Beaver Mountain ski resort to get Alta lift
Beaver Mountain Ski Resort, 27 miles from Utah State University, is scheduled to install a new, triple-chair ski lift this summer, replacing the 35 year-old lift, dubbed Harry’s Dream.
“It needed an update,” said resort owner Ted Seeholzer. “The old lift is getting tired.”
The resort, which opened in 1936, has been apart of the campus experience, having issued more than several hundred student memberships this year alone, said resort operators.
The new lift, purchased from Alta Ski Resort in Salt Lake County, is currently being engineered to fit on Beaver Mountain. Although some original parts will be retained from old Harry, the Doppelmayr lift will require new equipment. Total estimated costs of the chair and engineering work will be more than $700,000.
Some workers at the resort have mixed emotions about the new lift, such as Jan Petterson, who has been a lift operator at Beaver Mountain for more than 10 years.
“I helped build [Harry’s Dream] so it will be hard for me to see it go, even though I know it is an improvement for the mountain,” Petterson said.
The new lift will have more horse power, and will carry 1,500 people an hour up the mountain, compared to Harry’s Dream which transported 900 people an hour.
“There are a 100 ways to stop a lift, but only one way to make it run,” Seeholzer said. “The new lift will be a lot more reliable, as well as have an increased capacity.”
Other improvements on the mountain for next year’s season include cutting more runs and adding more rails and jumps to the popular Terrain Park.
Snow sport instructor and USU student, Tyson Lukasavige, said he believes the lift is a great idea. He compared it to the resorts only other triple chair lift, the fast and favored Margie’s Triple.
“It will help people get more runs in, especially on crowded weekends,” Lukasavige said. “Plus, I can get to the [Terrain] Park that much faster.”
The resort is scheduled to close April 3. Before the closing, however, skiers can look forward to the Big Air show and the Pond Skim contest on April 2.
-gbrownlee@cc.usu.edu