Afton Alps, the popular, family-run ski area in south Washington County, has been sold.

The Augustine family announced Thursday, Dec. 6, that Afton Alps has agreed to be purchased by Vail Resorts Inc. of Colorado.

The sale is expected to take place before the end of the year; the sale price was not disclosed.

Vail Resorts plans to upgrade the ski area in Denmark Township and use it to connect Twin Cities skiers to its resorts in Colorado and Lake Tahoe, said Amy Augustine Reents, one of the owners of Afton Alps. Season-pass holders at Afton Alps, for example, will receive a 25 percent discount off the window rate on lift tickets at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, Keystone, Heavenly, Northstar and Kirkwood, according to a release issued by Vail Resorts.

Reents said she and her brothers, David and John Augustine, and the other Afton Alps employees will continue to work at the ski area; Reents will serve as manager of resort marketing and community relations.

“For the people who come here, it’s still going to be a hometown hill,” Reents said. “There won’t be a big shakeup as far as that goes.”

“We had no plans to sell, but they came to the marketplace, looking to purchase,” she said. “We’ve had conversations for some time. We’re very aware of what Vail Resorts can do for Afton Alps in the form of investments and leadership. They can take us into the future with great success.

“This was not an easy decision for our family, but it is one that we’re excited about — for our customers and our employees,” she said.

In the early 1960s, Reents’ father, Paul Augustine, her uncle Robert Augustine and their friend Tom Furlong — all farmers — turned acres of farmland in south Washington County into a winter playground. Paul Augustine died in January 2011

“He was a farmer who just enjoyed skiing,” Reents told the Pioneer Press at the time. “He thought this was something he could build.”

On opening day — Dec. 21, 1963 — Afton Alps hosted 37 skiers and had a T-bar lift, two towropes and a single chalet.

Now the ski hill is a 300-acre recreation area with 48 trails, 18 lifts and an 18-hole golf course. It draws 250,000 people a year. During the winter, Afton Alps employs about 1,000 part-time workers.

Mary Divine can be reached at 651-228-5443. Follow her at twitter.com/MaryEDivine.