From Deseret News archives:
Snowbird skiers to travel via tunnel
It's all part of a plan to replace and realign one of the resort's lifts — Peruvian, located on the eastern-most border of Snowbird.
The plan is to replace the old lift with a newer, longer high-speed lift that would terminate below the saddle between Mount Baldy and Hidden Peak.
The tunnel would start near where the new lift would unload, go through the mountain and open up in Mineral Basin. Skiers will get from point "A" to "B" and back on a moving "carpet" or people-mover.
If adopted, the plan would solve a number of issues:
• It would avoid a lift terminating on a ridgeline, which some people find offensive.
• It would offer a second access to Mineral Basin, one of the resort's lesser-skied areas.
"We've looked at a lot of customer feedback," said Dave Fields, advertising/public relations director at Snowbird, "and what we found is that people like the tram, but not the line to get on the tram." Also, we've found Peruvian Gulch is very underutilized.
"We tossed a lot of ideas around. We talked with Save Our Canyons and looked at the dirt work necessary to build on the ridgeline. We decided the best idea was to come off the ridge and then looked at the tunnel. The more we looked at it, the more feasible it became."
The plan would not only ease the tram line and offer access to both Peruvian and Mineral Basin but would also be an alternative to high-elevation skiing when high winds shut down the Tram.
The tunnel would be about 400 feet long, 12 feet wide and 10 feet high with a rounded ceiling. A people mover, similar to those used in airports, would take skiers back and forth from Chip's Run and Mineral Basin.
"It will take two summers to build," said Fields. "All of the new lift towers would be located on private land and most of the tunnel will be located on private land."
Snowbird has been working with the U.S. Forest Service and Save Our Canyons to come up with an acceptable plan.
The new, realigned lift would be Snowbird's fourth high-speed quad and would introduce skiers to the intermediate terrain on the popular Chip's Run.
Lisa Smith, executive director of Save Our Canyons, said her group has been working closely with Snowbird on the proposed tunnel and lift alignment, "and, really, the issue now is mostly the unknown since nothing like this has been done in the United State. We're working with Snowbird to minimize environmental impact and they've been very open.
