Salt Lake City, UT – Proposals pending before the Uinta-Wasatch-Cache unit of the U.S. Forest Service hint at improvements that may greet skiers and riders at Utah’s 13 ski resorts next winter.nThe majority of the state’s ski areas operate under a special use permit on National Forest land.

Alta is proposing to improve their snowmaking system by finishing it as a loop and to add a spur that would allow them to make snow on the Sugarbowl run off the top of Sugarloaf. The proposal would join the existing snowmaking system on Devil’s Elbow to that atop Collins, creating a loop and adding a spur to reach the top of the Sugarloaf chair. A high traffic area, Sugarbowl’s snow depths are often augmented by farming snow with a groomer from an area directly east of the Sugarloaf chair’s top terminal.

Closing this loop in Alta’s snowmaking system will also substantially reduce the energy expended to move water from sources such as Cecret Lake, down to the base area, and then back up Collins Gulch. Closing the loop at the top will allow pumping in either direction from the up-mountain sources, saving energy and providing the ski area more flexibility in using its limited quantity of snowmaking water.

Approved concurrently, Alta has also proposed regrading the east end of the Transfer Tow to the same level as the Sunnyside chairlift loading area, eliminating the need to walk and pole uphill to the chair after disembarking the Transfer Tow.

Snowmaking improvements are also at the center of Brighton Ski Area’s proposal to extend a 1,000-foot line down the skier’s left side of the Thunder Road ski run. The new line will also provide an additional point for draining the snowmaking system. At the same time as work is completed on the new snowmaking extension, the ski area has proposed replacing an aging above-ground electrical line for night skiing lighting with one buried along with the snowmaking water and electrical lines.

Solitude Mountain Resort has proposed a number of lift and terrain changes near its Moonbeam base area, including installation of a conveyor lift to ease access to its Link beginner chairlift. The 70-foot lift was first approved as part of the ski area’s 2002 Master Plan, but the proposal involves relocating the lift slightly to segregate it further from the existing traffic flow.

Snowbird’s proposals involve not winter operations, but phase two of its mountain bike trail development in lower Gad Valley. The plan calls for an additional 1.25 miles of single-track suitable for novice and intermediate riders, situated near the Big Emma ski run. It will wind through aspen stands directly to the east of Big Emma before following Miner’s Road back to the resort base.

All of the aforementioned projects were approved by Forest Supervisor Brian Ferebee in summer 2009.