FAIRBANKS, Alaska (AP) - An Anchorage tour company has reached an agreement to buy a downhill ski area northeast of Fairbanks but says it must work out agreements with surrounding landowners before promising a ski season next winter.
Anchorage-based tour company Alaska Skylar Travel has made a deposit and reached a purchase agreement to buy Skiland Inc., which operates Mount Aurora Skiland off the Steese Highway near Cleary Summit, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner (https://bit.ly/1OseSPP ) reported.
Brenda Birdsall has operated the ski area for 25 years but plans to retire.
Skiland Inc. was founded in 1962. Shares are owned by skiers who volunteered at Skiland in the early years. Shareholders met last year and decided that selling the company was the best way to keep Skiland operating.
Alaska Skylar Travel caters to visitors from China. The company wants to expand the ski lodge for aurora viewing. Plans also call for a new chairlift and a bunny slope with a rope tow for beginners, said DJ Larson, operations manager for the ski area.
Alaska Skylar Travel first needs to negotiate a lease with the Alaska Mental Health Authority Trust, which owns land used for ski runs, Larson said. The company is also in talks with Freegold Ventures Limited, which has plans to mine gold near Skiland.
“Right now the ski area depends on aurora viewing in the winter. That’s the only way it can remain profitable,” Larson said. “If the mining company gets too close, the lights will kill the aurora, which takes away the funds that keep the ski area open.”
Alaska Skylar Travel was founded by a couple from Beijing that formerly operated a tourism business featuring travel to New York, Los Angeles and other more common U.S. destinations.
Three years ago, after a tourism conference in Anchorage, the couple moved to Anchorage, Larson said. The owners are now permanent U.S. residents.
The company last year hosted 5,000 Chinese tourists in Alaska. Most were summer visitors who flew into Anchorage and traveled as far north as Talkeetna.
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Information from: Fairbanks (Alaska) Daily News-Miner, https://www.newsminer.com
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