Snowbird, Utah
Snowbird is about to complete one of the more unusual projects in ski country: a lift and tunnel combination that connects the front side of the mountain with its Mineral Basin backside terrain and with neighboring Alta. The lift and tunnel provide a second and more protected backside connection than the Snowbird Tram, which is subject to wind closures. The skier tunnel is unique in North America (there’s one in Europe). It’s 595 feet long and twelve feet high. It’s equipped with a SunKid conveyor that transports riders up the 7 percent grade to Mineral Basin in just under 4 minutes. Small Mines Development of Boise, Ida., bored the tunnel, which is reinforced with steel mesh and concrete, then covered with Shotcrete, a sprayable concrete.

The new detachable Peruvian Quad replaces a double, and it’s a bit of an engineering feat itself. Length is 8,000 feet, one of the longest in the country, with a 2,600-foot vertical rise. The lift terminates 350 feet below the ridgeline, protected from the wind and providing access to the intermediate expanse below. At the base, Snowbird excavated 25 feet from the loading area to put the terminal at the same elevation as the skier’s bridge, thus easing access at that end of the trip.

Since the lift crosses some of Snowbird’s bread-and-butter advanced runs, the towers are relatively high, so that winch cats can operate unimpeded. Given Snowbird’s jagged topography, some of the spans are impressive. At one point the cable is more than 100 feet off the snow, and one span covers several hundred feet. Four of the 29 towers are in areas prone to avalanches, so the footings are deeper and the gauge of the towers themselves is thicker. Lastly, the lift has a 90-degree left load and a 90-degree right unload. The bottom-tension, top-drive installation is vault-driven, with twin 600 hp AC drives. Line speed is 1,000 fpm.



Ski Cooper, Colorado
Following a 13 percent increase in skier visits last season, Ski Cooper set out to upgrade facilities for the 2006-07 season. In June, the resort began construction on a new 1,800 sf Children’s Center, which will house Ski Cooper’s growing children’s ski school along with an expanded nursery program. The building sits at the foot of the area’s dedicated teaching run, in front of the rental shop. With the relocation of the nursery, the ticket office will get a new home. Crews are converting the former nursery, located just left of the main entrance to the day lodge, into a new and improved ticket office. This will allow guests greater ease in purchasing tickets and lessons. The mountain office and former ski school is also getting a face-lift; the exterior siding will mimic the look of the new children’s center—as will all of the Ski Cooper buildings eventually.



49º North Mountain Resort, Washington
After a 22-year hiatus in new lift construction and expansion, 49∞ North Mountain Resort is installing Chair #5, the Sunrise Quad. An eight-year effort to update the Master Plan culminated in 2004 with approval for approximately 1,200 additional acres of terrain, installation of Chair #5, an upgrade and extension of Chair #2 (completed in 2004), a 10,000 sf expansion to the day lodge (planned for 2007), development of a tubing center, and a host of other improvements. The Sunrise Quad will access 13 new, mostly intermediate and expert trails and glades spread over 600 acres of terrain. The lift is a 1988 CTEC fixed-grip with a slope length of 4,861 feet and a vertical rise of 1,469 feet.

Doppelmayr/CTEC engineered the lift with 19 towers, including the top and bottom terminals, a 300 hp top-drive unit and hydraulic tensioning. Upgrades include an increase in drive motor size, a new haul rope, 18 new towers and 5 new tower caps. Slated to run at 500 fpm, ride time will be just under 10 minutes. Originally installed at Mt. Hood Meadows, Ore., the lift was purchased by Mt. Ashland Ski Area, Ore., in 2001. Mt Ashland was unable to carry through with its expansion/upgrade plans, though, and 49º North purchased it this spring. The lift was delivered on May 8. By mid-July, crews were digging the tower footings and terminal foundations and tying rebar cages in preparation for pouring concrete. Project manager Eric Bakken said that “the upgrade to Chair #2 was a warm-up to this project. [It] gave me a glimpse of what I would encounter when installing Chair #5.” Load testing is set for mid to late October.



Snowmass, Colorado
To move visitors out of the nascent village at Snowmass, the area is installing a sophisticated eight-passenger Leitner-Poma gondola to whisk riders to the base of Elk Camp Meadows, the resort’s mostly intermediate region on the eastern edge of the resort. The installation of the Elk Camp Gondola is the first part of a major makeover and expansion of Elk Camp, which will eventually include a new restaurant and a new beginner area high on the mountain as well. Snowmass began work on the lift in early spring; the bottom terminal was set back in late May. Load test is scheduled for Nov. 10. The top-drive, bottom-tension installation is 8,710 feet long, with a vertical rise of 1,370 feet. It’s powered by twin 600-hp AC drives, with diesel backups; ride time is 8.5 minutes. The lift’s hourly capacity of 2,800 boosts total capacity out of the soon-to-be-built base village to 6,600. While adding this high-speed egress was a key goal, it also allows easy access for visitors staying elsewhere at Snowmass. The gondola passes through a 27-degree turn station a short distance out of the base station, at the top of the Assay Hill lift, where passengers will also be able to board. The all-black CWA cabins are level walk-in, with tall doors, to make access easy. Snowmass considered the comfort of the maintenance crews, too: The top terminal has room for storage of 20 cabins and includes a maintenance shop.



Shawnee Peak, Maine
Shawnee has two unusual projects underway. Biggest is construction of 32 slopeside three-bedroom condos steps from the base lodge and with lake and mountain views. A small group of longtime Shawnee passholders are building and marketing the units, but Shawnee retains control over design and location. To exercise his control wisely and get some perspective on exterior design, Shawnee owner Chet Homer visited Aspen, Snowmass and other villages. On the inside, the family-friendly 2.5-story layouts have 2,000 sf. Prices run $250,000 to $280,000, depending on the views. The condos front the trail where the area first fires up the snowguns each fall, ensuring season-long ski-in access. The developers plan to have the units ready for this coming season, even though they only purchased the land in January. To speed construction, the developers framed the buildings in the Shawnee parking lot at the same time they were pouring the footings and foundations, then moved the framing in place.

In a second crafty move, Shawnee has purchased a pre-owned 5,300-foot Doppelmayr/CTEC triple chairlift from Loon Mountain. Shawnee is using part of the lift this summer to upgrade its 1,000-foot Rabbit Run beginner chairlift from a double to a triple. The upgrade will effectively increase the lift’s uphill capacity by 30 percent and also allows children’s instructors (and other adults) to ride with two students rather than one, facilitating the movement of kids. Shawnee plans to use the remainder of the chairlift in the near future either to replace an existing lift or as the area’s third top-to-bottom lift.