Upcoming commercial developments will bring multiple new and upgraded lifts to Snowbasin Resort. Today the mountain announced partnerships with East West Partners and Club Med to transform the resort’s base area over the next several years.
By late 2024, the first all inclusive hotel at a United States ski resort by Club Med will be complete, connected to the base village by an upgraded Little Cat Express. This signature lift will be a multi-use, serving skiers and foot passengers in both directions. As part of the hotel project, a beginner expansion dubbed Ridgeline will open with a new chairlift and conveyor.
Future phases will see the construction of two additional village area chairlifts, a platter lift and more conveyors. “We’re thrilled to announce this extensive list of improvements for both our local guests and travelers that will now have the opportunity to stay at Snowbasin,” said Davy Ratchford, Snowbasin General Manager. “These new developments put us on track to become the world-class resort destination envisioned for Snowbasin.”
Snowbasin is owned by Grand America Hotels & Resorts, which also owns Sun Valley, Idaho and is controlled by the Holding Family. “East West Partners and Club Med will bring distinctive, high-quality development to Snowbasin; building on a superlative ski experience and decades of careful stewardship and investment into Snowbasin from our owners,” said Bruce Fery, CEO of Grand America. “Our local guests will continue to be a priority, with a plan that increases parking and out-of-base lift capacity. Club Med will showcase the beauty and excellence of Snowbasin to a largely international clientele, which will benefit the entire region,” added Fery.
Snowbasin will host two public events to detail resort expansion plans later this month. Each event will be open to the first 100 guests that register at snowbasin.com/openhouse.
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What do they mean by “upgraded little cat express”? Are the just adding more chairs to the lift or upgrading it entirely with an all new lift. If so, will they reuse little cat express for one of the village lifts?
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Littlecat is currently at max capacity as is.
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Sounds to me like a new lift. If so, the current lift would almost certainly be re-used as one of the other new lifts.
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Reusing it as the village lift makes the most sense.
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It seems as though a chondola or gondola is going to replace Little Cat, as those are the two most pedestrian-friendly lifts. Honestly, maybe even a pulse gondola, as the entire setup seems to resemble Snowmass and the Sky Cab.
I would imagine they resue Little Cat in some way. It has plenty of remaining life where a little refurbishment should save them a ton of money and make a lot of sense. If I had a guess, I could see them reusing it as the new beginner Ridgeline lift.
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As a local who lives 15 minutes away from snowbasin i do not support this at all. All snowbasin needs is a second strawberry chairlift and a upgraded becker chairlift. The crowds are already bad enough. Snowbasin is just fixing to became a crowded vacation vail like resort. Not what it used to be when I first learned to ski here.
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I’m seeing more of a Sun Valley approach rather than a Vail approach. Sun Valley is able to keep its character with its various lodging at the base areas.
Basin can’t make much money from the local crowd with competition from Powder Mountain. Nordic Valley can also beat the prices for the beginner crowd. There wasn’t much of another way Basin could go. This plan was drafted 10 years ago and they are simply going through with the plan 7 years later.
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At some point Snowbasin was going to have to take the hotel plunge. They’re one of, maybe the, biggest and most expensive ski areas without any base area lodging. Also, I’m reading the websites description of multiuse lift to mean Chondola or Gondola.
Also, probably good news for Nordic Valley and PowMow. This cements Snowbasin as a destination ski area, which will probably push more people on the north side of SLC to those places.
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I wonder how much of this is being funded with the sale of Sinclair Oil Corporation by the Holding family.
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Given current interest rates, it is probably primarily being funded with loans.
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Have to love the platitude nod to locals remaining a priority. Yes, all locals want to park 3x further from the lifts, only to then have to take another lift to get to the lifts that go somewhere. Who the hell do they think they are kidding?
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