SAM Magazine—Denver, Sept. 6, 2024—Alterra Mountain Company has invested more than $300 million in capital improvements ahead of the 2024-25 season. The capital investment cycle included major projects at Deer Valley, Utah, and Winter Park, Colo., among others.

The first phase of the East Village expansion at Deer Valley will debut this winter, with 500 new parking spaces and three new Doppelmayr chairlifts serving more than 300 new skiable acres. Among the new lifts will be the Keetley Express, a six-place bubble chairlift that will connect the East Village area with Deer Valley’s existing footprint.

This project represents Deer Valley's first terrain expansion since 2008. When all phases of the expansion are complete, Deer Valley will add 3,700 acres of skiable terrain, more than doubling the size of the resort and making it one of the largest ski resorts in North America. 

Several other Alterra properties are receiving lift upgrades, among them: Big Bear, Calif., is replacing two chairs with a new Leitner-Poma high-speed six-seater; Sugarbush, Vt., is upgrading its Heaven’s Gate triple to a quad; Stratton, Vt., is modernizing its Ursa lift to maximize uphill capacity; and Mammoth Mountain will replace its longest running chair, an early detachable quad, with a Doppelmayr six-place chair that will increase capacity by 25 percent.

Mammoth is also among several resorts receiving snowmaking upgrades, including Big Bear, Sugarbush, Stratton, and Palisades Tahoe, Calif. Mammoth will also open the new 6,000-square-foot Woolly’s Day Lodge this winter, which will house various guest services such as food and beverage, retail, and ticketing.

Alterra’s largest snowmaking project is underway in Colorado at Winter Park, where the company is wrapping up a multi-year, $37 million project to rebuild the resort’s snowmaking infrastructure. The investment “will improve system capacity and efficiency to help ensure more early-season terrain openings,” according to a press release.

Alterra isn’t the only one investing in improved snowmaking at its western resorts. As part of its $189 million to $194 million capital investment for the upcoming season, Vail Resorts had planned snowmaking upgrades at Park City in Utah with the same aim to “increase early season terrain consistency,” according to the company’s Q2 report. Hunter Mountain, N.Y., was also slated for snowmaking improvements. Lift upgrades at Park City, Hunter, and Whistler Blackcomb were on the docket as well.