iRide
Zaskoda’s Snowboarding Journal

A little bit ago, I posted a color render of Bearfire that Charlie sent me. Since then, a lot of news has popped up around the Interwebs about the venture. I’m just now posting the other render he sent along. I’m not the first to post it so nothing special here… I do have a slightly higher resolution version than the others I’ve seen online. Anyway, here it is - enjoy it. If and when I learn more, I’ll update. BTW - If you hadn’t noticed, I’ve started tagging these posts as “Texas Snowpark“. That’ll keep em all in one nice place.

There’s new info on the wire about the Bearfire Resort coming to Texas!!! I missed this one by a couple of weeks. Thanks goes to ReiMontana for posting about it on the DallasSnowboarders.com forums! The Fort Worth Star-Telegram is reporting a lot of current information on the project. Most notably, the location (just north of Ft Worth) is finally public. Here are the key points:

development group’s plans for a 150-acre theme park

At the center of the outdoor park planned for the northwest corner of Eagle Parkway and Interstate 35W in north Fort Worth is a 25-story mountain, linked by gondolas to a woodsy, sprawling ski lodge.

To keep things cool in the sweltering heat, fans will blow a fine mist, cooling the ambient air by 20 degrees.

Bearfire assembled a team that includes theme-park developers who have longtime experience with Disney and Universal Studios parks, as well as former congressman Dick Armey.

Jacobson said he is not worried about finding the financing for the $696 million project.

Designing the park is Greg Damron of Florida-based Damron Design, who helped design theme parks for Universal Studios.

Project manager Iain McGillivray, chief executive of McGillivray Consulting Group of Florida, is a former chief estimator for Universal Studios and now designs resorts and theme parks. Another key team member is Steve Baker of Florida-based Baker Leisure Group, who worked for Disney for two decades and now designs theme parks and attractions around the world.

Bearfire has all 527 acres of the former Intel site in north Fort Worth under contract for $25.8 million, Jacobson said. They have a year’s option on the land, Aaron said.

One of the peculiarities of the former Intel site is that it still has a multimillion dollar foundation, left over from when the company planned to build a computer chip plant there in the 1990s. Having the infrastructure for the electricity, water and sewer already at the site gives their plans a head start, Aaron said. Plus, they are planning to incorporate the tunnels at the site into the resort’s plans.

Besides a giant resort lodge and a 30-acre mountain, the planned Bearfire Resort theme park will have several other attractions:

Moguls, half-pipes and other extreme snowboarding and skiing experiences, as well as recreational slopes and bunny hills for novices

A European village with steeples and cobblestone roads for shopping

Fast-paced luge rides on a synthetic-ice surface called Easyglide-350

A winding path for ice skating on a synthetic-ice surface

Ice rafts, where several people at a time free-fall 252 feet down a slope

A snowball field with manmade snow

Night skiing, with the potential for a light show

A midslope viewing area that will serve refreshments

An amphitheater with professional winter sports performances

Preliminary adult ticket prices: $38 for a ski pass and $52 for an all-area pass.

Attached to the article was a black and white version of an artist render of the resort. I’ve attached a full color copy they sent me (an exclusive now, I guess). I have another render; however, I’m trying to confirm permission to post it. If I get the OK, I’ll have it up soon.

I’ve been noticing a lot of search traffic hitting my site lately related to the Bearfire resort coming to Dallas. The most recent information I have on the resort was actually posted as an interview on DallasSnowboarders.com. I decided to repost that interview here:

Having done our homework, we didn’t need to ask many questions about the quality of the Snowflex material being used to create the 4 huge ski/snowboard runs complete with rails, jumps, and lots of half-pipes. Snowflex is already in use all around the world, and is considered to be the best artificial snow sport surface on the market. The ride is supposed to be comparable to packed snow and, best of all, the riding conditions will be consistent year round. If you’re worried about your board wearing out, don’t. The Snowflex surface won’t wear your board down any faster than regular riding.

Skiers and snowboarders can enjoy short lift lines and quad lifts. If you’re staying at the resort, you can take the gondola right to the slopes. You won’t have to sweat the heat either, the area will be kept cool with an eco friendly outdoor cooling system. If you can’t get your snowboard to the resort during the day, you’ll be happy to find the runs are well lit at night.

While I consider the snowflex park to be the main attraction, Charlie told us about a slew of other features. There’s a tubing hill for the family, an amphitheater, a snow dome, and more. The complex is a full featured resort complete with shops, spas, and first class dining. Kaelina, an ice skater in a past life, was stoked to find out about the ice rink to be built with an amazing artificial surface called Ez-Glide 350. If you want to, you can even ride in a bobsled.

Phase 1 is currently slated 2009. The actual location won’t be disclosed for a little while longer. Phase two looks to possibly include white water rafting and surfing. Having recently discovered the joy of surfing, I can’t wait to develop my riding ability on one perfect thousand yard wave after another.

There are tidbits of other information we learned over coffee with Charlie so if you have any questions that weren’t answered here, feel free to ask them in our forums. Thanks to Charlie for making us feel like little kids again!

I happened across another link for the Coolzone Winterplex announcement last spring on the Dallas Biz Journal. Sure it’s old news, but I wanted to get an entry pointing to it.

Remember when I said how great it would be if Texas had an artificial park? Well, it’s happening! The plans are to finish the park by 2008. Unfortunately, I don’t know if the park is just ‘proposed’ or if it’s funded and under way. I will have to try to find out.

The place is called Coolzone Winterplex. I’ve heard that it’s an indoor place. Given our summer heat, this may very well be a good idea. I must admit, I can’t imagine riding inside.

I was also right about what material would be used. It is indeed Snowflex. Check out this CBS video announcement about the park. I was a little surprised to hear that there was nothing like this in the world. I know Europe has enjoyed Snowflex parks for a while. I wonder if our park is going to offer something new and different - other than the rather annoying notion that it’s a theme park. I’ll have to get beyond that real fast though, because I’m going to be able to snowboard in my own backyard!

Here’s the press release from March:

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