Snowbird's Mountain Coaster half complete

On Friday, Snowbird stopped construction for the winter on its Mountain Coaster.

The project is half completed and will resume construction in April. The Coaster is a 5,000 linear-foot ride, which starts and ends at the bottom of the Peruvian Lift.

“We are trying to expand Snowbird’s activities to improve business in the months outside of ski season,” said Bob Bonar, the resort’s general manager. “We had to overcome several issues with the Coaster but we finally got everything worked out.”

Originally, the Mountain Coaster was designed to travel over the Little Cottonwood Road but agencies such as the Utah Forest Service disapproved of the plan.

“They didn’t like the hazards the Coaster presented with going over the road,” said Dave Fields, vice-president of resort operations and the marketing director.

Snowbird changed the layout of the Coaster to be built on private resort-owned land after the Forest Service rejected the proposal.

The resort invested $2 million in the Mountain Coaster project and expects to get a return on its investment in two years.

“We modeled our Mountain Coaster from a similar model in Park City,” Bonar said. “We are going to charge $20 per person for each ride. The ride will last about two and a half minutes, start to finish.”

Snowbird’s Mountain Coaster will have a similar set up to many traditional roller coasters found at amusement parks but only two people will ride at one time.

“The ride will start next to the Peruvian Lift,” Fields said. “There will be an up-track mechanism which will pull the guests up the tracks until it reaches the top of the ride. The mechanism will then detach from the bottom of the chair and the guests will continue down the track with the chair hooked to the side railings.”

With more than a 3,200-foot vertical drop from summit to base, Snowbird is one of the most popular ski areas in Utah. Since the ski season usually lasts from the middle of November through April, Snowbird is always trying to increase its annual revenue.

“The ski season is where Snowbird makes money,” said Peter Schory, the resort’s winter operations director. “But in order for a business to function it is important to have year round activities to attract guests.”

With the addition of the Mountain Coaster, Snowbird and Park City will have the only two alpine coasters in Utah.

“It says a lot about our management here to go for this project despite the struggling economy,” Schory said. “Bob Bonar leads our management team and they aren’t afraid to fail. They had this idea and went for it. Sometimes you have to take risks to gain rewards.”

The Mountain Coaster is scheduled to open to the public July 4, 2013.