Colorado skiing has changed a lot during the past decade.

• The skiers of the 1996-97 season had to pay full price for season passes.

• There was no Blue Sky Basin.

• No chairlifts reached the Continental Divide.

• No Ritz-Carlton at Bachelor Gulch or Aspen Highlands.

• You couldn't count on finding a terrain park at every resort, and there was no Echo Mountain.

• No snow reports on the Internet, and, fortunately for the happy skiers of 1996-97, not nearly as much traffic.

What does the next decade hold for the skiers of 2016-17?

Renovation and expansions of base villages are planned, but potential also exists for more terrain.

Some plans are in motion, while others are a big maybe.

"You try to figure out what will work," said Bill Stewart, director of development for Placemaking, the development arm of Intrawest. "Our crystal ball isn't perfect."

Perfect or not, here's a look at what some crystal balls say skiers can expect in the near and not-so-near future.

Better for the kids

Recognizing that if the kids are having fun, everyone is having fun, some resorts are putting money into enhancing facilities for the next generation of skiers.

Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz said families are a core target of the ski industry.

"There is nothing that goes further in earning my loyalty (than) in taking care of my kids right," he said.

So Beaver Creek is planning to put in a children's gondola next year from the base area.

"It will be a very short gondola and quite expensive," Katz said, but "the best way for kids to start skiing is the gondola."

Parents will be able to load kids onto the gondola in the morning. Check-in for the children's programs will take place at the top, above the fray of the village.

Snowmass has kids in mind as part of its "Renaissance at Snowmass," a base renovation with some on-mountain improvements as well.

The first phase includes a 25,000-square-foot children's center, a focal point for the new Base Village.

The facility, scheduled to open early next season, will offer care and programs for children ages 2 months to 18 years. Plans include climbing structures, aquariums, "reading caves," and music and videos for the teen rooms.

The idea is for kids to have an adventure on and off the mountain, Aspen Ski Company spokesman Jeff Hanley said.

"This is going to be the best kids center in the world," he said.

Snowmass aims to improve the experience for beginners.

From the Base Village, beginners can board the Elk Camp Gondola, new this season. New quad and surface lifts will service beginner-only terrain at Elk Camp Meadows. The runs will be isolated so beginners won't have to worry about intermediate and expert skiers flying past them.

Hanley said many beginners spend their vacations on the bunny slopes and never get a feel for the mountain. By locating a beginner area higher up, Snowmass aims to give beginners a better taste of the alpine experience.

More beds

Snowmass plans more lodging, with 600 residential units. Plans call for 359 condominiums, a Westin resort with 229 rooms and suites, and a Little Nell (a spinoff of Aspen's five-star luxury hotel) with 32 suites, by 2010.

Hanley said Aspen visitors have had fewer options as budget hotels have been renovated into spacious luxury condos. Aspen Ski Co. chose to focus on Snowmass because of the availability of undeveloped land and the fact that much of Snowmass's 1970s lodging was due for development and renovation.

At Breckenridge, plans are in the works for the Peaks of Breckenridge, featuring a village at the base of Peak 7 and renovation of the Peak 8 base. The development will include 450 housing units.

Winter Park's master plan calls for 1,500 condominium and hotel units in the next 10 years. Fraser Crossing and Founders Pointe condos, under construction, are 80 percent sold.

Infrastructure

Resorts also have "mixed-use" development plans in the works.

"One of our hopes is to grow the number of guests," said Vail's Katz.

"To do that, you have to grow the infrastructure. That includes places for people to sleep, eat, park and get on the mountain."

Snowmass, Vail, Breckenridge and Winter Park plan to increase retail and restaurant space.

People might come to resorts to ski, but that's not all they want to do, Winter Park general manager Gary DeFrange said.

"They stop skiing at 3 p.m. and are looking for other activities, like shopping and restaurants," he said.

Steamboat is planning a promenade walkway connecting the base of the ski hill with shopping, dinning, accommodations and transportation.

Transportation solutions haven't been overlooked as resorts seek to address parking shortages and long lift lines.

The new Breck Connect gondola, taking skiers from the town of Breckenridge and pay parking lots to Peak 7, was just the start of the Peaks at Breckenridge development.

Beaver Creek is working on a gondola from a new Westin hotel and Avon parking lots to the ski hill, and Winter Park expects to launch a similar mountain-access gondola in 2008.

Ever Vail's $1 billion plan includes a gondola to deliver skiers to the bottom of Chair 26. While the gondola won't service any skiing terrain, it will provide skiers quicker access to Game Creek Bowl and Vail's back bowls, taking pressure off Lionshead.

New Terrain

Making it easier for skiers to get to the mountain, it begs the question: Will the slopes be more crowded by 2017?

"The key thing that guests want to see as you grow the resort - they don't want to see the experience deteriorate," Katz said. "That means new terrain."

Breckenridge, which is consistently in the top three of North American resorts for number of ski visits, planners are beginning the process of expanding to Peak 6. Now accessed only by backcountry skiers who hike up from below, Peak 6 is included in the resort's special-use permit with the Forest Service, and the resort is seeking government approval to begin an environmental impact study.

"Breck has grown significantly," spokeswoman Nicky DeFord said.

"In order to provide the same experience, we need to expand."

Winter Park's on-mountain plans don't extend beyond a lift connecting the bottom of Sunnyside with the top of Parsen Bowl. But DeFrange said the potential exists for new terrain, as the resort only taps 3,000 of the 7,000 acres in its Forest Service permit.

Snowmass plans more expert terrain in the Burnt Mountain area, should skier visits rise.

Arapahoe Basin's Montezuma Bowl lift, to be erected this summer, will almost double the area's skiable terrain.

Montezuma Bowl, off the back side of the top of the Lenawee lift, will add 400 acres of intermediate and expert runs to A-Basin's existing 490 acres.

"It's a very expansive bowl," spokeswoman Leigh Hierholzer said.

"It's diverse with a great variety of terrain."

Remodeling resorts

Some changes going on at some Colorado ski resorts:

• For the kids: Beaver Creek is planning to put in a children's gondola in the base area, and Snowmass is planning a 25,000-square-foot children's center.

• Lodging: Snowmass is planning to add about 600 residential units. Breckenridge's development will include 450 housing units. Winter park plans 1,500 condominium and hotel units in the next 10 years.

• Infrastructure: Snowmass, Vail, Breckenridge and Winter Park have plans to increase retail and restaurant space.

• Terrain: Breckenridge is beginning the process of expanding Peak 6. Snowmass planners have their sights set on opening up more expert terrain in the Burnt Mountain area.

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