9 replies to this topic

[yetigonecrazy]

not sure if anyone has seen this, but i didnt see any posts on it so ill go ahead and start one.

it looks like a ski area and resort seperate from vail will be going up between the two resorts, above minturn and the now-defunct town of gilman. The developer, Ginn Co., is trying to submit a plan that will include 1,700 housing units, eight ski lifts, and a gondola to ferry people from the Bolts Lake area near Minturn, to Battle Mountain, where the resort itself will be.

more info will come when i find out what happened at the public meeting last Thurs.

this info was taken from the Mtn Town Newsletter.

the only thing i gotta say is the area theyre planning on building this is the geologically active SW aspect of Battle Mountain. it would put vail's blue sky basin within spitting distance, however. i always figured somewhere in theyre twenty year plan vail had plans to connect to it and the beav. it looks like this developer is helping them out a bit. it will be interesting to see where this goes.

[NoPainNoJane]

the plans also call for it to be a private ski area that will cater solely to the homeowners and their guests

[vons]

A Vail B.C. connection if it ever happens would go through the Medow Mountain area which is north of Minturn plus all accounts has this new resort being a Yellow Stone club clone

This post has been edited by vons: 20 June 2006 - 03:34 PM

[palindrome]

I often wonder if Vail would try to connect the two resorts. But isn't Beaver Creek at least 5 to 8 miles from its eastern edge to Vails' western edge? Arrowhead used to be a private resort until B.C. bought it ....then Vail.

So could this just be speculation by the proposed developer that "if we build it THEY will come"? "They" being Vail Resorts.

I was under the impression that Vail Resorts was thinking of or will be up for sale. A split up maybe? Vail had to let go of A-Basin when they did the big purchase a few years ago so maybe I'm the one speculating.

[SkiBachelor]

Vail Resorts was forced to sell A-Basin after it purchased Breckenridge, Keystone and A-Basin because it basically a monopoly with only Copper, Loveland and Winter Park being the only other big resorts not owned by Vail Resorts.

Beaver Creek's Arrowhead development was actually started by Vail (George Gillet actually) and was merged with Beaver Creek after it never quite worked the way Gillet wanted.

I believe there were talks about using light rail to connect Beaver Creek and Vail at one point. It's a logical solution since 1/3 of the tracks are already there from the old Tennessee Pass route and it wouldn't be that much more work to install the other 2/3's of the line. As parking spots become harder to find in Vail, I think this would be a great solution.

[liftmech]

What will be interesting is how this development will affect the rest of the area. Gilman has been condemned by the EPA and state health department, supposedly because of contamination of the water supply (never mind that the sole employer folded over twenty years ago). I don't know where the Ginn company is going to get water fgor their project, but supplies aren't exactly jumping out of the ground over there.

As for connecting Vail and BC- Vons is correct, any connector would be along I-70 through the old Meadow Mountain ski area rather than further south. The canyon where Ginn plans the development is basically a sheer cliff on both sides, with occasional breaks where small creeks flow.

[vons]

Meadow Mountain is a direction B.C is thinking to expand from what I have herd, mostly due to the fact that VA owns much of that area. Ski terrain could easily be developed down the ridge from BC. From Vail it would only be lift access the valley wall is steep and doesn't hold snow well, there are breaks in the valley wall at Game Creek and Two Elk Creek but that entails large catwalks that would not hold snow well. This might be the best expansion plan in terms of off hill transportation because the rail line arrives right in the center of it, so with a gondola up from this area to Eagles Nest at Vail and lifts up Meadow Mt. to B.C. you could provide access to both resorts with out having to snake a rail line through the already congested Dowd junction. BTW B.C. and Vail’s edges are 5.6mi according to Google Earth any expansion would almost double the size of B.C. so I would say this would be a very long term plan if it existed.

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[tcs]

SkiBachelor, on Jun 20 2006, 11:28 PM, said:

Vail Resorts was forced to sell A-Basin after it purchased Breckenridge, Keystone and A-Basin because it basically a monopoly with only Copper, Loveland and Winter Park being the only other big resorts not owned by Vail Resorts.

Beaver Creek's Arrowhead development was actually started by Vail (George Gillet actually) and was merged with Beaver Creek after it never quite worked the way Gillet wanted.

I believe there were talks about using light rail to connect Beaver Creek and Vail at one point. It's a logical solution since 1/3 of the tracks are already there from the old Tennessee Pass route and it wouldn't be that much more work to install the other 2/3's of the line. As parking spots become harder to find in Vail, I think this would be a great solution.

Actually, Arrowhead was independent of Vail when it was built. One of the developers was Pete Seibert. The area opened in 1988. It was purchased by Vail Associates in 1993. It merged operatrions with Beaver Creek in 1995.

Cheers, TCS

Meadow Mountain is owned by the Forest Service, not Vail. Vail bought the Meadow Mtn ski area in 1969, shut it down and then gave or traded the land to the FS for back-country access.

[SkiBachelor]

From my understanding from the Vail book was that Pete Seibert planned out all of Beaver Creek but was forced to sell the ski resort before anything was built because the investors backed out after Denver didn't get the Olympics and loans were super high at the time or it was something like that. So Pete Seibert sold Beaver Creek to George Gillet and then he developed it. But it was like a year ago when I read the Vail book so I could be off with some stuff.

[coskibum]

it was developed by Vail Associates, Gillette didn't enter the VA scene until 1985. he installed the centennial exp the first year he owned it.