Just as the icy weather had us digging the ski rack out of deep storage, comes this wintertime wipeout. Conditions are not looking so hot (cold?) at the state’s largest ski park, as Sunrise Ski Resort recently announced it will only be opening one of its three mountains this season. This on the heels of another setback in Arizona Snowbowl‘s eight-year-long battle to add snowmaking machines to its slopes overlooking Flagstaff.

In other words, maybe it’s time to get serious about building that proposed indoor Ski park here in the Valley.

Yes, it might be sunset at Sunrise as Tucson’s KOLD is reporting that the future of Arizona’s largest ski resort is “on thin ice and faces possible closure. Citing the tough economic times, Sunrise Park Resort, located in Eastern Arizona, announced it will be closing two of its three mountains for the upcoming ski season.’The White Mountain Apache Tribe, along with Sunrise management are being pro-active in decision making and are facing difficult choices’ stated Marilyn Lovato, Sunrise Park Resort General Manager.”

Meanwhile, over in Flagstaff, a compromise that was supposed to settle a nearly decade-long dispute over using treated wastewater to make snow has hit another bump in the trail. Long story short, several local Native American tribes (including the owners of Sunrise), which consider the San Francisco Peaks their sacred ancestral homeland, have fought the Snowbowl owner’s efforts to supplement Mother Nature by coating the slopes with a steady supply of snow created from treated, recycled sewer water. Although the Tribes have lost multiple court cases, Snowbowl and the city of Flagstaff tried to soothe the hard feelings by offering to use purified drinking water instead.

However, that compromise quickly melted away after the Flagstaff city council shot down the use of purified water, citing the additional $11M price tag over the next 20 years, according to Ski Net. All of which has left Snowbowl owner, Eric Borowsky, lamenting to the Wall Street Journal, “We only occupy one percent of the peaks. Can’t we share this?”

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