Summer start likely for work on Snowbasin

Olympic ski runs, new chairlifts and modern day lodge are among projects.

By Karl Cates
Deseret News staff writer

OGDEN -- The makeover of Snowbasin Ski Area is likely to start next summer as work begins on Olympic ski runs, new chairlifts and a modern day lodge at the base of Mount Ogden.

''We've got a lot to do and we're anxious to get going,'' said Sinclair Oil Vice President Chris Peterson as he mingled with the public during an open house last week on the controversial project.

It took an act of Congress in November to pave the way for renovation of the 50-year-old Snowbasin, which turns on a land swap that grants Sinclair Oil Chairman Earl Holding rights to 1,320 acres of prime real estate at the foot of the area's lifts.

The property previously was owned and managed by the U.S. Forest Service, a fact that attracted criticism from some who said the exchange was a sweetheart deal made at taxpayers' expense.

But Peterson said the trade makes sense because it saves the rundown resort from eventually closing and offers Holding the chance to develop a project more visitors can enjoy year-round.

''We're interested in building something beautiful,'' he said, adding the first order of business is to get the mountain ready for the 2002 Winter Olympics, which will bring men's and women's downhill ski competitions to Snowbasin.

Among the initial goals:

-- Cutting new ski trails for the Games down the face of Mount Ogden, a project that will remove some trees but bring a world-class speed run to the area.

-- Adding five newer and bigger high-speed lifts to replace or augment the relatively rickety two-seaters now in place. Peterson said planners are considering four- and six-passenger lifts, as well as a gondola that would travel to the top of the area. Those additions will triple the acreage available to skiers.

'' If you can get to the mountaintop like that, we can use it at nights and in the summertime and open it up to the elderly and the disabled,'' he said.

-- Building a day lodge in what is now the area's lower parking lot, replacing the aged Hillhaus Lodge.

The projects are part of ''Phase I'' of the renovation, which will proceed in two more phases that could include a golf course, one or more hotels, a 15,000- to 30,000-seat amphitheater for the Olym- pics, a new, 2.5-mile road into the area and housing that could total 2,000 condos or homes, according to the still-vague development proposal.

''We need to respond to the market,'' said Peterson, suggesting demand will set the pace for much of the work.

He noted, too, the development will be shaped in part by local-government planners who have zoning control over the area's private lands.

Critics were hard to come by at the Ogden gathering, where visitors mingled among photos, maps and drawings with Snowbasin managers and Forest Service officials.

''I love it,'' said Mark Goddard of Ogden, a former ski instructor at at the area who said the proposed changes will keep the struggling attraction from bankruptcy.

He also dismissed speculation the ski area might become an exclusive playground for the rich.

''They have to compete (for patrons),'' he said. ''I don't think they can get out of hand.''

''I like what he's done with Sun Valley,'' said Charles H. Smith, another Ogden resident, noting that Holding also owns that famed Idaho resort and arguing that the oil magnate set the example there.

''It's deluxe,'' said Smith.

Ruth Monahan, district ranger for the Ogden Ranger District of the Wasatch-Cache National Forest, pointed out that considerable hurdles must be cleared before any development occurs.

Those essentially involve bureaucratic requirements likely to be met within months, if not weeks, however.

''The mountain's going to look a whole lot different,'' said Monahan, who is involved because most of the area's lifts are on Forest Service land, not on Holding's property.

Paul Cowley, a Forest Service fisheries biologist, said questions remain about environmental impacts.

He noted that Wheeler Creek, the main stream through the area, is home to three kinds of trout -- Bonneville cutthroat, brown and rainbow -- and that their habitat must be protected.

''Part of our job is to try to maintain the in-stream flow,'' said Cowley, who predicted that goal will be met, though he said no one knows yet where the proposed development will get the water it needs.

Kevin Thompson, a spokesman for Utah Power, was on hand to assure visitors that a new, high-voltage line into Snowbasin won't be an eyesore.

''We'll follow the same route that's already in there,'' he said, pointing out on an aerial view a barely discernable power line that is now considered outdated.

''Wooden poles, non-glare insulators, raptor-proof,'' said Thompson, explaining that new lines will be designed so that birds lighting on them won't be electrocuted.

He also said aesthetic controls like those in place in Park City and being considered now in the Ogden Valley east of Snowbasin are unlikely to conflict with Holding's plans.

''It's in our best interest to not obstruct views . . . to cluster housing, to keep space open,'' Thompson said, adding that hopes are Snowbasin will gain stature as the project proceeds.

''We'd like to get on the circuit for people from out of state, who, say, they ski Alta and Brighton but feel like they need to ski Snowbasin too for the complete experience.''