Squaw Valley, CA – Squaw Valley USA has announced a host of new shops, amenities and company leaders for the 2010-11 winter season. This year Squaw Valley will offer a new mountaintop kids zone, additional snowmaking, expanded night skiing including the halfpipe, renovated lodges, new groomers and more.nThe 2010-11 winter season will be the first under the direction of Andy Wirth, Squaw Valley’s new Chief Executive Officer. Wirth succeeds Nancy Cushing, who will remain Chairman of the Board after retiring from the position of CEO. Cushing has advised the corporation since 1985 and served as its president since 1994. Wirth comes to Squaw Valley from Steamboat Ski Corp. in Colorado with extensive experience in both management and mountain operations.
“I’m looking forward to this opportunity as it’s a chance to work with a legendary mountain resort and a terrific management team. I will seek to further strengthen Squaw’s position as the premier ski destination for families and serious skiers alike, as well as creating the most fun, exciting consumer experience,” said Wirth.
Squaw Valley officials plan to transform the ski resort’s Belmont Park into a kids’ fun zone complete with a snow fort and kid-friendly jumps, bumps and whoop-dee-doos. Also new for the 2010-11 season, kids can discover Squaw Valley’s mountain secrets with a new kid’s map designed to lead them on a grand adventure around the mountain. Kids will follow the map through Squaw Valley’s kid-friendly terrain to find fun facts about the mountain’s animals, history and natural habitat.
For the 2010-11 winter season, Squaw Valley is expanding their night skiing with improved lighting in the Riviera terrain park and halfpipe. Free with any lift ticket, skiers and riders can hit the slopes from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. on weekends (9 a.m. to 7 p.m. midweek) with night operations and enjoy other High Camp night activities such as ice skating at the Olympic Ice Pavilion or dining at one of the upper mountain restaurants.
This season, skiers can feel the excitement of running through the gates, coached by Thomas Gardtman. The Gates To Skills Clinic is an all-day ski program using gate training as an effective means to enhance, strengthen and hone one’s all-around skiing skills. The clinic features coaching in technical free skiing, dryland exercises, slalom, and GS, including video analysis.
Squaw Valley just completed an extensive remodel of the Olympic Village Inn Conference Center. This facility will be available for meeting space, weddings and conferences. The remodel included all new flooring, A/V updates and a redesign of the outdoor gardens. The building was the first and only facility in which Olympic athletes dined together under one roof.
The base area Olympic House will also be remodeled for the start of the 2010-11 winter season. The remodel includes opening up the building to better accommodate large indoor events. The new layout and design employs extensive use of natural materials and environmentally advanced materials and energy uses. The base lodge remodel will include the addition of new menu items including Squaw Valley’s new Food and Beverage Director, Dave Benge’s very own signature burrito.
This winter, Squaw Valley is opening a high-performance demo center that allows guests to try out this season’s latest ski technology. Both skiers and riders can rent brand new high-performance rental equipment and skiers can demo this season’s latest skis from top manufactures. The new shop will work in conjunction with Squaw Valley’s mountaintop demo center, allowing guests to grab one set of demo skis at the bottom, and exchange them at the top of the mountain throughout the day until they finally meet their match, all for one flat rate. Located in the Village, the new shop will rent high-performance ski boots, skis, snowboards, snowboard boots, snowshoes and demo skis. The new shop will also offer a new Wintersteiger Tuning Machine.
The Squaw Kids Children’s Center will be renovated for the 2010-11 winter season to improve the flow of registration traffic in the building and to better accommodate kids. The renovation includes an expanded second floor, larger lunch room and more space in the rental room to accommodate a greater helmet selection.
Squaw Valley is also adding three new state-of-the-art grooming machines for this winter. Squaw Valley’s new Pisten Bully 400 cats are capable of grooming more terrain per hour while using less significantly fuel, therefore improving both the quality of grooming and the environmental sustainability of the fleet. Squaw Valley’s grooming department already features the most winch cats in the Tahoe region.
Squaw Valley is also continuing its multi-year effort of upgrading the mountain’s snowmaking equipment to greener and more efficient models. Now in its ninth year, Squaw has successfully upgraded 145 guns, including 39 new snowguns for the 2010-11 season. Further, Squaw Valley is demoing eight new Saphyr snow towers in the upcoming season. The Saphyr guns are nearly 30% more energy efficient than the most up-to-date B3 guns, requiring significantly less running time and less air to create the same amount of snow. Finally, Squaw Valley will be expanding snowmaking to the resort’s halfpipe for the 2010-11 season, improving Squaw Valley’s terrain park offerings throughout the season.
The 2010-11 winter season brings the completion of the final stage of the $3 million remodel of the mid-mountain restaurants at Gold Coast. Beginning with The ARC for the 2009-10 winter season and now with 39° North on the ground floor of the complex, the 14,000 square-foot space has been transformed with new food and an entirely new aesthetic. Located at the top terminal of the Funitel (Squaw’s 28-person gondola), The ARC and 39° North are constructed using an abundance of recycled and sustainable building materials.
This season, Squaw welcomes a host of new shops to the European-style base village. Guests can stroll the village streets and peruse Squaw’s specialty wine shop, fine art gallery and unique clothing boutiques, not to mention stores filled with the latest ski gear and accessories.
This season, Squaw Valley welcomes the addition of three new retail stores: Squaw Dogs, Marmot and Squaw One Logo Company. Geared towards active dogs and their people, Squaw Dogs features a wide offering of food and supplements to keep dogs healthy, as well as all the gear they need for great adventures. Meanwhile, Marmot features name-brand Marmot gear and outdoor clothing while Squaw One Logo Company sells Squaw Valley logowear.