Winter Park Resort, CO, Offers Update on Masterplan That Includes Gondola Connecting Resort to Town

In a recent blog post, Winter Park Resort in Colorado offered updates on its ambitious 10-15-year masterplan that will transform it into the state’s third-largest ski area. This comprehensive plan, publicly accessible, outlines significant upgrades, including new and enhanced lifts, expanded terrain, remodeled lodges, and improved on-mountain dining experiences. A key feature is the long-awaited gondola connecting the resort to the town of Winter Park, enhancing accessibility and connectivity for visitors.

Our master development plans will endeavor to:

• • Enhance our Authentic Community Character, honoring who we are and have always been. Our plans are designed to create unique neighborhoods with their own distinct character and interspersed public spaces throughout where our community can gather, recreate, and connect with nature and each other.
  • Provide Flexibility for the Future that encourages sustainable, responsible development, using innovative design that is adaptable, so we can focus our resources on what our guests, community, and environment need over time.
  • Improve Connectivity through new on-mountain connections, reimagined transportation, mobility, and arrival and parking systems, better connecting the resort to the Town of Winter Park and other communities including Front Range residents and destination visitors, which all leads to more meaningful human connections with nature and with each other.
  • Create Vibrant Year-Round Experiences that foster diverse opportunities for recreating, living, and working, and are consistent with what the community envisioned in the Town Comprehensive Plan.
  • Honor our Natural Environment, creating a resort that maintains or improves our link to our natural surroundings. We will continue to keep nature at the forefront of everything we do through sustainable building practices, improved connection to public trails and green spaces, and better integration of the Fraser River.
  • Strengthen a sense of Inclusiveness through improved mobility in and around the resort, and through economic opportunities, housing, services, and employment for a diversity of ages, incomes, and households.

Operating under a Special Use Permit on 7,555 acres of land managed by the U.S. Forest Service, the resort is mandated to prepare a master development plan. This plan guides future development, ensuring a sustainable recreational experience that respects the surrounding environment. Many improvements in the masterplan build upon the previous 2005 plan.

• Related: Winter Park Resort, CO, Shares Masterplan to Become Colorado’s 3rd Largest Resort

Connectivity

A key piece of Winter Park Resort’s and the Town’s redevelopment plans is connectivity. The resort’s Base Area PDP and the USFS MDP both envision how to better connect Winter Park Resort to the Town of Winter Park and to other communities along the Front Range and across Colorado’s northern mountains. Public and private transit plans include:

• • The aerial transit system (Town Gondola) that connects the Town up to the mountain and the Discovery Park area, and down to the resort base area.
  • Mountain passenger rail service in partnership with public and private agencies, including CDOT and municipalities from Denver and Arvada, to Steamboat and Craig.
  • A new ski-back trail that further connects the resort to the Town.
  • Enhanced access to public trails and open space.

A major expansion includes a new area on Vasquez Mountain, increasing skiable terrain by 358 to 3,439 acres. This expansion will position Winter Park as the third-largest ski area in Colorado, following Vail and the newly expanded Steamboat. The plan also introduces several new chairlifts, such as a t-bar providing access to the Cirque from the new Vasquez area and additional chairs in the new area. The resort plans to replace the aging Looking Glass, Pony, and Iron Horse lifts with modern six-pack chairs and an eight-person gondola. A significant addition is the nearly two-mile-long ten-person gondola from Cooper Creek Square in downtown Winter Park, designed to improve connectivity to the resort’s amenities.

• Related: Historic Beavers Lodge Built in 1940 in Winter Park, CO, Facing Demolition

Mountain Master Development Plan (USFS MDP)

Winter Park Resort is well-known for its diverse terrain across more than 3,095 acres. On-mountain plans are intended to enhance current terrain, improve connectivity, and expand intermediate terrain to meet guest needs. The USFS MDP as submitted in 2022 includes plans that:

• • Reimagine and redesign our learning area with new lifts and access points, and an on-mountain day lodge for new skiers and riders to have an indoors home-base.
  • Include additional snow-making upgrades to help ensure we can open more early-season terrain.
  • Improve and upgrade existing on-mountain restaurants and day lodges to better serve guests.
  • Expand Vasquez Ridge terrain, including a new dining option at the top of the Wild Spur Express Lift.

The masterplan also aims to increase skier capacity by 41%, from 15,830 to 22,375, and expand snowmaking capabilities from 280 to 605 acres. The Sunspot and Snoasis on-mountain dining facilities will undergo remodeling to enhance guest experiences. In addition to winter operations, the resort plans to introduce new summer activities, including hiking and biking trails, to offer year-round recreational opportunities.

• Related: Winter Park Resort, CO, Seeking Public Comment on Terrain Expansion, New Gondola & Lifts, and Removal of Historic Lift

Base Area Development Plan (currently Base Area Preliminary Development Plan (PDP))

The Base Area PDP rethinks how people arrive, stay and play at Winter Park Resort, creating a better and more seamless experience. The Base Area Development Plan includes plans that:

• • Develop neighborhoods within the resort with distinct identities to capture and enhance the authentic character of Winter Park.
  • Improve and update pedestrian and guest mobility in and around the resort.
  • Update parking and arrival scenarios, making it easier to get here, park, get up and on the mountain, and access other activities.
  • Focuses on preserving and better integrating the Fraser River to make it a focal point of our resort and improve access for our community and guests to enjoy.
  • Expand open space, parks, and trails within the base area, turning previously disturbed land back into green spaces and natural environments.
  • Create an enriched village that is deeply intertwined with nature and its natural surroundings.
  • Consider new lodging and dining options within the base village, encouraging people to stay and linger a little longer.

Winter Park Resort has already invested over $100 million in upgrades, including a new workforce housing complex named Conifer Commons, which addresses the resort’s and community’s critical housing needs. The new six-passenger, high-speed Wild Spur Express lift has enhanced access to Vasquez Ridge terrain, providing intermediate and advanced skiers and riders more on-mountain time.

While the masterplan is a forward-looking vision, its implementation is contingent upon site-specific environmental reviews and approvals under the National Environmental Policy Act. The resort welcomes public comments on the plan, emphasizing its commitment to community engagement and environmental stewardship.

Winter Park Resort’s masterplan reflects a strategic vision to enhance its offerings, improve connectivity, and maintain its authentic community character while becoming a premier destination for winter and summer activities.

• Related: The A-Frame Club at Winter Park Resort, CO: A Skylab Architecture Twist on The Modern Hotel