Girdwood 2020 Annual Meeting looks to the future:
Speakers offer a glimpse of recent and upcoming projects at Alyeska Resort

Ken Smith/Turnagain Times U.S. Sen. Ted Stevens stands with former V.P. of Alyeska Resort, Chris von Imhof. Sen. Stevens, a resident of Girdwood, was a guest speaker at Girdwood 2020’s annual meeting.

Ken Smith/Turnagain Times U.S. Sen. Lisa Murkowski, a Girdwood resident and Alaska’s first woman U.S. Senator, stands next to former State Representative and Alaska’s first woman Speaker of the House (1995-1998) Gail Phillips. Sen. Murkowski was a guest speaker at the Girdwood 2020 8th Annual Meeting Feb. 16 at The Hotel Alyeska.

By Ken Smith
Turnagain Times

Girdwood 2020’s Eighth Annual Meeting was held Feb. 16 at The Hotel Alyeska. As usual, the fundraiser featured a who’s who of Girdwood and Anchorage business people and politicians, including Girdwood’s two resident U.S. Senators, Ted Stevens and Lisa Murkowski. The two senators opened the ceremony with short speeches about Girdwood and its future.
Sen. Stevens spoke first, addressing the audience that filled the Columbia Ballroom with praise and hopeful expectations of the future of the resort.
“I hope that John Byrne (the Resort’s owner) keeps the dream alive to develop Alyeska Resort,” Stevens said. “It was a great dream, and I have a special interest in it with the Winner Creek Trail, to turn it into a first class trail.”
Stevens explained how a slip and a fall when he was hiking the trail with Chris von Imhof, then V.P. of the resort, motivated him to obtain funding to build a boardwalk on part of the trail. Stevens’ was instrumental in allocating more than a million dollars to upgrade the trail with a wide wooden boardwalk stretching for more than a mile along with interpretative displays.
“I think we’re all here because that dream is still alive,” Stevens said, “and I really think that this can become a world class resort.”
Sen. Murkowski spoke next and talked about the unusual situation of a small resort community in Alaska being home to both the state’s U.S. Senators.
“This is the only community where two Senators only a half-mile apart share the same residents,” she said. “I gush at being here, and I am proud to be a part of a community and part of a state that cares so much about our future, and I am proud of how we are making Girdwood part of the future.”
Following the two Senators, Anchorage Mayor Mark Begich took the podium. Some in the audience thought Begich may announce his candidacy for the democratic ticket to run against Sen. Stevens, but the mayor kept his presentation brief and stuck to the theme of Girdwood’s future.
“We’re in our twentieth year of economic growth,” he said, “for Anchorage and Girdwood. A high priority for the community is to make it a world class resort.”
Begich outlined some of the latest projects transforming Girdwood, such as the future downtown development of Dr. Jeff Demain’s Glacier City Center, expected to break ground this summer, and the Girdwood Library and Community Center, which will have a grand opening in May.
“The best part of this facility is it’s going to be turn-key,” Begich said. “We are going to have money to pay for labor, and money won’t be a problem.”
Begich went on to talk about the Lower Matrix Crow Creek development, where 40 single-family lots will be available this year, the first of several planned residential developments in the area. He concluded, talking about land the city donated in the new townsite, and the next big project—a new Girdwood Middle School.
“It was about five years ago when I attended the first town hall meeting,” Begich said.
“I was a little scared, but the end result, is this community is thriving. Every time I come down to this community, you people really step up to the plate and make things happen.”
The final speakers were Larry Daniels, V.P. of residential development for the resort and Project Director Bob Gross.
The two men offered a brief overview of some of the immediate projects planned at the resort and The Hotel Alyeska. They started by stating that the objective was to develop an economically sustainable four-season resort that is family friendly, and most importantly, to be environmentally responsible.
The latest projects already completed, they said, were the Tramway Café in the hotel, and a new mountain sports and ski shop, which will offer high end mountain bikes in the summer.
At the hotel several million dollars has been spent upgrading all the guest rooms, new carpet was installed and new audio and visual systems and appliances, and at the Day Lodge, the popular local café, the Java Haus, re-opened.
Daniels and Gross finished by mentioning some of the exciting new projects soon to get underway, including completing a trail system for hiking the North Face, which should be finished sometime next year, and mountain biking trails starting at the top of the mountain that may be ready this year or the following summer.
Finally, they talked about construction of a new parking lot at the tram, building a new chair 3 with a fixed quad lift, a mini-tram to the top of the mountain, and a new high-speed quad four chairlift to replace chair 4, which should happen in time for the 2009 season.
“With John Byrne, and his passion, we’ll make things happen,” Gross said to great applause.