summer operation plan jun 26 2007 - stevens pass ... downhill mountain bike park at stevens pass...

Summer PlanPrePared For: StevenS PaSS

PO BOx 98SkykOmiSh, WA 98288

#4-1005 AlPhA lAke Rd.WhiStleR, B.C. CAnAdA

V0n 1B1

2007

�Summer PLAN • 2007

Contents

PURPOSE AND NEED 1

SUMMER OPERATIONS PLANNING 2

DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKING 3

Development and Design 4Phased Development 6Mountain Bike Comparison 9Ecological Design 9

LIFT SERVICED SIGHTSEEING 10

HIKING 10

SPECIAL EVENTS 10

SUMMARY 11

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PURPOSE AND NEED

Currently there are no formal summer operations at Stevens Pass. However, recent research has identified a growing demand for managed summer recreation in the National Forests. Potential summer recreational opportunities at Stevens Pass were identified as: lift serviced mountain biking, sightseeing, hiking, and various event type functions. Factors influencing these conclusions include:

A growing demand in the Pacific Northwest for managed summer recreation opportunities.

Significant tourism-based traffic passing Stevens Pass throughout the summer.

The increasing demand for managed mountain biking nation wide.

Summer operations, which would include mountain biking or could be expanded to include a diverse range of activities, will provide an opportunity for those passing through Stevens Pass to enjoy an outdoor setting on National Forest Land. Additional summer activities may include but not be limited to: sightseeing, accessing the Pacific Crest Trail, hiking, interpretive programs, concerts and other mountain top events, etc.

Stevens Pass wishes to develop a suitable and appropriately scaled summer operation that will complement its National Forest setting and satisfy the underlying demand for summer recreation opportunities within the region.

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SUMMER OPERATIONS PLANNING

Building on the physical realities of the site, complemented with the apparent synergies with the established skier marketplace and the volume of summer traffic passing the area, Stevens Pass has an opportunity to provide an appealing summer recreation experience.

The goal would be:

To establish Stevens Pass as a primary day use summer recreation attraction.

Phase One Goals

Develop a regionally dominant, lift accessed downhill Mountain Bike Park to cater to the growing market demand.

Focus on mountain biking within the Hogsback Pod area.

Develop associated mountain biking facilities (multi skill trails, skills park, jump park, etc.).

Utilize existing base area facilities and infrastructure to service the mountain biking operation. (Granite Peaks Lodge restaurant, retail, tickets, patrol, rentals, etc.).

Develop operating and marketing programs to support summer operations.

Improve base area landscaping to be more attractive for summer visitors.

Phase Two Goals

Develop lift serviced sightseeing and associated on mountain activities to match the demand for a unique mountain experience.

Include a mountain top facility as part of the summer opportunities.

Develop additional summer activities as business demands.

Develop a hiking and biking trail system for the Skyline Pod area.

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DOWNHILL MOUNTAIN BIKING

The growth of mountain biking has been explosive over the past decade. Comparable to skiing and snowboarding, the technology behind mountain biking equipment has evolved more recently and in greater leaps. Riding focus and desire have changed; as a result, the sport itself has progressed. A recent industry trend has been the development of lift accessed mountain bike terrain that utilizes a similar footprint as a ski area, but on a more limited scale. Stevens pass believes there is a need for a managed downhill mountain bike area that services western and north central Washington. This will provide the growing industry an area to come ride lift accessed, downhill mountain bikes. A downhill mountain bike park at Stevens Pass will be a good complement to the growing mountain bike demand currently on National Forest Land.

Conceived in 1999, the lift accessed mountain biking concept has been implemented with great success at Whistler/Blackcomb in British Columbia, helping to advance the sport to the point it is today. Like a ski visit, a mountain bike visit entails the purchase of a lift pass where the rider then travels with his/her bike up a chairlift outfitted with special bike racks, and then descends down a series of skill rated, mountain bike specific trails.

The sport is proving to be very popular and the growth potential appears to be significant. As a result, a variety of resorts throughout North America have created similar mountain bike parks by following Whistler/Blackcomb’s lead. Although there are not currently many studies chronicling specific statistics, the response to recent mountain bike conferences and workshops has been impressive. (For example, an International Mountain Biking Association (IMBA) Conference in July 2006 attracted over 400 delegates from 17 nations). None of the Seattle market-centered, Pacific Northwest ski areas have, to this point, developed noteworthy mountain biking facilities. Further, an analysis of the visits to Whistler/Blackcomb found that approximately 9% of their paid mountain bike park visits originated from Washington State. Therefore, it is reasonable to assume that there is considerable un-serviced demand that Stevens Pass could satisfy.

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Development and Design

A well-designed mountain biking facility must plan to cater to the full spectrum of users, (beginners, intermediates and experts) while having minimal environmental and low maintenance costs. A balanced approach to the development of trails is key to the success of the bike park. A clear understanding of carrying capacity is critical to determining the staging needs, support facilities (restaurants, rental, retail, patrol, restrooms, parking etc.), staffing and operational requirements necessary to deliver an exceptional guest experience.

Any successful mountain bike facility must pay careful attention to the layout and design of the trails. Many of the trails will need to be machine built, designed to accommodate a basic skill class of beginner, intermediate or expert bikers. Many of these trails would also have “stunts” built into them, again tied to varying degrees of difficulty. Complementing the trails, a skills park for training and instruction, a jump park and biker-cross course, along with various obstacles and features to provide a variety of experiences.

All mountain bike trails on the preliminary plan have been designed with approximately 10 to 15% average grade over the length of the trail. The ‘10% guideline’ was developed by the International Mountain Bike Association (IMBA) to ensure that trail concepts will result in a sustainable trail that will resist erosion and damage. The 10% guideline works with most soil types, minimizes erosion, allows detailed design flexibility, and accommodates undulations in the terrain. As it is the average grade, some trail segments would be either greater or less than 10%, based on detailed design.

The proposed general trail locations have been identified on the Summer Plan (Figure 4). Further field surveys will identify positive and negative “control points” in order to refine trail locations and incorporate positive flow and transition between sections. Control points identify specific areas along the trail that should be connected (positive – scenic vistas, turning platforms, unique terrain etc.) or avoided (negative - watercourses, soil considerations, wetlands, wildlife habitat etc.

The preliminary trail network consists of the following trail types.

Downhill mountain bike trails (5-8ft width) – unidirectional, machine graded with berms, jumps, stunts, features etc. designed for the freeride/downhill mountain bike user within the mountain bike park. These trails would incorporate stormwater drainage into their design.

Downhill single track mountain bike trails (1-3 ft width) – unidirectional trail designed for freeride, downhill users. Hikers and other users would be prevented from using these trails due to safety and flow issues.

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Figure 2: singletrack trail

Figure 1: downhill machine graded trail

Photo courtesy oF gravity logic

sketch From whistler trail standards (rmow 2001)

Figure 3: singletrack trail cross section

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Phased Development

Initially, the Hogsback Express Chairlift would be the uphill conveyance for mountain bikers. The estimated capacity of Hogsback is approximately 1,200 mountain bikers per day. As illustrated in Figure 4 a series of trails would be designed and built to offer a range of choices for the full spectrum of downhill mountain biking skills (beginner, intermediate and expert).

The intent would be to develop three primary, machine built downhill trails from the top of Hogsback. They will be built to match the anticipated market demand (1 beginner, 1 intermediate, 1 advanced). These trails are generally located within similarly sloped terrain (8-25% avg.) and accessed from Hogsback chairlift. The trails would average between 10% to 15% grade. The difference in skill class ratings would largely result from the degree of difficulty, the number of jumps and stunts, the technical trail features and the unavoidable obstacles found on each trail. Complementing this, there would be a collection of downhill single-track trails developed in sections as accessed from the machine built trails.

Consideration has been given to connecting some of these trails to the existing winter terrain park area. The intent would be to incorporate these disturbed lands into a mountain bike terrain park. This terrain park would consist of a biker cross course, jump farm, several tabletop jumps and other trail features (teeter totters, wall rides, boxes, drop offs, etc.) Doubling up this terrain should provide operational efficiencies since summer dirt features can remain as a base for winter snow features instead of being leveled and recreated each season. This should also allow winter terrain park features to be built with greater ease, with less snow required than before. The concept would be to incrementally expand the terrain park as demand requires.

Skills centers would also be developed throughout the mountain bike park to promote technical skill development, teaching and learning opportunities, and progressions. Three centers (beginner, intermediate and advanced) would be developed at various locations.


Table 1: proposed downhill mounTain bike Trail neTwork

Trail Name Type Access Bottom Elev. (ft)

Top Elev. (ft)

Trail Length

(ft)

Vertical Drop (ft)

Avg. Slope (%)

adv machine graded hogsback 4,064 4,843 6,939 779 11

adv1 machine graded hogsback 4,272 4,376 436 104 25

beg machine graded hogsback 4,070 4,845 8,172 775 10

int machine graded hogsback 4,066 4,814 7,190 748 11

dh1 singletrack downhill skyline 4,754 4,907 2,056 152 8

dh2 singletrack downhill hogsback 4,338 4,504 2,286 164 7











Total 64,326

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Figure 4: summer Plan

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Resort Master PlanJune 2007

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Summer Plan

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by Trail Type

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Planning by:

4 -1005 Alpha Lake Rd.Whistler, B.C., Canada, V0N 1B1Phone: 604-932-7002 Fax: 604-938-1161Email: [email protected]

Prepared for:

Summit Stevens Pass,US Highway 2PO Box 98Skykomish, WA, 98288Phone: 206 812 4510Fax: 206 812 4517Email: [email protected]

Stevens Pass

Fig. 4

GraceLakes

Base Area

LegendPa cific C rest Trail

Sp ecial Use Permit Bou ndary

Exist ing L ifts

Replacement Ski L ifts

Proposed Ski Lifts

Bike Park F eatures

Skill Ce nters

Terrain Park Pha se 1

Terrain Park Pha se 2

Trail NetworkMachin e Graded

Ad vanced/Expert

Be ginn er

Interme diate

Other Trails

Single Track

Hiking Trail


Mountain Bike Comparison

The following table compares the mountain bike park potential at Stevens Pass to various other Mountain Bike Parks:

Table 2: VerTical drop comparisons

Bike Park Location Lift Vertical (ft) Number of Trails

stevens Pass(Potential)

washington state hogsback (d4c) 774 n/a

skyline (d4c) 1,200 n/a

whistler british columbia, canada Fitzsimmons (d4c) 1,100 3,855 46

garbanzo (d4c) 1,400

gondola (d10g) 3,855

silver star british columbia, canada comet six Pack (d6c) 1,600 12

sun Peaks british columbia, canada sunburst chair (d4c) 2,000 26

cyPress british columbia, canada eagle exPress (d4c) 1,700

mt. washington british columbia, canada eagle (d4c) hawk 1,657 16

tamarack idaho 2,800

grand targhee wyoming dreamcatcher (d4c) 2,000

blue mountain ontario, canada summer 6 Pack (d6c) 710 18

mammoth mtn. caliFornia various 2,100

snowshoe virginia 1,500 20

canada olymPic Park alberta, canada 300 8

kirkwood caliFornia two liFts 1,400 est 16

The vertical drop of the Hogsback and Skyline chairlifts is shorter than other comparable mountain bike parks. Based on industry standards the vertical offered on Hogsback is about the minimum amount required to provide an entertaining park riding experience.

Ecological Design

All trails would be designed ecologically friendly to comply with a sustainable slope philosophy. Although some impact and disturbance is inevitable, watershed, wildlife and vegetation systems would all be protected as much as possible during construction and long-term operations. Careful design and engineering along with constant monitoring and trail closures are keys to minimizing any ecological impact. There could be ecological gain by securing slopes with traverse walls, water bars, careful bridge design that enhance water flow and fish habitat, re-vegetation projects, public clean up and ecological enhancement projects that would be a part of the philosophy of operation. Environmental educational opportunities through interpretation, and “clean” philosophies, areas with interpretive signs, and sensitive area awareness may be integrated throughout the ski area.

Soils in the Hogsback and Skyline areas generally consist of gravelly, sandy loam varying from 20 to 60 inches in depth on gentler slopes. Steeper slopes consist of rock outcrops, rubble and talus. Mountain bike trails are usually finished with a suitable soil material allowing for a smooth surface that is easily manipulated for trail features such

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as jumps, berms, etc. In some locations within Hogsback, the soil coverage is minimal or non-existent, covered only by rock outcrops, rubble or talus. Soil would need to be imported to these sections and/or the talus would need to be blasted to accommodate an appropriate trail surface. Closer inspection is needed before deciding on final trail layouts as a large portion of the Hogsback lower elevations consists of wetlands and intermittent channels.

LIFT SERVICED SIGHTSEEING

Sightseeing at Stevens Pass has the potential to become a “must do” regional attraction, providing a unique alpine experience to the approximately 2.75 million potential guests traveling Highway 2 from the Seattle area to and from Leavenworth and eastern Washington. Providing this service would require base area staging amenities (ticket stations, rest-rooms, restaurant/snack bar) to be available, a landscaping program to improve the summer look of the amenities, a mountain top restaurant, the development of short walking/hiking trails and the hiring of employees to staff the lifts and facilities. A mountain top interpretive program and various environmental and artist oriented talks could also be incorporated.

Lift serviced sightseeing provides pedestrian lift access to high elevations. This type of sightseeing is a relatively passive activity catering to all ages and abilities. Interpretive trails, scenic vistas, restaurant facilities and educational activities would offer various attractions on the upper mountain. A typical experience would allow guest access to the top of the mountain, enjoy lunch or dinner in the restaurant there, take short hikes, photograph the scenery and then ride a chairlift or hike down to the base area. The Skyline chairlift would provide the best sightseeing opportunity. The proposed on-mountain lodge (The Solitude Lodge), with spectacular views of Glacier Peak and the North Cascades, would present an attractive terminus to these guests with its outdoor patio, food and beverage services. In addition, short interpretive hikes promoting environmental education and awareness could be offered from the Solitude Lodge.

HIKING

The fact that the Pacific Crest Trail comes through Stevens Pass suggests that there is a natural opportunity to connect to this “iconic trail”. Alpine hiking can provide guests with an array of opportunities to learn and experience mountain ecology and scenery.

SPECIAL EVENTS

With mountain biking being the catalyst for summer operations, the opportunity for visitors to use the site for other activities also has great potential. The base area lodges, barbeque and patio areas and the proposed on-mountain lodge could provide the setting for various festivals and events at Stevens Pass. The summit of Stevens provides a panoramic mountain setting, suitable for weddings, concerts, music festivals, mountain bike events, environmental events, conferences, and dinners.

Festivals and celebrations could showcase mountain culture and focus on combinations of recreation, sport, wine, food, music, art, photography, film and the environment.

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These additional elements could complement the National Forest setting.

SUMMARY

In order to develop a regionally competitive, attractive and sustainable summer operation, Stevens Pass proposes to incorporate a suitable mix of recreational opportunities into the mountain facilities; designed to match the ongoing demand for managed mountain recreation. The intention will be to approach development on a phase-by-phase basis as the market expands and additional recreation opportunities are needed.

A thick cover of snow drives the general aesthetic of Stevens Pass in winter. In the summer, the scene is drastically different. To date, the base area facilities have been a completely winter oriented operation. Whether summer operations simply include mountain biking or are expanded to include a diverse range of activities, Steven Pass believes that a viable summer operation will provide an opportunity for those passing through Stevens Pass to enjoy an amazing mountain environment.

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summer operation plan jun 26 2007 - stevens pass ... downhill mountain bike park at stevens pass...

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