Summit Daily file
DILLON — If Keystone Resort’s latest expansion plan comes to fruition, there will be hundreds more acres of high-Alpine, lift-served bowl skiing in Summit County.
On Friday morning, Keystone Resort announced it had submitted a proposal to the U.S. Forest Service to provide lift-served skiing in the resort’s Bergman and Erickson bowls. The pair of bowls currently are accessible only via hiking and the resort’s cat skiing program.
In a news release, Keystone spokeswoman Loryn Roberson said the winter-only proposal would included a new lift in Bergman Bowl, which would provide access to more than 500 acres of terrain in the Bergman and Erickson bowls. Keystone’s proposal also includes new snowmaking, trails and a warming hut in Bergman Bowl.
Keystone Resort currently offers 3,149 acres of skiable terrain, more than 1,700 of which are hike-to or snowcat access in the Independence, Bergman, Erickson, North and South bowls.
All proposals are subject to the Forest Service’s approval. Roberson said the resort is working closely with the Forest Service on the project, which she said will be designed to minimize environmental impacts. Roberson said the Forest Service will outline next steps in the timeline and approval process.
Keystone Vice President and General Manager Jody Churich was quoted in the release as saying the project would be transformational for the resort, allowing guests to spread out across the resort and better utilize existing above tree line terrain. Churich said the plan also would open up a bowl skiing experience that would appeal to a wide variety of ability levels, from novice to expert.
The proposal, Roberson said, aligns with the resort’s master development plan, which was accepted by the Forest Service in 2009.