Girdwood, AK – A newly formed group dedicated to returning lift served skiing and riding to its basics, Mountain Rider’s Alliance (MRA), will present a proposal to restore the Manitoba Mountain Ski Area on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula at 6 p.m. Feb. 24 in the public library in Girdwood. Following the presentation, a question and answer session will be held and community feedback will be encouraged, MRA officials indicate.
Lift-served skiing currently exists on the Kenai Peninsula at Alyeska Resort in Girdwood, but Manitoba Mountain is located further southwest on the opposite side of Turnagain Arm. It’s situated at Mile 49 on the Seward Highway at the site of the former Manitoba Ski Area and the Glacier Ski Lodge that operated from 1941 to 1959. Anchorage is located 90 minutes to the north and there is a population base of 325,000 within a three-hour drive. At a base elevation of 1,250 feet, this region of the Chugach Mountains receives an estimated 350-550 inches of snow annually, according to MRA project manager Dave Scanlan.
 
The former Manitoba Mountain ski area on Alaska’s Kenai Peninsula is the site of Mountain Riders Alliance’s first proposed project, the group announced on Wednesday. |
“One of the Manitoba Mountain Ski Area Restoration Project’s primary goals is to bring economic stability to the communities of Hope, Sunrise, Moose Pass, and Cooper Landing by creating a centrally located destination to create local jobs and foster additional private sector economic activity by redeveloping the downhill, and Nordic ski opportunities in the Summit Lake Recreation Corridor,” states Scanlan.
MRA was formed by Californian Jamie Schectman in response to what he perceives as a ski resort model that focuses more on real estate development than the skiing itself. Schectman longs for a return to the ski area values of a bygone era, and after his efforts to purchase British Columbia’s Shames Mountain and turn it into a co-op type structure floundered, he formed MRA to explore other opportunities to fulfill his vision. The group is funded through the sale of investment shares.
Manitoba Ski Area is MRA’s pilot project that’s designed to be small on infrastructure. The proposed lifts at Manitoba Ski Area are all surface tows. Additional plans include creating and maintaining Nordic, snowshoe, snowmobile and dogsled trail systems through the historic mining sites of the Summit Lake Recreation Corridor, helping to support the year round operation of Summit Lake Lodge on Moose Pass.
Both wind and hydro energy creation opportunities exist in the area to support another of MRA’s stated principles. The State of Alaska has set an ambitious goal to supply 50 percent of the state’s energy from renewables by 2025. This goal has been laid out in the new House Bill 306, passed in June 2010.
“We have entered the preliminary stages of the permitting process, and while we expect this to be a lengthy multi-year process,” admits Scanlan, “we are fully committed. We will be hosting many public outreach meetings to solicit the public’s comments and ideas to assist us in sculpting the best possible facility with community involvement.”