A request by Park City Mountain Resort to upgrade its Eagle and Silverlode lifts will get a public hearing on Monday.
Earlier this year, PCMR submitted an application for a conditional use permit to replace the existing Eagle and Eaglet lifts with a longer single six-person detachable lift and upgrade Silverlode Express from a six-person to an eight-person detachable lift. The new Silverlode Express would be parent company Vail Resorts’ first high-speed eight-person chair in North America.
A Park City Planning Department administrative hearing on the application is slated for noon on Monday at Park City Council chambers in the Marsac Building and virtually on Zoom (parkcity.org/public-meetings).
The resort has a 1998 development agreement that includes an approved mountain upgrade plan. The agreement allows for ski lift upgrades within the plan to be reviewed and approved or rejected administratively.
The PCMR proposal calls for the Eagle and Eaglet lifts to be dismantled, according to a Planning Department staff report. The proposed replacement lift would include an unload-only mid-station for skiers and snowboarders to access other parts of the mountain.
The staff report says although the alignment is changing slightly, the replacement lift will have a similar route as the existing lifts.
The upgrades are not proposed to increase the number of skiers and snowboarders on the mountain, but to reduce lift line wait times and enhance the on-mountain skier experience, according to PCMR.
Comments from the public in emails and letters to the Planning Department about the proposed upgrades have been mixed.
Many supported the upgrades, saying they would make skiing better for both local and out-of-town skiers and snowboarders.
Gregory Neville, a chef and partner in Allora Catering & Events in Park City and an avid skier, said the upgrades would greatly facilitate skier movement around the mountain while keeping in line with current lift alignments.
“By adding these modern and efficient lifts to PCMR, I believe it will be a huge benefit to Park City skiers, our out of town tourists and skiers, and reflect very favorably on Park City as a whole,” he said in an email.
Emily Fisher, the executive director of the Youth Sports Alliance, said more than 500 local youths will learn to ski and ride this year through the organization’s Get Out & Play and ACTiV8 programs at the resort.
“I believe these lift upgrades will not only improve our students experience on the mountain during Friday afternoons but will be an excellent enhancement to all skiers and riders,” Fisher said. “I believe these upgrades will decrease wait time and lift lines for our students. The proposed upgrades will provide an even better experience for the students and instructors who are wrangling them.”
Walt Brett said having a quality skiing experience is very important to him and his wife, Jennifer Lewis Brett.
“These expensive improvements would help address existing issues with crowding and moving visitors around the resort,” Brett wrote in an email. “As the mountain and town have grown it is imperative that the resort operator addresses these types of issues.”
Others worry about drawing more traffic to the area and some object to the placement of the new Eagle lift.
“The new lift will sit right up from our property and will destroy any semblance of privacy we have,” Mike Mangano, who owns a unit at Snowflower Condominiums, said. “One of our two stairways will be rendered useless and the other one will enter right in the middle of the people waiting to get on the lift.”
June Krigman said increasing the capacity of the Silverlode lift will lead to more accidents because “6 people have enough trouble getting off the lift, often falling and knocking others over. 8 people will create even more people falling and getting hurt.” She suggested replacing the Pioneer lift instead.
“There are lovely trails off this lift but hardly anyone uses it because it is so slow,” Krigman said. “A faster lift here would draw skiers away from the Silverlode lift and trails, and spread them across the mountain. This would be a much safer alternative.”
A PCMR blog says the changes are part of Vail Resorts’ Epic Lift Upgrade, a $320 million investment in projects at 14 resorts. The end result will be 12 new high speed chairlifts, a new high-speed gondola and eight new fixed-grip chairlifts, the blog says.
For more information about the PCMR proposed upgrades and the meeting, visit https://granicus_production_attachments.s3.amazonaws.com/parkcity/3928313ba5a4a77381f69f4507a47ba00.pdf.