A leader in the state ski industry outlined support for a set of proposed lift improvements at Park City Mountain, describing that the upgrades would especially help manage skiers and snowboarders heading onto the slopes in the morning.
Ski Utah President and CEO Nathan Rafferty attended an open house at the Legacy Lodge on Wednesday at Park City Mountain as the resort prepares for another round of discussions at City Hall centered on the controversial proposed upgrades. The mountain resort wants to build a six-passenger lift as a replacement for two existing ones — Eagle and Eaglet — and to install an eight-passenger lift as an upgrade to the current six-passenger Silverlode Express.
“Some of the toughest stuff about the ski business is the ingress and egress and getting people up and out. Because (of) the areas that you start your ski day, everybody’s got to go there and then you can spread out. Especially on powder days, everybody wants to start at the same time,” Rafferty said.
He said the proposed upgrades “are much, much needed. It’ll be really nice. It will really increase the volume of people that can get out of the base area in the beginning of the day.” Rafferty predicted crowding would be reduced based on the increased capacity.
“It’s a matter of just getting them out of the base area and onto the rest of the overall experience, where there’s lots and lots of elbow room,” he said.
Rafferty likened increased lift capacity to the width of the Park City entryway.
“Imagine if our road into town was still two lanes, one lane in each direction … how tough that would be right now,” he said.
At least several dozen people were in attendance as the event began. They browsed informational poster boards, studied conceptual terrain maps showing the upgraded lifts and spoke to members of the Park City Mountain team. There was scattered talk about the procedural matters that entangled the earlier discussions and propelled the dispute into state court. The potential impact on parking was one of the difficult topics at that time.
The current proposal will be put before the Park City Planning Commission rather than be considered administratively by City Hall staffers. A Planning Commission process is more robust than an administrative one.
Sherie Harding, an Old Town resident, declined to discuss whether she supports the upgrades and said a Planning Commission process appears to be the appropriate route for the proposal. Harding, though, said an upgraded Silverlode Express lift could add to the crowds in that section of the resort.
“I think it’s going to put more people in the bowling alley,” she said, referring to the area of the Homerun run that is a popular route to the Park City-side base of the resort.
John Kanaly, a Park City Mountain spokesperson, said the event was a key gathering in the talks about the proposed upgrades.
“We know how important these lifts are to the community and so having this open house really is a very important step that gives us confidence that we are making the right decisions to make these projects come to fruition,” he said.
Some of the attendees left short messages on sticky notes. They included:
- “Great way to keep traffic flow moving up mtn.”
- “Long overdue.”
- “Great! Looking forward to this!!”
Another person left a message on a sticky note addressing a separate route onto the slopes that is not part of the current talks. The note said: “Please replace the old, slow Town Lift with a new gondola! It would greatly improve the guest experience for thousands of people who stay and live in town while visiting!”