Keystone ski resort will replace its 24-year-old six-passenger gondola at River Run with a new eight-passenger gondola slated to lift off next ski and snowboard season, the resort announced Friday.
In doing so, Keystone will move the base of the gondola terminal closer to River Run Village.
Currently, skiers have to walk over the River Run bridge just outside River Run Village to get to the base of the six-passenger gondola.
The new plans will move the base of the gondola into the village. It will follow the same alignment as the current one. The bottom terminal is going to be where the Rentskis.com and restrooms are currently.
Construction and installation of the state-of-the-art gondola will start next April.
"We are going to tear down the current ski rental shop, and house the ski shop and restrooms in temporary facilities," said Kelly Ladyga, spokeswoman for Vail Resorts Inc. (NYSE: MTN) which owns Keystone. "Basically what we're going to do is reconfigure the area to enhance skier services. Everything will be within close proximity."
The new layout of the base area will put Vail Resorts' real estate developments closer to the River Run gondola.
"We're making a deliberate decision to upgrade the guest experience by significantly shortening the walk to the new gondola from the village or parking lot, improving access to the mountain and increasing the capacity of the gondola," Pat Campbell, COO for Keystone, said in a statement. "Keystone plans to purchase a state-of-the-art gondola from Doppelmayr that utilizes the latest drive technology and is expected to be 30 to 40 percent more energy efficient than other modern ski chair lifts or gondolas."
Vail Resorts Inc. did not break out the cost of the project from its $50 million to 90 million capital improvement fund that is divided among its five resorts: Vail, Breckenridge, Beaver Creek, Keystone and Heavenly, which is near the California-Nevada border.
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