This six pack is a rare detachable accessible only via a double chair.The tallest tower has four tube sections.View back down the lower lift line.Middle part of the lift line.Tower 10.Arriving at the drive station.Tower 13 and the top terminal.View down the line towards the town of Eden.Looking up the lift line.A Leitner chair imported from Austria.Tower 5.View up at tower 3.Loading area and small maintenance rail.Side view of the bottom terminal.Top terminal overview.Side view up top.Tower 13 and the upper station.View down at T12.Upper part of the line.View down.Tower 7.View leaving the bottom terminal.Unloading area.The bottom station seen from above.Top terminal turnaround.Leitner-Poma tower head.
Real nice lift! Will be interesting to see if Nordic Valley ends up putting in more detachables in the future for quite a small mountain. Also love those Leitner chairs from Austria.
They at least plan to add a bunch more lifts, including two gondolas, one of them coming up from North Ogden and the other coming up from the current base. They have plans to replace all of their existing lifts, along with a lot more new lifts. While this plan looks nice, Nordic Valley just doesn’t have the elevation that Basin and Powder have. After a big snowstorm, they always get the least amount of snow in the state. Ogden does need another ski area, Basin can get a little crowded on weekends, Saturdays in particular are the worst. I can’t see Nordic Valley staying under its current ownership, this lift upgrade hasn’t really brought in the skier numbers they hoped for.
Wowza, didn’t know that they were planning on adding two gondolas. But like you were saying, this brand new lift is pretty empty and I think a new owner could really help boost their sales.
Alex, I don’t think that’s their current master plan. I was told that Nordic Valley wants to replace all of their existing lifts and this plan doesn’t include that. I would guess that the master plan that you provided would be the one for the expansion only. Still a nice master plan.
I am still surprised that they installed this lift instead of replacing the Apollo Double. That and the other lifts at the main area are all pretty old. I think starting there would have made a difference instead of adding a new lift on a new area that requires one to ride an ancient double to access. That said, their snowmaking system is pretty crazy.
Did they get a deal on the Six-Pack because someone cancelled due to COVID?
And it seems like the ownership/management has high aspirations. I’m pretty sure that the owner of Purgatory is running Nordic (or owns it). How did he earn his money? Tech?
It’s an MCP area, same as Purgatory, AZ Snowbowl, Brian Head and Pajarito. This is by far their most northern resort. When looking at their larger plan, Nordic Valley starts to make sense, but imo is still inherently flawed. They want to draw from an underserved SW ski market that has also exploded in population. Brian Head to draw from Vegas/St.George, Snowbowl from Phoenix and Flag, Pajarito from Albuquerque. At all their resorts they’ve focused heavily on snowmaking and high speed lifts, meaning reliable skiing early and consistently. They want a local family to consider driving to a nearby resort instead of expensive flights and hotels in CO or Tahoe for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Summertimes are also particularly profitable as they are often the cool escape from desert heat.
Nordic Valley is where they’re willing to dump some of their decent revenue to try and develop another perceived niche; an underserved intermediate and beginner skier market in northern SLC and Ogden. They see Vail and Alterra and even Snowbasin as vulnerable enough through overcrowding and aggressive terrain. But the ski area has to be attractive enough and reliable to draw a slice of the pie.
Hence a flashy HSS start to development.
And MCP doesn’t necessarily need big snow, they’re one of the better groups in the industry at snowmaking and pushing at this point. They certainly outperform vs bigger named resorts given their size. I’m sure part of the choice to go with NV was more based on consistent snowmaking conditions vs pure snowfall.
Usually you’re right about getting less snow on a big storm, but Nordic got 20” prior to opening today, more than LCC/BCC or anywhere else in the state. Basin got 17. I have passes to both, and drove past Basin to get to Nordic, glad I did. I heard Basin was a zoo. At Nordic, I basically had the Nordic Express side to myself, fresh tracks all day and the terrain is amazing. Never once waited more than one chair to get on this lift. Granted for the advanced skier JP is obviously going to give you more, but on a powder day, having the terrain on Nordic Express without any crowds just can’t be beat.
the main green on Nordic express side, Loli Loli Loli, is great for kids first learning how to ski pow. Can choose any of the short powder “shortcuts” (blue squares intersecting Loli) to hit some pow, then take a “break” on the cat track for a minute before branching off again for more. My 7 year old said he had way more fun at Nordic today than at SB and said we should just go there from now on lol. Although they would save me $2k I’m not quite there yet. on blue bird days I love basin, but the crowds on powder days can really diminish the experience
I can’t believe they were able to get the lift up and running so fast. When the new lift at Arizona Snowbowl was finished, Nordic Valley still had towers in the parking lot!
The lift looks great, but I have absolutely no idea why they chose to build this before other lifts in their master plan. It will always raise some eyebrows when the only way to access a detachable six-pack is with a fixed-grip double.
Nordic does plan to replace all of their old lifts. The reason for this expansion was to access terrain that receives more snow. This lift is only 800 pph more than Lift 1, but Lift 1 breaks down regularly. I think this was also to see if an expansion with advanced terrain at a beginner mountain would attract more skier numbers in the Ogden area. I don’t think it really attracted the skier numbers they hoped for.
It seems like they have an idea of what could potentially bring people in, like night skiing, but then they kind of half-a** it and ruin the value prop of it. Their “night skiing” is only until 7PM (that’s before sunset right now, lol) when Brighton is open until 9PM and with Snake Creek being open, Brighton has way more night terrain. Their night tix are also not competitive with Brighton in terms of price. Nobody is gonna go to Nordic Valley unless they are a significantly shorter drive for them.
Yup, I hear Apollo has been quite the headache as of late. It was a good lift when I skied it years ago but given it’s a 1970 Hall and had been their primary lift, she’s been due for replacement
I don’t think it raises eyebrows with me. Not when Breck has a high speed six pack (the Kensho SuperChair) which can only be reached by taking a fixed grip quad (Zendo), and a high speed quad (the Imperial Express SuperChair) only accessible via double chairlift (Lift 6) or T-Bar.
Breck has 10 high-speed lifts. Them installing a high-speed lift anywhere would not raise eyebrows, and it is almost expected with their caliber and reputation. Even still, I will add that it is weird for them to not have a high-speed lift, or at least a modern fixed-grip, accessing Imperial. For Nordic Valley, having an all-fixed-grip base area and one detachable lift elsewhere on the mountain is definitely odd, even after knowing why they chose to do so.
In Breck’s cases, the high alpine detachables only being reachable via fixed grip lifts makes sense since the slower lifts serve as a means of metering traffic flow. This is definitely a necessity with Imperial since it’s the only detachable at Breck with less than 2,400 pph capacity.
In Nordic’s case, I see it as them starting out with the expansion then backtracking to replace the older lifts.
Exactly, Nordic is backtracking. They are eating their dessert before dinner. The entire thing is weird because it makes more sense to upgrade the base area before looking to expand elsewhere on the mountain.
Nordic isn’t competition for Basin and Powder. All they’ve had up until now is night skiing and good prices for beginners. They’re getting impatient and expanding terrain so they can actually be competition in the Ogden area. I would guess that they did not get the skier numbers that they hoped for. Snowbasin skiers will still ski Snowbasin. Snowbasin is also closer to more people that Nordic Valley is. There isn’t anything between the Cottonwoods and Snowbasin and no one driving up from Salt Lake would want to drive further for less terrain. They are still the beginner hill for the Ogden area.
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Real nice lift! Will be interesting to see if Nordic Valley ends up putting in more detachables in the future for quite a small mountain. Also love those Leitner chairs from Austria.
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They at least plan to add a bunch more lifts, including two gondolas, one of them coming up from North Ogden and the other coming up from the current base. They have plans to replace all of their existing lifts, along with a lot more new lifts. While this plan looks nice, Nordic Valley just doesn’t have the elevation that Basin and Powder have. After a big snowstorm, they always get the least amount of snow in the state. Ogden does need another ski area, Basin can get a little crowded on weekends, Saturdays in particular are the worst. I can’t see Nordic Valley staying under its current ownership, this lift upgrade hasn’t really brought in the skier numbers they hoped for.
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Wowza, didn’t know that they were planning on adding two gondolas. But like you were saying, this brand new lift is pretty empty and I think a new owner could really help boost their sales.
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Here’s their master plan:
https://bloximages.newyork1.vip.townnews.com/standard.net/content/tncms/assets/v3/editorial/6/a9/6a999931-e3cf-5962-aa79-7957d820a6ce/5c01bc86c5353.image.png?resize=1200%2C756
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Alex, I don’t think that’s their current master plan. I was told that Nordic Valley wants to replace all of their existing lifts and this plan doesn’t include that. I would guess that the master plan that you provided would be the one for the expansion only. Still a nice master plan.
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I am still surprised that they installed this lift instead of replacing the Apollo Double. That and the other lifts at the main area are all pretty old. I think starting there would have made a difference instead of adding a new lift on a new area that requires one to ride an ancient double to access. That said, their snowmaking system is pretty crazy.
Did they get a deal on the Six-Pack because someone cancelled due to COVID?
And it seems like the ownership/management has high aspirations. I’m pretty sure that the owner of Purgatory is running Nordic (or owns it). How did he earn his money? Tech?
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It’s an MCP area, same as Purgatory, AZ Snowbowl, Brian Head and Pajarito. This is by far their most northern resort. When looking at their larger plan, Nordic Valley starts to make sense, but imo is still inherently flawed. They want to draw from an underserved SW ski market that has also exploded in population. Brian Head to draw from Vegas/St.George, Snowbowl from Phoenix and Flag, Pajarito from Albuquerque. At all their resorts they’ve focused heavily on snowmaking and high speed lifts, meaning reliable skiing early and consistently. They want a local family to consider driving to a nearby resort instead of expensive flights and hotels in CO or Tahoe for Thanksgiving or Christmas. Summertimes are also particularly profitable as they are often the cool escape from desert heat.
Nordic Valley is where they’re willing to dump some of their decent revenue to try and develop another perceived niche; an underserved intermediate and beginner skier market in northern SLC and Ogden. They see Vail and Alterra and even Snowbasin as vulnerable enough through overcrowding and aggressive terrain. But the ski area has to be attractive enough and reliable to draw a slice of the pie.
Hence a flashy HSS start to development.
And MCP doesn’t necessarily need big snow, they’re one of the better groups in the industry at snowmaking and pushing at this point. They certainly outperform vs bigger named resorts given their size. I’m sure part of the choice to go with NV was more based on consistent snowmaking conditions vs pure snowfall.
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Usually you’re right about getting less snow on a big storm, but Nordic got 20” prior to opening today, more than LCC/BCC or anywhere else in the state. Basin got 17. I have passes to both, and drove past Basin to get to Nordic, glad I did. I heard Basin was a zoo. At Nordic, I basically had the Nordic Express side to myself, fresh tracks all day and the terrain is amazing. Never once waited more than one chair to get on this lift. Granted for the advanced skier JP is obviously going to give you more, but on a powder day, having the terrain on Nordic Express without any crowds just can’t be beat.
the main green on Nordic express side, Loli Loli Loli, is great for kids first learning how to ski pow. Can choose any of the short powder “shortcuts” (blue squares intersecting Loli) to hit some pow, then take a “break” on the cat track for a minute before branching off again for more. My 7 year old said he had way more fun at Nordic today than at SB and said we should just go there from now on lol. Although they would save me $2k I’m not quite there yet. on blue bird days I love basin, but the crowds on powder days can really diminish the experience
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The snow amount doesn’t look as bad as I thought. Well it could be just because it’s late in the season but beautiful detachable Nordic valley!
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I can’t believe they were able to get the lift up and running so fast. When the new lift at Arizona Snowbowl was finished, Nordic Valley still had towers in the parking lot!
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Huh, the lift has no name painted on the terminals nor on any of the shacks.
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Keystone also didn’t print names on their LPA detachable terminals except for both sides of the bottom terminal of the Bergman Express
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The lift looks great, but I have absolutely no idea why they chose to build this before other lifts in their master plan. It will always raise some eyebrows when the only way to access a detachable six-pack is with a fixed-grip double.
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Nordic does plan to replace all of their old lifts. The reason for this expansion was to access terrain that receives more snow. This lift is only 800 pph more than Lift 1, but Lift 1 breaks down regularly. I think this was also to see if an expansion with advanced terrain at a beginner mountain would attract more skier numbers in the Ogden area. I don’t think it really attracted the skier numbers they hoped for.
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It seems like they have an idea of what could potentially bring people in, like night skiing, but then they kind of half-a** it and ruin the value prop of it. Their “night skiing” is only until 7PM (that’s before sunset right now, lol) when Brighton is open until 9PM and with Snake Creek being open, Brighton has way more night terrain. Their night tix are also not competitive with Brighton in terms of price. Nobody is gonna go to Nordic Valley unless they are a significantly shorter drive for them.
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Yup, I hear Apollo has been quite the headache as of late. It was a good lift when I skied it years ago but given it’s a 1970 Hall and had been their primary lift, she’s been due for replacement
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I don’t think it raises eyebrows with me. Not when Breck has a high speed six pack (the Kensho SuperChair) which can only be reached by taking a fixed grip quad (Zendo), and a high speed quad (the Imperial Express SuperChair) only accessible via double chairlift (Lift 6) or T-Bar.
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Breck has 10 high-speed lifts. Them installing a high-speed lift anywhere would not raise eyebrows, and it is almost expected with their caliber and reputation. Even still, I will add that it is weird for them to not have a high-speed lift, or at least a modern fixed-grip, accessing Imperial. For Nordic Valley, having an all-fixed-grip base area and one detachable lift elsewhere on the mountain is definitely odd, even after knowing why they chose to do so.
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In Breck’s cases, the high alpine detachables only being reachable via fixed grip lifts makes sense since the slower lifts serve as a means of metering traffic flow. This is definitely a necessity with Imperial since it’s the only detachable at Breck with less than 2,400 pph capacity.
In Nordic’s case, I see it as them starting out with the expansion then backtracking to replace the older lifts.
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Exactly, Nordic is backtracking. They are eating their dessert before dinner. The entire thing is weird because it makes more sense to upgrade the base area before looking to expand elsewhere on the mountain.
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Nordic isn’t competition for Basin and Powder. All they’ve had up until now is night skiing and good prices for beginners. They’re getting impatient and expanding terrain so they can actually be competition in the Ogden area. I would guess that they did not get the skier numbers that they hoped for. Snowbasin skiers will still ski Snowbasin. Snowbasin is also closer to more people that Nordic Valley is. There isn’t anything between the Cottonwoods and Snowbasin and no one driving up from Salt Lake would want to drive further for less terrain. They are still the beginner hill for the Ogden area.
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