While winter and snow may be a distant thought for most, the crew at Mt. Timothy Recreation Resort have been working tirelessly this spring and summer constructing, upgrading and planning for the upcoming ski season.
Walter Bramsleven, general manager, at MTRR said work began around the April including a rental suite, log construction for four new cabins, upgrades to the lower magic carpet and the completion of the previously-built pro shop and guest services building.
“That building [guest services], we’ve been calling it the dinosaur building after construction stopped on that in 2011,” Bramsleven said. “We reinstated the building permit last year so the inside is almost completely done, and now we’re ready to start moving all the rental gear down to that shop from out of the basement of the main lodge.”
The new, finished building will be used exclusively for guest services, ticket sales and rental equipment.
“It’ll save some major congestion in the upper parking lot area, so season pass holders can drive right to the upper parking lot, then other people come down to the lower lodge and pickup their tickets and any rental gear,” he said. “We’re super excited about getting that all finished up and opening it up for the public. It’s going to give us so much more room.”
Another project soon to be underway is the expansion of the tube park area, which was originally created last year, and was a hit with guests to the hill.
“We’re hoping to have six lanes next year which, again, will cause less congestion up there on the upper [magic] carpet, then still have room for the ski school area on the right-hand side,” he said. “Now with the lower carpet coming into play we’ll be able to have the little guys down around the lower carpet area, as well.”
Both washrooms in the main lodge building have also been renovated and spruced up.
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Cattle from 114 Ranch — roughly 200 of them — have also been granted grazing access to the hill, which has been helping keep some of the growth down, while work on a planned campground area is also being continued.
“We’ll be doing a little more brush cutting, as well, but just waiting for things to dry out a bit,” he said. “We’ll be widening out some of the runs, and doing some clearing of some of the expansion area, which is where the more difficult black diamond runs are,” he said.
Also, in an effort to keep the hill and its progress in peoples’ minds before the fall, Bramsleven said there’s potential for an open house-type event to be held in August at the hill.
“We’re hoping we may be able to open up and provide some events here in August,” he said. “Maybe an open house for those interested in the hill as far as creating mountain bike trails, and we also have our snowmobile/ATV trail but we do not have the lodge opened up at this time due to COVID.
“We’re thinking people can hang out outside on the deck, have some burgers, hot dogs, refreshments on a Saturday or Sunday type thing, and come up and socialize.”
Bramsleven said the management at MTRR are hoping to have members of the mountain biking community attend to provide some insight, ideas and input into what they’d like to potentially see go up on the hill.
“We’ll keep people posted if and when that will happen,” he said.
Stay tuned to www.skitimothy.com and the MTRR Facebook page at ‘Mt. Timothy Ski Area’ for upcoming events this summer.
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