Snowbird — When talks started about putting in a skiers tunnel, little did the resort staff realize the interest it would draw, not only here in the United States, but in other parts of the skiing world.

It took two summers to build. It is open — end to end — and crews are putting in the people mover and lights in the passageway. It will be in operation when the resort opens.

The tunnel is 12 feet high, 10 feet wide and 600 feet long. It will take roughly four minutes to ride the mover from opening to opening.

A second part of the tunnel involved a new lift. The new Peruvian Express high-speed quad replaces the old Peruvian lift, except this one is longer and goes from the base near the main Tram building and runs to the entrance to the tunnel. It rises approximately 2,600 vertical feet, is 8,000 feet long and carries 1,800 people per hour. The ride from bottom to top takes roughly eight minutes.

Should windy conditions shut down the Tram, skiers will now be able to get to the summit on the new lift, and will be able to access both Peruvian Gulch and Mineral Basin through the tunnel.

For the very first time, skiers will be able to get a perfect picture of skiing conditions before they ever leave home. Snowbird introduced the SnowCam last year and spent the summer refining the image. The SnowCam provides live shots of an on-mountain measuring station, which means skiers will be able to actually see new-snow accumulations by going on-line at www.snowbird.com/snowcam.

The resort also completed a $5.6 million renovation of the Cliff Lodge. This included upgrading room and adding new furnishings, to include flat-screen TVs and Tempur-Pedic beds on spa-level rooms.

Wolf Mountain — Call this Utah's newest resort, even though its history goes way back. Nordic Valley was purchased and turned into Wolf Mountain. First work focused on improving skiing. New grading and drainage systems will mean better slope conditions, especially on the beginner slopes.

The terrain park will be expanded to create longer runs and more features. It also increased its snowmaking capabilities.

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