Netflix founder and Powder Mountain CEO Reed Hastings will invest $20 million next summer, replacing two lifts and building two new ones servicing parts of the mountain currently accessed by snowcat. Hastings took majority ownership of Powder Mountain earlier this year and already invested in new snowmaking and a conveyor lift for this season. Next year, the first order of business will be replacing the long and slow Paradise quad with a Doppelmayr detachable quad, cutting ride time by more than half. The aging Timberline triple will also be retired for a fixed grip quad.
Two chairlifts in brand new alignments will also debut next year. A fixed grip quad will be installed from the base of Timberline to the top of Lightning Ridge, servicing intermediate and expert terrain currently accessed by snowcat or hiking. A second infill lift called Raintree will open only for Powder Mountain homeowners in Cobabe Canyon. This expert terrain currently serviced by cat will remain open to those willing to hike. All three fixed grip lifts will be constructed by Skytrac, bringing Powder Mountain to six Skytracs in total.
Starting next year, the existing Mary’s and Village lifts will close to the public and, like Raintree, be open only to homeowners. “In order to pay our bills, we need to sell more real estate, and to do that we are introducing private homeowner-only skiing a year from now,” said Hastings. “We believe this blend of public and private skiing secures us decades of exceptional uncrowded skiing for all, funded partially by real estate. To stay independent and uncrowded, we needed to change, and we didn’t want to join the successful but crowded multi-resort pass model (i.e. Snowbasin) or sell to a conglomerate (i.e. Vail).”
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I feel Paradise going detachable is a bit overdue.
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Paradise has a really long ride time, and I am happy to see it be replaced with a high speed lift. Timberline also makes sense to replace given its age.
Having the Lightning Ridge lift start at Timberline will make that pod require multiple lifts to lap. It is better than being snowcat-only, and I understand that the alternative of starting the lift down by Paradise would necessitate either a detachable lift or a long ride time, but it is akin to Sunrise and not ideal.
I don’t mind Mary’s and Village being homeowner lifts, and it almost makes sense given their location. However, the new Raintree being homeowner-only is definitely disappointing.
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That 15 minute ride probably feels much longer if it’s very cold or windy.
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It is the most-sun exposed and wind protected lift on the whole resort. If you are cold on Paradise, you will be absolutely frozen on the other lifts.
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You obviously don’t realize how much terrain Mary’s and Village access. The majority of Cobabe and all of Lefty’s will now be inaccessible. This is a serious blow to the non-homeowners.
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I feel like that move is only going to backfire.
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I sure hope so, I won’t go there now.
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I understand how much terrain those lifts access, but at the same time, their pods definitely feel isolated from the rest of the resort. If they are going to go forward with the private/public model, that is the area to do it.
Cobabe will still be completely accessible. A very short hike will once again be required to access the eastern side of the canyon, but that is how it was for years. From what has been said so far, it doesn’t seem as though the terrain is off limits, rather just select lifts. If that changes, then I agree it is a more serious footprint reduction.
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This is the correct take. I have a hard time getting upset about a $20M investment that will add/replace 4 lifts with brand new equipment while adding the more interesting lift-serviced terrain that’s adjacent to the current core. Given the checkered financial and ownership situation PowMow has experienced since it was founded, our choice as observers isn’t between a PowMow that’s fully open to the public vs. partially. It’s a choice between partial opening to the public and no access at all (either b/c it’s private or out of business entirely). If the price for these upgrades is sacrificing access to lower quality terrain that is as geographically separate from the resort core as it could be, sign me up.
Also wonder if PowMow will re-use, sell or scrap the 2 FG quads. Seems like there may be no shortage of potential buyers.
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Cobabe Canyon was skied heavily before Mary’s and Village were built. Those lifts do service some nice terrain but they were obviously real estate lifts not the true skiers lifts. If it was me I would have left them public because it is hard to disallow something that was once included in a day pass even if those lifts run mostly empty on a daily basis, It has been long overdue to replace Timberline Lift. Thiokol should have stayed building lifts when you look at how long that has lasted and a lot of the credit goes to the pm maintenance crew for the care they administered over the years. Paradise will be nice as a high speed because it IS a long ride–my family built Powder Mountain and before Paradise Lift was the Meadows Express Snow Cat would pick you up at the bottom of Paradise and deliver you to the Hidden Lake lift in an open air trailer very classic powder mountain style and it was a slow cold ride but no one cared because they were so happy from their powder run they just did and back then it only cost $5 a ride on top of a day pass that was about $40. My grandpa Alvin had always thought a lift to Lightning Ridge would be a good improvement to the resort. It will open a lot of terrain
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As far as public access is concerned, that’ll reduce the public’s footprint to the two high speed quads (Hidden Lake and Paradise), plus Lightning Ridge, Timberline, and the Sundown area.
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No. The article literally said Cobabe Canyon would still be accessible. Not sure why you are fear-mongering.
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Somewhat surprised they wont re-use Paradise as one of the new fixed grip lifts. They probably got a good deal from Skytrac!
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Kinda interesting that Powder MT split the contract with Doppelmayr getting the detachable Paradise replacement. I am guessing that they wanted to stick with equipment they have. Their fleet will fairly uniform with only Skytrac FG and Doppelmayr detach chairlifts.
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That or Doppie gave the best bid.
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Its odd to split bid as the manufacturers usually give a better price on a group of lifts vs one, but I can see Doppelmayr being able to give a better bid on the detach as the old G-CTEC lift may have been profiled to be upgraded and Doppelmayr has the documentation from ctec and could possibly reuse many of the foundations in their profile design.
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It’s not odd at all, it is happening more often now that we’ll have different manufactures installing on the same mountain the same year or within a few years of each other. Brand loyalty isn’t as big of a deal to many bigger mountains as it once was, (yes yes yes, there a few places out there where it still is) what is- is who can get it installed as quickly as they would like, and who can do it for the best price.
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Ryan, I am not talking about brand loyalty but the bid and contract process, other than Boyne Resorts few operators are as dogmatic about using one supplier nowadays
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Yup, I know. That’s what I meant and why I responded to your comment – not odd at all to see 2 different manufacturers that are used to install multiple lifts at 1 resort at one time. Whomever bids the right price and can promise to get it in on time, the mountain will go with that manufacturer- Am I missing something from your comment?
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1. 3rd ski resort with most lifts built in one year, 2nd being JFBB with 5 skytracs and Deer Valley with 9+ lifts coming soon
2. Dumb and stupid that some lifts are going homeowner only like Yellowstone Club
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I meant to say number 3 for most lifts built in 1 year for recent years
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What is JFBB?
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Jack Frost / Big Boulder, PA
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I was interested in checking this mountain out until I saw the private lift access Bull. That just ruins it for me so I will spend my vacation dollars elsewhere.
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I guess I’m a little surprised by the placement of this lift. On one hand, it serves some of the best terrain within Cobabe Canyon. On the other, this placement make it physically separate from the other two pods that are going private. I’m low-key surprised they didn’t place the loading terminal of this lift where Grey Cliff and Proving Grounds and all the other runs in the top of the canyon come together, with the summit terminal up on the ridge closer to the Mary’s pod. This way you’d have three contiguous terrain pods (or at least lifts) that are members-only, and that configuration would make much of the most interesting terrain in Cobabe lapable while avoiding the 3 lift shuffle amongst the great unwashed public that is required to get home once you’re done.
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Powder Mountain holds a spot dear in my heart. As a kid we’d hike Baldy and ride down to the waiting bus where Woody would have a tray of Sugar Wafers set out. I fondly remember riding a rope behind a snowmobile out the ridge from Timberline to what is now the top of Paradise. Even as they added the Paradise quad and the blasphemous Hidden Lake detachable I was still excited to show up to PowMow 3-5 days after a snowfall and find good fresh snow with only a little walk and some local knowledge.
I am very sad that this once magnificent resort is going this way. What made it magical was the old slow chairs and the inability to quickly lap the runs you like. We would ride two, maybe 3, laps through Cobabe and a Powder Country and that would be a full day.
Success ruins most ski resorts
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This…actually really sucks. It’s just as bad as paying DLC for a video game, except the price is millions of dollars and a silver spoon in your mouth.
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Catering to the rich has been the business model for places like this for awhile now. In fact its the business model for many types of businesses. The middle class is being dumped in favor of those who are willing to spend. And there are lots who are. There are still a few mom and pop mountains around Utah to go to but you have to drive a bit.
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Since I don’t live in Utah, but like to ski mom and pops,what do you suggest in Utah?
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