Va.-based indoor ski resort firm aims for national chain

Alpine-X LLC, a McLean-based indoor snow sports company, on Tuesday rolled out more details of Fairfax Peak, its $250 million indoor ski resort proposed to be built on parts of the I-95 Landfill Complex in Lorton, as well as its plans to make the resorts national.

The public-private project in Fairfax County would be the first of its kind in the nation, said Alpine-X CEO John Emery, one of the original developers and former CEO of Great Wolf Resorts Inc. Alpine’s chief financial officer, Jim Calder, previously was CFO of Great Wolf Resorts. Fairfax Peak will include a hotel, a gravity-powered mountain coaster, zip lines and food and beverage outlets, and the company plans to build similar facilities in more than 20 other markets in North America, offering skiing, snowboarding and other snowy activities throughout the year.

Alpine-X is linked with a Netherlands indoor ski resort company, Snow World International B.V., and has been working with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors for more than four years, the company said. Capped, inactive landfills are well-suited for indoor snow resorts because of their slope and location near major metropolitan areas, officials say.

Last year, Emery estimated that Fairfax Peak would generate annual revenue of about $50 million and employ more than 600 people, and the company has an interim agreement that gives it a lock on the property for the rest of this year, as well as an option to renew for 2022.

“Today, there are an estimated 9.2 million active skiers and snowboarders here in the U.S., a market that would be much larger if the sport were more accessible,” Emery said in a statement. “We’re on a mission to address this market gap by bringing snow sports 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.”