Recycled ski lift for Flower Point arrives from Canada

Construction of the new Flower Point chair lift at Whitefish Mountain Resort is underway and on schedule to be completed by the 2014-15 winter.

A semi-truck load of chairs arrived last week from Kimberley Alpine Resort in British Columbia. The towers, sheaves and terminals should arrive later this summer.

The silver 1979 Yan fixed-grip triple chair was mostly used as a backup lift at Kimberley and was taken out of commission in 2004. The lift was originally used at Whistler-Blackcomb Ski Resort in British Columbia.

The lift is 3,400 feet in length and hauls 157 chairs at a capacity of 1,800 skiers per hour.

The $1.4 million Flower Point project will add about 200 acres and 800 vertical feet of lift-served skiing to the north-facing slopes of Big Mountain.

The base terminal of the lift is currently being constructed above the Forest Service road used to access Chair 7. The top terminal will be constructed just below the summit of Flower Point.

Crews began pouring concrete last month for the base terminal. They hope to completely finish up concrete work for the top and bottom terminals and all of the towers before this winter.

Trees will be cleared this summer to shape four new named trails and two connector trails that are expected to be intermediate level. They will be kept fairly narrow with tree islands and feathered edges to maintain a natural feel.

Skiers will be able to access the new trails this coming winter from the top of T-bar 2 or by hiking outside of the patrolled area to the top of Flower Point.

The lift was purchased with more chairs than will be used for the Flower Point project. The extra chairs will be sold for $100 each, with proceeds going to the North Valley Food Bank.