a ski run in Fairfax County was proposed at the I-95 Landfill Complex
Source: Fairfax County, Fairfax Peak: One of the World's Longest Indoor Ski Slopes may be Built on Fairfax County's I-95 Landfill
a ski run in Fairfax County was proposed at the I-95 Landfill Complex
Source: Fairfax County, Fairfax Peak: One of the World's Longest Indoor Ski Slopes may be Built on Fairfax County's I-95 Landfill
Virginia has four ski resorts - Massanutten, Bryce, Omni Homestead, and Wintergreen. Those ski resorts require three things: snow, a hill with topographic relief, and customers. Only the topography is reliable.
Climate change is altering the pattern of snowfall, and creating warmer winter temperatures. When warm temperatures force a delay in opening a resort until after the December holiday season or force a closure in early March, the economics of operating a ski resort in Virginia are dramatically impacted. According to one climate researcher:1
ski resorts face an existential threat as warmer temperatures (compared to the 1901–1960 average) reduce the number of potential skiing days
Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), State Climate Summaries 2022 - Virginia
Wintergreen Resort tries to open by the second week in December, making real snow for the 26 runs with water from a 5-million gallon tank. At that resort, 400 snow guns can spray 175,000 gallons to make 1 acre-foot of snow and coat trails three feet deep. At Massanutten Resort, 275 snow guns maintain snow on 21 trails.
Traditional snow guns can manufacture snow at a 28℉ wet-bulb temperature by forcing small droplets of water into below-freezing air. If the air is humid, traditional snow guns can not create snow even if temperatures are below freezing such as 29℉.2
A new approach offers the ability to manufacture snow at much higher temperatures. The SnowFactory machine creates a barrel of frozen ice, then shaves flakes from it to blow onto the ski run. A snow cone machines uses a similar approach.
Though significantly more electricity is required, less water is needed. The ice flakes can be created in above-freezing temperatures and the flakes last longer than artificial snow.
The ability to open the season before Christmas may be worth investing $500,000 per machine vs. $15,000-$30,000 per traditional snow gun. In 2023 a ski resort manager said:3
The demand for skiing drops as the population ages and older people choose less-active recreational sports. One business risk for Virginia ski resorts is that customers may choose to visit other ski resorts with better snow conditions, such as Seven Springs/Whitetail Mountain/Ski Liberty in Pennsylvania or Canaan Valley in West Virginia.
West Virginia's Canaan Valley is high enough to capture moisture coming from the west and northwest, even snow originating from Lake Erie. The ski resorts there receive 150 inches of snow per year. Because the valley is a “"textbook cold sink," there are many days when snow guns can be used effectively.
artificial snow outlines the ski slopes at Massanutten Mountain
Source: Virginia Geographic Information Network (VGIN), VBMP 2011 WGS Web Mercator (VGIN)
The most unusual ski resort in Virginia is at Lynchburg. In 2009, Liberty University spent $8 million to cover Candler Mountain with a form of artificial turf to create a synthetic snow surface. The Snowflex Centre is a gleaming white hillside offering artificial skiing 12 months of the year, and was designed to provide recreational diversions at a school that bans the use of alcohol. Public use helps fund operations at the site, one of just two artificial skiing/tubing mountains in the United States.4
There are no snow-covered mountains in Fairfax County, but there are people with money who want to ski. The solution: build an indoor skiing arena with its own snow-covered mountain. The Fairfax County Sports Tourism Task Force announced plans in 2019 to partner with a private corporation, SnowWorld USA, to create a public-private partnership and build Fairfax Peak on the slopes at the county landfill in Lorton.
Fairfax Peak is planned for the western edge of the I-95 Lorton Landfill owned by Fairfax County, adjacent to the Urban Search and Rescue (USAR) training site
Source: Fairfax County, Map of Fairfax Peak
The proposal uses the hill created by the pile of municipal solid waste at the I-95 Lorton Landfill owned by Fairfax County. The site is adjacent to the Lorton Debris Landfill, a construction and demolition landfill developed by EnviroSolutions before that company was acquired by Waste Management in 2018. The taller landfill is planned to become Overlook Ridge Park, a passive recreation site.
Fairfax Peak was planned west of the taller landfill on which Overlook Ridge Park was planned
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
LIDAR reveals the topography of Fairfax Peak and Overlook Ridge Park in Fairfax County
Source: Fairfax County, LiDAR Digital Surface Model -2018
That would provide a height of 280 feet, with a 20-degree angle slope, which ski advocates began to call "Fairfax Peak." Fairfax Peak would resemble the SnowWorld facility at Landgraaf, in the Netherlands. The first "indoor, real-snow, year-round ski and snow resort in North America was Big Snow, which opened in 2019 near the Meadowlands in New Jersey (Exit 16 or Exit 18 from the New Jersey Turnpike).5
the success of the SnowWorld facility at Landgraaf led to a proposal to build a similar indoor ski ramp and entertainment complex in Fairfax County
Source: Alpine-X LLC, PPEA Proposal - Fairfax Peak, Sports Entertainment and Active Lifestyle Community (p.38)
The justification for the county's involvement was expressed clearly by an elected supervisor:6
The COVID-19 pandemic delayed action. In 2021, Fairfax County officials extended deadlines for Alpine-X to submit the Fairfax Peak proposal until December 2023. The developers suggested that prices for using the longest indoor ski slope in the United States (1,700-foot in length) and other associated facilities would be less expensive than traditional ski resorts:7
At the time, the closest ski resort to Northern Virginia customers was Ski Cherokee at Linden in Warren County. It was designed to be a family ski area, attracting day-trippers from the DC area. Snow was manufactured, since the highest elevation was only 2,200 feet. Three lifts carried customers up the mountain.
Ski Cherokee lasted only three years
Source: DC Ski, Ski Cherokee
A real estate developer invested $1 million in the facility, but a year later Whitetail Resort opened in Pennsylvania just 30 minutes further away. The developers there invested $40 million to offer superior facilities.
Ski Cherokee lasted only three years. A major shortcoming was the inability to generate and maintain enough snow. The site had previously been an apple orchard, because it was below the cold zone at the top of the mountain and above where cold air was trapped at the bottom. Though the use of chemicals allowed snowmaking at around 34 degrees, Ski Cherokee experienced three warn, rainy winters before closing. Dry summers limited runoff to be collected in ponds, and objections from neighbors delayed drilling wells to pump groundwater.
The terrain was good for low-intensity skiing, but not for thrill seekers. The more-challenging ski runs at Whitetail Resort offered a wider range of experiences. By one assessment, Ski Cherokee failed because:8
evidence of ponds for manufacturing snow at Ski Cherokee were visible in 1997
Source: GoogleEarth
a run cleared for Ski Cherokee is still visible today, west of the CCC Road
Source: ESRI, ArcGIS Online
Fairfax Peak was intended to include an entertainment complex, centered on an indoor ski slope
Source: Alpine-X LLC, PPEA Proposal - Fairfax Peak, Sports Entertainment and Active Lifestyle Community (p.41)
proposed ski run in Fairfax County at the I-95 Landfill Complex
Source: Fairfax County, Fairfax Peak: One of the World's Longest Indoor Ski Slopes may be Built on Fairfax County's I-95 Landfill