The Wall Street Journal did a piece on the Bearfire resort and produced this nifty video about it. All of the footage is cropped from other videos floating around the intarwebs, but the montage with narration tells the story well.

My fascination isn’t because it’s some interesting new business model or new way of approaching theme parks. It’s not even the peculiarity of building an outdoor year-round winter attraction in a state known for summers over a hundred degrees.

I was recently grilled by a forum goer regarding the potential environmental impact of the resort. This interview sheds some new light on just how green this project really is!

“I think it’s good to note from the get-go that a facility the size and scope of Bearfire will have no portion of its’ operation that will emit any type of gases or contaminants.”

As a side note, I was particularly tickled to see the author of the interview use the term “LOHAS“. As I’ve mentioned before, I recently relocated to the Denver area to get in a season or two of snowboarding. I just happened to be working for Gaiam, the company that originally coined the term. Small world.

Anyway, go read the interview!

This video was recently posted to the official Bearfire website. I couldn’t watch it on my laptop running Ubuntu and the quicktime link was broken so it was a while before I finally got to see it. I took the liberty of up’n the video to YouTube so the whole world could watch. I like how they slipped in a few live video shots of real boarders in the mountains – at least they could have slipped in snowflex shots… heh.. Still, it’s nice to see the new media. Enjoy!

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.

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!