by Walt Roessing
The Dallas Morning News
April 23, 2000, Sunday
New lifts, hotels, lodges, snowmaking facilities and villages will be built this summer at a score of resorts in
Colorado, Montana, Utah, Oregon, and California.
Topping the list in my book is further expansion of Blue Sky Basin on Vail Mountain. Located about two miles from
Vail Village, Blue Sky Basin was the largest new ski terrain to open in North America this season. That 520-acre
powder haven - unlike Vail's wide-open Back Bowls - is hidden away in a heavily timbered forest.
Blue Sky Basin is as close to heaven as an expert or strong intermediate can expect to get on skis or a snowboard.
There are steep-and-deep uncut black-diamond and double-diamond trails, perpendicular cornices, some groomed intermediate
runs and The Wuides, a wide-open bowl with a bombastic 1,366-foot vertical plummet.
Another 120 acres served by a high-speed quad will be ready for skiers next season.
Other projects
Snowmass is installing a surface lift for junior ski racers ages 5 to 13 and a ski school picnic area.
Construction is continuing on new slopeside villages at Aspen Highlands, Bachelor Gulch, Copper Mountain, Keystone
and Winter Park, Colo.; Solitude, Utah; Big Sky, Mont.; and Mammoth Mountain, Calif. The major addition at Bachelor
Gulch on Beaver Creek Mountain will be a 240-room, seven-story Ritz-Carlton hotel with a 20,000-square-foot spa
and 22-unit penthouse spanning three floors.
The $ 45 million Summit condominium hotel at Big Sky is scheduled for completion by November.
Club Med is preparing to unveil its second Colorado development in November at Crested Butte where it's converting
the Marriott Resort into a traditional family ski village.
At Lake Tahoe, Heavenly breaks ground May 15 on the construction of an eight-passenger gondola and Grand Summit
Resort Hotel. The high-speed gondola, slated to open in mid-December, is the cornerstone of a $ 32 million spending
program. Included are a 50,000-square-foot day lodge at the gondola's upper terminal, two new triple chairs, a
new learning facility and additional runs. The hotel is geared to open in summer 2001.
Elsewhere at Tahoe, a new high-speed quad chairlift at Northstar will access 200 acres of virgin terrain on North
Lookout Mountain; building begins in June on a base village at Squaw Valley; and there will be three lift changes
at Kirkwood - including the area's first high-speed quad.
Fit year-round
As the slopes close, snow riders may slip into a sedentary cycle and become out of shape.
Ali Gordon, recreation manager at the Resort at Squaw Creek in Squaw Valley, offers a few tips on what you can
do to stay ski-fit until next season.
"Your physical fitness program should be a balance of endurance and strength training, stretching and a reasonable
healthy diet. Be sure to do 10 minutes of warm-ups before attempting any of the endurance or strength sports,"
she says.
Ms. Gordon recommends long-distance bicycle riding - 20 to 25 miles three days a week - as a good exercise for
strength and endurance. Swimming is a plus, too.
Also, "Climbing several flights of stairs slowly is good for stretching as well as endurance and strength."
Ms. Gordon also recommends indoor rock climbing and weightlifting for building muscle strength.
As far as diet, she suggests lots of fruits, vegetables, salads and pasta.
Walt Roessing is a free-lance writer based in California.
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