Moving Mountains to a Permanent Home for Ignite Adaptive Sports

To our dedicated Ignite Community:

While we’re all taking an unfortunate break from teaching lessons on the mountain, I want to take this opportunity to update you about the progress being made on securing a new permanent home for Ignite at Eldora. While we are all fond of “World Headquarters”, the events of the past week provide further evidence as to why being crammed into our 2,300 square foot dilapidated trailers is not sustainable.

What started as a dream a number of years ago is now looking like ground breaking this coming summer. It has been a long and entertaining road as we have powered our way through the Boulder County approval processes while working closely with Eldora and their parent company Powdr.

Our original building plan was a 5,000 square foot, one-story Ignite specific building that included a daunting $5 million fundraising goal (a huge feat for any non-profit and more than Ignite has raised collectively in our 45 years of existence). Working with Eldora management, the building has evolved into a 12,000 square foot multi-use resource with a state-of-the-art adaptive facility on the first floor, a modern children’s ski school and dining facility on the second floor and suitable public restrooms.

With Eldora’s increased role, operating the second-floor facilities, Ignite’s capital campaign goal has reduced to a far more manageable $1.9 million and includes a 50-year ironclad commitment to Ignite with multiple 20-year extensions. 

Boulder County, Eldora, Powdr and your Ignite board have all worked hard to overcome a host of obstacles to get us to here. We have obtained the necessary Special Use Permit and are about to file for a Building Permit.  We are on target to break ground on our new home this summer. The summit is within reach!   

I invite you to join the board, staff, donors, students and fellow volunteers to help us reach the $1.9 million needed to get our new home built. We are off to a good start, but still have a long way to go. Please consider a gift to our capital campaign.  If you know someone, some foundation or company that might be interested in donating to the cause, please reach out to either me at [email protected] or Carol Nickell, our Executive Director at [email protected].

Tom Kissinger, Ignite Board President

Visit our Moving Mountains Webpage for more details.