Echo Mountain ski area bought to be converted into training facility...

[bendtheski]

Not about to change my home mountain, but this seems like an interesting approach; cater to stick-dodgers instead of park-rats. Who do you think spends more money at a resort?

Nora Pykkonen was ready to move her family to Vail to keep her kids' passion for ski racing aflame.

"Kids really need to spend a lot of time on snow to become very good skiers and we were spending most of our time in the car," said the mother of four.

But instead of moving, Pykkonen purchased the 226-acre Echo Mountain ski area and is converting the Clear Creek County hill into a ski-racing training facility focusing on school-aged racers. The sale price was not disclosed in the deal that closed Tuesday.

"This all started with asking how do you keep your kids in the great schools we have in the Front Range and still keep your kids in ski racing?" said the co-founder of Slalom Consulting, a management consulting firm with 1,300 employees and more recently founder of the Front Range Ski Club.

The club will call Echo home, with a roster of top-tier ski coaches, including World Cup skiers Sarah Schleper-Gaxiola, Petter Brenna, Patrik Järbyn and Mike Farny.

Echo will open in November.

Pykkonen plans to upgrade the resort with ski-race training in mind. Her team will set up the mountain as a gym, with stations designed for honing skills like jump starts and sliding. Two surface lifts will rush racers back to the top more speedily than the chairlift. Racers will finish each run in a video tent, reviewing their form before grabbing another lap.

Echo was revived by entrepreneur Jerry Pettit, who pumped more than $5 million into the ski hill since acquiring the dormant Squaw Pass ski area in 2002 for $700,000. Pettit grew skier visits from 12,000 in Echo's inaugural 2005-06 season to more than 32,000 last year. Originally designed and marketed as a terrain park for younger skiers and snowboarders, Echo a few years ago added lights and ski racing. It soon became a training hotbed not just for Denver-area racers but mountain ski racing clubs weary of fighting for training time on limited race terrain in the hills.

"I think this will be a very interesting opportunity for them and hopefully in a few years we will hear about an Olympic skier that came out of Echo," Pettit said. "Wouldn't that be something?"

Sheldon Good & Co. handled the auction sale.

Pykkonen plans to invest $5 million in coming seasons. She envisions developing beyond the area's 80 acres of developed ski terrain, delivering 1,500 vertical feet of skiing. Her team plans to build a Super G course, a mogul lane and a new restaurant. They will add snowmaking guns, create homework and tutoring stations and develop a shuttle system for students across the metro area.

Ski clubs with adult skiers will have access to Echo Mountain terrain on a rental basis.

Echo could be the country's only ski area dedicated solely to alpine race training.

"The coaches have been working 15 to 20 hours a day on the programs," Pykkonen said. "This is one of the biggest things to ever come to alpine racing in Colorado."

[The Dude]

I could care less who they cater to, the fact that they are closing the area to the public blows. I live 5 minutes away from Echo and was planning on taking my 2yo up there to start him skiing this winter. Now I either have to expedite clearing of some trees in the yard to get a decent set up going or plan on driving 40 minutes to Loveland. I'm willing to bet it goes under within 5 years and we'll have another auction or an abandoned ski area again.

[Benny Profane]

Fantastic idea. A place for all of those little race brats to congregate among themselves, away from the rest of us. And all the obnoxious race mommies will be parking their giant SUVs elsewhere, too.

[bendtheski]

Fantastic idea. A place for all of those little race brats to congregate among themselves, away from the rest of us. And all the obnoxious race mommies will be parking their giant SUVs elsewhere, too.

Yep, I only hope they draw a few of the douchenozzles away from Loveland.

[b0ardski]

I agree, Give the entitled elitist 'boo brats a place to park their fucking skis where I'm not trippin over'em trying to walk thru the village.
We built parks to keep the jibbonkers out of the way, why not one for the racers.

Curmudgeonly rant not withstanding, it's a great idea.

[This End Up]

'boo brats

??? No Comprendo. Is that short for Subaroo??

[PowTrees]

Its an interesting plan. Cater to teams coming from more than million people not much more than an hour away. Including building a restaurant to sell food including likely family member bystanders. If there's a race course a thousand vertical or more, could succeed.

[DasBlunt]

god I hope it clears out Loveland a little bit, though I know it will not go away. Fucking Canadian ski racer brats think they own Loveland early season.

[summit]

Prolly a money winner, but race kids do enjoy freeskiing. Echo's vertical is only 600ft.

[powdork]

??? No Comprendo. Is that short for Subaroo??

that would be roo brats then wouldn't it?

short for bamboo

[PowTrees]

Prolly a money winner, but race kids do enjoy freeskiing. Echo's vertical is only 600ft.

Never been in that specific spot myself, but I'm guessing they could add to the vertical leasing some forest land? Think it's also close to ST. Mary's glacier, so they its probably a decent location for retaining snow depth? Not a great place for freshies, but all it needs to be is cold for man made race courses, sounds like a good fit for that spot.

[SlugInfinite]

Echo doesn't have the vertical to be a viable training area. Echo also ran in the red each year with 3 high schools and 3 junior highs for park rat fodder - there is no way this new idea won't be a bust and closed within 5 years.

[Micol]

Thank GSA, I hope all Copper Mountain ski race kids are relocated too

[charles martel]

"The coaches have been working 15 to 20 hours a day on the programs," Pykkonen said. "This is one of the biggest things to ever come to alpine racing in Colorado."

In learning and doing something, you reach a point where you either know or you don't know. You can't be a little bit pregnant. At this stage of their careers, it seems strange that qualified coaches would need 15-20 hours a day to develop coaching programs.

Here's the first formula:

Manic parents + driven coaches = burned out athletes

Here's the second (very private) formula:

Manic parents + driven coaches = damage is necessary and acceptable to build winners

Here's the third (very public) formula:

Manic parents + public relations = we have only happy, healthy young athletes

[Hacksaw]

Prolly a money winner, but race kids do enjoy freeskiing. Echo's vertical is only 600ft.

They will love the back bowls...

[covert]

Innovative approach to getting and keeping kids skiing? Even if it fails, this seems full of win.

If more people thought outside the box just imagine how many more opportunities there would be to trash-talk the latest idea.