Planned changes will bring more access at Beaver Mountain
Beaver Mountain ski resort might be the best-kept secret as far as skiing options in Utah go.
With changes this year to the resort, and more planned in the future, the secret might start to get out.
The ski resort, which is family owned and operated for its entire history, has made a series of improvements over the past few years to cater to an increasing number of customers.
The first triple chairlift is scheduled to open in the next few weeks at the mountain, opening a great deal of new terrain, said Ted Seeholzer, co-owner of the resort.
“There’s going to be a lot of tree skiing,” he said. “There are a lot of gullies and marshes in there.”
The new lift, named “Marge’s Triple” after co-owner Marge Seeholzer will open up mostly intermediate terrain for the users of the mountain.
“The new terrain won’t ski quite as fast as the Beaver Face,” Seeholzer said.
On top of creating new runs for skiers and snowboarders to enjoy, Seeholzer said he anticipates the new lift to make lift lines on the existing three chairlifts significantly shorter.
With the new lift, Beaver Mountain increased the cost of an all-day pass to $28, up $3 from last season.
“We did have a $3 raise this year, and we felt we were justified with that by adding another lift,” Seeholzer said.
Seeholzer said the resort has plans to expand farther in the future, but money will be the biggest hurdle.
“We didn’t win the lottery, so that’s out,” he said.
Current plans call for the Little Beaver lift being replaced with a lift that is a little less than twice as long.
“It’d open a lot more beginner and intermediate terrain, which we need a lot more of,” Seeholzer said.
He said there are also plans to replace the Harry’s Dream lift with a triple or quad.
As more lifts are added, Beaver Mountain will probably not install any high-speed chairlifts Seeholzer said, because they could potentially “overuse” the mountain.
The only plans for a new lift that wouldn’t be replacing an existing lift is between the current Harry’s Dream lift and the new Marge’s Triple. The lift would be placed in the “Grand Canyon” area of the resort, Seeholzer said.
“We don’t want to be huge. We don’t want to be a big cumbersome ski area,” he said.
For that reason, Seeholzer said Beaver Mountain will be careful in their future expansions, and be mindful of the skiing experience they intend to deliver to their customers.
“I would rather go to a place and have a good time,” he said. “That is what skiing is all about.”
–str@cc.usu.edu