Plans for an indoor ski resort for Fairfax in Virginia are still live five years after they were first announced, despite construction not yet getting underway, the company behind the plan says.

Alpine X, whose team includes ski racing superstar Bode Miller, initially announced their plans for a first centre at Fairfax, Virginia in 2019 and said they intended to open at least 10 similar facilities across North America, with a several more possible locations announced in Texas.

Fairfax Peak, will be a 450,000-square-foot (42,000sqm) indoor facility with its longest slope at 1,700 feet (520m). It won approval from the Fairfax County Supervisors in November 2020 allowing the project to move ahead.

Detailed plans had been expected to be filed with the Fairfax County Board of Supervisors in late 2022, but these have been moved back to later this year.

“The current markets/inflationary construction costs have impacted our timeline. However, our goal is to transition to rapid development as soon as these factors improve,” an AlpineX spokesperson said last year.

However, talking to DC News Now in April, Alpine X’s CEO John Emery said he hopes construction will begin next year and that the centre will open in 2027.

Besides the indoor snow area the $500 million facility will also include a mountain coaster, gondola lift and a 300-room hotel. It is expected to bring in around 900,000 visitors a year, with an annual economic impact of at least $100 million to Fairfax. At the same time it will make snow sports easy to get for people living in the DC region and “super affordable” MR Emery said.

Currently the only indoor snow centre in the US is the Big Snow centre in New Jersey which was built in 2008 and finally opened in late 2019.