Juneau, Alaska — Eaglecrest Ski Area had a promising start to the 2020s. A growing international presence, thanks to the Indy Pass and the purchase of a gondola, led many to believe it had a bright future. Now, it’s in a tricky spot.
A lot transpired in 2024 at Eaglecrest. The General Manager of the ski area was forced to resign by the City and Bureau of Juneau (which owns the ski area) for unspecified reasons. Some theories included the deficit faced by the ski area, along with a lack of progress on the gondola project. While they did find a new General Manager (Craig Cimmons), no real progress has been made towards making the gondola a reality.
The 2024-25 season saw some struggles as well, which featured worker shortages, a closed pub, a lack of snowfall, and an early closing. After a rough past twelve months, the leaders at the ski area and Juneau are focusing on what needs to be done not only this season, but in the years ahead, to make it a financially successful four-season destination.
Over the past few months, Eaglecrest has had various meetings with the Juneau Assembly. The meetings have detailed what projects need to be done to get rid of the deficit.
The first major issue is their existing lifts. One of their lifts, Black Bear, didn’t operate last winter due to mechanical issues. The hope was to repair it and have it ready for the 2025-26 season. After further review by management, the Juneau Empire reports that Eaglecrest thinks it’s not possible to reopen Black Bear. The chairlift will remain standing but not operating until they find the most economical way to remove it. The good news is that it didn’t operate daily during prior winters, as it was typically only open on weekends.
“So the board and the staff have officially decided that the effort it would take to fix Black Bear is way beyond our capacity,” said Craig Cimmons to the Juneau Empire. “It’s just too old and it would take far too much to fix it, where we have to use that staff time and the money we have to make sure the other three lifts get the service that they need to keep running because they’re the same age as Black Bear.”
The other chairlifts that remain operational there are around the same age. This means that extensive renovations or replacements will be needed in the years ahead. The main lift of interest is Ptamarigan, which is the double chairlift that connects the base area to Eagle’s Nest. What management is currently thinking is to replace it with a triple chair. The question is whether to do it in one summer (which has an upfront cost) or have a progressive replacement for a time period of a couple of years (similar to what Mt. Bohemia has done), which would spread out the cost.
The second major issue is the thing that still hasn’t been built. Back in 2022, Eaglecrest Ski Area purchased a used gondola from Austria. It’s been sitting at the ski area for a couple of years now as officials figure out the best way to install it. The project received a boost from Goldbelt, which pledged $10 million in 2023 to build the lift. In return, they would get some of the revenue generated by the gondola. However, if the project isn’t completed by May 2028, Goldbelt can withdraw its support from the project. According to the Juneau Empire, their new goal is to open the new gondola in May 2028.
For now, most of the Eaglecrest Board (part of the CBJ) seems to be on board with putting money into this place due to the potential four-season revenue that could be generated by the gondola. They were encouraged by a January report that cited the ski area would become self-sustainable if they were able to open the gondola. The city is a popular destination during the summertime due to visitation from cruise ships.
However, there is one major skeptic who doubts these issues are going to go away. One Assembly Member who was skeptical about this is Wade Bryson, who fears the costs are too substantial for the city to continue spending money on the mountain:
“When do we stop? How high does their ask have to be before we say, the community cannot afford this? I fully believe that Eaglecrest is the gem of the community — that does need a new chapter written for it. I don’t believe that there’s enough money in the CBJ [City and Bureau of Juneau] government to do that.”
According to KTOO, he’s asked city leaders to analyze the process of selling/leasing the ski area operations to a private party.
Eaglecrest is a great mountain, and when it’s doing well, it’s an excellent thing for Juneau’s tourism sector and Alaska’s ski industry. This is why it needs to be successful. In my opinion, there’s no problem with Juneau’s government putting money into the place. The problem is that their hands are a bit tied right now. Major flooding in the area last year has impacted their budget, and being a fairly big city (in Alaska terms) means that the ski area is subject to budgetary constraints.
With all the new infrastructure needed to make this place a viable asset for not only the local community but also tourists, I do wonder if it’s time to bring in a third-party operator who wants to fix up the place.
Image/Video Credits: Eaglecrest Ski Area
