If numbers are strong through the early part of the season, Mt. Washington Resort will continue developing 600 new acres on the west side with construction of another high-speed chairlift.
“Everything’s subject to board approval and affordability. So we have to have a strong start to the year,” Resort General Manager Peter Gibson said prior to the season opener. If everything goes according to plan, construction will proceed next summer on a new chairlift that will open up new terrain. The lift line was cleared in summer 2001, as was one new ski run.
“We’re strongly leading towards a detachable six (seater),” he said. A lift company has been chosen, but Gibson wouldn’t reveal who it was because the choice hadn’t been run by the board, yet.
The new red chair will eliminate a major congestion area at the top of the red chair; it will unload where the Raven run comes off Westerly, and will be one lift longer than the Eagle Express, Gibson said.
“The new lift will cater to all levels of skiers and boarders,” he said, with an emphasis on giving novice skiers some higher terrain to work with.
The west side project started last year with construction of Raven Lodge, a first-class Nordic skiing facility that opened in mid-December. Two parking lots have been cleared and set with gravel, to accommodate Raven Lodge visitors.
Construction of one of the parking lots meant moving the biathlon range that the Strathcona Nordics Cross-Country Ski Team had developed. A new range has been constructed about a kilometre farther up the road. Next year, a new trail head will be developed to welcome guests to Paradise Meadows. Gibson said the trail head location has yet to be determined, but it will give people access either through the lower parking lot or from the lower level of Raven Lodge.