Prospector resident Alan Theis filed the petition in Summit County’s 3rd District Court Aug. 28.
It’s the second time that Park City Mountain’s planned upgrades to Silverlode Express and the Eagle lift have landed in state court.
The petition asks Judge Patricia Kuendig to overturn Park City’s decision to approve the upgrades, or at least to send it back to the city’s planning commission for further review.
The improvements would expand Silverlode from a six-passenger detachable lift to an eight-pack. The 30-year-old Eagle and Eaglet chairlifts would be replaced with a single six-passenger detachable chairlift with a mid-mountain station.
Theis was one of the six Summit County residents who appealed the planning commission’s approval in June. Park City’s administrative hearing officer Tim Pack denied their appeal a month later.
At issue in Theis’ renewed appeal is Park City Mountain’s “comfortable carrying capacity,” an internal calculation of how many skiers and riders the mountain can manage.
Opponents of the upgrades have asked the resort to publish its CCC because they perceive the hill to be overcrowded with skiers and riders.
Theis himself says in the Aug. 28 court petition that he was “involved in a ski collision that required extensive hospitalization and surgery.”
His petition reasserts that the planning commission — and the appeals officer — ignored the potentially harmful impacts of expanding the capacity of Silverlode and Eagle. It says more skiers headed uphill will create crowds and safety issues downhill.
The type of permit Park City gave to Park City Mountain requires the city to consider and mitigate any “reasonably anticipated detrimental effects.” The petition says the city didn’t do that and therefore acted illegally.
Eagle picks up skiers from the Mountain Village base area, while Silverlode leaves from the middle of the mountain, on the Mountain Village side of the gondola connected to Canyons Village.
When Theis and other residents first appealed the plans this summer, Park City Mountain COO Deirdra Walsh called the planning process “rigorous and transparent.”
The resort has maintained that expanding the lifts will improve the skiing experience.
Third District Judge Richard Mrazik ruled against Park City Municipal and the resort in 2023, after it had applied to upgrade the lifts under a different process.
Perceived crowding and the mountain's comfortable carrying capacity figured prominently in that debate.
Both Theis and the city declined to comment.
Park City Mountain unable to immediately comment, and neither it nor parent company Vail Resorts are named as defendants in court.
Park City Municipal and Vail Resorts’ EpicPromise Employee Foundation are financial supporters of KPCW.
