Park City Mountain on Wednesday evening secured the key approvals needed to move forward with lift improvements it sought for more than four years, but became entangled in procedural matters before the final rounds of talks in recent months.
The Park City Planning Commission cast a unanimous vote on the resort’s bid to replace the existing Eagle and Eaglet lifts with a six-passenger lift and install an eight-passenger lift as a replacement for the current six-passenger Silverlode Express lift.
People inside the crowded Park City Council chambers applauded after the first vote, covering the Eagle and Eaglet lifts.
The Planning Commission received approximately 45 minutes of public testimony, nearly all in support of the upgrades, before members voted.
Speakers addressed issues such as the aging infrastructure at the resort, youngsters’ ability to ski more laps with the upgrades and anticipation that the new lifts will not lead to overcrowding on the slopes. There was limited testimony raising safety concerns.
Planning Commissioner John Frontero broached the issue of comfortable carrying capacity, an industry metric measuring the size of crowds that a resort can accommodate. He wanted updated numbers, while the Park City Mountain side indicated the information was provided during an earlier round of talks. The planning commissioner argued that any detrimental impacts are unclear without details about the comfortable carrying capacity.
Another planning commissioner, Christin Van Dine, said the raw data was not required from Park City Mountain. Other panelists outlined that there are planned steps to manage the parking and traffic.
Deirdra Walsh, the Park City Mountain vice president and chief operating officer, later expressed appreciation for municipal staffers and the Planning Commission. She spoke about “the investments that we are excited to make here at this mountain and for our community, for our guests and our employees.”
A schedule for installing the lifts has not been finalized.
“I can’t speak to the timeline, specifically. We’re just at the approval process here through the city, but we know these are important investments to make, again, at the mountain and to the community,” Walsh said.
The vote was a pivotal moment after a four-year dispute centered on procedural matters dealing with the sort of municipal review process the upgrades would be put through. The dispute also came to symbolize the tensions that can arise between the resort industry and the community.
That tension appeared to escalate during the pandemic, as droves of skiers and snowboarders arrived in Park City seeking opportunities for outdoor recreation. Parking issues and overcrowding seemed to especially rile Parkites in the period before the dispute about the lifts.
Supporters of the improvements agreed with Park City Mountain’s contentions that the upgrades would improve the skier and snowboarder flow on the slopes. Critics countered with worries about potential impacts of additional traffic, parking issues and larger crowds.
The dispute was brought to state court. Eventually, in 2025, a three-judge Utah Court of Appeals panel supported an earlier district court ruling in favor of the Park City government and three citizens concerned about the potential community impacts if the improvements were allowed. That ruling led to the Planning Commission process that culminated in the vote on Wednesday.
“I thank the Planning Commission for its thoughtful and careful review of Park City Mountain’s lift upgrade application. I also appreciate the engagement by the resort’s leadership team and the intentional steps they’ve taken to further Park City Mountain’s strong partnership with the city,” Mayor Ryan Dickey said in a statement. “On-mountain improvements are critical to enhancing Park City’s world-class ski experience for locals and visitors alike, and we are excited for continued investments by our resorts as we look forward to 2034 and beyond.”
The testimony at this week’s meeting was heavily in support of the upgrades, with only a smattering of concern.
“The facts are pretty straightforward. Eagle is more than 30 years old. Silverlode is approaching 30 years old. These lifts serve some of the most congested terrain on the mountain. The proposal improves circulation on terrain that already exists. And this is a modernization, not an expansion,” Aldy Milliken, who identified himself with a ZIP code that generally covers the Snyderville Basin, said.
Milliken also said, “Aging lifts need replacement. Skier experience matters. Safety matters. And ski resorts should invest in infrastructure, and Park City should, too.”
Ted Ligety, an Olympic champion skier who hails from Park City, said new lifts would help youth who are training.
“I’ve spent countless hours on a painfully slow triple lift that is Eagle, growing up as a ski racer here. And I really support these upgrades. Alleviating the chokepoints. Getting people out of the base area,” Ligety said.
Tom Kelly, a longtime supporter of the ski industry, said he appreciates the investment Park City Mountain owner Vail Resorts has made over the past decade. The firm, he said, has spent “tens of millions of dollars creating a better experience for all of us as locals as well as our guests. We all enjoy a better experience today on the mountain than we did a decade ago.” Kelly said the two new lifts will enhance the experience at the resort.
Another speaker, Park Meadows resident Frode Jensen, expressed concern about safety on the slopes even as he indicated he supports the replacement of aging lifts.
“I have previously commented extensively on these applications. My objective has been, and it is, to ensure that as the uphill capacity of the ski area is increased, it is done so safely and in full compliance with our city’s land use laws,” he said.
Jensen said extensive observation and testimony covered in affidavits described “a consistent, recurring pattern of severe trail overcrowding, high-speed merging bottlenecks and collisions on the exact runs served by the proposed lifts.”