Sugar Bowl ski resort in Lake Tahoe, California will be installing a new chairlift this summer.  The chairlift will be put in on the far Western side of the resort to a spot known to local’s as the ‘Crow’s Nest.’  Sugar Bowl has named the new chair Crow’s Peak and it will allow access to some of the better freeride terrain at Sugar Bowl.
This is big news for Sugar Bowl.  This new lift will provide access to some very cool terrain that used to be hike-to-only.  This zone has good cliffs and some wide open spaces for big turns.  Now that there’s a chair here, it’ll be easy to get a fast laps in this area and this chair will be great for storm days as this zone is a bit more wind protected than other areas of Sugar Bowl.
This will be the best new chairflift (terrain accessibility-wise) that Lake Tahoe has received in recent memory. Â Maybe since Silverado was installed at Squaw in 1992?
NEW SUGAR BOWL CHAIRLIFT DETAILS:
– $3 million in costs
– Fixed grip triple chair
– 1,000 vertical feet
– Top of lift = 7,900 feet
– Will provide access to solid, fall-line, freeride terrain & double black diamonds
SUGAR BOWL PRESS RELEASE:
SUGAR BOWL TO INSTALL NEW CHAIRLIFT THIS SUMMER, EXPAND LIFT-SERVICED TERRAIN FOR 2013/14 SEASON
(Donner Summit, Calif.) – Sugar Bowl Resort will install a new chair lift this summer, improving lift-serviced access to advanced and expert terrain on the west side of the resort. The Crow’s Peak chairlift, a fixed-grip Dopplemayer triple, will provide lift-serviced skiing & riding in the Strawberry Fields area of the mountain, just below the Crow’s Nest Peak. Currently hike-to terrain accessed from the Disney Express Chair, the new Crow’s Peak chair will greatly improve fall line skiing, increasing the overall terrain and vertical for skiers to enjoy. With approval from the United States Forest Service in place as of last week, installation of the new chairlift will begin immediately, ready for skiers & riders to enjoy during the 2013/14 ski season.
With a total project cost of $3 million, Sugar Bowl continues to make significant capital improvements to the resort, both on-mountain and around the base area. Sugar Bowl recently acquired Royal Gorge, North America’s largest cross country ski resort, brining multiple XC ski trails directly into America’s only snowbound village, at the foot of the mountain. The new lift’s bottom terminal will be located just above Royal Gorge’s Van Norden Meadow, physically bringing the two resorts closer together. At nearly 1,000 vertical feet, the new lift will run to the top of Crow’s Nest Peak, with the top terminal located just looker’s left of the peak itself. The terrain enhancements will include two new groomed runs, excellent tree skiing through glades, chutes and cliffs, and also provide a wind-protected area on those inclement weather days.
Sure wish alpine could put a chair up to grouse or somewhere between there and the boundary line…
Just wishing;)
So since it’s accessing freeride terrain, then the lift tickets will be free. Because if you have to pay to use the lift then it’s not freeriding!
Should correct run out problems (long traverse) near bottom of Disney area back to
Disney and the base lodge.
Kind of mixed on it. It was great hike-to/traverse to lower areas terrain that’s going to get tracked out more quickly now.
That said, if it runs on storm days then I see it as a positive.
Agreed, having Storm Day skiing on the Sierra Crest will save Bay Area folks from commuting to KT.
Good work by Sugar Bowl to give us what we want, more terrain, instead of lattes and home furnishing stores.
Technically the Chutes at Rose terrain expansion included a chair, could be considered the last great terrain expansion in Tahoe.
Jamie, is this a backhanded Squaw reference?
LAME!!!!!! It was a great area to hike!
If you look at the new trail map, the new lift goes way down looker’s right, far beyond where people could ski before. Now, instead of cutting off early, you can point it straight down, and even go further to skier’s left than before 😀
Do a video of the construction! I would really like to see the towers being set, the wire rope being layed out, the terminal apparatuses being rigged up, etc.
(Yes, the technically correct term is “wire rope”; not “cable”).
By “video”, I don’t mean “live”, I mean one that people could access to watch later on the SB website.