PNSAA Ski Area Improvements for 2008-09 Season

Press Release

• October 08 2008
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OFFICIAL PRESS RELEASE - Hood River, OR  –  New chairlift installations, base area enhancements, and ski trail projects enjoy top billing for 2008 construction projects at Pacific Northwest ski areas.  Equally important, ski area operators are making tactical improvements to guest service programs, existing ski lifts, parking facilities, and access roads.  More notable projects are listed below.  For additional details on these ski area improvements, call the PNSAA office or the mountain directly.

WASHINGTON The staff at 49° North spent the summer designing new alpine trails and gladed descents in the terrain west of Chair 4 on Angel Peak. The resort will construct these trails and glades during the next three summers in combination with construction of additional surface parking in the nordic parking lot.  With the installation of a new drain field, Crystal Mountain completed its renovation of the Summit House Restaurant.  Washington’s highest, full-service restaurant, the Summit House now features a menu of fresh Northwest cuisine.  Improving access to the ski area and overall parking capacity was the focus of Mission Ridge Ski & Board Resort’s improvements.  Later this month, the $11 million rehabilitation and upgrade of Mission Ridge Road will be complete.  Using fill material from this two-year road project, Mission Ridge created 95 new parking lot spaces.  The resort also announced an initiative to extend Ski LINK transit privileges free of charge to all Mission Ridge season pass holders.  Mt. Baker Ski Area upgraded Chair 1 to a fixed-grip, quad chairlift – nearly doubling Chair 1’s uphill lift capacity.  With the replacement of Chair 1, Mt. Baker has accomplished its strategic goal of ‘quading’ all of the ski area’s chairlifts.  Mt. Spokane Ski & Snowboard Park completed an extensive remodel of Lodge 2’s kitchen and concessions area to improve and streamline the food buying and dining experience.  Mt. Spokane purchased a Prinoth BR350 grooming vehicle, which will allow the ski area to prepare the slopes faster and with considerable fuel savings.  The Mount Spokane State Park Road has been widened, straightened, and repaved to improve ski area access.  In partnership with Resort Technology Partners (RTP), Stevens Pass Resort will launch the first resort-wide use of the new RTP-SKIDATA integrated ticketing, RFID access control, and point-of-sales system for guest services.  Stevens Pass Resort will feature hands-free lift access for their guests and direct lift access for Advantage Card and season pass holders.  The Summit at Snoqualmie purchased a $4.5 million, high-speed, quad chairlift to replace the popular Silver Fir triple chairlift.  The new Silver Fir Express will shorten the lift ride time to approximately 4 minutes while increasing the chairlift’s uphill capacity to 2,400 guests per hour.  The Summit at Snoqualmie has completed several other projects to enhance the guest experience:  a new parking lot near the Silver Fir Express, completion of the Alpental Road repaving project, a new women’s restroom at Summit Central, a plaza extension at Summit Central, rental equipment replacement at Alpental and Summit Central, and new drive motors for Reggie’s and Easy Street chairlifts.

OREGON Cooper Spur Ski Area constructed a new ticket office – separating its ticketing and equipment rental operations – and remodeled its restroom facilities.  Mt. Bachelor has added 150 acres of skiable terrain (below Cow’s Face) by connecting and enhancing the east and west ‘catch lines’.  The resort also invested in its lift network (i.e., $500,000 in proactive lift maintenance and repair) and improved access to the ski area (i.e., construction of a new Park-N-Ride facility in nearby Bend, purchase of an additional Park-N-Ride Super Shuttle Bus, and development of a new heated walkway at Sunrise Lodge).  Mt Bachelor also purchased three Prinoth BR350 snow cats to enhance its snow grooming operation and a $505,000 snow blower to improve snow removal in parking lots and on roadways.  Mt. Hood Meadows Ski Resort constructed a new medical clinic and ski patrol headquarters building in the resort’s base area, which will double the space of its existing medical clinic and help accommodate a growing ski patrol department.  Nearly 200 acres of advanced, off-piste terrain was made accessible (lift-served by the resort’s Hood River Express Chairlift).  The resort replaced its Fun Zone rope tow with a 280-foot, fully enclosed, SunKid Wonder Carpet conveyor.  Mt. Hood Meadows also remodeled the North and South lodges – creating more attractive restrooms on the second floor of the North Lodge and modernizing the South Lodge’s Schuss Grill.  Mt Hood Meadows purchased three Prinoth BR350 snow cats, replaced one-third of its rental skis and snowboards, and implemented direct to lift scanning to make checking tickets in lift lines more efficient.     Mt. Hood Skibowl Winter Resort purchased two new snow cats, one of which is a Prinoth BR350 Sherpa.  This winch-equipped snow cat will groom the steeps in Upper Bowl and elsewhere.  The resort also doubled the restroom capacity of Skibowl West’s Starlight Lodge and added a ticket window to the outside ticket sales facility.  Skibowl West’s retail shop has been relocated to the lodge space below the Beer Stube.  This new retail space also will accommodate the resort’s season pass and group sales functions.  Mt. Hood Skibowl also graded its snow tubing facility and added several new lanes to enhance the tube riding experience.  This year, the resort’s horse-drawn sleigh rides will operate out of nearby Collins Lake Resort.  Timberline Ski Area has refined the eight, new Still Creek Basin trails (opened last winter), offering skiers and riders improved signage, trail enhancements, and more milling space at the lower terminal of the Jeff Flood Express Chairlift.  Timberline also improved its beginner hill, which has been outfitted with a Magic Carpet Ski Lifts® conveyor.

IDAHO   Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area constructed a 1,600-square foot addition to the ski area’s rental shop building.  Lookout Pass also added one acre to its guest parking facility.  To facilitate opening the ski season Thanksgiving weekend or earlier, Schweitzer Mountain Resort invested $5 million in snowmaking equipment and utility company infrastructure. Snowmaking coverage will blanket Midway Run with snow from the top of the Basin Express Quad down to the village.  A fleet of fully automated TechnoAlpin M18A fan guns will be moved between 23 different snowmaking water hydrants allowing for trail coverage of 300 feet in width.  The hydrants will be supplied with water via a gravity feed system originating at a water storage pond near the top of the mountain.  Silver Mountain Resort has brought on-line the four season, resort amenity Silver Rapids – a giant, indoor waterpark.  The resort also established new gladed areas in the terrain served by chairs 3 and 4.

ALASKA Alyeska Resort invested more than $3 million in lift upgrades, including the replacement of Chairlift 3 with a fixed-grip, quad chairlift and the relocation of Wade’s Way Magic Carpet (from the Daylodge to the base of Chairlift 3).  Alyeska Resort’s Chairlift 7 was modified and now features a midpoint unload station, as well as a conveyor guest loading system at Chairlift 7’s base terminal.  These improvements will allow Chairlift 7 to be operated at a higher rope speed and improve overall access to the beginner lift located just up slope from The Hotel Alyeska.  Alyeska Resort also will debut RFID lift access technology – a hands-free ticketing system – and access gates at all base area lifts.  Eaglecrest Ski Area has begun the installation of the East Bowl (mid-mountain) chairlift.  This $1.5 million chairlift installation – the ski area’s third chairlift – will be completed by fall of 2009.  Eaglecrest is scheduled to have electrical power service at its day lodge in time for the upcoming ski season.

For additional information on these ski area improvements, feel free to contact the PNSAA office at (541) 386-9600.