Eaglecrest’s 50th birthday a mix of celebration and chaos
- Mark Sabbatini
- 2 days ago
- 7 min read
Updated: 9 hours ago
Ski area features $7 lift tickets and a weekend party, but hardships include no water at lodges for weeks, resignation of top leaders and tough questions about financial future
This story has been corrected to note that Hannah Shivley has stepped down as chair of Eaglecrest’s board, but remains a member of the board. Also, a coffee stand at a base lodge is now offering limited drinks and food during weekends and holidays.
By Mark Sabbatini
Juneau Independent
Eaglecrest Ski Area officially celebrated its 50th birthday Friday by offering lift tickets at the same $7 cost of its opening day in 1976. But people taking advantage of the offer had to use outdoor porta-potties, and there was minimal food and drink service in the base lodges due to a water main break nearly a month ago.
The resort also saw a major leadership shakeup last week with the resignation of the general manager and board president stepping down from her position. As a result, Juneau Mayor Beth Weldon on Monday said she’s seeking to have the board demoted to "advisory" status so city leaders can step in to "save" Eaglecrest, which she still believes is a major community asset.
"There's a lot of people that ski in this town," she said in an interview Thursday. "We've heard it from a number of people that the reason they're still in Juneau is because of Eaglecrest. We need to have things to do for young families."
How that salvation occurs is likely to be a huge unknown until city leaders make a yea-or-nay decision on proceeding with the installation of a gondola long envisioned as the key to allowing the ski area to become profitable by expanding into mass year-round tourism. The Juneau Assembly is expected to make that decision in March based on a cost estimate provided by a contractor selected for the project.
The ski area will continue its birthday celebration Saturday by again offering $7 lift tickets and special activities, and an evening celebration at Forbidden Peak Brewery in Auke Bay from 5-7 p.m. In addition to cheap lift tickets, the resort this week also opened the Ptarmigan lift that provides access to the top of the mountain for the first time this season after it underwent lengthy repairs. Although food and drink services from the main dining area have been closed since the water main break, the Mountain Lift coffee stand in Fish Creek Lodge began offering limited drinks and food during weekends and holidays a couple of weekends ago.
Brandon Cullum, a board member since 2024, was voted the new chair after Hannah Shivley stepped down from that position on Jan. 8, citing health reasons, although she remains on the board. He said he plans to be at Eaglecrest for Saturday’s events and is ready to respond to anyone who might comment it’s a tough time for the ski area to be celebrating a birthday.
"Headwinds come and headwinds go," he said. "But at the end of the day when we look at what's going on in the 50th anniversary the lifts are spinning. We've got people on the mountain working to create the environment that those of us who enjoy the skiing on that mountain appreciate. And I just encourage everybody to get up there and celebrate that we've had Eaglecrest for 50 years and feel confident that, whether it's the mayor with her proposition or the board working under its current empowered status, we're all looking forward to a bright future with Eaglecrest and there's lots to be positive about."
Cullum said he isn’t familiar yet with how changing the board from "empowered" to "advisory" will affect its decision-making role, and since the Assembly will need to approve that change he is proceeding with matters as usual.
Weldon said she asked the city attorney to draft the proposal to demote Eaglecrest’s board to an advisory role following the sudden resignations of Shvieley and General Manager Craig Cimmons, who was hired in August of 2024. If approved it means the Assembly will be more directly responsible for making the ski area’s policy and budget decisions, with the Eaglecrest board possibly offering recommendations that may include public input from its meetings.
"I just think we need the city manager looking at it more closely, and I think we need to run some numbers," Weldon said. "What it would look like at a small level, what it would look like where it is and what would look like bigger level, and run those numbers and see how we can make it work. Right now I think the board is stuck a little bit and we need to get rid of that stuckness."
The board’s leadership in recent years has been heavily criticized by employees, residents and in a city-commissioned report published a year ago, with a primary concern being the poor state of many of the ski area’s aging facilities due to neglect in maintaining them.
The city-owned area has also operated at a loss for many years — with the Juneau Assembly providing subsidy funding to cover shortfalls, but those amounts have increased to the point city leaders say they cannot continue propping the resort up. Eaglecrest’s revenue from ticket sales and other sources covered 70% of the ski area’s budget during the 2022-23 season, but only 50% of it last season.
This year Eaglecrest’s budget lists $5.8 million in expenses and $2.9 million in revenues — which officials say may be optimistic given operating struggles so far this season — and a projected deficit of $2 million even with supplemental funding from the city. Similar deficits are forecast during the next two years, resulting in a negative fund balance of $7 million to $8 million by the time the hoped-for gondola opens in May of 2028.
City and Eaglecrest leaders say they still expect the gondola to get Assembly approval to proceed, based on projections enough revenue will be generated over the long term to allow the ski area to erase its debt and operate profitably. But Weldon in December said she’s heard "scary" early estimated installation costs and this week said that will be the determining factor for her in a yea-or-nay decision.
"A dollar amount without an end in sight, would be that would be my personal thing," she said. "Every Assembly member might have a different viewpoint."
The Assembly spent $1.9 million in 2022 to purchase the 20-year-old gondola from an Austrian ski resort, but that cost has roughly tripled since then due to extra parts needed, Trump-imposed tariffs to ship some remaining items from overseas and other expenses.
The gondola’s total cost including installation is expected to cost well over $10 million. Goldbelt Inc. has provided the city with $10 million to assist with those costs in exchange for a share of revenues for at least the first 25 years of operation. The city will have to repay that money with interest if the gondola is cancelled — and Goldbelt can back out of the deal on the same terms if the lift isn’t completed by May of 2028.
The financial riddle the Assembly is facing: Is it likely proceeding with the gondola will have a better outcome than taking the financial loss of writing it off?
The economic analysis from a year ago projects the gondola could generate $58 million to $109 million in total income during its first 15 years of operations, depending on ticket prices and if year-round visitor numbers met projections — a peak rider estimate of 125,000 to 150,000. Eaglecrest officials have also said year-round tourism will help ensure the resort’s future if predictions of shorter and lower-quality ski seasons due to climate change prove accurate.
However, Goldbelt Inc. will receive 10% to 25% of the gondola’s gross revenue. There will also be maintenance costs, additional staff and other costs involved with year-round operations, and the possibility funds may need to be set aside to replace the gondola in 20 years.
The possibility that large-scale vision will be too costly is why Weldon said she is hoping city leaders can come up with a three-tier high/mid/low future operational plan. All of them, she said, would be with an eye on turning Eaglecrest into a year-round resort that capitalizes on cruise tourism.
The board, based on previous meetings with city leaders, has also discussed drafting different year-round scenarios that assume some type of year-round tourism with or without a gondola. Cullum said that will be among the board’s near-term priorities as members work with acting general manager Erin Lupro, a role she assumed temporarily during the last leadership change until returning to her job as the ski area’s director of snowsports school, rental, retail and repair.
"We're trying to have a conversation about what each of those paths might look like, how they would affect the budget, what they would look like with regards to staffing, things like that," he said. "So really the priorities for Eaglecrest haven't changed with what the mayor put forward. They're the same as they have been. And until the landscape changes and gives us a reason to pivot we're going to push forward with what we know today."
Short-term priorities include ensuring the mountain’s facilities are working and the budget process — including the gondola decision — that lay ahead during the next few months, Cullum said.
"We just want to see the community up on the mountain having a good time, enjoying themselves in a safe environment where employees appreciate coming to work every day," he said. "And I'm confident in Erin's ability to push that forward and we just want to support her with that."
Assembly Member Neil Steininger, who serves as the liaison to the Eaglecrest board, said Thursday one management change that may occur with the city taking greater control is a broader focus on the resort’s role in the community.
"The (Eaglecrest) board is very much pushed by the skiing community, whereas we're looking at it from the perspective of how do we keep this asset for the entire community, not just serve the existing skiers?" he said, adding "the city is more accountable to the broad public."
At the same time, Steininger said he agreed with Weldon that Eaglecrest’s presence as a ski area deserves to remain a core part of Juneau’s image for the long-term future.
"I think somebody referred to it as the mall anchor store of Juneau, that brings people in, keeps them in, keeps it healthy," he said. "Even if only 10 or so percent of Juneauites are skiers that's still a big chunk of Juneau. This really provides those opportunities to make us attractive."
• Contact Mark Sabbatini at editor@juneauindependent.com or (907) 957-2306.
