Indoor Ski Slope In Lorton To Serve As Alpine-X's Flagship Resort

LORTON, VA — Alpine-X, developers of a planned indoor ski and snowboard facility in Lorton, are planning similar indoor snow sports sites across the U.S. and Canada.

The Lorton facility, a $225 million project called Fairfax Peak, will serve as the company’s flagship indoor winter sports venue. Alpine-X hopes to have a luxury hotel, a gravity-powered mountain coaster, zip lines, and food and beverage outlets to be located next to the facility.

With Fairfax Peak as its template, Alpine-X is aiming to expand into more than 20 other North American markets. The United States has an estimated 9.2 million active skiers and snowboarders, a market that would be much larger if the sport were more accessible, according to the company.

“We’re on a mission to address this market gap by bringing snowsports closer to home and providing access year-round, thereby eliminating the traditional challenges of cost, geography and seasonality, and introducing the opportunity and family-centric experience to a much wider audience,” Alpine-X CEO John Emery said in a statement Tuesday.

In Fairfax County, Alpine-X's goal is to transform the closed portion of the Interstate 95 Lorton landfill into an indoor ski facility. The county had been seeking to repurpose the capped portion of the landfill in an environmentally conscious manner.

Alpine-X submitted a public-private partnership proposal to the county in December 2018 to build a 450,000-square-foot snow sports facility with an expected 1,700-foot ski slope. The facility's summit would reach an altitude of about 280 feet.

The Fairfax County Board of Supervisors approved an interim agreement with Alpine-X last November. Since reaching the interim agreement, the company has continued doing geotechnical and other studies on the landfill site.

RELATED: Fairfax Board Approves Next Phase Of Lorton Ski Slope Project

"To date, all of our tests have indicated the landfill site is a suitable location for the Alpine-X indoor snow sports resort we are planning to build," the company said in an email to Patch.

The next significant step in the regulatory process is rezoning to allow the development of the indoor snow sports facility on the site of the closed landfill. Alpine-X expects to have its rezoning application submitted to Fairfax County by late 2021.

Capped landfills are well-suited for Alpine-X indoor snow sports venues, according to the company. They are sloped, which reduces construction costs, and are usually close to large metropolitan areas.

Owners of landfills, especially if they are municipalities, are often seeking opportunities for beneficial reuse of those facilities. Alpine-X’s proposal was viewed as an opportunity to repurpose the landfill and provide an outstanding entertainment experience that can benefit the entire community, the company said.

Alpine-X said it intends to complement, not compete with, traditional mountain resorts by expanding general interest in snow sports. The public can participate in skiing, snowboarding, snow tubing, and snow play, as well as other no-skill and low-skill activities. Fairfax Peak and the company's other facilities will also host competitions and regional and national events.

Emery, Alpine-X's CEO, and company CFO Jim Calder previously served as CEO and CFO, respectively, of Great Wolf Resorts, a company that was a pioneer in the indoor water park resort sector. They are hoping to do the same for indoor snow sports with Alpine-X.

With the COVID-19 pandemic, Alpine-X said it is reviewing how to maintain a safe indoor environment. The company’s development goals have been updated to provide natural ways to maintain distance between customers, use contact-free solutions for renting equipment or buying food, beverages, or lift tickets, and implement high-quality air circulation and filtration systems.

"Armed with knowledge gained during the pandemic, if something does occur in the future, Alpine-X hopes to remain open with few modifications such as guest capacity limits, reservation slots, screening, and more," the company said.