Media Contact:
Jennifer Rudolph
303.866.9712
Jennifer@ColoradoSki.com
COLORADO SKI COUNTRY USA
PREPARES FOR 2008-09 SEASON BY RAISING THE BAR
Resorts Invest Millions of Dollars in Capital
Improvements
Denver, Colo. - Winter, 2008-09 - Colorado is
known for providing skiers and snowboarders unparalleled winter
getaways thanks to Colorado's superior snow, diverse destinations
and opportunities for exceptional experiences. For the 2008-09 ski
season, Colorado Ski Country USA resorts will further this
reputation by investing millions in resort enhancements. The
results will include acres of new terrain, several new chairlifts,
numerous lodging rooms, massive snowmaking improvements, loads of
new parking spots, some new restaurants, and a cabriolet.
Arapahoe Basin
At Arapahoe Basin, $1.2 million dollars will be put into
improvements for the 08-09 season. A-Basin will be unveiling new
"terrain" - 300 additional parking spaces connected to the resort
via a pedestrian tunnel under Highway 6. The tunnel will make for
safe easy walking access to and from the base area. Additionally,
the resort will have shuttles available to take guests from the
upper parking lots to the base area.
After catching a shuttle to the lift, guests can catch some rays on the new south facing sundeck at the Black Mountain Lodge. The 1,754 square foot deck will provide seating for 100 patrons and will be constructed from recycled materials.
New snowmaking capabilities will enhance the Sundance terrain and allow for more beginners skiing, and will be done with optimum environmental efficiency. Arapahoe Basin's snowmaking system is an airless system which uses 20% less electricity. A-Basin uses less water for snowmaking than any other ski resort due to their strict water policies.
Aspen/Snowmass
Aspen/Snowmass, comprised of Snowmass, Aspen Mountain, Aspen
Highlands and Buttermilk, will invest $35 million dollars in
capital improvements for the 2008-09 season. Improvements include a
new chairlift, new restaurants and new terrain.
On-mountain improvements at Snowmass continue for 2008-09 with a
new chairlift and the opening of two new restaurants. A new
detachable quad chairlift, the Sheer Bliss chair, will serve up 700
acres of some of the best terrain in the Big Burn area, giving
access to challenging black-diamond glades and wide-open blue
cruisers. The new lift can carry up to 2,000 people per hour and
takes riders 2,212 vertical feet, 155 feet more than the old Sheer
Bliss chair, with a ride time just over nine minutes.
Showcasing spectacular views of Garret's Peak, Mount Daly and the
surrounding backcountry, the new Sam's Smokehouse restaurant
features a barbecue-style smokehouse menu with a variety of
culinary delights. At 7,800 sprawling square feet, this new LEED
certified eatery boasts floor-to-ceiling windows and table service
for 175 guests, plus outdoor seating - all situated atop the
Village Express six-pack lift. In addition to the main restaurant,
Sam's Smokehouse will also have a lounge area where guests can grab
a quick coffee, breakfast or lunch.
Located adjacent to The Treehouse Kids's Adventure Center and mere
steps from the Village Express, Sneaky's Tavern will be offering
both indoor and outdoor bar/ dining seating. American bistro style
cuisine will be served at lunch, après and dinner.
Snowmass' new base village is home to nearly 90 ski-in/ski-out
condos. Hayden Lodge, where Treehouse is located, and Capitol Peak
Lodge are now offering the first luxury condos to be built in
Snowmass in 20 years. High ceilings, modern furnishings and
expansive decks provide the ideal ski-in/ski-out experience.
Aspen Highlands, known as the local's mountain and home to the
challenging Highland Bowl, will add acres of skiing and riding in
the Deep Temerity area of the mountain called Canopy Cruiser.
The base of Aspen Mountain is in the epicenter of downtown Aspen
and will have a new and improved gondola plaza for the 2008-2009
season. New steps, and less of them, will make it even easier to
load the gondola.
Over at Buttermilk Mountain, home to the ESPN Winter X Games, there
will be a new Olympic-size superpipe. The new pipe will be more
than 500 feet long with walls towering 18 ft. overhead and
measuring 22 ft. from the center of the pipe. Upon completion of
the superpipe it will stand as one of five 22 ft. superpipes in the
US.
Copper Mountain
Copper Mountain and Camp Woodward are bringing the innovative
instructional practices of Woodward to the sports of snowboarding
and skiing - and to the slopes of Copper. Progressive teaching
tools inside the multi-million dollar training facility include
trampolines, foam pits, resi-padding and bungee systems, all of
which will allow athletes to push the limits of their own abilities
and sports, in a safe, supported environment.
Woodward at Copper (www.WoodwardatCopper.com ) will offer access to year-round training programs including Winter Experiences beginning this season and Woodward at Copper Summer Camps in 2009. Copper is striving for Green Globes recognition, recognizing environmentally sustainable building practices, with the 19,000 sq. ft. Woodward at Copper training facility, aka, The Barn.
Crested Butte
Continuing the momentum from the past four years, Crested Butte
Mountain Resort is plowing ahead with both base area and
on-mountain enhancements. On-mountain improvements include expanded
terrain off the Headwall lift into the Teocalli bowl area, known as
Teo-2 and Teo-2.5, which will add expert terrain to the mix. More
on-mountain changes include the new and expanded features in the DC
Terrain Park and the addition of a completely new intermediate
terrain park.
Guest services abound at Crested Butte with a new central ski valet and overnight ski, snowboard and boot valet service. The service is free to all CBMR hotel guests or to other guests for a nightly fee and will feature ski-in ski-out access. The ski valet service pampers hotel guests from lobby check-in to hotel check-out with seamless handling of ski and snowboard equipment during guests' stay.
Snow Igloos, Crested Butte's new fun addition to the mountain experience will sprout up around the resort for après ski cocktails and adventure play areas for kids. The solid snow structures will be at Kids Base Camp and mid mountain outside the Ice Bar Restaurant.
The Treasury Center building at the base area will be redesigned to improve a number of guest services. The Crested Butte Ski and Snowboard Rental Shop will be moved to a slope-side location. Both the rental shop and a new retail store will include top of the line rental skis and snowboards along with an expanded retail selection. The former location of the Crested Butte Ski and Snowboard Shop will be transformed into a "Pizza Zone". Pizza, beverages and snacks will be available in the lower level of the Treasury Center to eat on the run or to sit and enjoy.
Also at the base area, the Outpost building will be re-designed and opened as a day lodge for guests. Tables and comfortable seating will allow guests to have more inside space for a break or just to warm up.
If more than a break is needed to relax, Elevation Hotel & Spa will complete a 25 million dollar re-model which includes all 260 luxury rooms, 11,000 sq ft. spa and fitness center, slope-side sundeck, fire pit, and completely new Atmosphere Restaurant & Bar.
Echo Mountain
Echo Mountain, Denver's closest ski and snowboard area, is
enhancing their already robust tree and feature terrain. New
acreage opening for the 2008/2009 ski and snowboard season includes
expanded tree skiing and riding in Westside Glades. In addition,
Echo Mountain will debut three signature features: a Wood Wave, the
686 Tree Bridge and a Burton/Echo staircase. The Wood Wave and 686
Tree Bridge are new additions in Westside Glades, and the Tree
Bridge features three rideable surfaces, including a 12" box and a
4" steel rail. Echo's Burton Staircase, an urban feature integrated
into a natural, mountain environment, is a 24-stair set featuring a
12" box, a 4" steel rail and a center log with dual hubba ledges,
bringing elements of street riding to Echo's Junkyard.
Mountain improvements will also include an expanded LC1 designated beginner learning area and the installation of a Magic Carpet surface lift. Base area improvements will incorporate the addition of concrete pavers in the Echo Plaza and a new and improved layout in the Echo Lodge and Echo Garage, which will increase overall efficiency and provide a superior guest experience.
Eldora
Eldora is the place for all snow sliders; snowboard, ski and
Nordic. This season, visitors to the Boulder mountain-Mecca will
notice a new Nordic groomer, designed to make the skinny skiers
happy. Indirectly related to their popular women's programs, Eldora
has completely renovated the women's restrooms in the Timbers
Lodge, designed to make the women skiers happy. The new design that
will make the grommet skiers happy this season is the expansion and
added features to the Kids Adventure Zone.
Winter may come early to Eldora with help from the addition of 20 new state-of-the-art snowmaking machines. Other enhancements include adding top of the line equipment to Eldora's Demo/Premium ski rental fleet. The inventory will now include equipment from Stockli and Volkl and as well as a Demo/Premium snowboard fleet.
Monarch Mountain
Monarch Mountain is investing more than $600,000 to expand
terrain, enhance guest services and augment its rental fleet.
Highlights of on-mountain changes include a kid's terrain park, Tilt. Located at the bottom of the Panorama Chair, Tilt will feature fun boxes, jumps, slides and hits designed for younger skiers and riders. Tilt will also be a great place for beginners to get some experience on small terrain features. Intermediate and advanced level riders will find terrain changes as well; the terrain park features from Ricochet as well as some new rails and boxes have been moved to the Aftershock terrain park. The K2 Organic terrain park will have more of the natural log features that give the run its character.
The logs being used for features on K2 will be cut down from the side of Sleepy Hollow which is being widened for the 2008-09 season. Liberty will be another green run, located where the Ricochet terrain park was. Advanced skiers will appreciate the 200 acres of new terrain added to the Snowcat area. Additionally, Monarch has been working with the United States Forest Service on their proposed master plan that includes lift served skiing in the No-Name Bowl.
Guest services will be greatly enhanced starting with a new reservations system. The new system will make it easier for guests to purchase everything they need including lift tickets, rental equipment, ski lessons, children's programs and even Snowcat trips. Reservations and purchases can be made with one call to 888.996.7669 and most products can be accessed online at www.SkiMonarch.com .
Guests with reserved products will be directed to the new Will Call Center to pick up their tickets or rental and lesson vouchers. The Will Call Center is conveniently located just inside the newly remodeled Ski School/Rental Center. Two additional electronic kiosks have been installed to the rental registration area bringing the total to five, making it easier to purchase rental equipment. A new boot drying system has been added and the rental fleet has been expanded. New skis in both the Alpine and Telemark variety from K2, Salomon, and Volkl and snowboards from Burton have been added to the rental and demo fleets.
Powderhorn
Powderhorn will expand its terrain, adding two new ski trails for
the 2008-09 ski season. Both are expert runs on the mountain's West
End. Along with new terrain, a new Magic Carpet surface lift will
be installed this winter in the ski school learning area.
Real estate developments progress at Powderhorn and have grown to include the Condos at Wildewood and homes in Wildewood subdivision.
Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort
Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort is deep into its 25-year
mountain master plan with numerous "villages" already under
construction and inhabited. The most notable (and noticeable) is
the first phase of Purgatory Lodge, set to open this winter in the
heart of Purgatory Village. The new lodge is home to upgraded skier
services and amenities, fractional ownership and slope side
lodging, the new Purgy's day Lodge, and the exclusive Durango
Mountain Club.
Peregrine Point is just steps from Purgatory Village and offers the first whole share opportunity at the resort in more than 20 years. The resort is also moving forward with additional village expansions. Tacoma and Engineer Village are already homes to many vacationers, while future plans call for three more villages in and around the resort.
On the mountain, Durango is in the final stages of approval of their environmental impact statement regarding on-mountain improvements. Once approved, the resort will begin installing a new high speed quad in the Legends area, and moving the current chair to replace Chair 4 on the front side. New tree trails are planned for the Legends Area, as well as additional beginner and intermediate access routes. The resort also plans to add "subways", a European method of access for skiers and boarders on relatively flat terrain.
Upgrades to snowmaking include expanding their capability by at least 50 percent which will add 200 acres of snowmaking.
Silverton Mountain
New for 2008-09, Silverton Mountain will be offering heli drops
into their spectacular ski terrain beginning in December. The heli
drops can be purchased in single run increments for only $150 per
run, bringing the possibility of heli skiing to those with big skis
but small bank rolls.
This is great news for the mountain's unguided skiers as the helicopter avalanche control program will help get additional unguided ski terrain open much faster. The guided heli drops are a fun and adventurous way to sample the distant lines that take 2-3 hours of hiking to access.
Heli drops are limited in space and can be booked in advance on the SilvertonMountain.com website.
Ski Cooper
Ski Cooper and the Chicago Ridge Ski Area are known among advanced
and expert skier and riders for their snowcat powder tours. This
year the operation has added a second snowcat to their Chicago
Ridge Snowcat Tours. The additional snowcat will provide seven day
a week operations for skiing and riding in more than 2,400 acres of
gladed slopes and open bowls.
Also new for this season, Ski Cooper has added a yurt to the Chicago Ridge snowcat operation. The new yurt will provide an ideal setting for serving lunch to guests that ski or ride the Ridge.
SolVista Basin
The Atria Group has invested $28 million in new development at
Granby Ranch this year as part of their ongoing $1.06 billion
dollar development projects in Colorado's ski country. Granby
Ranch, home of the family-friendly SolVista Basin, boasts a new
Base Camp Lodge, a $6.5 million renovation.
Other improvements include the new Seven Trails Grille with bar - this is still a little-known asset at the resort providing table-served dining in addition to a remodeled and enlarged cafeteria for quick meals.
Steamboat
Over the past three seasons, more than $27 million in on-mountain
improvements have been made to the Steamboat Ski Area, including
more than $4 million invested specifically for the upcoming 2008-09
winter season. Steamboat's on-mountain momentum augments nearly $8
million in completed and planned public revitalization projects,
Steamboat Unbridled, sweeping the mountain village.
Bringing mountain services downtown for the first time, Steamboat Ski & Sport Downtown occupies 1,670 sq. ft. in the new Howelsen Place development--the premier address in Old Town Steamboat. Situated in the high-energy retail environment on 7th Street between Lincoln and Yampa Avenues, Steamboat Ski & Sport Downtown, expected to open November 2008, offers convenient access to rentals, retail, official logo merchandise, lift tickets, ski & snowboard school products, and comprehensive vacation planning services of Steamboat Central Reservations.
Approximately one third of the resort's ski rental fleet is revamped annually. This winter, a quarter million dollars will go toward new skis from the best in the industry, including a selection of the latest equipment from Salomon, Rossignol and Volkl. The new skis will be spread across the resort's Ski & Sport locations in Gondola Square, Sheraton, Ski Time Square, Steamboat Grand and downtown.
In addition to the rental fleet, Steamboat's snowmaking system will undergo dramatic improvements as new pipe is replaced extensively on Right-O-Way, See Ya, Bashor, Lower Vagabond and Lil Rodeo. Maintaining its industry leading snowmaking position, the new pipe is ductile iron pipe from US Snow Pipe, utilizing the latest in snowmaking technology. An arsenal of low-energy, high-efficiency snowmaking guns will be implemented. These guns use 30 percent less energy than conventional guns while producing the same amount of snow.
The resort's remote parking facility, the Meadows, will expand by more than 38,000 sq. ft. on the north end. The new expansion will be able to accommodate roughly 200 additional free parking spaces.
Sunlight Mountain
Sunlight Mountain Resort will be undergoing significant change in
the near future. The resort is in the midst of a proposed base area
development project as Sunlight aspires to create a village that is
a year-round mountain playground.
Telluride
Part of Telluride's $4.4 million dollar capital improvement program for this season includes new terrain, Revelation Bowl, located on the back side of Gold Hill. As guests make each turn, descending the 800 vertical feet of Revelation Bowl, the massive 2,000-foot rock wall on the opposite side of the drainage, grows larger, reaching up to 13,472 foot La Junta Peak and 13,555 foot Wasatch Mountain. To the skier's right, 13,446 foot San Joaquin Ridge keeps watch over the entire Bear Creek Basin, and to the skier's left the town of Telluride peeks out 3,000 feet below, overlooked by the San Sophia range. From the top of the new Revelation lift, skiers and riders will be able to choose ridgelines in either direction, offering steeper pitches and rock features on the far sides of the powder bowl. The center touts an expanse of rolling, advanced terrain with a groomed path for cruising.
Revelation trails have yet to be named. There will be roughly four trails all advanced to expert terrain. A new lift, aptly titled Revelation Lift has been constructed to access the new terrain. This locally manufactured Leitner-Poma quad-lift cost $2.2 million and can service 1200 people per hour.
Also to come this season are two new restaurants, details of which will be announced this winter.
Winter Park
Winter Park Resort is going through a major expansion with The
Village of Winter Park Resort coming on board for the New Year.
Estimated at $30 million dollars for construction, 30 thousand
square feet of new retail, rental, restaurant and living space will
encompass the Village area.
Additionally, Winter Park Resort is building a new $5.8 million dollar Village Cabriolet to transport people from their free parking lot near the Vintage Hotel to the heart of the Village. The Village Cabriolet is an open air gondola and has a capacity of 2,800 people per hour via 39 cabins. Skis, snowboards, wheelchairs, and mountain bikes can be transported on the cabriolet in a matter of minutes. There will be no charge to ride the Village Cabriolet.
As part of Winter Park Resort's Connexion platform designed to
inform, involve and educate resort employees, guests and the
community about the environment, 200 additional mega watts of wind
energy credits will be purchased to offset the added energy used to
operate the new lift.
In total, Winter Park Resort will purchase 600 mega watts to
operate the new cabriolet, Super Gauge, Eagle Wind and Panoramic
Express lifts.
The Lofts at Winter Park are 14 new high-end condominiums being built above The Village at Winter Park Resort. Additionally, 200 new units were completed in the late spring of 2008 with the completion of Fraser Crossing and Founders Pointe.
For the upcoming season Winter Park Resort has purchased more than a quarter million dollars worth of new gear to update the quality of their rental offerings. All rental skis will be under the new Salomon Syncro rental system which means lighting fast fitting for a more efficient rental process. Also, Winter Park Resort is adding 250 more kids skis, boots and Burton snowboards. All renters receive free "ski up" storage at the base of the slopes.
A new Mountain Adventure Center located at Winter Park's base will offer hundreds of demo skis, on-snow valet, and complementary Smith blue-tooth helmets.
Wolf Creek
Wolf Creek is investing $1.5 million dollars in on-mountain
improvements for the 2008-09 ski season. Included in the season's
enhancements is the LEED guided expansion of the Raven Day Use
Building, located at the top of Raven Quad.
# # #
Colorado Ski Country USA (CSCUSA) is the not-for-profit trade
association representing Colorado's 22 ski & snowboard resorts.
CSCUSA is the global voice of the Colorado ski industry. The
Association's primary functions are concentrated in marketing,
public policy and public relations. Information about CSCUSA and
its members can be found at www.ColoradoSki.com. This
release and other press information can be found in the online
press room at http://media-ColoradoSki.com.
