Utah skiers can tunnel to the top

Every year I say the same thing: I can't believe it's that time again. Ski season, I'm talking about.

The changing of the leaves is the first sign. Ads in the paper offering skis and boots and new puffy parkas at incredibly low prices are the second leading indicator.

Next is the report from Ski Utah on what's new at the resorts for the coming ski season.

One word in the report caught my attention and is certain to catch that of a lot of people. It's "tunnel." It refers to a 600-foot long tunnel dug through the saddle between Snowbird and Alta. It's taken two summers to build.

According to Dave Fields, marketing director at Snowbird, that one tiny word has stopped a lot of journalists midsentence.

"I had no idea our tunnel would draw so much attention, not only nationally but internationally," he said.

Which makes sense since this is the only skier-based tunnel in North America.

Looking for a way to spread out skiers and allow people to keep skiing on windy days when the Tram shuts down, a tunnel was dug from Peruvian Gulch, upper Chips run to skiers, through to Mineral Basin.

And, just how does a resort, well-acquainted with grooming snow and running lifts, go about building a tunnel through solid rock?

Hire hard-rock miners.

For the miners, this had to be the dream job ... living in a resort village, eating in fine restaurants, waking up to cool mountain air and then taking the Tram to one of the most scenic spots in Utah.

Not at all like the lifestyle of early hard-rock miners. No one knows for sure just how many miles of tunnels were dug back in the early mining days, but one estimate suggests close to 100 miles.

Remember, now, Alta was a booming mining town.

Alta was a town of two-fisted, hard-drinking, hard-working miners. Once silver was discovered, it went from being a quiet valley that held only a sawmill, boardinghouse and a dozen people in 1862, to a city of more than 8,000, with 10 streets and 180 dwellings, including seven restaurants, two shoemakers, shops, a jail, dance hall, Chinese laundry, two breweries, six medical offices and 26 saloons, in which more than 150 men are said to have met untimely deaths.

Technology, for this job anyway, has changed very little from that used by early miners a century ago in their search for silver.