The very contentious ONE Wasatch plan to connect all seven ski resorts from Park City to Little Cottonwood Canyon seems to be moving forward, as Ski Utah revealed the possible lift alignments that will turn the Central Wasatch into a giant, interconnected ski resort. This mega resort would have 100 lifts, serving 18,000 acres. And it could all be skied with one lift ticket.
The hitch in this plan is how to connect the resorts that don’t currently share a boundary. Building “connector” ski lifts through what is currently prime backcountry terrain is a hangup for backcountry skiers and snowboarders, who see the ONE Wasatch plan as a threat to an already dwindling resource – untouched natural land accessed only by human power. Speculation about where these lifts would go has been high, but the wait is over as Ski Utah released this map outlining proposed lift alignments. Click to embiggen.
The lift alignments seem pretty much as expected, with PCMR being linked to Brighton via Guardsman Pass, and Solitude being linked to Alta via Grizzly Gulch. That loss of Grizzly Gulch is definitely a sore spot for the backcountry crowd as it’s prime access to off-piste terrain in Wolverine Cirque, Patsey Marley, Emma Ridge, Davenport Hill, upper Silver Fork Canyon and more. Also of note is the “TBD” between Canyons and PCMR, no doubt because of the legal wrangling taking place between the two resorts.
Along with the new map, Ski Utah attached a press release, which you can read below:
(SALT LAKE CITY, UTAH) – Today, Ski Utah along with seven ski resort mangers released a new map detailing lift alignments of two of the three potential connections for an over-the-snow interconnect between all seven resorts via chairlift and ski run called ONE Wasatch. ONE Wasatch would offer the largest lift-served ski experience in North America – over 18,000 acres, 100 lifts and more than 750 runs, all on one pass. And all on “The Greatest Snow on Earth.”
The two lift alignments are located on the attached map and include:
1. Solitude (Big Cottonwood) to/from Alta (Little Cottonwood)
2. Park City Mountain Resort (Summit County) to/from Brighton (Big Cottonwood)
The third connection between Canyons Resort to/from Park City Mountain Resort will be determined at a later date.
“Connecting seven of Utah’s finest ski resorts while preserving both our water quality and an unrivaled backcountry experience is not an impossible task,” said Nathan Rafferty, president and CEO – Ski Utah. “Today we have decided to move a step forward in the vision process by conceptualizing lift alignments on a map to continue providing information to the public, encouraging dialog and listening to feedback about these potential connections.”
In addition to the release of the map, Ski Utah shared results of a survey they conducted about the ONE Wasatch concept. The survey was sent to more than 35,000 individual online subscribers of their monthly newsletter and snow reports. Since the respondents cover all types of recreationists that follow snow/skiing and riding conditions, we can infer they include both downhill as well as backcountry users. The following summarizes a review of the responses.
Of the 35,468 survey requests, 3,009 completed the survey—a response rate of almost 9 percent.
· A high number—77% of the respondents—have heard of ONE Wasatch.
· Of those that have heard of the concept, 73% of the overall respondents believed the concept was a somewhat or very good idea, while only 19% thought that it was a somewhat or very bad idea; 8% were not sure (nearly 4 to 1 margin of favorable vs unfavorable responses)
· The respondents, by an overwhelming margin, indicated they would use ONE Wasatch once it was completed–71% said they were somewhat or very likely to use it, compared to 25% that said they were somewhat or not very likely to use it (almost 3 to 1 in favor).
For updated ONE Wasatch maps including lift alignments visit www.ONEWasatch.com.
###
So what do you think of the proposed connector lift alignments? Will this be good for Utah’s ski industry, or will it be too much of a sacrifice of backcountry ski terrain?
Jared, The proposed Guardsman lifts I do not anticipate would be all that controversial as it is surrounded by private property and used primarily (and illegally) by snowmobilers. It may impact one’s experience in USA Bowl, but the alignment seems to leave it out of this drainage.
Grizzly would be a huge blow to the backcountry experience. This is going to be a big fight, and it should be. This is, as you have mentioned, the gateway to our most popular backcountry skiing. That said, there is no good alternate route to connect Big and Little Cottonwood. The question is, what do we gain by sacrificing Grizzly? Marketing.
I wonder how much of a fight backcountry advocates can put up over Grizzly, because I’m pretty sure that Alta owns it. It’s not technically public land and Alta already grooms the road up to the Honeycomb Cliffs. BC advocates may not have a leg to stand on here.
Correct me if I’m wrong about Alta’s ownership of Grizzly.