The Black Bear Resort group plans to repay construction loans with free cash flow from property sales during the first phase of the project. The developers also could sell the resort to a major resort operator after a few years.

Several existing Western vacation spots are facing financial uncertainty or worse with the ongoing mortgage crisis. They include Park City's Promontory, Nevada's Lake Las Vegas golf resort, Idaho's Tamarack Resort and Montana's venerable Yellowstone Club. And sales are off at other resorts in the region, according to the Rocky Mountain Resort Alliance. But the Black Bear Resort developers remain confident.

"We believe that Black Bear Resort possesses the land, possesses the vision and has the financial model and the development team necessary to put this into place," said Bill Poce, the development group's senior vice president of marketing and sales.

The 2,200-acre, 3-mile-wide mountain phase at Black Bear Resort will include condos, hotels, custom homes, hiking trails and a golf course designed by Tom Weiskopf, as well as a spa, restaurants, an equestrian center and skiing.

Barrett said full build-out of the Mountain Village could take 20 or 30 years and cost $1.5 billion to $2 billion. The first planned large building, with construction starting in 2009 or 2010, will a glass-covered galleria in the ski village.

The 200-acre Lake Community phase is in the concept stage. The Black Bear Resort team envisions a 600-slip marina with public launch areas, a large village development with a shopping and restaurant district, a beach, a boardwalk, an inland bay and waterway system.

The Ranches phase, on about 800 acres, will have five- to 20-acre wooded lots and a members lodge, "so that members can experience more of a rugged mountain feel," Auger said.

Both the Lake and Mountain communities will be open to the public, with some portions, including skiing, available to the public on a limited basis, perhaps one to two days per week.

The lower ski mountain will have about a 700-foot vertical drop. The developers on Thursday acknowledged that the vertical drop is much smaller than those of ski areas near Salt Lake City — Snowbird's vertical drop is 3,240 feet. But the developers said the resort will feature an elaborate snow park with toboggan tunnels and sites for tubing and sledding. Poce said the "intermediate" skiing will be popular.

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Contributing: Associated Press.
E-mail: bwallace@desnews.com