Alta Ski Area Summer & Fall Project Updates.
This summer and fall have been one of the busiest offseasons in recent memory as our teams have been working on a handful of projects across departments and around the mountain. We've also been busy logging long days in the field to meet our revegetation and reforestation goals while engaging with the community through environmental education and summer stewardship events.
Supreme Lift Realignment
The United States Forest Service has authorized Alta Ski Area to modify the alignment of the existing Supreme lift. The Supreme lift was dismantled and realigned to create a new, straighter alignment that eliminates the eight-degree bend present in the existing lift line. The top and bottom terminals were pivoted but remain in their general locations.
September 10th: Supreme lift towers were installed | Photo: Adam Fehr
October 4th: The new Supreme lift alignment | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
The realignment project was completed on October 4th—one month ahead of schedule—and the Supreme lift is expected to open for Alta's 2025–26 ski season.
Albion Day Lodge Expansion & Albion Dry Storage Facility
The Albion base area received a bit of a facelift this offseason. The Albion Day Lodge is halfway through a two-year expansion project. The full effects of the project won't be realized until the 2026–27 season, but we are excited about the new facility. The expanded Albion Day Lodge will provide additional indoor and outdoor restaurant seating, new seasonal locker space, increased indoor and outdoor seating for Alta Java and new employee housing.
September 9th: Albion Day Lodge expansion project | Photo: Lexi Dowdall
On the north side of the Albion Parking Lot, skiers will notice a new dry storage facility. This new storage facility will eventually replace Alta Ski Area's down-canyon storage warehouse, eliminating plenty of trips back and forth from the Salt Lake Valley.
The first phase of construction on the Albion Day Lodge will wrap up before Opening Day. The Albion Day Lodge and Albion Parking Lot will operate as usual for the 2025–26 season.
Snowmaking Lines Along the Transfer Tow
A collaborative effort between Alta Ski Area and the Town of Alta, our teams spent countless days and weeks digging trenches to upgrade existing snowmaking lines between Albion and Wildcat base areas. Our current snowmaking system had reached end-of-life status and needed an upgrade.
July 6th: Digging trenches for the snowmaking lines project | Photo: Lexi Dowdall
Working with the Town of Alta, we successfully installed new snowmaking lines, a new snowmaking reservoir system, culinary water lines, communication lines and power lines for the Town of Alta.
September 11th: The snowmaking project continues as the colors change | Photo: Adam Fehr
The project along the Transfer Tow wrapped up this fall and our snowmaking crews successfully tested the upgraded snowmaking lines in late October.
Unearthing Alta's Mining History
The snowmaking upgrade project also unearthed mining era artifacts from the original Town of Alta. The terminus of Little Cottonwood Canyon was a silver mining hotbed in the 1870s and the original Main Street of the Town of Alta runs parallel to the Transfer Tow. While the Transfer Tow is in an ideal spot to connect Alta's base area, it sits under the same avalanche paths that decimated the original town multiple times in its 50-year existence.
As silver prices and the mining-era population waxed and waned, the avalanche problem held steady and the Town of Alta was relocated. The original Main Street was abandoned and Alta was essentially a ghost town by the early 1900s. As skiing and reforestation efforts helped resurrect Alta, the bountiful snowfall and decades of intentionally-triggered avalanches continued to push what was left of Alta's mining era further underground.
We were very excited to work with the Town of Alta, US Forest Service, State Historical Preservation Office, Utah Cultural Site Stewardship and other entities to help uncover archaeological artifacts from the mining era Town of Alta.
September 6th: Archaeology open house along the Transfer Tow | Photo: Rocko Menzyk
On Saturday, September 6th, Alta Ski Area helped host an archaeological open house where community members, employees and the local media had the opportunity to observe some of the artifacts while participating in the archaeological work. We hope to display some of these artifacts for Alta skiers.
The High Traverse Project
Completing a two-year project, a crew of eight employees spent six weeks widening the High Traverse between Upper Sunspot and Jake's. This hand-cut traverse will hold more snow earlier in the season and during periods of increased skier traffic and wind erosion. It will also provide a dependable traverse to the grassy slopes of Greeley Bowl during low snow periods.
July 29th: Hand cutting the High Traverse | Photo: Duke Grewe
Wyssen Towers in Devil's Castle and Sugarloaf Peak
Alta Ski Area installed four new Wyssen Towers between the far wall of Devil's Castle and Sugarloaf Peak. These additions to Alta's network of Remote Avalanche Control Systems (RACS) should assist Alta Ski Patrol with avalanche mitigation efforts, snowpack analysis as we evaluate potential Castle openings between storm cycles.
Repurposing Timber with the Trail Crew
Between the final chair of the 2024–25 season and before the snowpack melted into Little Cottonwood Creek, our trail crew went to work removing hazard trees—those that need to be removed for safety or ecological reasons—and trees from the new Supreme lift line. The felled trees were moved across the spring snowpack to the Alta lumber mill located near the Jump Hill at the intersection of Snake Pit and Lower Albion Meadows Trail.
September 3rd: Repurposing timber at the Alta sawmill | Photo: Adam Fehr
The trail crew went to work, milling lumber that will be used throughout Alta Ski Area in myriad on-mountain projects.
- Snow fences and bridges
- Albion Day Lodge expansion
- Alta Ski Shop shelving and wainscotting
- New benches and tables
- Mulch
Summer Stewardship and Environmental Education Events
To meet our Summer Stewardship goals, the Alta Environmental Center (AEC) and partner organizations enlisted the help of over 200 volunteers over multiple Community Volunteer Days and Employee Planting Days. In total, more than 2,200 people participated in 28 Environmental Education events, creating awareness with our community and the next generation of Alta skiers.
Revegetation Projects
During the warm and dry days of June, July and August, the AEC team was able to plant this year's crop of over 11,000 native plant seedlings in previously disturbed areas of the mountain. This summer's planting efforts were focused on Upper Sleepy Hollow and Sleepy Hollow runs near the top of the Supreme lift. These slopes were regraded in the summer of 2022 and 2023. This summer's revegetation efforts are part of Alta Ski Area's commitment to plant 1,000 native plant seedlings per acre, per year, for three years in disturbed terrain.
August 14th: Planting native plant seedlings on Employee Planting Day | Photo: Lexi Dowdall
The new groomed slope holds significantly more snow earlier in the season and grooming has helped ward off sun and wind erosion that used to leave the slope bare during the ski season. In total, the AEC planted 11,554 native plant seedlings on the slopes of Alta.
Reforestation Efforts
Our reforestation efforts are focused on improving the overall forest health. This summer's reforestation work started with harvesting trees from groomed runs and relocating them to an on-mountain nursery in the Albion Basin. To assist in the process, the Alta Environmental Center enlisted the help of partner organizations and a group of volunteers for the annual Tree Harvesting event in July. These harvested trees will call the mid-mountain nursery home, awaiting transplanting to other areas of the mountain where they have a greater chance to thrive.
July 12th: Moving harvested trees to the Albion nursery | Photo: Adam Fehr
Each year, the Alta Environmental Center works with the U.S. Forest Service to collect cones from trees at Alta, which are sent to a Forest Service grower in Idaho, where they spend a year strengthening their roots. Come fall, the young trees return to Alta, ready to be planted by employees and volunteers from our community. Our goal is to increase the age diversity of the tree species here at Alta and aid in regeneration.
Volunteers plant Engelmann spruce saplings at Tree Planting Day | Photo: Photo-John
On September 20th, the AEC partnered with TreeUtah and Cottonwood Canyons Foundation to host the annual Tree Planting Day—our biggest volunteer event of the year. Alta employees, local residents, community members, partner organizations and 50 volunteers joined forces to plant over 800 Engelmann spruce saplings across Alta's slopes.
By the end of summer and fall, the AEC planted 1,206 trees and harvested 143 tree saplings that will spend the winter in the Albion Nursery.
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