbor since 1997 where he met Sam Raymond and was inspired to ride, race and build trail. As a summer guide and bike mechanic at the Keweenaw Adventure Company during his college years,Tony helped design and build many of the legacy trails, some of which still exist and others that live only in our memories. Tony’s day job is in sales for a local engineering software company, and he travels internationally on a regular basis. At least we can live vicariously through his travels. And when he is home for the meetings, he always reminds us of his pipe dream for the club: buying a helicopter.
Mike Swaney - Trustee Mike is a year-round resident of Mosquito Lake and is a seasonal Ranger at Fort Wilkins Historic State Park. He’s been riding the local trails and bush roads since 1978, and says the biking is way more like it is now than it used to be. Forget fat snow bikes – winter is ski time. Mike knows where the best snow lurks and skis it as much as he can. Despite the lack of a local old time music scene, Mike is a solid banjo player who thinks the CHTC should recruit someone to fill the Executive Fiddle Player position before we shop for Tony’s helicopter.
Chris Marr - Webmaster Chris is a civil engineer, so we figured we would put him in charge of the website — makes sense, right? As it turns out, Chris traded steel and concrete for mountain bikes and websites a long time ago. He puts his skills to good use with a day job as a web developer, and a side job as one of the founders of Trail Genius. When he is not helping make our website the best around, you will find him rockin' spandex (with an action cam on his head) in a race near you.
Travis Williams - Trustee Travis is a Wisconsinite that was lured to the Keweenaw by his wife, Brenna, after a short stint at Trek Bikes, and extra time in Colorado. His days are spent appraising real estate, but evenings are spent on his mountain bike or hanging with his kiddos, Jovie and Kalen. Trav can usually be found shuttling Copper Harbor with friends or his 4-legged riding buddy and has been known to keep extra beer money, or the occasional home brew, in his Camelbak. Something you may or may not want to know is this guy is pretty good with some yarn and knitting needles.
Hannah Rooks - Trustee As co-owner, with her mom, of The Laughing Loon, Hannah has been in Copper Harbor since the age of four. When you ride the Garden Brook Trail, you are riding through the Jim Rooks Garden Brook Preserve named in memory of her father. On her bike, Hannah prefers the uphills over the descents, but that would explain her wish to have legs of steel and a fearless mind. A perfect day is running the trails by 7:30 a.m. followed by a dip in the big lake, berry picking at the point or a ride up Woopidy and down The Flow, and ending with a sunset on top of Brockway.