Little Cottonwood Canyon, Utah — This week is shaping up to be a great one at Snowbird, with lots of snowfall expected. However, they’ll be without one of their most popular terrain pods for several days this week.
Last Friday, Snowbird Resort announced that Mineral Basin will be closed through either Thursday or Friday of this week. The Mineral Basin chairlift has a mechanical issue that needs to be fixed, which means they can’t operate the chairlift. Because of this, the Mineral Basin and Baldy Express chairlifts, along with the Alta Connection, will remain closed through Thursday or Friday.
While Snowbird technically could still operate the Baldy chairlift in Mineral Basin, the closure of the Mineral Basin chairlift would complicate the lift operator’s ability to get back to Snowbird’s base areas at the end of the day. With this chairlift mostly servicing intermediate runs, not many Alta skiers would come over just for that chairlift.
A replacement for the Mineral Basin chairlift is planned for the future. Approved by the US Forest Service in early 2024, Snowbird plans to replace the 1999 detachable high-speed quad with a detachable high-speed six-pack chairlift. The new top terminal would be situated closer to the Summit Restaurant, making accessing this building easier.
However, with this project officially not being announced by the ski resort, a timeline for such a replacement has yet to be officially announced. Snowbird has been working through a flurry of projects recently, including the new Wilbere chairlift (which opened this winter) and the new Mid-Gad Restaurant (which is opening next winter), so it’s unclear where this new chairlift is on the priority list.
Update 3/7: Due to inclement weather, the repairs for Mineral Basin are taking longer than expected. Snowbird aims to reopen Mineral Basin next week.
Image Credits: Snowbird Resort
