Burns Lift reconstruction gets planning commission approval

Deer Valley's base area. Photo: D. Ramey Logan

PARK CITY, Utah — The Park City Planning Commission unanimously approved Deer Valley Resort’s plans to move and reconstruct the Burns lift and regrade the Lower Little Stick run.

A resort representative told the commission that the new Burns will have the first auto-restraint bar in North America (they’re more common in Europe).

“What that means is that you don’t have a choice whether the restraint bar comes down,” he said. “Great for beginners. As you’re leaving the terminal, that bar comes down automatically.”

The current Burns lift is a fixed-grip double chair that is 909 feet long, with a capacity of 950 people per hour (pph). The newly approved modifications will make it a detachable quad chair, increase the length to 1,070 feet long, and increase the capacity to 1,800 pph.

With the new location, skiers at the base will only be able to access Burns via the Snowflake lift. The planning department previously approved plans for an extension of Snowflake, which currently runs nearly parallel to Burns.

Current setup:

Approved changes:

“Deer Valley Resort proposes that with the approved Snowflake extension, and movement of the ski carpets to the location of the existing Burns lift, the beginner ski portal will reduce to a maximum of 1,400 pph,” the staff report states.

“The reduction of pph is because the proposed Burns lift will no longer be accessible from the beginner base… Therefore, capacity for skiers at the beginner base area is limited to the Snowflake lift capacity (1000 pph), and which will decrease the base portal capacity, and will not increase parking demand.”

The Lower Stick Ski run will run almost parallel to the existing run, but will be graded to meet up with the bottom of the Burns lift. The old section of the ski run will be revegetated, according to the conditions of approval.

Later in their meeting Wednesday, the commission approved the final action letter granting the appeal of the Silverlode and Eagle lift upgrades at Park City Mountain.