Resort Company Has Invested $300 Million in Ski Area Upgrades

It's cash flow time. Earlier this week, Alterra Mountain Company, which owns numerous ski resorts across North America and sells the Ikon Pass, announced a $300 million investment program in on-mountain improvements for its destinations.

Here’s the overview: Alterra has invested in new and refurbished lifts, additional snowmaking enhancement programs, summer activities, and resort infrastructure ahead of the coming ski season.

And now for the nitty gritty of what that actually means.

In the past year, Alterra completed its aptly named “Full Steam Ahead” project at Steamboat Ski Resort, Colorado. This project saw a 655-acre expert terrain expansion and the completion of Wild Blue —now the longest gondola in North America and the fastest 10-person gondola in the country.

The other big headline is the ongoing push to vastly expand Deer Valley Resort , Utah’s terrain footprint.

The resort will debut three chairlifts this coming ski season. Two are beginner-focused lifts with return access to the new East Village. The third, a six-person bubble lift called the Keetley Express, will transport skiers into the existing Deer Valley footprint from the East Village, dropping them off near the Sultan Express.

We’ve previously covered the news of both expansions. Taken together, it's clear Alterra is serious about doubling down on its resort holdings. The “Full Steam Ahead” project at Steamboat is serious, but the Deer Valley expansion is borderline nutty. We’re only looking at its infancy—once complete, Deer Valley will have added 3,700 acres of skiable terrain, more than doubling its footprint. That’s huge, literally.

A slew of other improvements are coming to the Alterra arsenal. Crystal Mountain, Washington’s new base lodge, the Mountain Commons Lodge, will be fully operational this coming winter. Mammoth Mountain, California, is replacing its Broadway Express chair with a high-speed, detachable six-seater. Big Bear Mountain Resort, California; Sugarbush, Vermont; and Stratton, Vermont, are all getting lift upgrades, too.

More money is being funneled towards snowmaking improvements by Alterra, which makes perfect sense in light of the whole climate change thing. Several resorts are getting increased coverage, including Mammoth Mountain, California; Palisades Tahoe, California; and Sugarbush, Vermont. Winter Park, Colorado, is wrapping up a $37 million, two-year effort to rebuild its snowmaking infrastructure completely.

Vail Resorts also seems to be spending big bucks. In a news release earlier this year, Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch was quoted saying, “We expect our capital plan for calendar year 2024 to be approximately $189 million to $194 million.” That number jumped to a higher range—“approximately $214 million to $219 million,” said Lynch—when factoring in several additional efforts, including growth capital investments at Andermatt-Sedrun, Switzerland.

Related: World's Largest Indoor Ski Resort Opens in China

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