With new investment from a ski business mogul, Arizona Snowbowl is getting a much-anticipated mountain makeover.
As altitude-seekers soared over yellowing aspen on Arizona Snowbowl’s Scenic Chairlift this fall, the crash and rumble of construction cranes ricocheted around the pines. For a few hours one afternoon, helicopters hauled massive metal towers to the peak and planted them in the earth like pins on a map. The result will be unveiled this holiday season: the Flagstaff resort’s first new chairlift in 30 years.
The cushy quad lift is part of a series of improvements snowballing through Arizona’s most popular ski resort. “It’s the starting point of bringing the guest experience up to date, and it’s a huge uplift for skiers’ enthusiasm for this winter,” says Jason Stratton, Snowbowl’s director of sales and marketing.
In October 2014, the ski world buzzed with the news that James Coleman, managing partner at Sipapu and Pajarito ski resorts in New Mexico, would buy 100 percent of Snowbowl and Colorado’s Purgatory at Durango Mountain Resort, creating the Southwest’s largest ski collective.
But after purchasing Purgatory whole, Coleman’s Snowbowl deal went off-piste. Following months of corporate slaloming, longtime Snowbowl owner Eric Borowsky revealed in July that Coleman would instead become a managing partner. The new arrangement will combine the current team’s local experience with their new partner’s flurry of ideas and dollars, while reducing the red tape of a whole-sale ownership change.
As part of a $10 million revamp of Coleman’s ski interests, the 77-year-old Flag institution will get $2 million. The money will fund the Humphreys Peak quad, which will climb 775 vertical feet to intermediate trails including Route 66, Pluto and Dutchman. In addition, amped-up snowmaking on the freshly graded and widened Ridge trail will allow early access to several key runs. Debuting next winter, Snowbowl’s first high-speed chairlift, the Grand Canyon Express, will ascend four to six times faster than a traditional lift. Further on the horizon, Snowbowl will upgrade its base lodge, replace existing lifts, and consider adding summer amenities such as mountain biking, music fests, and an alpine slide.
“The management at Snowbowl has had a wish list for the past 10 years, and because of the investment that [Coleman] brings to the partnership, now we can dust off that wish list and start looking at the possibilities,” Stratton says.
Coleman is a passionate powder hound who aims to hit the slopes year-round; he once skied in 21 consecutive months. “Skiing is my first priority,” the Durango resident said at the Snowbowl deal announcement. “I’m committed not only to opening these mountains early, but also creating an exceptional experience for skiers and snowboarders… while making each of these ski areas the most family-friendly, family-fun resorts in the Southwest and the best value in the nation.”
For the first time, the Power Pass season ticket will offer unlimited access to Snowbowl, Purgatory, Sipapu and Pajarito, encouraging winter warriors to sample the powder playgrounds’ combined 200-plus trails in 3,088 skiable acres. As part of the upgrades, Sipapu – a family-friendly resort near Taos – will get its first quad. Pajarito – a once-private aerie for scientists in nearby Los Alamos – will debut a bunny slope. The destination formerly known as Durango Mountain Resort – which Coleman rechristened Purgatory, much to locals’ delight – will celebrate its 50th anniversary this season with festivities and a high-speed quad. And all the resorts will get additional trails and pumped-up snowmaking infrastructure.
The developments are an exciting run-up to the “Godzilla El Niño” season expected to bring monster snowstorms to southern states. “There’s a lot of optimism for this winter being really big,” Stratton says. “The enthusiasm is probably the strongest I’ve seen in years.”
Faux Snow
Snowmaking is the source of Snowbowl’s greatest revenue and controversy. The resort’s slopes were open 122 and 128 days over the last two seasons; without snowmaking, it would have been 10 and 20, Stratton estimates. The controversy: Snowbowl’s snow guns spray reclaimed wastewater on a mountain considered sacred to 13 indigenous tribes. The non-potable water is cleansed of bacteria but contains hormones, pharmaceuticals and antibiotics. Several tribes, individuals and conservation groups have filed lawsuits to halt snowmaking – to no avail. Snowbowl’s new master plan will increase manmade snow coverage to 65 percent of the terrain by next winter.
