Feds give green light for Nordic trails, transit at Hatcher Pass

WASILLA — It’s something the Mat-Su Ski Club and other cross country skiing enthusiasts have been waiting for since at least 1987.

“It’s a great day for residents of the borough,” Mat-Su Borough Assemblyman Jim Colver said after the recent approval of an environmental document clearing the way for new Nordic trails at Hatcher Pass. “After many years of waiting, we finally have the green light to build a new access road and world-class Nordic ski trails!”

On Jan. 8, the Federal Transit Administration issued its decision on an environmental impact statement on the access infrastructure to alpine and Nordic recreation areas on the southern side of Hatcher Pass in the borough’s Nordic Ski Area, according to a borough press release.

In addition to giving the go-ahead to begin clearing the way for up to 10 kilometers of new Nordic ski trails, infrastructure for the Nordic area includes a one-mile road off Edgerton Parks Road into the southern part of the pass, a parking lot for 210 vehicles and six transit buses, and a transit facility. Work to the alpine area will include an upgrade to an existing road, an enlarged parking area and a transit facility.

The FTA provided $6 million to complete the environmental study and to cover some of the infrastructure. Until additional funding can be secured, only the Nordic facilities will be built at this time, the borough said.

But that’s just fine with avid skier and former ski coach Ed Strabel.

“It has all the components of a great Nordic area,” Strabel said Thursday. “This will be great for the high school ski teams. In the past, they could rarely have a home ski meet and could never host a regional championship. We have the best snow at Hatcher Pass, but can’t take buses up there.”

With the help of volunteers from the Mat-Su Ski Club and others willing to lend a hand, Strabel said trees and brush can be cleared in March or April — before the tree-cutting moratorium for migratory birds hits in May.

He said they’ve already scoped out areas for putting in three different competitive loops — the Moose, Knight and Warrior loops — for future high school races.

“We should have the trails in and skiable by next winter,” Strabel said. “We’re assuming the road gets built in the summer and fall, though.”

The borough’s Community Development Department Manager Jeff Dillon said volunteer labor will go a long way toward filling in the funding gaps.

“The volunteers will take the $180,000 of available funds and turn it into $400,000,” Dillon said. “They’ll double the money.”

Mat-Su Borough staff is working with the Mat-Su Ski Club on a memorandum of agreement for construction of the trails. While volunteer labor is building the trails, a contractor will provide construction oversight for trail stability and environmental concerns, the borough’s press release said. The cutting of brush can begin as soon as the memorandum of agreement is signed, but the trail dirt work probably won’t begin until the one-mile road is roughed in, Dillon said.

Assemblyman Vern Halter pointed to the economic diversification the new ski areas will provide.

“In a single year, visitors spend $101 million in the Mat-Su,” Halter said. “This new recreational attraction will keep pushing those dollars up.”

The professionally designed cross country trails will ultimately attract international competitions and the hundreds of team supporters who attend such events.

Mark Stigar, a board member for the Mat-Su Ski Club, said he couldn’t be more thrilled.

“The Ski Club is actively partnering with the Mat-Su Borough to develop Mat-Su’s first Nordic Ski Complex, which not only will be a huge recreational asset, but also an economic catalyst by bringing in Nordic competition events and other recreational opportunities from across the state.”

The borough is seeking funding for Nordic phase 2. The project is in the assembly’s state priorities list for $4 million.

Phase 2 includes an extension of the access road, additional parking, a chalet with food service, restrooms and other amenities, an outdoor stadium for mass starts and competitions and10 kilometers of lighted Olympic-class trails.

For more information, call borough project manager Brad Sworts at 746-7430 or borough public affairs director Patty Sullivan at 745-9577 or psullivan@matsugov.us.

Contact K.T. McKee at kate.mckee@frontiersman.com or 352-2252.