BRECKENRIDGE – Ski area executives touted their vision of a conceptual plan for build-out of the country’s second-busiest ski area at a town council work session Tuesday night, outlining a slew of upgrades and improvements to existing lifts and trails, as well additional snowmaking and a new terrain pod on Peak 6. Town council members seemed to have plenty of questions about the plan, which includes some previously approved projects as well as new elements, but discussion of the plan was cut off by the next agenda item, a presentation of grant awards to community nonprofits and service agencies.
The laundry list of projects is an informal master plan that revises the ski area’s existing Forest Service master plan, a document that dates back to the 1980s and has been updated on a piecemeal basis with projects like the Imperial Express chair and the Peak 7 expansion from a few years ago.
The Forest Service no longer does formal ski area master plans, with the associated public scrutiny and comment required by federal environmental laws. Comprehensive master planning was dropped as part of the agency’s overall streamlining push.
“This is a road map for the next six to eight years,” said vice president of operations Rick Sramek. “It’s important to note that this is not an approval process, it’s conceptual.” Site-specific review and approval for the various pieces would be part of a U.S. Forest Service process, Sramek explained.
“I haven’t added up the dollars yet,” said Roger McCarthy, co-president of Vail Resorts mountain division, explaining that the implementation of some of the projects are real-estate dependent, in terms of some of the lift improvements, on-mountain services and renovation of the Bergenhof at the base of Peak 8.
Previously approved elements
Sramek first discussed items approved under previous Forest Service decisions, including improved egress from the ski area at Peak 9, with regrading of the Silverthorne trail. The resort also wants to move ski school operations up the mountain at Peak 9 to reduce congestion at the base.
Some of the ski area’s older lifts will likely be replaced in the next few years, including a new detachable lift with a midway loading station in place of the A Lift, Sramek said. A new lift and new trails are also in store for the Red Rover area. Sramek said the ski area is experiencing continued growth in ski school activity and wants to enhance that part of its operation by adding new teaching terrain.
Replacing Chair 6 with a higher capacity chair is also on the list, as is moving the bottom of the Independence Chair downhill to tie in with the new base area development. A mid-mountain restaurant at Peak 7 is also planned, along with a new teaching area higher on the mountain.
More snowmaking is also planned on Peak 7, in order to guarantee the skiing experience in that area, Sramek said.
The improvements won’t significantly add to skier visit totals at Breckenridge, but are intended to meet the existing demand, according to Sramek. Taken together, the upgrades would boost the area’s “comfortable carrying capacity to about 18,000 skiers per day, a number that Breckenridge sees on a regular basis on peak days.
