Ski Area Upgrades

[stefan]

Resort adds more lifts
September 3rd, 2008 @ 3:30pm

(KSL News) A helicopter dropped off quite the load at Solitude today. The towers are for two new high-speed quads.

Solitude says it is trying to keep pace with Utah's growing skier numbers by adding more lifts.

The Apex Express and the Moonbeam Express will each carry 2400 skiers an hour at a ride time of 4 minutes.

[accadacca]

Yep. I saw the footings that they had poured for this when we rode the mtn bike trail up there on Tuesday.

[stefan]

Ski areas busy with offseason upgrades
By Mike Gorrell
The Salt Lake Tribune

SOLITUDE - Even more than Monday's premature snow flurries, a succession of helicopter flights here on a clear blue Wednesday morning signaled that winter is not far off.

Solitude Mountain Resort took advantage of a clement fallish day to use a helicopter to put into place support towers for two new high-speed quad chairlifts.

Park City Mountain Resort has similar plans for today - as long as it doesn't get too windy - scheduling an aerial lift-building session for a new high-speed quad, called Crescent, that will supplement the existing Ski Team lift.

The two construction projects are part of roughly $30 million in improvements that Utah ski resorts are putting into place this summer, hoping to capitalize on residual fervor from a season in which skiers and boarders played on frequently replenished slopes. By season's end, more than 700 inches of snow were recorded at Alta Ski Area, which traditionally receives more snow than other Utah resorts.

It took until midsummer to melt all of that snow, delaying the start of some offseason projects. But from Brian Head down south to Beaver Mountain up north, Utah's 13 active ski areas are racing to complete their work before it starts falling again in earnest.

"They definitely had the weather on their side today," Solitude Mountain Resort spokesman Nick Como said Wednesday as a helicopter ferried 23 lift towers to their new mountain spots. In the next few weeks, those towers will be linked with steel cables and other accessories to become a pair of high-speed quads, dubbed Apex Express and Moonbeam Express.

"It took forever for the snow to melt, but they're ahead of schedule now. Both lifts should be ready for opening day," said Como, noting that extensive grading work around the summit of the Apex Express will create a smoother transition slope for beginners and intermediates upon exiting the chair.

Solitude's $7 million investment is significant but still less expensive than the upgrades at two Park City-area resorts.

Park City Mountain Resort is spending $10.5 million to make the area it has called Ski Team Ridge more accessible to recreational skiers and boarders. The high-speed Crescent quad will climb higher up the ridge that will now be known as Crescent Ridge chairlift.

"The new chairlift will be a great new access point out of the base area," said resort spokeswoman Paula Altschuler, adding that the chair will make it easier to reach some of the resort's best expert terrain, slopes enhanced with the shaping of a new run and some glading work.

Renovations also are under way at Park City's Mid-Mountain Lodge. Similar work is under way at Deer Valley, where $8 million in upgrades are being made to Empire Canyon Lodge and Cushing's Cabin, which is near the convergence of four lifts at the top of Flagstaff Mountain.

The new cabin will seat 40-45 guests and will house a ski patrol office and restrooms.

The third Park City-area resort, The Canyons, is installing a gondola and a fixed-grip quad chair to improve internal traffic flow and has done some glading work to enhance tree skiing off the Peak 5 lift.

Elsewhere, Brighton Resort has invested $1.5 million in a 3,500-square-foot day lodge, called Milly Chalet, at the bottom of the Milly high-speed quad chairlift. Beaver Mountain also is making $300,000 in improvements to its traditional A-frame day lodge near the top of Logan Canyon, and Snowbasin replaced its beginner lift with a detachable quad.