How Snowmaking Has Changed The Trajectory Of Alaska’s Newest Ski Area
Palmer, Alaska — One ski area that you should keep your eye on in the years ahead is Skeetawk. Situated around an hour’s drive from Anchorage, it’s got an ambitious growth plan in the years ahead.
Alaska Public Radio reports that despite receiving only fifteen inches of snow so far this season, Skeetawk is open weeks ahead of last year, thanks to its snowmaking operations. Thanks to recently acquired grants, the non-profit ski area installed a $2.5 million snowmaking system across its trail network. This past offseason also saw the addition of a magic carpet and a paved access road.
“Without snowmaking to insulate us from bad snow years, we could end up with a very expensive project that we couldn’t open or generate revenue from, which would be really detrimental,” said Megan Justus, the General Manager of Skeetawk.
Opened in 2020, Skeetawk is a convenient ski area for those who live in Palmer. Over the past several years, improvements have been made, including adding lights for night skiing and base-area facilities.
The next big project is a gondola. This lift would service 500 acres of intermediate and advanced terrain above the existing terrain pod. For perspective, the current skiable footprint is only 30 acres. Acquiring a gondola is expected to cost between $15 and $ 18 million. Grants would help toward part of the goal, but a fundraising push of up to $3 million is expected. For now, the upper mountain is accessible by an uphill route or by cat-skiing.
Eventually, the goal is to get lifts up to Frostbite Ridge and Peak 4068. This would give the ski area advanced and expert terrain, and make it the state’s biggest ski area. Other future plans include a mid-mountain shelter, snow tubing, installing avalanche mitigation equipment, and building a campground.
An exciting future awaits Skeetawk, so it should be on your radar. And it could make an Anchorage ski trip more appealing for skiers and riders.
Image Credits: Skeetawk
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