NEW CHAIRLIFTS! AND OTHER MOUNTAIN IMPROVEMENTS

TREC: What can you tell us about the new chairlifts going up in Mountain Village?

Pittenger: “The new Lift 9 is one of the largest lifts to be built in North America this year. This is the culmination of years of planning and work with the US Forest Service and Doppelmayr to find the right lift and timing to replace the old lift. The physical project started the day after we closed in April, and we hope to be complete by the holiday season. This is one of the most beautiful, revered pods of terrain at any ski area, and we are excited to be servicing this area and our guests with a new lift.”

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TREC: What do you think is the most interesting thing about the process a layperson might want to know?

Pittenger: “Building a ski lift is pretty “in-your-face”; there is a lot of heavy equipment, specialized equipment and personnel, and the helicopters are pretty hard to miss. We have been fielding a lot of questions regarding whether we could re-use any of the infrastructure of the old lift and the answer is basically “no”. All the towers and foundations are new due to significant increase in size and forces at play with a new lift. We have been able to shave off a few towers due to the new design, so there are now a few new turns to make on your way down. The old lift has found a new home at another ski area and will ultimately be re-used, which was our first choice as the machine has been well taken care of and will live on in a less stressful environment. A perfect retirement for our old friend.”

TREC: What’s special to note when riding the new lift?

Pittenger: “If you are taking notes, you had better do it quickly. We have cut the ride time in half with the new lift.”

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TREC: How does this separate the Telluride Ski Resort from other ski resorts?

Pittenger: “Our community, dramatic landscape, and incredible terrain really set us apart, but we like to hang our hats on tremendous customer service and guest experience. Maintaining and upgrading lifts is part of this experience and we are happy to continue to improve.”

TREC: What can you tell us about the new pipelines for snowmaking?

Pittenger: “Much of what we have installed replaced infrastructure that was at the end of its life in the ground and was showing signs of weakness. We are very excited about the new lines connecting the top of Lift 6 to See Forever at Joint Point. This is an incredibly important ski-way that sees a great amount of traffic and sunshine. Improving our ability to efficiently make snow in this area will make early season connectivity much more reliable.”

TREC: How does this all play into the Master Plan and what line items do we have left on that?

Pittenger: “We took a big chunk out of the Master Plan this summer, but there is still quite a bit that we would like to accomplish. The plan is a guide and as we grow and our guests’ expectations change, we have to adjust our plan from time to time. As it pertains to our upper mountain, replacing Lift 9, updating our infrastructure, and ultimately Giuseppe’s is a big piece of the puzzle. There will be more lifts to replace in the coming years and infrastructure to update, but we like to stay flexible to both meet our needs and our guests’ desires.”

TREC: What can we expect come Winter 2023?

Pittenger: “The new lift will change how people move around the mountain. Access times from Town to the upper mountain, Gold Hill, and Prospect are going to be significantly reduced. We look forward to seeing how this changes people’s skiing habits as well as our own efficiency. We have also done a great amount of work this summer on our trails and glades that will improve skiing. The Gold Hill I goat path project was a big undertaking in incredibly difficult terrain that was amazingly executed by our team. This should have a tremendous impact on the availability of that terrain to our guests. We are always trying to enhance our guest experience and our extraordinary staff improves every day.”

TREC: Based on your tenure here in Telluride, how do you see (all of) this impacting the community?

Pittenger: “We live in a small, terrific community and we look at every project and operation through the lens of our impact on those around us. We see the projects of this summer, improving infrastructure, our lift network, and availability of terrain as net positive for the community and our guests from out of town.”

TREC: What other prominent projects do you have on the horizon?

Pittenger: “Next up will be Giuseppe’s. There was simply too much to be done at the top of Lift 9 to squeeze that project in this year. This space on our mountain is simply too important to hastily rebuild. Our hope is to build a restaurant truly deserving of this amazing home on our ridge that will take advantage of the natural beauty of the environment and provide excellent service to our guests.”

TREC: What are your main goals for the mountain next year? In five years?

Pittenger: “Next year will be dedicated to Giuseppe’s and utility installation to service the new restaurant. We are also dedicated to continuing to improve our snowmaking infrastructure, and building more bike trails. Forest health is going to be a primary focus of the Resort. We have been working with the US Forest Service and hope to make some landscape-scale improvements to the health of the forest on the Resort in the coming years. This will not only improve the health and resiliency of our forest and help to reduce wildfire risk to the Resort and the surrounding community, but add an ancillary benefit of more amazing tree skiing on the mountain.”

TREC: What accomplishment are you/your team most proud of?

Pittenger: “Every day I am amazed at the dedication and talent encompassed within our team at the Resort. I could not be more proud of the people that make this place work and the community they create. The accomplishment of finishing a huge job like Lift 9, 20,000 feet of new pipeline or a new bike trail is spectacular, but to get up early the following morning and step up to the next challenge on the mountain is truly inspiring.”

TREC: If you had all the money and time in the world, what would you like to see develop in our area?

Pittenger: “Affordable housing. This is really a communitywide issue and one that necessitates all stakeholders and local governments come to the table to create solutions. There have been some great projects completed, but we need more. We need more right here in Telluride and Mountain Village. I truly believe that this can be done effectively to help house our community, retain the services that we all rely upon, and reduce our carbon footprint. Money is not truly the issue, we need collaboration – however being able to foot the bill myself might grease the wheels.”