Predictable and preventable: Eaglecrest’s implosion
- Guest contributor
- 2 days ago
- 4 min read
Contributors to this opinion essay include long-time Eaglecrest Ski Area supporters, founders, former board members, contractors and employees, and patrons: Deborah Craig, Dave Hanna, Michael Stanley, Bruce Garrison, Bruce Griggs, Mary Frances Griggs, Craig Brown, Robert Marshall, Seth Koch and Chuck Orsborn.
Eaglecrest has long been Juneau’s beloved recreational crown jewel, a recruitment tool for employers to attract a workforce and a reason for people to stay here and raise their families. Eaglecrest serves multi-generations with this family-friendly, healthy lifelong sport. In 2023, almost 10% of Juneau’s population bought Eaglecrest pass products. Eaglecrest generated over $1 million in revenue, paid taxes to CBJ and had a spectacular fan base of young and old.
Currently, Eaglecrest season pass sales are at a seven-year low, day passes at an all-time high of $90 despite no lift service to the top of the mountain to date, Black Bear chair is dismantled, and Ptarmigan has been inoperable and now needs to pass an inspection before opening to the public. Snowmaking water lines are frozen, fire suppression systems and lodge water unusable, flush toilets inoperable, cafeteria and bar closed. “Safety” at Eaglecrest has become a euphemism that something is broken and there is an inability to fix it.
Sadly, Eaglecrest’s current failures were predictable and preventable.
Around the globe, small and large ski areas are contending with climate change and aging equipment. Small ski areas intentionally hire operational managers with the mechanical skills to keep lifts turning. All successful ski areas now have robust snowmaking programs. Many are bolstering income with summer activities: biking, hiking, tourism.
During the seven-year tenure of former General Manager Dave Scanlan, Eaglecrest increased annual revenue despite climate change, aging equipment and a pandemic. Scanlan had the mechanical skill to keep lifts and machinery running safely, installed water lines to maximize snowmaking, creatively grew his workforce, and garnered $10 million in support to develop a gondola project to make Eaglecrest sustainable and profitable year-round.
Surprisingly, the Eaglecrest Board of Directors (EBD) and City and Borough of Juneau (CBJ) requested Mr. Scanlan's resignation in May 2024. Mr. Scanlan left a 28-page transition document, but significant maintenance was not performed that summer and the gondola project ground to a halt.
The downward spiral resulted in a cascade of questionable decisions by the EBD and CBJ manager’s office, as well as the significant concern and engagement of former board members, local mechanics with ski area knowledge and Eaglecrest supporters.
CBJ’s hiring process is notoriously cumbersome. The human resources department further complicated recruitment by rewriting the general manager’s job description, minimizing operational skills and emphasizing administration. The ski community tried to intervene, recognizing that running a small ski area from a desk was destined to fail. Mostly unqualified applicants applied and a ski school/marketing director with no direct ski area operations experience was hired at summer’s end.
CBJ allocated significant resources to the new general manager who lacked operational, planning and financial skills. The EBD was supportive of the inexperienced general manager, but as an “empowered” board failed to provide sufficient direction and guidance. In the fall of 2024, the new general manager announced he “did not have the capacity” to fix the Black Bear chair and was going to shut it down (despite offers to repair at cost by local mechanics). It was the first of many disastrous decisions.
Over the summer of 2025, substantial emphasis on lift maintenance should have occurred. Instead, it was publicly noted at an EBD meeting that rewriting job descriptions and administrative tasks appeared to have taken priority. Critical Ptarmigan lift maintenance was delayed to the extent that at the November EBD meeting, the public informed the board that the salvaged Black Bear bull wheel was sitting on the ground at the top of Ptarmigan waiting for installation and repair. Curiously, Ptarmigan chairs were also removed and left lying on the ground. The only lifts turning at Eaglecrest were the Hooter and Porcupine, making half the mountain inaccessible and understandably upsetting the ski public.
Safety is a primary concern at all ski areas and skiing comes with inherent risks that users accept when buying a pass. The general manager has repeatedly stated his “new” concern about safety while erroneously and publicly stating that historical Eaglecrest lift inspection safety records could not be found. However, the CBJ’s Office of Risk Management confirmed that Eaglecrest’s lifts passed annual safety inspections successfully as required to obtain ski area insurance. More likely, the GM’s lack of mechanical skill and reliance on others to determine safety elevates anxieties.
While self-sufficiency is CBJ’s goal for Eaglecrest, no other recreational facility is asked to meet that criteria. Millions are allocated annually to pools, field houses and the ice rink for repairs and ongoing maintenance. It is noteworthy that under the former general manager, Eaglecrest outperformed other CBJ recreational facilities for cost recovery – almost 70% versus the field house (54%), the ice rink (47%) and aquatics (20%).
The gondola project, after significant research, was deemed a viable path to Eaglecrest becoming self-sustaining and generating income for the CBJ. Under the current leadership, two full summers of gondola project progress were lost. The CBJ recently hired a project manager to try to salvage this potentially money-making project and under his leadership, success is more likely.
The CBJ and EBD have supported the new general manager at a level not experienced by previous leaders. Eaglecrest’s current failure cannot be blamed on lack of support, climate change, aging equipment or previous leadership. Management is failing to operationally maintain a small ski area and facilitate a gondola project that could be a massive financial boon.
The issues plaguing Eaglecrest were predictable and preventable. The EBD has been deficient in providing guidance. The current GM has demonstrated that he is unqualified for the job. The EBD is encouraged to use its empowered status to take control of the ski area, make an emergency appointment of a replacement general manager and work to salvage the 2025-26 season of our stalwart and beloved local ski area of 50 years.
