Park City Mountain Resort reopened the Town Lift Friday morning after a mechanical problem forced its closure for part of the week.
The resort reported that the lift reopened at a little before 9 a.m., at the same time it would open on a normal day.
There was just a handful of skiers or snowboarders seen riding the lift by 9:30 a.m., and there were few people spotted skiing or snowboarding on the runs that lead to the Town Bridge and the bottom terminal of the lift. Fifteen minutes later skiers and snowboarders started arriving at the Town Lift Plaza at the start of a ski day, though.
There also appeared to be skiers and snowboarders heading into The Bridge Café, a restaurant steps from the bottom of the lift, before their ski day started. The restaurant had said earlier in the week the closure of the lift had badly hurt business.
A spokesperson for PCMR said two of the three ski runs along the hillside the Town Lift climbs are open. The third one is closed based on snow conditions not on the problem with the lift, Andy Miller, the spokesperson, said.
“We feel it’s ready to go. No one was looking at this more closely than our own guys,” Miller said.
The resort has indicated a problem in the gear box forced the lift to be closed. The gear box is an important part of the insides of the lift. PCMR has not provided details about the problems with the gear box.
The Town Lift, three-person lift, is one of the resort’s older ones. According to the resort, the lift climbs 1,170 feet in 13 minutes. It has a capacity of 1,800 people per hour. The 13-minute ride is the longest of the resort’s lifts.
It is an especially important lift for PCMR since it links the slopes with Main Street, which has long been seen as a competitive advantage for both the resort and Main Street, particularly the lower section of the street. People staying in properties on lower Main Street as well as Parkites living on nearby streets like Park Avenue, Woodside Avenue and Norfolk Avenue heavily use the Town Lift.
Miller said the lift passed a state safety inspection in October. The Park Record was unable to contact state regulators about the recent problem. A division of the Utah Department of Transportation oversees ski lifts in the state.
The mechanical problem that forced the closure came roughly one month after PCMR briefly delayed the opening of the Town Lift for the season. The December opening was pushed back slightly after the resort said a rare part of the lift needed to be replaced. The resort did not provide details about the part but said other places under the ownership of PCMR parent Powdr Corp. did not have a spare one to provide to the Town Lift.