BOISE, Idaho — Skiers and snowboarders have another reason to celebrate in the New Year as Brundage Mountain on Friday will unveil its new high-speed chair lift.
Brundage Mountain will host a grand opening of its new Centennial Express High-Speed Quad on Friday, Jan. 5. Mountain officials will reward the first people to ride the new chairlift with free coffee and donuts.
"This is an exciting time for the entire Brundage community," said Dustin Johnson, director of mountain operations.
The new chairlift will be replacing the Doppelmayr chairlift, which was first constructed in the 1990s, officials said. It took workers eight months to take down the Dopplemayr chairlift and build the new Centennial Express High-Speed Quad.
"The amount of work – and teamwork – that's gone into this project is incredible," Johnson said. "From deconstruction to tower installation – the haul rope splice and safety testing – it's been a huge project and we're excited to celebrate its success with the public."
The new four-seat chairlift will be will cut down the time to reach the top of the mountain from 16 to six minutes, officials said. The construction of the new quad marks the mountain's second high-speed lift.
"Upgrading our lift infrastructure to include two high-speed quads in the base area gives us more flexibility and redundancy for moving people up the mountain, which is especially important on busy days and during challenging weather conditions," said Ken Rider, Brundage general manager.
Brundage said the upgrade is part of the mountain's 10-Year Improvement Plan, where new owners acquired by a group of Idaho families to preserve the character of the mountain.
Officials said the chairlift will be opened to the public around 10 a.m., after "the mountain version of a ribbon cutting."
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