Snowbird: Wilbere 2.0, Is Coming Next Winter

Snowbird’s original Wilbere Lift—installed for the mountain’s opening in 1971 and named for Founder Ted Johnson’s wife and partner, Wilma—is scheduled for a replacement starting in the late spring of 2024.

The current fixed-grip double chair will transform into a fixed-grip quad chairlift, increasing the uphill capacity. The loading station, featuring a conveyor belt loading system, will move from its current location on Creek Road to the Creekside base area, near the Bryce Astle Training Center, making the chair more accessible from parking lots.

The top station will remain near its current area, accessing the same terrain.

The bottom lift terminal would be relocated toward the Creekside Day Lodge area, directly west of the Mid Gad and GadZoom bottom lift terminals (refer to attached figure in Section 3.0). The new bottom terminal location would provide flat ground for circulation and a skier maze and because the lift is a top-drive, the bottom terminal footprint is minimal. Adjacent to the bottom terminal, additional grading and extension of the existing culvert by 20 feet would improve circulation into the bottom terminal maze.

The top terminal would be located approximately in the same location as the existing top terminal to situate skier unloading outside the flow of traffic from Rothman Way/Bass Highway.