Please ensure Javascript is enabled for purposes of website accessibility
Upcoming Event

Best Places to Work in Virginia

Hamburger Menu Hamburger Menu

Tag: Alpine-X LLC

Alpine-X opens crowdfunding campaign to public investors

Alpine-X LLC, a McLean-based indoor snow sports company, announced a crowdfunding campaign to open the stock to public investors.

The offering — started on crowdfunding site Republic — allows accredited and non-accredited investors to own a piece of the McLean-based company that is planning a national chain of indoor ski resorts. So far, more than 100 people — known as “snow moguls” — have signed up as investors, CEO John Emery said Wednesday afternoon, and the company has raised more than $170,000.

According to the fundraising page, the company is valued at $40 million, and its funding goal is up to $5 million, with a maximum investment per investor of $500,000. The deadline to sign up is Jan. 15, 2022.

In May, Alpine-X released details of Fairfax Peak, a $200 million indoor ski resort proposed to be built on parts of the I-95 Landfill Complex in Lorton. The 450,000-square-foot indoor snow sports facility will have a 1,700-foot ski slope and 100-plus room luxury hotel and is expected to open in 2025. Emery and Chief Financial Officer Jim Calder were previously the CEO and CFO of Great Wolf Resorts Inc.

Over the past two weeks, Alpine-X has held two community events — one in person, one on Zoom — drawing more than 450 people, Emery said. The project is still going through the zoning and approvals process with Fairfax County officials.

“The level of interest in the community is well beyond our expectation this early in the process,” Emery said. The response to the stock offering, or crowdfunding, has been good, he added. “It’s a chance for people to have an investment in something local.”

The company plans to use net proceeds from the stock offering to fund early development costs of the first resort and plans for new markets around North America.

Emery said the next two or three proposed sites across the U.S. and Canada are in the works, but did not specify where they are yet. He said each location will roll out 12-18 months after the one before it opens.

Investors will be offered perks to the resorts, such as discounts on merchandise and lift tickets, early access to events, meetings with the founders and limited-edition apparel.

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.”