Snowbird's enhanced snowmaking and realignment of part of Chip's Run surrounding last season's new Peruvian Express chairlift is but one of the many enhancements on tap this winter at Utah's 13 ski and snowboard resorts. |
Alta Ski Area
NEW TICKETS: Alta is implementing a skier-friendly, web-friendly, hands-free ticketing system. All ski products will be loaded on the Alta Card, which will have an RFID (radio frequency identification) chip embedded in it to allow access through entry gates to the lifts. The hands-free system means no more showing a pass at every lift. Skiers place the Alta Card, with a valid ski product loaded on it, inside a pocket by itself and leave it there for the day; antennas will do the rest. At the end of the day, skiers can visit alta.com and enter the Web ID on the Alta Card to personalize the card, track ski history and reload the card. On the next ski day, skiers can go straight to the lifts and skip the extra stop at the ticket office.
SKIING GREEN: Alta Ski Area is a Visionary Partner with Rocky Mountain Power through the Blue Sky program. Alta will purchase 900,000 kilowatt-hours (kWh) for the next twelve-month period, offsetting over 23 percent of Alta’s traditional energy consumption. The environmental impact is equivalent to avoiding 900 tons of CO2 emissions per year, ski area officials say.
Beaver Mountain
EXPANDED PARKING: Beaver Mountain will be celebrating their 69th ski season this winter. One of the few remaining family-owned and operated ski resorts in the United States, they are expanding their parking lots to better accommodate their guests.
Brian Head Resort
INTERCONNECT: There have not been many changes in the past 20 years at Brian Head Resort, but this summer a transformation has been in progress. The ski resort, tucked away in the mountains of southeastern Utah above Cedar City, is undergoing a dramatic expansion. Their two separate mountains, Giant Steps and Navajo, will become interconnected with two new lifts and a skier bridge across the highway which will add nearly 35% more terrain.
Brighton Resort
MILLY GETS A HIGH SPEED QUAD: Brighton’s big news this year is the new Millicent High Speed Quad. The new ski lift will replace the Evergreen and Millicent chairlifts.
The Millicent Chair was the first lift installed at Brighton in 1947 and then rebuilt to a Lift Engineering chair in 1974. The new lift, a $4.2 million Doppelmayr CTEC Detachable Quad, will be 3,920 feett long with a vertical rise of 1,110 feet. Brighton skiers will now be able to enjoy a quick lap on the Millicent side of the mountain. When the lift is finished, Brighton will be unique in Utah in that 100% of its terrain will be accessible by high-speed lifts.
The Canyons Resort
ON THE RISE: Over the next two to five years, over a dozen sites at The Canyons will be either under construction or about to break ground, including the addition of a Golden Door Spa that will be located in The Dakota Mountain Lodge. Visitors will also enjoy the new Silverado Lodge, which officially opened last March complete with suite lodging, a concierge, shuttle service, a year-round pool and a complete fitness center.
DREAM SKIING: The Canyons is glading out more of the new Dream Catcher area that opened up more than 200 acres of terrain last season. A hidden secret on the mountain last winter, this season it is bound to be discovered by more people in search of some of fine tree skiing.
Deer Valley Resort
Deer Valley will invest $9 million in improvements for the 2007-2008 ski season.
LADY MORGAN EXPRESS: A new high-speed detachable quad chairlift, Lady Morgan Express, will be built in the Empire Canyon area. The area will include over 200 new skiable acres, 65 acres of gladed skiing and eight new runs.
HEAT IT UP: Enhanced, energy efficient heater systems will be installed in all 22 chairlift terminals.
HIGH-TECH SNOW MAINTENANCE: New Snow Scan Ground Penetrating Radar, combined with a GPS system, will provide color coded maps of snow depth on any part of the mountain, allowing the resort to manage their snow more efficiently.
Park City Mountain Resort
SKI THE TREES: The landscape between Single Jack and Sunnyside runs has been dramatically changed by glading aspens to create aesthetically pleasing runs for intermediate and advanced skiers and riders. This area is called Motherlode Meadows and provides improved tree access to the Motherlode lift.
NEW RUN: A new run off of McConkey’s lift will bring PCMR's total trail count to 106. The new trail, named Georgeanne after an old mining claim located in this area, will extend from the top of Tycoon to the bottom of McConkey’s Bowl, providing low-intermediates an easier way down from McConkey’s lift.
LIGHTER ENERGY: PCMR is working on a lighting retrofit using energy-efficient CFLs, more energy-efficient fluorescent bulbs and electronic ballasts in the corporate offices, the maintenance buildings and the Resort lodge. This retrofit will reduce the Resort’s lighting energy use by 50 percent.
Powder Mountain
FACE LIFT: After several seasons of record growth, the primary focus of the Powder Mountain management team is to adapt existing facilities to accommodate more guests. The Sundown Resort Center and Hidden Lake Lodge will receive face lifts, not only to update their appearance, but also to improve the overall guest experience.
NEW DEALS FOR LOCALS: A new midweek discount card “Utah Powder Pass” for Utah residents. The card costs $30 if purchased by October 31st and will save participants $13 from the cost of an all-day lift pass. With the Powder Pass, an adult day pass on Monday through Friday is discounted to $40.
SNOWKITE FESTIVAL: The relatively new sport of Snowkiting will be the feature of a new festival at Powder Mountain on February 8–10, 2008. Daytime activities at the resort during the festival will include introductory kite clinics, kite demos, a freestyle competition and kitercross races. The festival is co-sponsored by Utah Kite Addiction, Utah’s first PASA certified snowkite school and Best Kiteboarding.
Snowbasin
GO BEYOND TRACKS: Snowbasin will offer backcountry guided tours to groups of two to 10 skiers or snowboarders who are looking for a new ski adventure. Connect with nature through half day tours which go into terrain within and outside Snowbasin’s permit boundary. Guided groups can load the lifts before they are open to the general public.
Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort
MORE SNOW: Snowbird installed more snowmaking in Peruvian Gulch, providing snowmaking coverage from the top of the new Peruvian Express lift to the bottom.
CHIPS STEPS IT UP: Snowbird modified a segment of Chips Run to make the terrain more intermediate-skier friendly.
BIG MOUNTAIN CAMPS: In 2008, Dean Cummings brings his Big Mountain Camps for skiers and snowboarders to Snowbird, providing guests with the famed big mountain experience.
NEW REAL ESTATE: Mt. Superior Residence Club, the first new real estate development at Snowbird Ski & Summer Resort in over two decades, broke ground during the summer of 2007 and will open in 2009.
Solitude
GOLDEN AGE: Solitude Mountain Resort celebrates their Golden Anniversary this winter. Fifty years ago, the first skiers descended off the slopes of Solitude in Big Cottonwood Canyon. The Salt Lake City-area resort now boasts 1,200 acres of uncrowded terrain, including Honeycomb Canyon, and a European style lodging village. This monumental season will be celebrated with historical podcasts and retro events.
Sundance Resort
NEW WEB SITE: Sundance Resort is about to unveil a brand new web site. The new site will be more animated and user friendly, containing the most up-to-date information on the Sundance experience.
Wolf Mountain
WOLF LAIR TRIPLE CHAIR: The new lift is located at the base of the mountain next to the Wolfdeedo Chair, serving the Wolf Lair Sports Park and increasing capacity by approximately 1,000 skiers/boarders per hour, bringing total lift capacity to 3,500 riders per hour. In addition to servicing the park, this chair will expand the beginner ski terrain by 15%.
“The addition of the Lair Triple will allow us to expand our offerings to first timers. We engineer our packages to be user friendly, from close proximity of parking to our learning center yurt, to the gentle terrain serviced by our beginner chairs,” said Bill Cox, Wolf Mountain's general manager.
