SAM Magazine—Breckenridge, Colo., Oct. 23, 2025—Six-hundred mountain community stakeholders gathered in Breckenridge, Colo., for the Mountain Towns 2030 Climate Solutions Summit, Oct. 9–10. The two-day event brought together resort leaders, municipal officials, energy sector representatives, and nonprofits to share strategies for accelerating local climate action.
Sixty ski area leaders gathered at Arapahoe Basin for a pre-summit sustainability gathering.“We welcomed over 600 leaders from 61 mountain communities and 37 ski resorts,” said MT2030 director Chris Steinkamp, “and many people have told me that this Summit felt especially powerful this year, perhaps because of the record attendance, but also because of the challenges everyone is facing right now.”
Despite the current political headwinds, ski area leaders remain resolved on climate action. “We have a mission and we’re not backing down,” said Arapahoe Basin, Colo., COO Alan Henceroth as he welcomed other resort operators to the ski area for a pre-summit gathering held Oct. 8.
The gathering at A-Basin brought roughly 60 ski area representatives together ahead of the summit for a facilitated discussion about sustainability priorities, partnerships, and workforce engagement. It was organized in partnership with MT2030, SAM, the National Ski Areas Association, Vail Resorts, and host A-Basin, and sponsored by PepsiCo, Brendle Group, and SE Group.
The summit in Breckenridge combined general sessions with Q&A panels, keynote lectures, and topical breakouts on energy, transportation, waste, and advocacy. The agenda reflected MT2030’s emphasis on peer learning and scalable, place-based solutions.
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Key themes included building bipartisan and cross-sector partnerships to maintain progress despite the current political climate, and the urgent need to transition to renewable, clean energy.
The latter was central to the keynote from acclaimed environmentalist Bill McKibben, who noted that despite the turn in the U.S. back toward fossil fuels, solar and wind have never been cheaper and are growing rapidly worldwide. In his closing remarks, McKibben urged attendees to lean into solar power as a key tool to mitigate the deepening climate crisis. “Climate change is a damaged relationship with the sun,” he said. “The way to repair it is to deepen that relationship, to turn to the sun.”
The MT2030 coalition, launched in 2019 in Park City, Utah, aims to unite mountain communities around measurable climate goals. This year’s summit underscored the growing network of resorts and municipalities linking environmental work to community resilience and economic health.
“The Summit has really become a place where mountain community leaders can collaborate, find inspiration and make progress,” said Steinkamp. “Coming together reminds us that our work truly matters and that, despite everything happening in the world, real progress is still possible.”
Next year’s summit will meet in Sun Valley, Idaho, on Oct. 13–14, 2026.
