Outdoors

Following a partial opening last week, Eaglecrest Ski Area is experiencing some issues going into this weekend, including a broken water line, a delayed opening of the Ptarmigan lift and a pause in snowmaking efforts.

The ski area unexpectedly closed on Friday and will remain closed Saturday due to a large break in its main water line that supplies its lodges. 

The ski area’s staff says they are working to get it fixed as soon as possible. 

In a video shared Thursday evening, Craig Cimmons, the general manager of the city-owned ski area, also gave an update on the status of its chairlifts. Eaglecrest opened at a limited capacity earlier this month, with only its Porcupine lift running, which services the mountain’s easiest trails. 

Cimmons said in the video that the ski area had hoped to have Ptarmigan up and running, but unexpected additional repairs are delaying its opening date. The Ptarmigan chairlift services the middle of the mountain. 

“Because we chose to get that lift in its best possible working order, it’s just taking longer to get to that point,” he said. “But it’s going to be safer in the end, operating better than it has in a long time.”

He said the water line for Eaglecrest’s snowmaking system also froze over recently, meaning it isn’t able to make snow at the moment. Despite that, he said there is a lot of natural snow on the mountain, and its backcountry terrain is open for recreation. 

Because of Saturday’s closure, Eaglecrest’s ski school is cancelled that day. Eaglecrest will make an announcement about Sunday’s lessons on Saturday. 

Juneau is expected to see bitter cold temperatures and Taku winds heading into the weekend, and low temperatures into the next couple of weeks. The National Weather Service in Juneau issued a cold weather advisory and a high wind warning starting Thursday evening.

According to the National Weather Service, the coldest wind chill temperatures will be at higher elevations, like the ski area.

Eaglecrest Ski Area’s gondola cabins are headed to Colorado next month for repairs and a paint job. Cost for the work and shipping is expected to be around $450,000. The cost to bring other gondola parts to Juneau is expected to be even higher with tariffs. 

It’s been more than three years since the city bought the used gondola system from Austria. The plan is to have it up and running by the summer of 2028, but the ski area continues to face timeline delays and financial hurdles.

Craig Dahl is a special projects manager for the city. He gave an update about the city-owned ski area’s ongoing gondola project during an Eaglecrest board of directors meeting last week.

He said the gondola cabins were inspected in 2022 when the ski area purchased them and were deemed to be in good condition. But, he said the refurbishment in Colorado will make the nearly 20-year-old cabins into like-new condition. 

“We’re talking powder coating all the moving parts, replacing any parts that need repair or replace, new glass, new paint, new floors, new seats,” he said. 

The cabins are slated to be shipped out of Juneau in mid-January and Dahl said they won’t return until early 2027. The cost of the contract to refurbish the cabins is $414,000. But that doesn’t include the cost to barge and truck the cabins to Colorado to get the work done, which is an additional $37,000 cost. 

And the recent Trump Administration’s tariffs on imports could raise costs even more. Parts of the gondola still remain in Austria, most of which are made of steel. At the meeting, Dahl said estimates to ship them to Juneau are still very much up in the air, but he anticipates they will tack on a significant amount to the project’s overall cost. 

“I don’t know the amount — we’re probably going to be spending somewhere between $600,000 to $700,000 if we’re not able to eliminate the tariff.”

The ski area’s financial future is heavily riding on the gondola. In the coming years, the ski area is slated to run into a multimillion-dollar deficit to repair some broken and aging infrastructure while boosting pay to employees and preparing to operate year-round. 

A local Alaska Native corporation, Goldbelt Incorporated, invested $10 million in the gondola in 2022 in exchange for a revenue-sharing agreement, but the project’s overall cost is expected to exceed that. In that contract, it stipulates that the gondola must be up and running by the summer of 2028 or Goldbelt could reclaim its investment. 

Eaglecrest opened at a limited capacity this past weekend after an influx of snow. This year marks its 50th season as a ski area. 

Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area is slated to open at a limited capacity on Saturday and Sunday after an influx of snow earlier this week. 

General Manager Craig Cimmons said the city-owned ski area will begin operating with only the Porcupine lift running from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. That lift services the mountain’s easiest trails. 

The ski area is calling the partial opening a “winter preview weekend” since it’s only running one lift. Cimmons says opening the other two lifts that service higher up the mountain is weather-dependent and he couldn’t give a specific date yet. 

This past weekend, Juneau received nearly 14 inches of snow, measured at the Juneau International Airport. The majority of it fell on Saturday and broke the record for that day in history, according to the National Weather Service. 

The National Weather Service forecasts sunshine and low temperatures taking hold through the weekend. More snow is forecasted Saturday evening and into early next week. 

This year marks Eaglecrest’s 50th season as a ski area. 

Juneau saw a snowfall record during a winter storm over the weekend, and now, freezing temperatures and clear skies are expected to stretch through most of this week. 

Juneau received 13.6 inches of snow this past weekend, measured at the Juneau International Airport. The majority, 9.6 inches, fell on Saturday, Dec. 6, breaking the record for that day in history, according to the National Weather Service. The previous record for Dec. 6 was 7.2 inches, set in 1975. 

“It was a fairly common setup for a heavy snow pattern in Juneau,” said Nathan Compton, a meteorologist at the National Weather Service in Juneau. 

He said the winter storm was caused by cold, dry air flowing south from interior Canada and moving under warmer, moist air traveling north, turning what would have been rain into snow. 

“That cold air came down from Lynn Canal and just undercut everything,” he said. “Right when that happens, that’s when we get the maximum lift. And so on Saturday, that’s why we got those very, very, very heavy snow rates, right at the beginning of the event.”

Elsewhere in the region, the heavy snow and wind caused the Klondike Highway to close over the weekend, and the Alaska Marine Highway System ferry M/V LeConte scheduled to leave Skagway Sunday was cancelled. That stranded the Juneau-Douglas High School Yadaa.at Kalé Nordic Ski Team in Whitehorse after a ski trip. 

Abby McAllister is the lead ski coach for the team, but wasn’t on the trip. She said 16 students and their coaches stayed an extra night in their AirBnB. 

They’re driving to Haines, where they’ll stay overnight at the local high school and then board the ferry M/V Columbia early Tuesday morning.

Instead of coming home Sunday night, the team is expected back Tuesday. McAllister said the kids know how to go with the flow. 

“You know, it’s Alaska, and these are Alaska kids, and they’ve just been all positive with the twists and turns,” she said. 

Now that the dry, cold air from the north has mostly wrung out the moist clouds hanging over Juneau, sunshine and low temperatures — ranging from the single digits to the teens — are expected to take hold through Friday. 

Juneau’s Eaglecrest Ski Area will not open to skiers this weekend after all.

Craig Cimmons, the ski area’s general manager, said Thursday that the recent rain washed away the snow that had accumulated on the mountain. That means the opening date will be pushed back at least a week. 

“We always put the first Saturday as the potential opening day, knowing that it’s hit or miss with the climate we have,” he said. “It’s not abnormal and it’s not a disappointment.”

Opening dates in recent years have been pushed back multiple times due to a lack of snow. The ski area does have high-efficiency snowmaking machines, which can supplement low snow. But Cimmons said there’s just not enough natural snow right now to go with it. 

“We couldn’t push out the snow we made in a way that we would feel we’re delivering a product that we’re really proud of, that’s safe and enjoyable, and an experience we want to offer,” he said. 

The National Weather Service in Juneau forecasts that snow is likely this weekend through Tuesday night, with low temperatures around 15 degrees Fahrenheit.

Cimmons said Eaglecrest will provide an update during the middle of next week about the status of the opening date for its 50th season as a ski area.

Eaglecrest Ski Area is slated to open for its 50th season this Saturday. And there’s a lot to talk about ahead of the season – like lift conditions, the status of the gondola and the actual likelihood of opening on time. 

KTOO sat down with Craig Cimmons, the general manager of the city-owned ski area, to talk about all of it.

Listen:

This interview has been edited for length and clarity

Mike Lane: So it’s starting to look like a winter wonderland up there?

Craig Cimmons: Oh yeah, we blew a bunch of snow, and then it snowed several inches. It was really magical in the parking lot filled with skiers and snowboarders. So it’s been great.

Mike Lane: Eaglecrest has previously announced that the Black Bear lift is permanently closed. Is there any update as far as what’s happening with the infrastructure at Eaglecrest? 

Craig Cimmons: There’s a ton to talk about. So unfortunately, Black Bear is closed. People keep asking if we’re going to fix it. It’s not worth fixing. It’s a very old lift. They got their money’s worth for it. It’s in a very old design that the industry has moved away from. So it’s smarter to put that time and energy into the other lifts right now, the other three lifts. Porcupine, Ptarmigan and Hooter are in incredibly good shape and ready to go. So the infrastructure— the staff who have been there for a while — say it’s been the best shape it’s been in years.

Mike Lane: What’s the life expectancy of the other three lifts? And how often are those maintained?

Craig Cimmons: They’re constantly maintained. It never really ends. There are so many moving parts on them. You’re just constantly greasing things and replacing things and checking on things. The life expectancy of those three lifts? They are at the end of their life, for sure. But they’re in good shape, so we will get plenty more years out of them, but we need to really start talking about a replacement plan for Ptarmigan, the main lift.

Mike Lane: Can skiers still access the runs that Black Bear was servicing?

Craig Cimmons: Yeah, for sure. You have to hike up. You have to walk up a bit from the top of Ptarmigan up to Black Bear. But 100% of the train terrain is still accessible. It’s just not via the lift.

Mike Lane: This January marks 50 years since Eaglecrest has been in operation. So, what — if anything — is planned for the milestone?

Craig Cimmons: We are so excited about 50 years — 50 years is a big deal. So, Jan. 16 is the anniversary, the 50th anniversary. Right now we’re playing on a couple of things. We’re gonna do night skiing that night. That’s a Friday night, so we’ll have lights on the Porcupine terrain. We did a couple of night events last year, and they were a huge success. So we’re really excited to do those again. We’ll get music going and make it a whole party and a scene and invite everyone to come up.

We’re also going to do all-day lift tickets. They are only $7, because that’s the price Eaglecrest lift tickets were when they opened 50 years ago. So, $7 lift tickets that day. Big party that night. And then we are also planning something for that Saturday as well. Everyone should just pay attention to our socials and everything. And we’re gonna make this year as much of a party as we can, because it’s 50 years. And then we’re going to kick off the next 50 years.

Mike Lane: Now, can we talk about the gondola? Can you give us any updates on its timeline and how that’s being paid for?

Craig Cimmons: The timeline is the same it has been: it’s got it open by the summer of 2028. Everything’s still moving forward. We still have the initial investment from Goldbelt (Incorporated). It has become clear that we will need more money to install it. 

The world has changed since Eaglecrest bought that. How much more money we’ll need, and where that money comes from? We don’t know yet. Once the general contractor is hired, they’re going to give us a price on what it will cost to finish the build, and then we’re going to know how much short we are from the initial $10 million. And then we’ll figure out where we get that money from. So that’s still to be determined.

Mike Lane: Craig, is there anything you’d like to add to this before we wrap up?

Craigh Cimmons: Yeah. I was thinking about that a lot. I’ve been here just over a year, and it’s incredible. The difference a year makes. From a year ago to now, the infrastructure is in better shape, we’re staffed better. The retention rate is incredible. We have tons of employees coming back, so we’re so much better set up for this winter. We’re really excited about this winter for all of those reasons. We’re just more prepared, we’re more of a team than we were a year ago. A lot of us were new last year, including myself, and it’s our 50th, so it’s all really coming together. So yeah, I’m just really overly excited about how set up we are for this winter, it’s going to be a really good one.