Alyeska Resort is a

ski resort A ski resort is a resort developed for skiing, snowboarding, and other winter sports. In Europe, most ski resorts are towns or villages in or adjacent to a ski area – a mountainous area with pistes (ski trails) and a ski lift system. In Nort ...

in the Girdwood area of

Anchorage, Alaska Anchorage () is the largest city in the U.S. state of Alaska by population. With a population of 291,247 in 2020, it contains nearly 40% of the state's population. The Anchorage metropolitan area, which includes Anchorage and the neighboring ...

, approximately 30 miles (44 km) from downtown Anchorage. Mount Alyeska is part of the Chugach mountain range and the Alyeska Resort is the largest ski area in the state. It includes the mountaintop Mt. Alyeska Roundhouse, which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

Facilities and terrain

The Alyeska Ski Corporation was founded in 1954, and the first

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

and day lodge were opened in 1959. The Roundhouse ski lodge and ski patrol station at the top of the mountain began construction in 1960. It is an octagonal building. Still standing, it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

as "Mt. Alyeska Roundhouse" in 2003, and now houses a museum to local ski history. Currently, Alyeska has five

s, one high-speed

tram A tram (called a streetcar or trolley in North America) is a rail vehicle that travels on tramway tracks on public urban streets; some include segments on segregated right-of-way. The tramlines or networks operated as public transport ...

, and two Magic Carpets. Of the five chairlifts, one is co-owned by Alyeska and th
Tanaka Foundation
(Chair 5). Chairs 6 and 4 are high-speed detachable quads, while Chairs 7 and 3 are normal quads. Chair 4 was updated to a high speed quad in 2012. A sixth chairlift, Chair 1, was removed from service in the summer of 2017. Chair 4 ends halfway up the mountain. The tram ends three-quarters of the way up the mountain. The interconnected buildings contain the Roundhouse (patrol quarters), and a much newer facility housing the upper tram terminal, a quick-service cafeteria, and the Seven Glaciers 4-star restaurant and bar. At the base of the tram is the modern 300-room Hotel Alyeska. Chair 6 goes to the highest lift served point on the mountain at . Several areas above Chair 6 are occasionally opened, but require hiking to access. Plans to build a new chair lift higher up the mountain have been announced. Mount Alyeska is a fairly challenging mountain, and has a much higher percentage of advanced and expert runs, as compared to most other mountains in

North America North America is a continent in the Northern Hemisphere and almost entirely within the Western Hemisphere. It is bordered to the north by the Arctic Ocean, to the east by the Atlantic Ocean, to the southeast by South America and th ...

. It has a small section for the novice, but the rest of the mountain is almost entirely for the intermediate and the advanced skiers. Turnagain Arm seen from Mount Alyeska

Terrain Aspects

* North: 35% * West: 40% * East: 0% * South: 25%

Racing

Alyeska hosted World Cup

giant slalom Giant slalom (GS) is an alpine skiing and alpine snowboarding discipline. It involves skiing between sets of poles ("gates") spaced at a greater distance from each other than in slalom but less than in Super-G. Giant slalom and slalom make up th ...

ski races in 1973 for both men and women. Alyeska first hosted the U.S. Alpine Championships in 1963; the championships returned in 1981, 2004, 2007, and 2009. American

Olympic Olympic or Olympics may refer to Sports Competitions * Olympic Games, international multi-sport event held since 1896 ** Summer Olympic Games ** Winter Olympic Games * Ancient Olympic Games, ancient multi-sport event held in Olympia, Greece bet ...

gold medalist Tommy Moe (b. 1970) sharpened his racing skills at Alyeska as a teenager in the 1980s.

New owner

Alyeska was bought in December 2006 by John Byrne III, who says he plans to make many improvements to the resort, concentrating on people who come to ski for the day. Some of the improvements were installing

RFID Radio-frequency identification (RFID) uses electromagnetic fields to automatically identify and track tags attached to objects. An RFID system consists of a tiny radio transponder, a radio receiver and transmitter. When triggered by an electromag ...

gates at all of the lifts, taking the bubbles off chair 6, because they were vandalized, repainting the tram, and building the only superpipe in Alaska. According to a statement issued October 9, 2018 by the resort's director of marketing, Eric Fullerton, Alyeska Resort has entered into a contract to sell "substantially all of its resort assets" to Pomeroy Lodging. Mount Alyeska

Climate

Alyeska has a

subarctic climate The subarctic climate (also called subpolar climate, or boreal climate) is a climate with long, cold (often very cold) winters, and short, warm to cool summers. It is found on large landmasses, often away from the moderating effects of an ocean, g ...

( Köppen: Dfc), with short but mild summers and long, snowy winters. Snowfall is extremely heavy, owing to the

Aleutian Low The Aleutian Low is a semi-permanent low-pressure system located near the Aleutian Islands in the Bering Sea during the Northern Hemisphere winter. It is a climatic feature centered near the Aleutian Islands measured based on mean sea-level press ...

, with an average year getting 209 inches (530 cm) of snow at the base (elevation 250 feet above sea level) and an average exceeding 650 inches (16.5 meters) at the top of the Glacier Bowl Express (GBX) chairlift. The record annual snowfall measured at the top of the GBX is 939 inches (23.9 meters) during the 2000-01 season. Precipitation in general is heavy, but is considerably less from late spring to mid- summer. A freeze has been recorded for every month of the year.

References

External links

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Powder Tour
Social Community - Member submitted Alyeska images {{Alaska Ski areas navbox 1954 establishments in Alaska Aerial tramways in the United States Alaska Anchorage Seawolves Tourism in Anchorage, Alaska Hotels in Alaska Ski areas and resorts in Alaska Sports venues in Anchorage, Alaska Event venues on the National Register of Historic Places in Alaska Sports venues on the National Register of Historic Places