In July 2021, Beaver Creek Ski Resort debuted their newest family-friendly park, McCoy Park. McCoy Park came just in time for the 2021-2022 ski and snowboard season, and it's the first expansion for the resort in fourteen years. The new ski terrain invites beginner and intermediate skiers to connect through this new season and enables them to elevate their experience on the third installment to Beaver Creek’s collection of learning terrain.
The learning-focused environment that McCoy Park creates is a solution to a problem found in many mountain areas and, debatably, in the ski industry as a whole: the lack of welcoming and safe atmospheres for people wanting to try the sport. McCoy Park was created with beginners in mind, but it's proved to be enjoyable for all levels.
The park adds 250 acres of welcoming beginner and intermediate terrain to Beaver Creek Resort, located at the top of Strawberry Park Express and Upper Beaver Creek Mountain Express, Beaver Creek communications manager Rachel Levitsky tells us.
She describes the park's amazing natural feel, with signature groomed, gladed trails that allow skiers and snowboarders to choose their own adventure. “Not to mention the views from this new bowl setting are absolutely incredible, showcasing the Gore and Sawatch Ranges,” she says. Highlighted by Mount Thomas and Middle Mountain, you cannot get that view anywhere else.
This new terrain offers an extremely unique experience to novice skiers that not many other mountains do, as it provides a Back-Bowl feel specifically tailored to beginners. This expansion will also reduce trail densities throughout the entire mountain, with the added benefit of spreading people out.
“It’s the third installment of our Signature Parks Collection, which is a compilation of learning terrain, and it particularly plays into our ski school. But while it is geared toward beginners and early intermediates, every guest experience that we’ve gotten back is that it's so fun no matter what your level,” Rachel says. “It’s really wide open back there - there are little powder stashes in between and little tree runs that later intermediates or advanced skiers are having a great time with.”
The buildout process of the park took incredible planning coordination from many departments across Beaver Creek and Vail Resorts. The planning process itself took years, and was a developmental goal for decades.
“We were lucky to have experienced leaders and members of the team, from planning to mountain operations to installation of our two new lifts,” Rachel explains. “This project had a particularly compressed timeline, given the wildlife closure this area sees until mid-summer.”
The teams worked with input from skiers of all levels, all with one goal in mind: to deliver the guests a unique and pleasurable venture.
The McCoy Park investment is a commitment to the guest experience. The park’s seventeen new trails enable it to be a place for friends and families alike to connect with nature, and each other, in an accessible bowl setting. “This dedicated progressive learning terrain from the Signature Parks Collection - Haymeadow Park, Red Buffalo Park and now, McCoy Park - move children and families seamlessly through the learning experience,” Rachel says.
McCoy Park continues to welcome and inspire guests and positions Beaver Creek as the destination for families seeking mountain excursions. “It exceeded a lot of people’s expectations,” Rachel says, speaking to the level of inclusivity the park reached. “Everyone can find their own adventure back there. It almost feels like a backcountry experience. It’s tucked away and has expansive panoramic mountain views. It feels like nothing else on Beaver Creek mountain.”