Breckenridge Ski area
Peak 6 will lead to Peak 5…and real estate
By Summit Daily News

Peak 6 will lead to Peak 5…and real estate

Summit Daily News

By, Todd Eastman

Bellingham, WA

April 2, 2007

Let’s consider why Vail Resorts would want to go through the expense of adding new terrain along the Tenmile Range. The making of money from the skiers does not seem to be the reason, as the radically undervalued season passes bought by Front Rangers and locals do represent a significant percentage of the skier days at Breckenridge.

The market price for season passes would meet income needs and reduce the need for expansion. Current pricing creates inflated skier days. Skier days drive the U.S. Forest Service (USFS) decision process. Could the reason to expand to Peak 6 have anything to do with real estate? Maybe if parts of the Siberia Nordic area can be swapped by the USFS and placed into the oiled palms of Vail Resorts. Maybe not too much more far fetched would be the potential acquisition of the Watley Ranch from apparently not, at this time, willing to sell owners.

This depends on the expansion of the ski area to Peak 5, which is also in long range USFS plans. The USFS is fast tracking the ski area plans through the system under the direction from the top of the Interior Department.

Public comments do not have to be considered when these types of administrative decisions are made. This type of action can be fixed only when the Administration is changed. Of course, if you want to have more of your public land built up so you can pay to use it, the development of Peak 6 should seem like a good idea. But please do yourself a favor, hike up there and ski great runs before they are turned into something a bit different.