Park City Mountain upgrade plans blocked...

Last week, the Park City Planning Commission blocked two lift upgrades requested by Park City Mountain (PCM) for this coming season. 

These upgrades were appealed on the basis that the proposed eight-place and six-place chairs were not consistent with the 1998 development agreement that governs the resort. The planning commission also mentioned the need for a more thorough review of the resort’s comfortable carrying capacity calculations and parking mitigation plan, finding PCM’s proposed paid parking plan at the Mountain Village insufficient. 

As a skier, I have mixed feelings about that ruling. On the one hand, PCM is in dire need of modernization, and on the other, the rejected plan could have been better and the City’s refusal gives the ski lift operator a superb chance to tweak these improvements so they become more effective. The biggest problem faced by PCM is its chronically congested area at the confluence of Silverlode, Quicksilver and Miner’s Camp. 

Pushing more people into this bottleneck with the proposed Eagle six-pack, would have exacerbated an already bad situation, as a new Silverlode eight-pack would be likely to fall short of expectations. Based on the way Vail Resorts operates its lifts, pile-ups at the top will be common if the right-left exit options are maintained, creating frequent lift stoppage, and reducing the promised uphill capacity. 

The way PCM should reformulate its approach is by turning the current four-pack Motherlode lift into a six-pack and move its base station down into the drainage to an elevation of around 7,500 feet, allowing for a ski run to be cut into skier’s left of Broadway, looping around Miner’s Camp, down into Motherlode’s new loading area. 

Along the same lines, the top of that lift should also be extended to reach the edge of Puma ridge, just at the timberline, below Jupiter Peak. Reaching around 9,500 feet of elevation, the new chair would give users easier access to Jupiter and its West Face, Puma Bowl, Pioneer and McConkey lifts, as well as the rest of the ski runs currently served by Motherlode. In addition, the removal of Motherlode’s top station from the crowded Summit area would make users’ traffic easier. 

This new Motherlode lift serving 2,000 vertical feet, would be a game-changer as it could spread users most effectively over the whole Park City side of PCM. It might also lessen the need for the antiquated Thaynes double-fixed-grip chair, while Jupiter could be upgraded to a triple by “recycling” the old, Eagle triple-chair fixed-grip, and extending its loading area down near the current Thaynes mine shaft and tailings mound. 

I hope PCM listens to my suggestion; for me, it’s a win-win solution!