Tram from big cottonwood to park city

S

shocker611

Active member
So its official, they are planning on building a tram from the canyons to solitude, connecting the wasatch front and back and making the ski areas surrounding SLC into more of a european style area. For those of you guys that know the area, what do you think?
 
http://www.ksl.com/?nid=148&sid=17425502

SALT LAKE COUNTY — Developers are planning to build a tram over the crest of the Wasatch Mountains — the first ski facility ever to cross the divide between the Wasatch Front and the Wasatch Back.

The companies involved expect to announce the plan at a news conference in the next two weeks. But KSL News has learned exclusive details about the planned lift, which is already causing controversy.

The proposed tram would connect The Canyons Ski Resort to Solitude Mountain Resort

Two resorts are working together on the project. They may scale it back to a chairlift, but the expected plan is a tram. The main argument in favor is that it would give skiers a new way to get into Big Cottonwood Canyon without driving up the highway.

The main player is the company that owns The Canyons Ski Resort near Park City. Somewhere up near the top of their lifts, they want to build a tram that would climb out of Summit County, cross the Wasatch Divide, and plunge down into Big Cottonwood Canyon.

The destination for skiers coming from Summit County? Solitude Mountain Resort, which is partnering with The Canyons resort. The two resorts would have a reciprocal ski pass agreement.

Representatives from The Canyons and Solitude argue there's a big public benefit: reduced congestion by giving skiers a new way to reach Solitude.

"We have 5,000 to 8,000 cars going to Big Cottonwood Canyon on the big weekends," said Ted Wilson, spokesman for the Canyons, "and we believe that we could save up to a million miles of car traffic on the Big Cottonwood side."

COMING UP:

Tonight on KSL News at 6:30pm:

More information about the project, including a live discussion with Ted Wilson and Carl Fisher.

Proponents have been meeting quietly with groups representing skiers, environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service.

But the group called Save Our Canyons is opposing the pan, arguing it will inevitably open up more terrain adjacent to Solitude for downhill skiers.

"The Wasatch is becoming a very, very crowded place, and there's a bunch of different uses that take place in this area," said Carl Fisher, executive director of Save Our Canyons.

More information about the project, including a live discussion with Ted Wilson and Carl Fisher, can be seen tonight on KSL News at 6:30.

damn...
 
As far as this goes, it's no more than a company saying "we want to do this". Nothing is official yet.

(Click here for video}

http://www.ksl.com/index.php?nid=148&sid=17425502

SALT LAKE COUNTY — Developers are planning to build a tram over the crest of the Wasatch Mountains — the first ski facility ever to cross the divide between the Wasatch Front and the Wasatch Back.

The companies involved expect to announce the plan at a news conference in the next two weeks. But KSL News has learned exclusive details about the planned lift, which is already causing controversy.

The proposed tram would connect The Canyons Ski Resort to Solitude Mountain Resort

Two resorts are working together on the project. They may scale it back to a chairlift, but the expected plan is a tram. The main argument in favor is that it would give skiers a new way to get into Big Cottonwood Canyon without driving up the highway.

The main player is the company that owns The Canyons Ski Resort near Park City. Somewhere up near the top of their lifts, they want to build a tram that would climb out of Summit County, cross the Wasatch Divide, and plunge down into Big Cottonwood Canyon.

The destination for skiers coming from Summit County? Solitude Mountain Resort, which is partnering with The Canyons resort. The two resorts would have a reciprocal ski pass agreement.

Representatives from The Canyons and Solitude argue there's a big public benefit: reduced congestion by giving skiers a new way to reach Solitude.

"We have 5,000 to 8,000 cars going to Big Cottonwood Canyon on the big weekends," said Ted Wilson, spokesman for the Canyons, "and we believe that we could save up to a million miles of car traffic on the Big Cottonwood side."

More information about the project, including a live discussion with Ted Wilson and Carl Fisher.

Proponents have been meeting quietly with groups representing skiers, environmentalists and the U.S. Forest Service.

But the group called Save Our Canyons is opposing the pan, arguing it will inevitably open up more terrain adjacent to Solitude for downhill skiers.

"The Wasatch is becoming a very, very crowded place, and there's a bunch of different uses that take place in this area," said Carl Fisher, executive director of Save Our Canyons
 
if they are going to cause this much of a stir I doubt they are going to back out of it, that'd just be bad for business.. seems to me like it is going to happen
 
Yeah and Mammoth and June are going to connect...............................

McCoy's dream......................
 
To bad you would need a canyons ticket to use it. also there argument about traffic is super weak. BCC has traffic problems maybe 5 times a year. Also how many that ski BCC have canyons tickets or solitude tickets for that manner.
 
The two least resorts (minus deer valley) that i'd wanna buy a pass to and they want to connect.... damnit. Althought, it would be sick to live in PC and be able to go to BCC easily, too bad on a pow day you'd be lucky to get to the lifts of BCC at like 11...
 
and a rollercoaster!

this is stupid. why not work on creating some sort of combined pass that's affordable instead of building a worthless tram that connects two seperate resorts? oh yea, no one cares about locals here, i forgot.
 
i thought someone was already building a rollercoaster?

they're not mentioning pass prices, so you never know what's going to happen there, but who knows, maybe this is the first step in getting all the resorts of the wasatch easily accessible regardless of where you're starting out. i've stayed at the canyons several times, and being able to use a tram to get to BCC instead of take an hour long bus ride would have been awesome, especially with a combined lift ticket. what kind of slackcountry access would this thing potentially open up?
 
none whatsoever, there would be no stopping points on the tram/gondola/whatever, and the only terrain below it (USA bowl) is ~30 degree terrain only good for skiing on high avalanche danger days.
 
well, yeah, i figured there wouldn't be any stopping points aside from top and bottom, but would this thing potentially be off a different peak or something that was previously only hike-to, and therefore make some new terrain more easily accessible? and call me an east coast gaper if you must, but a 30° wide open bowl sounds like some good turns to me.
 
it starts on the canyons side of the ridge, below the actual ridgeline, the only thing it will do is allow skiers who want to ski off one of the canyons lifts that go to the ridge an easy return trip from big cottonwood. it also crosses one of the most beautiful and fun bike rides anywhere, the wasatch crest trail. 30 degrees may sound alright but that is really barely steeper than a bunny hill and is difficult to even carry moment with new snow on the ground.
 
the greed here is so obvious. telluride has a free people mover (public transportation) to the mountain from the town. this lift you have to have a canyons ticket to ride, and then you can shred down the backcountry over there, like doubling the size of the "resort". plus there is no traffic problems in bcc.

i hope the right people can see right through this.

 
Would be a helluva lot easier/better to just open up Guardsman in the winter, but obviously thats not in Canyons best interests. I live in PC and as others have said this really does me no good considering you wouldnt be able to make your first turns at Soli till 11. Not to mention theyre addressing the wrong canyon for the traffic problem.
 
my ultimate dream would be a way to get from the midvale area up into the cottonwoods, whether that would be a tunnel or whatever. The one thing that would be nice about this is if they do do it, for those people that dont have the best snow cars they could just go up parleys instead of having to deal with the heavy snowfall in the canyons
 
i could be wrong, but i dont believe they are trying to cut back on the traffic up the canyon, in the terms of bumper to bumper cars. i feel like by "traffic" they just mean they want to cut down on the amount of pollution that gets pumped out. but it doesnt really make much sense, because i feel like most of the people driving up BCC or LCC are living/staying in salt lake. i dont feel like there are very many people (relative) that reside in pc, and regularly drive back and forth to the CC.
 
if Solitude and the Canyons merged into one (affordable) pass it could be a reasonable project but other that it seems super useless. :(
 
This is such a fucking joke. I love how they try to sell it as a solution to a "traffic congestion" problem that doesn't exist in BCC. Nice try, greedy corporate assholes. This is purely a money move, plain and simple.

The last thing we need in the already overdeveloped Wasatch canyons is a giant tram pumping out all the goons that are here for sundance week. Yeah, there might be some PC locals that are willing to take AT LEAST 4 lifts to get to the top of solitude on a pow day, but let's face it, canyons is going to sell this to tourists as opening up thousands more acres of "backcountry" and they're going to bite.

Not to mention they're trying to build this on publicly owned national forest land, across the beautiful Wasatch Crest trail, into one of the more remote lift-accessed areas of the Wasatch. This whole thing screams corporate greed, and the actual benefits to locals are fabricated and oversold. Terrible idea.
 
not gonna lie, thought this was a troll post making fun of the Squaw/Alpine merger. Sounds pretty stupid to me
 
obviously this is a completely separate thing, but what do you guys think about them making some kind of access from midway area into one of the cottonwoods? That would shorten up the drive a lot from PC and open up ski access for all of those living to the east of the wasatch. I would LOVE to live in midvale area if there was a way to the cottonwoods, all of the lakes, provo river, ton of open land, AND great skiing? sounds perfect to me
 
well if they have no money then how do they sell any season passes?!?!??!?!?!?!! i'm so confused!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
 
I think the coaster was shot down, at least for now. I expect the idea to resurface at some point though unfortunately
 
so you could just have 1 pass to ski all 3 and not have to worry about taking a bus to/fro other resorts if you live at PC

as it is right now they could put in a lift on the backside of mcconkeys and connect dv and PC pretty easy. canyons would need a bit of work to make it happen with a tram/gondola or something
 
That would be a flaw. I know tons of boarders that both frequently ride both PC and The canyons and paying extra money for a resort they aren't even allowed to step foot on is stupid.

I feel like this tram would be a terrible idea. They do already have a pass you can get for all the resorts but its a fuck ton of money. Way too much for your average skier to afford. They shouldn't build it.
 
that shit is fucking lame. Utah is all about dollars. they are going to fuck the snowmachiners even more and all the ski tourers. I am so glad I got out of utah in 2009. AK for life. Make the black book burn!!!!!
 
that shit is fucking lame. Utah is all about dollars. they are going to fuck the snowmachiners even more and all the ski tourers. I am so glad I got out of utah in 2009. AK for life. Make the black book burn!!!!!
 
Yeah they're still not doing it. Its not about the skiing, Its for real estate development so some rich douche can have a nice view of the mountains.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top