Future Plans for Alta

[thetrailboss]

I just happened to see this on their site. Didn't know that they had any plans, but they are proposing upgrading some lifts, including most notably:

• Converting Albion Double to a Cabriolet to be used for summer and winter operations (and redundant to the Sunnyside High Speed Triple);
• Proposal for a lift above the Hellgate area for "skier compaction" to reduce avalanche risk;
• Replace Wildcat with a HSQ;
• Possible replacement of the Supreme with a HSQ;
• New lift in the Sugar Bowl to eliminate the East Baldy Traverse from Sugarloaf HSQ to Collins;
• Yurt at the top of Supreme.

http://www.alta.com/documents/MDP.pdf

Interesting.....

 

[snoseek]

Ouch, the supreme lift!

 

[BeefyBoy50]

This document discusses an interconnect with Solitude/ Brighton through the Grizzly Gulch. Along with the Snowbird/ Alta Interconnect, the Brighton/ Solitude Interconnect, the possibility of a connect between Deer Valley and Park City (McConkey's express and Empire express offload within a couple hundred feet of eachother), and the proposed Solitude- Canyons Gondola, it seems that these 7 resorts have nowhere to expand but into each other. Assuming the snow in the area remains good and the skiing industry doesn't flop, the next 50 years could hold the possibility of a Salt Lake MEGA-resort going from Snowbird to Deer Valley and encompassing probably twice the terrain of even Whistler Blackcomb.
This "improvement" doesn't really seem favorable to me however, as I would like the current ski areas to maintain their character rather than become a confused blob.

 

[gregnye]

NOOOOOOO! A high speed quad for the wildcat chair would be too much!!! Supreme though should be high speed.

 

[Scruffy]

oh the humanity.

 

[thetrailboss]

Re: Linking resorts. That is part of the whole Ski Link project/idea. And you're right in saying that the ski areas can't really expand any further.

Wildcat: it would be a "reduced" capacity HSQ.

Supreme: they hint that they want to keep it a triple, but if needed, it would become an HSQ.

The Sugar Bowl lift is interesting.

 

[Conrad]

It will be interesting to see how this turns out. Fortunately the current lifts are well documented among ski lift websites.