Eaglecrest Ski Area road, lift construction 'going well'

Gravel trucks rumble past the Ptarmigan ski lift every five minutes to drop loads of freshly quarried rock and push the new maintenance road closer to the 2,600-foot Eagle's Nest summit house at Eaglecrest Ski Area, while foundation holes for the new mid-mountain lift are dug out and drilled into good rock.

For a project with no specific timeline, the new lift construction and summit access road are "going well," said Kirk Duncan, general manager of Eaglecrest.

But a lot of work remains at the city-owned ski hill this summer. Duncan said the ski area is going through its largest construction and expansion period ever.

Duncan expects the road to reach the summit, power lines from North Douglas Highway to reach the ski area's base and the new beginner chairlift to be complete before the snow flies. However, the mid-mountain chairlift is a different story.

Arête Construction won the city bid to erect lift towers and build the top and bottom wheelhouse terminals, but Duncan's people will string the cable and install the chairs.

Duncan said he's not sure it can be done by the next season.

"We've got a month of work after the contractors are done," Duncan said.

Duncan's staff will keep working until the ski season starts in early December and their direction changes to lifting skiers to the top and grooming runs again.