Montana Snowbowl Ski and Summer Resort owners Brad and Ronnie Morris are busy fixing that problem with a major overhaul of the road into the resort, and now they're starting the process to prepare for the anticipated influx of new skiers and snowboarders.
On Thursday night a small crowd turned out in a meeting room at Missoula's Doubletree Hotel to hear about a proposed expansion of the ski area that promises to open up terrain more suited for intermediate and beginner skiers.
The expansion is located in the upper end of the Butler Creek and LaValle Creek drainages in the area where the original Snow Park Ski Area was first operated in the 1950s. The Morrises are asking to bump up their Forest Service special-use permit from the current 1,138 acres to about 2,226 acres.
The expansion proposal has been in the works for years, but before anything could happen the road issue had to be addressed, said Brad Morris, who attended Thursday night's meeting.
“The road has been the No. 1 drawback for attracting more skiers to the area,” Morris said.
Considering the valley's population growth and the fact that Missoula's Marshall Ski Area is closed, Morris expects the number of skiers at Snowbowl to climb once the road is widened.
“And we're kind of at capacity now,” he said.
“Once we started looking at this area for expansion, it made more and more sense,” he said. “It was the original ski area. The neat thing about it is that once you get to the top of the hill, you'll be able to ski in any direction.”
Skiers of different ability levels will have their choice of either careening down steeper slopes to the east or taking it a little more easy on intermediate runs to the west.
If everything goes smoothly, Morris said he'd like to start working on the expansion in the summer of 2007 or 2008.
Thursday's meeting was just the beginning of the process to get the Forest Service's OK.
“It's very early in the process,” said Don Stadler, the Forest Service's National Environmental Policy Act coordinator. “Right now, we're just looking for any new issues that the public might raise.”
The environmental analysis is being done by PBS&J, a Missoula consulting firm hired by Morris.
“Right now we just don't have the time, manpower or budget to do this kind of evaluation,” Stadler said. “It would have been a year or so before we could have started the process.”
People always have the option to hire a third-party consulting firm to do the environmental analysis on projects like this to speed up the process, said Stadler.
The Forest Service will review all the work done by PBS&J before putting its final stamp of approval on the draft and finished environmental impact statement.
Barry Sutton, PBS&J's project manager, said the firm has been involved in a number of ski area expansions including those at Discovery and Blacktail Mountain.
The consulting firm will review a variety of issues running the gamut from water rights for additional snowmaking to the visual impacts of new ski runs.
Sutton said the firm is reaching out to the community to hear its concerns about the proposal.
Comments or requests for more information can be sent to Stephanie Lauer, PBS&J, 1120 Cedar St., Missoula, MT 59802, 721-0354 or e-mail at slauer@pbsj.com.
Reporter Perry Backus can be reached at 523-5259 or at pbackus@missoulian.com
Snowbowl feedback
Comments or requests for more information about the Snowbowl expansion plans can be sent to Stephanie Lauer, PBS&J, 1120 Cedar St., Missoula, MT 59802, 721-0354 or e-mail at slauer@pbsj.com.
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