Alta Ski Area is scheduled to open for its 75th season on Nov. 16. To commemorate the anniversary Alta is releasing a "Generations of Alta" picture book and will have fireworks and a torchlight parade the evening of Jan. 15to commemorate the first paying customers on the Collins Lift. January special events will include historical talks, movies and other activities put on by the Alta Historical Society and Alta Community Enrichment.
As mining in Little Cottonwood Canyon waned, interest in skiing increased and by 1939 the transition reached a peak as the first chairlift in Utah, and only the second in the western United States, was constructed at Alta.
The opening of the Collins Lift on Jan. 15, 1939, will be celebrated this season as part of the 75th anniversary of Alta Ski Area, which opened in 1938 with rope tows.
Alta also announced that five short videos will be released on the Internet, one-per-month, starting in December. The resort bought "hundreds" of hours of 8 mm color film shot by Sverre Engen at Alta in the 1940s and ‘50s and had it digitized.
"It makes you want to laugh and cry at the same time," said longtime Alta spokesperson Connie Marshall. "You want to laugh because the skiing technique has changed so much, they look so awkward sometimes. It is bittersweet to see the footage because it helps you imagine how it must have been skiing at that time, just the pureness of the sport."
The resort, in conjunction with Wasatch Brewery, has also released Alta’s 75th Anniversary Ale as part of the celebration. |
