Oquirrh, Utah Ski Area Plans

[Twisted]

Does anyone know anything about the plans for a new Ski area on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley in the Oquirrh Mountains. I saw a report in the Salt Lake Tribune that said it was a near certainty but I haven't heard of anything since.

If a new resort were to be built how long does that take? Are we talking about five years of development time or if they break ground this summer could it be operational sooner than that?

I know a west side resort wouldn't get nearly as much snow as the east side but I'm curious to see what a brand new resort would be like.

 

[Admin]

It's my understanding that it's very much a long-range plan. Some cynics contend that it's more of a PR move to drive interest in Kennecott's real estate sales than a serious consideration.

 

[Marc_C]

There have been rumors and "plans" for an Oquirrh ski area for the past 10 or 15 years. Right now I'd say:
1) Don't buy speculative real estate based on plans for a ski area
2) Don't hold your breath

 

[gwest]

There have been rumors and "plans" for an Oquirrh ski area for the past 10 or 15 years. Right now I'd say:
1) Don't buy speculative real estate based on plans for a ski area
2) Don't hold your breath

3)the oquirrhs dont get nearly as much as the cottonwoods (especially not where they'd put the ski area)

 

[jamesdeluxe]

it's a huge waste of capital compared to so many other projects that could have been built instead.

The Oquirrhs!

 

[Tony Crocker]

The Oquirrhs!

are nearly as natural snow challenged as Mayflower. The Cottonwood microclimate area is quite small, much as most Utah marketing directors would like you to believe otherwise.

 

[jamesdeluxe]

are nearly as natural snow challenged as Mayflower.

The late 2007/early 2008 discussion underscored that. No one mentioned the range again on FTO in a lift-served skiing context.

I like the spelling though: Oquirrhs. The word looks and sounds like a cool place for a ski area.

 

[jimk]

Oquirrh Mtns, from the Native American word meaning "wood sitting". They are on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley. They look pretty snowy, but don't collect snow quite like the Wasatch Mtns (where many ski areas are situated on the east side). BTW, because SLC is pinched between the two ranges it occasionally results in poor air quality, especially during January inversions. Qquirrh is pronounced Oak-er.

Here are a few photos I've taken of these mountains in recent years:

View of the Oquirrhs from Old Mill Golf Course in Cottonwood Heights, a very nice public course.

From the Jordan River trail near Thanksgiving Point. This trail runs north to south for about 45 miles from SLC to Provo, UT. Fairly flat and very nice for spring and early summer bike rides.

From Dimple Dell Regional Park near Granite, UT.

View of the northern end of the Oquirrh Mtns from the Bonneville Shoreline Trail above Holladay, UT. The Great Salt Lake is in the distant center of this photo. Downtown Salt Lake City is to the right, just out of the frame.

The highest elevation in the Oquirrh Mtns is Flat Top Mountain at 10,620 feet. All above photos were taken looking towards the west.

 

[ChrisC]

I like the spelling though: Oquirrhs. The word looks and sounds like a cool place for a ski area.

There was a very in-depth article about Why All Major Utah Ski Resorts Exist Within Just a Small Sliver of the State.

Reason #6: Industrial Activity
So this just leaves two ranges left in the state—the Oquirrh Mountains and the Wasatch Range—and if you aren’t super familiar with Utah’s local hills, we probably haven’t even covered any resorts you’ve heard of yet. And of these two ranges, both of which border Salt Lake City, it turns out that the Oquirrhs are home to none of these resorts.

There are a couple of factors that hurt the Oquirrh Mountains as a home to ski resorts, including the fact that they’re just comparably less snowy and intense terrain-wise than the Wasatch Range, but the biggest one of all is that a substantial portion of this 30-mile mountain range is privately owned.

Yes, the Oquirrhs are home to one of the most substantial mining operations in North America—including the Bingham Canyon Mine, which is currently the deepest open-pit mine in the world—and a smelter complex at the far northern end of the range. A small fraction of the Oquirrhs are still open for development, but some of this land isn’t exactly desirable due to the nearby industrial complexes.

Plans did swirl to develop a ski resort within the range in the late 2000s—and the footprint would likely offer the snow, terrain, and available infrastructure to support it—but these plans never came to fruition, and the Oquirrhs remain backcountry-accessible only to this day.



Although Kellogg ID/Silver Mt was a SuperFund site:

What caused the contamination?

Mining, milling, and smelting produced large volumes of tailings (waste rock and ore residues) that were deposited in rivers, floodplains, hillsides, and adjacent lands.

The smelter in Kellogg operated until around 1981 and emitted heavy metals such as lead, zinc, cadmium, and others into air, soil and water — with serious health implications.

 

[jimk]

The Bingham Canyon/Kennecott copper mine is the brown area in the far distance directly behind the line of the trail in this photo:

 

[jamesdeluxe]

Kellogg ID/Silver Mt was a SuperFund site:

During my 2021 visit, learning about its Superfund history immediately got my antenna up because I grew up only five miles from what for many decades was referred to as the most polluted lake in the country.

 

[jimk]

I suppose you could say the presence of toxic waste from old mining operations is a dirty little secret at a number of western ski towns. Part of the history of such places. I believe Aspen and Park City also had this problem.
I've heard tell of a neighborhood(s) on the west side of the Salt Lake Valley, perhaps Daybreak, that looks a little like The Truman Show neighborhood and has fake plants and astro turf in the yards because the homes are built over old toxic waste areas/ponds from the Kennecott Copper mine. I presume these areas were deemed safe before residential construction was permitted?

 

[jamesdeluxe]

fake plants and astro turf in the yards because the homes are built over old toxic waste areas/ponds from the Kennecott Copper mine. I presume these areas were deemed safe before residential construction was permitted?

I wonder about the price point of these homes -- are they so inexpensive that people would purchase them knowing what's lurking underneath, whether it's legally covered or not.