Fairbanks, Alaska- After months of delays, Ski Land has finally opened.
On Friday, March 1st, Ski Land in Fairbanks, Alaska opened for the season. While it’s been snowy enough there, the reason for the delayed start is due to Ski Land’s sole chairlift. In order to pass the state inspection, they needed to repair the auxiliary motor, roll-back brake, and emergency brake. After that, the chairlift needed to get approval from the State of Alaska, which also took a fair amount of time. They recently got the thumbs up from the state, resulting in Ski Land opening yesterday.
The key thing to note though is that to operate, there’s a temperature cut-off of -15 degrees Fahrenheit at the summit and -30 degrees Fahrenheit at the base. While this may seem like an odd thing to point out, it gets cold as fuck in Fairbanks. Ski Land had to move their opening to 12:30 p.m. for the opening day due to a brisk 18 degrees Fahrenheit.
The ski resort is run by the Fairbanks Ski Coalition, which is a 501(c)3 non-profit. Locals put in their time to make lift-serviced skiing and snowboarding possible for everyone in a challenging environment. If you want to help them out, click here to donate.
Congrats to Ski Land on opening for the season!
Mountain Stats
Trails: 46
Lifts: 2
Vertical Drop: 1,027 ft (lift-serviced)
Skiable Acres: 530
Location: Fairbanks, Alaska
Image Credits: Ski Land
