By David Schissler
(August 2013) It’s quite possible this is the biggest make-over in North America this year. It’s certainly the largest single capital investment ever made at Mt. Brighton. The list of improvements is extensive.
Snowmaking capabilities have been tripled, allowing the area to open sooner with a deeper base, better snow quality, and a quicker recovery time.
A new quad chairlift will replace the Blue and Green lifts to alleviate lift lines and give customers more time on the slopes. Another new quad will replace the Yellow lift and the Silver lift on the back side of the hill will be reoriented. To improve the beginner’s experience, Mt. Brighton is replacing its rope tows with a surface conveyor and re-grading the beginner area.
Have you seen Mountain Movers on the Nat Geo channel? Well, that’s who Vail hired to design and build the new terrain park. Snow Park Technologies, designer of the Winter X Games skier, snowboard and snowmobile parks, intends to create Michigan’s most innovative terrain park.
The new Children’s Ski & Ride School Center is designed specifically for the pint-sized customer featuring play areas and will offer innovative skiing and riding programs unmatched in the Midwest.
The entire base area is being transformed by a modern urban architectural design with significant improvements to all of the existing facilities, including a complete remodel of the restaurant, and the addition of a new quick-service restaurant.
Vail will be expanding the racing hill, race finish area, and race arena featuring improved terrain, state-of-the-art racing equipment, and plan to have USSA certification. They’re also installing some impressive new technology at the race center. EpicMix Racing allows participants to automatically have their times compared to ski racing great, Lindsey Vonn, with gold, silver and bronze medals awarded based on achievement. Race times, digital medals, overall leaderboards and leaderboards with just family and friends are all be available on both the EpicMix website and mobile application.
Vail Resorts will also be installing EpicMix RFID technology. It allows skiers and snowboarders to track their ski days online by installing an app on their mobile phones. Of course, users can also selectively share stats and information about their day on the slopes via Twitter and Facebook.
“The construction projects we’re implementing this summer are designed to re-imagine every aspect of the guest experience at Mt. Brighton,” said Taylor Ogilvie, general manager at Mt. Brighton. “We think our guests will be delighted with the big improvements like the new lift and a complete restaurant remodel. But it’s the improvements like significantly increased snowmaking, enhanced beginners’ terrain and a new children’s ski and ride school center that will really define the new standard of Midwest skiing and riding.” www.mtbrighton.com
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