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July 3, 2008

WINTER PARK RESORT BEGINS CONSTRUCTION ON NEW VILLAGE CABRIOLET

Media Contact:
Darcy Morse: (970) 726-1565

Cab-ree-oh-leh: Open Air Gondola Designed to Transport Guests from Vintage Parking Lot to Village at Winter Park Resort

Winter Park, Colo., July 3, 2008 – Starting Monday, July 7, 2008, Winter Park Resort and Leitner Poma will break ground on a new village cabriolet, also known as an open air gondola, between the Vintage Hotel parking lot and the new Village at Winter Park Resort.  Upon completion of this state of the art, eight passenger lift, guests will obtain free round trip transportation into the heart of the resort's new base village complete with 30,000 square feet of exciting retail/rental, restaurants and living space expected to open for the New Year.

"With the first phase of The Village of Winter Park nearing completion, the addition of a village cabriolet is essential to the vibrancy of this new base village," said Gary DeFrange, President and Chief Operating Officer for Winter Park Resort. "We have envisioned The Village at Winter Park Resort now for many years.  The achievement of these two major projects moves this vision into an exciting reality."  

Over the past five years, nearly $40 million has been spent on-mountain in the form of three new chairlifts in three years, award-winning terrain expansions, and some of the most nationally and internationally recognized terrain parks for skiing and mountain biking in the world.  The Cabriolet's $5.8 million addition to the new base village of Winter Park Resort begins to round out the winter and summer changes that have taken place on-mountain.

With a slope length of 1,436-feet, the village cabriolet has a capacity of 2,800 people per hour via 39 cabins.  Skis, snowboards, wheelchairs, and mountain bikes can be transported both to the village and back to the resort's free parking lot in a matter of minutes.  With the cabriolet in place, Winter Park Resort will no longer utilize shuttles for the Vintage Hotel to resort route; shuttles in place for the resort's other free parking lots will remain. 

As part of Winter Park Resort's Connexion platform designed to inform, involve and educate resort employees, guests and the community about the environment in which we work and play, 200 additional mega watts of wind energy credits will be purchased to offset the added energy used to operate the new lift.   In total, Winter Park Resort will purchase 600 mega watts to operate the new cabriolet, Super Gauge, Eagle Wind and Panoramic Express lifts. 

Construction for the cabriolet is slated to begin first thing Monday morning and end in late October. 

For more information on the village cabriolet or The Village at Winter Park Resort, contact Darcy Morse at (970) 726-1565.

*Please note that attached pictures are examples of The Village at Winter Park Resort's future cabriolet and not exact replicas.