Park City nonprofit works to preserve site of America’s only underground ski lift

Damage to the exterior shaft room and hoist house at the Thaynes Mine site. Photo:

PARK CITY, Utah — Long before Park City became one of the nation’s top ski destinations, its slopes were the backbone of a booming silver mining industry. When that industry collapsed in the 1950s, Park City was left teetering on the edge of becoming what the New York Times once called a “doddering ghost town.”

The leaders of the failing mining companies cannily reimagined their mine-scarred slopes into ski areas.

When the Treasure Mountain Ski Area (now Park City Mountain Resort) opened in 1963, it offered about 23 miles of beginner, intermediate, and expert trails clustered around a two-and-a-half-mile gondola. And just a year later, it introduced one of the most unusual ways to reach a ski slope ever imagined: the Skier Subway.

The Skier Subway repurposed the old Spiro mining tunnel, which connected to the Thaynes mine shaft, as an underground transportation system for skiers. A four-car train carried riders three miles into the mountain through the dark, timbered tunnel, where they then ascended more than 1,700 feet via the Thaynes shaft elevator to reach the fresh mountain air and open slopes.

For perspective, the Empire State Building’s highest public observatory is 1,224 feet above ground. The Skier Subway’s vertical lift surpassed that, making it the only underground ski lift of its kind anywhere in the world. It operated for just four seasons in the 1960s before being retired.

Today, remnants of that era remain at the historic Thaynes site, though time and weather have taken their toll. Wood rot has caused parts of the mine shaft to collapse, putting what’s left of this unique chapter of ski history at risk.

To preserve it, the Friends of Ski Mountain Mining History (FOSMMH) have partnered with the Utah Division of Oil, Gas, and Mining (OGM) to stabilize and reconstruct the site. Once OGM plugs and secures the mine shaft with polyurethane foam, FOSMMH will begin rebuilding the surface structures that were badly damaged during Utah’s record-breaking 2023–24 winter.

FOSMMH is a volunteer team that works to preserve Park City’s mining legacy for future residents and visitors. Many of the endangered mining structures can be seen while recreating in the surrounding mountains, and the nonprofit is now constructing a Historic Mine Route, a new hike and bike storytelling route that will connect existing trails and iconic buildings with Park City’s rich silver mining history.

FOSMMH and OGM previously worked together on the nearby Silver King mine shaft and structures, which were closed in October 2023. Restoration work at that site is ongoing and expected to wrap up next summer. Local historians hope the Thaynes project will follow a similar path, preserving a one-of-a-kind piece of Park City’s mining and skiing legacy.