Packed crowds brave dicey roads for long-awaited debut of Lithia Chair offering access to intermediate runs
By Art Van Kraft for Ashland.news
MOUNT ASHLAND — Despite surprisingly heavy snowfall, urgently plowed roads and sporadic spinouts, Saturday saw an estimated 2,000 skiers brave mountain roads to give Mt. Ashland Ski Area a super launch day for its long-awaited new chair lift, its first new lift in more than 30 years.
The lift, named Lithia Chair, will give skiers and snowboarders new access to beginning and intermediate slopes.
Mt. Ashland general manager Andrew Gast says the new chair has been busy since its opening Saturday, Dec. 14, one week after the ski area opened to the general public on Dec. 7, a week earlier than originally planned.
“We’ve been waiting 30 years for the funding,” Gast said. “We’ve been working gradually on our master plan and this was the next piece of that plan. We had discussed with the donors a number of different projects and this was the one they cared the most about.”
The Mt. Ashland news release says the lift will take skiers and snowboarders from the Center Stage Terrain Park to the top of Sonnet slope in 90 seconds. Once there, they’ll find access to a variety of trails, with a new beginner trail to be known as “Bumblebee” planned for the future.
Gast says the new chair completes a vital gap in ski school progression.
“We have a really good beginner program and an advanced program, but nothing in the middle, and this lift makes that bridge. We have more snow on the ground now that we’ve had since 1994. Based on the long-term forecasts, we’re in a good position to say open until mid-April,” Gast said.
Despite the closure of the upper mountain, Gast says the resort was full all weekend.
“According to some of the online media that tracks things, we had the most snow of any ski resort in the country yesterday,” Gast said.
Gabby Conner, marketing manager at Mt. Ashland, said, “We cut the ribbon and rang the bell, which is a tradition for the opening day of a chair lift. It’s been 35 years since we rang a bell. This bell was custom made and engraved with the names of Sid and Karen DeBoer, the benefactors who donated the $2.5 million dollars to construct Lithia ski lift.”
During the summer, Conner said earth movers widened one of main problem areas, the Aisle Two Pathway.
“That aisle takes you from the lodge over to our base area and it has historically been a little bit narrow with a lot of congestion, so we moved a lot of dirt in the summer to widen that,” Conner said.
The chair will open up terrain that is more difficult and provide trails for the beginner to intermediate skier.
Samantha Meazell and her daughter Sarah, 9, of Ashland, were taking a break in a window seat in the main lodge. It’s Sarah’s first time skiing this season; she’s been skiing since she was 4 and is in the Mt. Ashland Racing Association.
“We’re here with a bunch of family visiting from Dallas. Sarah did downhill and I skied cross country. We’re excited about the new lift and the donation; we are big fans of Mt. Ashland,” Meazell said.
Jason Taton and his wife, Kelly Taton, live in Ashland and are regulars on the mountain. They said it was important for them to be there on the new lift’s opening day.
“Saturday was amazing with 2 feet of fresh (snow). It was nasty and dicey on the road yesterday. There were five or six cars that we went around. They were crashing into each other and I’m glad we made it up here,” Jason said.
They said they are happy that Aisle Two is finally widened. Jason said the new snow over the last two days has made the skiing great.
Pat Eagen works in the rental department. He commands the crowded cluster in the rooms of equipment on the lower level of the main lodge. He said he’s been skiing on Mt. Ashland for 25 seasons and working there now for five years.
“I learned to ski when I was 5 at Mt. Shasta and I learned to snow board when I was 50. Snowboards make me think and I don’t like to think when I’m skiing,” he said.
Eagen boasts of the quality and replacement time of the resort’s equipment.
“Most of the rental equipment is 1 to 2 years old, except for the ski boots, they go 3 to 5 years and then we replace them. We replace the skis every 3 to 4 years. I only have four customers that like the narrow skis, compared to the wider ones that are more popular now,” Eagen says.
Eagen also joins one of the more popular adult racing leagues.
“I like the Beer League, partners of two, night skiing and you run the gates and it’s for the best time every Friday night for five weeks. We meet afterwards at the bar. The winner in the season gets a case of beer,” Eagen says.
According to a Mt. Ashland news release, the new chair lift was developed in 2004 as part of the ski area’s Master Development Plan. Board members and ski area staff worked with the U.S. Forest Service in 2022 to finalize plans with wildlife and cultural surveys.
Funding the project came from a $2 million donation from the Sid & Karen DeBoer Foundation, along with a personal $500,000 donation from the DeBoers. The lift took 54 days to install.
Crews broke ground on Sept. 1. The motor room, drive and bullwheels were installed on Oct. 19 and by Oct. 24, the final communication cables and chairs were hung.
Upon completion, the Lithia Chair underwent rigorous load tests and safety inspections along with testing that included 100 hours of runtime, the release said.
Art Van Kraft is an artist living in Ashland and a former broadcast journalist and news director of a Los Angeles-area National Public Radio affiliate. Email him at artukraft@msn.com.
March 27: Corrected spelling of Gabby Conner’s first name.
Related stories:
Up and away: Mt. Ashland’s new Lithia Chair opens Saturday (Dec. 11, 2024)
Season launches at Mt. Ashland with sunny skies and snowy slopes (Dec. 7, 2024)
Mt. Ashland Ski Area opening early for skiing, snowboarding (Nov. 30, 2024)
