Greetings Loyal Eaglecrest Skiers and Riders!
As we put another season to bed, I wanted to send out a quick thank you to everyone for sharing such a great winter with us!
Despite having low natural snow totals this season, we enjoyed 73 operating days on the upper mountain! This was all made possible through the hard work of our mountain operations staff bringing the new snowmaking infrastructure online, and the summer trail crew clearing brush and manicuring the slopes for snow.
Eaglecrest’s snowmaking expansion is entering its final stages. An additional 1000 feet of pipeline will be installed this summer. This will get us all of the way to the bottom of the Black Bear Chairlift. We had a productive snowmaking run this winter, and the lessons learned are a strong foundation for an even more aggressive start next season.
Another planned snowmaking efficiency project will be re-conditioning surface areas and drainage in the Porcupine Learning Area. Eaglecrest prioritizes early season snowmaking efforts on Porcupine to ensure Youth Programs. This project will greatly reduce the hours required to fill in the Porcupine trails with manmade snow. After a few days of efficient snowmaking weather, we will be able to concentrate our full snowmaking power on the main mountain.
Summer projects are already starting to ramp up, and we are preparing for the construction of the Eaglecrest and Juneau Community Foundation cabin at Hilda Dam. Much of the site work was completed last fall with even more progress this winter through prefabrication and staging. We are hopeful that the cabin will be available for rent by mid to late summer.
Annual chairlift maintenance is underway. Please use caution when hiking on the mountain and around the lift terminals as they may start turning at any time. Also, we still have dates available to rent the Fish Creek Lodge for summer and fall weddings, family reunions and private parties!
Over the past year, our staff and third parties agencies have been evaluating what summer operations could look like here at Eaglecrest. We are currently compiling all of the information gathered into a comprehensive plan that caters to the predominant local use of the area while taking advantage of tourism’s rapid growth.
It’s our viewpoint that summer operations would create an entirely new level of financial security for the ski area and provide even more recreational opportunities for Juneau’s residents and visitors alike. We hope to have our summer plans ready for review and comment by early summer.
Stay tuned for updates, and thank you all for your continued support!
Dave Scanlan
General Manager
Eaglecrest Ski Area
