For returning skiers and snowboarders who frequent Sugar Bowl ski resort, there is some new territory to check out for the 2013-14 ski season.
Think you snow the terrain at Sugar Bowl ski resort? Don’t be so quick to answer.
Sugar Bowl is currently installing a new chairlift that will provide access to advanced and expert terrain on the west side of the resort. The Crow’s Peak chairlift, a fixed-grip Doppelmayr triple, will provide lift-served skiing and riding in the Strawberry Fields area of the mountain, just below Crow’s Nest Peak.
Resort invests $20 million
The Lake Tahoe ski resort is investing more than $20 million into widespread upgrades this summer and fall, including the new lift, a new fitness and aquatic center, and a ski-in/ski-out campus for Sugar Bowl Academy.
These investments represent some of the largest upgrades the resort has undertaken since expanding the Mt. Judah side of the resort to include the Judah Day Lodge and slopeside parking lots. The current projects span all aspects of the resort’s operation by increasing ski terrain, upgrading off-slope amenities, and constructing a permanent slopeside home for the West’s most prominent ski academy.
Below is a look at the four projects that will unveil this winter:
Crow’s Peak Chairlift
The Strawberry Fields area previously was a hike-to terrain accessed from the Disney Express Chair, so the new Crow’s Peak chair will greatly improve fall line skiing, increasing the overall terrain and vertical for skiers to enjoy.
Installation of the new $3 million chairlift is underway, and the lift will be open and ready for skiers and riders this season.
The new lift’s bottom terminal is located just above the cross country trails of Royal Gorge’s Van Norden Meadow, physically bringing the two resorts, both under the management of Sugar Bowl, closer together.
At nearly 1,000 vertical feet, the new lift will run to the top of Crow’s Nest Peak, with the top terminal located just looker’s left of the peak itself. The terrain enhancements will include two new groomed runs, excellent tree skiing through glades, chutes and cliffs, and also provide a wind-protected area on inclement weather days.
Sugar Bowl Academy Campus
The campus costs $12 million and lies below the lower Mt.Judah parking lot, alongside the resort’s snowbound village. The campus has classrooms, dormitories and training space for 75 student-athletes.
Sugar Bowl Academy is the nation’s only ski-in/ski-out academy and consistently places alpine racers, nordic skiers, and freeriders on the U.S. Ski Team and into the nation’s best universities. Its comprehensive college preparatory curriculum and world-class ski training program already make it the premier ski team and ski academy in the West.
“The new campus at Sugar Bowl Resort will definitely put us on par with the best sports academies in the world,” says Tracy Keller, head of the Sugar Bowl Ski Team and Academy.
Academy athletes also benefit from ongoing training input and feedback from four-time Olympian, X Games gold medalist and World Cup Champion Daron Rahlves, who serves as Sugar Bowl Resort’s ski ambassador.
Fitness and Aquatic Center
Sugar Bowl Resort is building a full-service fitness and aquatic center within the resort’s snowbound village for use by Sugar Bowl homeowners, lodge guests and Sugar Bowl Academy student athletes. T
The $4.5 million Sport Haus is being built adjacent to the resort’s Village Hall building on the Mt.Disney side of the resort. The Sport Haus will include a full aquatic center with two lap lanes, outdoor hot tubs, fitness facilities, a yoga studio, spa treatment rooms, and athletic training space.
Homeowners and lodge guests will be able to swim, participate in yoga classes and enjoy other fitness programs at the facility. The facility is centrally located between Sugar Bowl’s lifts, the resort’s lodge and the resort’s snowbound homeowner village. The Sport Haus will also serve as a conditioning facility for Sugar Bowl Academy’s 75 student-athletes.
Royal Gorge Improvements
In its second year of Sugar Bowl management, North America’s largest cross-country resort will continue to expand its offerings with new fat tire snowbiking trails and the return of the Sierra Snowkite Center, California’s first and only resort-based snowkiting school.
Royal Gorge’s 6,000 acres of cross-country skiing and 200 kilometers of trails across six distinct track systems give cross country skiers endless skiing possibilities on an impressive trail system dotted by lakes, canyons, meadows, majestic alpine peaks and eight different warming huts.
In addition to cross country skiing and snowshoeing, fat tire snowbiking will be offered on narrow, bike-specific snow trails, giving the riders of fat-tired, winter-specific bikes the feeling of riding single track trails through the snow. Snowbikes will be offered for rent at Royal Gorge’s Summit Station Lodge.
To learn more about Sugar Bowl Resort, visit www.sugarbowl.com.
