40 replies to this topic

[Peter]

I agree, but some smaller areas are doing a fine business selling cheaper tickets and having lots of terrain parks.

[Snoqualmie guy]

Terrian parks have been the reason little areas can make money lots of times.

[lodibigdog]

I'd definately head up to board at Iron Mountain. Its too windy at Kirkwood and there lift tickets are only getting higher with all the cash they've invested up there.Iron Mountain could make lots of money with tickets half the price!!!The snow is not as good as Kirkwood but Ive never experienced bad snow, just not the best..It would be great to see it back running again.I'll be up there this weekend to scout it.Heres some pics from my last trip 3 months ago.

Attached File(s)

•  IMG_1474.JPG (2.35MB)
  Number of downloads: 56

[lodibigdog]

heres more pics

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•  IMG_1509.JPG (2.64MB)
  Number of downloads: 42

[Snoqualmie guy]

If that lodge was fixed up it could look really nice! Is the terrian good?

This post has been edited by Snoqualmie guy: 23 August 2007 - 07:38 PM

[Phoenix]

hyak.net, on Aug 22 2007, 06:06 AM, said:

FYI, here is a link with some info on the area.

http://www.geocities.com/welsap/welsap_iro...n_ski_area.html

Great link! Very imformative. Perhaps if the guy who owned it not try to be with the big boys and instead carved out a niche as a mom 'n' pop small resort we would not be talking about this as a "lost ski area" and instead calling it a good secret place to go when Kirkwood is too busy.

[Snoqualmie guy]

That place looks like it is a good size. Not as small as I would of thought. Does anyone know how much it would cost to bring it to operation?

[SkiBachelor]

Practically as much as it would be to start from scratch!

The lifts are in ruins with two already removed and probably a new EPA report would have to be written up since its USFS lease has expired. My guess would be a good 7 to 10 million.

[Phoenix]

SkiBachelor, on Aug 26 2007, 02:32 PM, said:

Practically as much as it would be to start from scratch!

The lifts are in ruins with two already removed and probably a new EPA report would have to be written up since its USFS lease has expired. My guess would be a good 7 to 10 million.

I agree with Cameron...probably at least 10 million for the lifts and infrastructure alone. Add in the lodge and bringing everything up to code.

[coskibum]

yikes, that lodge is in bad shape!

FYI, here are some pictures I have of the ski area, i might have posted this link before?

http://www.colorados...rivia/pictures/

[lodibigdog]

Hey-

I just came back from Iron Mountain this past wknd and there is a caretaker who is remodeling the place. They are replacing the roof on the lodge and hotel. They are planning to get it fixed up.We'll see what happens!!

[Snoqualmie guy]

He might be doing that so the roof won't fall in then there will be no ski area!

[hyak.net]

Snoqualmie guy, on Aug 28 2007, 11:53 PM, said:

He might be doing that so the roof won't fall in then there will be no ski area!

If I remember correctly, the lodge area is private land. If there is enough private land in the area they might use it to sell off lots, or build a condo(s), or ?? There are other ways to make money then build a ski area.

[Phoenix]

I just came back from Iron Mountain today and have current pics. Luckily, my college Spanish came in handy when I asked the roofing guys if I could take some pics.

The Lodge Getting A New Roof

 Lodge_Getting_New_Roof.jpg (282.3K)
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Chair #1--Timber Lift (This is the only chair still intact)

 Chair_1_Lower_Bullwheel.jpg (147.48K)
Number of downloads: 65  Chair_1_Liftline.jpg (89.07K)
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Chair #2--Little Rabbit (The carriers have seen better days. BTW, I took a close-up of the grip from one of the carriers. Did SLI use a Riblet-type grip at one time? Chair #1 does not have this type of grip on its carriers. Was this a retrofit?)

 Chair_2_Load.jpg (263.39K)
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Number of downloads: 33  Chair_2_Liftline_from_Upload_Station.jpg (179.87K)
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 Chair_2_Liftie_Unload_Control_Box.jpg (138.76K)
Number of downloads: 24  Chair_2_Carriers.jpg (326.38K)
Number of downloads: 39  Grip.jpg (70.45K)
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Chair #3--Wild Cat (Most of this lift has been removed with the exception of a couple of towers and the load and unload stations. Also, I have a pic of the Ski Patrol hut from the top of Chair 3. As with Chair 2, the carriers are only good for scrap now.).

 Char_3_Load.jpg (427.46K)
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Number of downloads: 41  Chair_3_Carriers.jpg (546.86K)
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 Ski_Patrol_Station_at_top_of_Chair_3.jpg (185.95K)
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[Phoenix]

Chair 4--Eagles Nest (This is what is left of the chair from the prior pics placed earlier in this posting. Unlike the other chairs, over half of these carrers are in good shape and seem to only need grips and seatpads).

 Chair_4_Liftline.jpg (447.75K)
Number of downloads: 60  Chair_4_Liftline2.jpg (486.41K)
Number of downloads: 26  Chair_4_Unload.jpg (437.36K)
Number of downloads: 27

 Chair_4_Carriers.jpg (570.21K)
Number of downloads: 28


Chair 5--Bruin (The unload station is the only pic I was able to get of the chair. Most of these towers have been removed and are lying in the parking lot. Look to prior posting for pics of the towers).

 Chair_5_Unload.jpg (305.86K)
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Finally, these are parts of lifts that were never installed at the resort:

 Lift_Parts2.jpg (637.5K)
Number of downloads: 41


Since the USFS has reverted the public land once used by the resort back to open space, I can almost be certain that the resort will not reopen as a public ski resort. Hyak.net may have a point in that it may reopen with condos and homes with private ski runs. Only time will tell...

[skierrob]

Well, these posts got me curious, so I started to track down a few things and managed to talk to one of the current owners of the private land portion of the former Iron Mountain Ski Area.

The ski area is currently owned by a Nevada LLC in the Reno area (not Encino -- those LLC listings from California were for a company called Iron Mountain Real Estate). The current owners currently have no real idea what they want to do with the property. They may be selling it, in fact, to someone else.

Most of the ski area was on National Forest lands, but about 100 acres are privately owned -- the area where the motel and day lodge are and also the land by chairlifts 1 and 2 (although the bottom bullwheel of chair 1 is on forest service land).

I was told the caretaker had indeed passed away and that, within two to three months, the old day lodge and motel had been very heavily vandalized with even all the copper pipes having been removed by vandals. So, this last summer, they managed to do some work on the buildings just to stabalize them to the point that they could be salvagable in the future. That included putting a new roof on the day lodge, boarding up all the windows / doors, etc.

It is a real shame that someone couldn't convince the forest service to let the ski area have another shot under new ownership prior to the 3 lifts on forest service land getting pulled out. :( I really can't imagine the ski area surviving with the two remaining chairs -- chair 2 is a beginner chair with 130 ft. vertical and chair 1 was really just a basic low intermediate chair with 340 ft of vertical. You mostly skied down the runs on Chair 1 or 2 to access much better terrain on forest service lands off chairs 3 or 4.

I could imagine the area being used as a private lodge or campground, or perhaps as a controlled snowmobile area with groomed snowmobile slopes and a day lodge / motel for snowmobilers to stay the night.... especially since the silver-bear snowmobile trail runs right through the area and since the Iron Mountain SnowPark area is so popular with snowmobiles.

I just hope someone eventually finds something good to do with the area -- it's a shame to drive by on my way to Kirkwood and see it abondoned. :(

Robert

[ssstturns]

I recall a past thread years ago hereabouts on IM. I've had a Kirkwood season pass many seasons. Once tried the resort out when the road further east was blocked. Even though the day pass was really cheap, I thought it was quite a waste of money. The topography is simply too mediocre. A look at the topographic maps shows it never should have been built. At least not for lift served alpine skiing. Maybe there is something to be said there for cross country skiing. -dave

This post has been edited by ssstturns: 08 January 2008 - 06:18 PM

[spunkyskier01]

were is this place? is it close to tahoe? i need a good hike some day.

[SkiBachelor]

Iron Mountain on Google Maps:

http://maps.google.com/maps?f=d&hl=en&...p;z=17&om=1

[Ski_Santa_Cruz]

I went up to iron mountain a few weeks ago... I got really curious to see what it looked like, especially in winter. I found the lodge area, and the main hotel was completely buried under the snow on one side, with the other side sticking out. At the top, there are three lifts at least partially standing. One has the stations, cable, and chairs still together. One has everything except chairs, and one is just the top station with nothing else. Really sad to see what bad shape it's in! But tons of people use it as a snowmobiling playground during the winter, so there were plenty of tracks to be found around.