Thanks for a great 9th summer of downhill bike ops!

Lift ops is ready for winter!

Alyeska Lift Operations just completed 4 days of intense training!  As you scroll down through the pics, notice how much the scenery changes in just a few days.  On day 1, there was no snow, but snowmaking was firing up for the first time for the season.  Then Mother Nature did her thing in conjunction with the man-made snow, and now we are looking ready for winter.

Group photo with snowmaking in the background.

Yay for snow! We are ready to shovel!

Chair 1 will never run again, but we will continue to take group photos here until the lift is removed. It is such an important part of the Alyeska history!

Right now tentative opening day is November 24, Thanksgiving.

Great Summer at Alyeska!

There are only 2 weekends left of lift accessed downhill biking at Alyeska!  Labor day will be the final day of operations.

We had a great crew this summer of experienced lift operators (Top L to R: Brett, Kjetil, Todd, Doug, Middle row is Cheyenne, and Chris and Kate in the front)

We enjoyed quite a bit of good weather for the first 2 months of operations!  There has been some rain lately, but the forecast for this weekend is great.  Pictured here: bikes and bikers getting ready to unload at the top of Ted's Express.

And, of course since this is Alaska, we had occasional wildlife visitors as well.

Winter is here, and this year's Lift Crew is top notch!

Rope evacuation training with Patrol.

The tram on a clear day.

Top of 2, the ski patrol shack at the top of the mountain, with a sea of clouds in the background.

The tram from Mighty Mite

Taylor was stoked for his first ride up the new lift, Glacier Bowl Express.

End of Summer at Alyeska Resort

It's been a while since I've posted here, and wanted to catch up.

Downhill biking has been going GREAT this summer! We've been far busier than the first and second season.  The trails are good, the weather has ben better than normal, and people are pumped to ride.

Some lift ops looking at the terminals for the new lift 6.

Progress on the new lift, as seen from Ted's Express.

There have been some muddy/ rainy days, but the bikers are still ready to rally!

Berry picking in Girdwood valley was great this summer! So thankful for all the beautiful days we had this summer!

Fantastic March at Alyeska Resort!

The Lead lift operators did a ski around a couple of weeks ago, just to make sure everyone is on the same page.

 It was good for the team.

Norman was stoked to run lift 1 for the last night of night operations.

 Super Grover (Shawn) was also on the scene!

 We had an end-of-night ops torchlight parade. It was super fun.

Then we had some serious snow days. On Tuesday, we had about 4 feet of fresh pow AND sunshine!

 Geoff manning the top of Ted's Express.

 The North Face was skiing great!

 From way out on the corner of the Autobahn.

A bit of a sundog indicates more weather or the horizon.

Great visibility on the North Face.

The bear statue at the hotel has some snow on him. Life's been good.

Lift Ops Training

Lift ops crew was busy getting trained up this past week.

Putting the sign up at the base of the Magic Carpet.  An annual event.

Getting ready for our first ride up Ted's Express!

Heading up the brand new lift.

Almost to the base of lift 6 in less than 5 minutes!

Electricians, Brad and Eric, have been connecting the mountains lights to the towers. The new lights strike significantly faster than the old ones.

Checking out the new "Jettway" that bypasses the base of lift 6.

Unloading at the top in just about 5 minutes!

Group photo at the top.

What a nice looking lift!

In the top gantry

Shawn builds a snowman for the new top station.

Group photo of the second training session.

We are looking forward to a great winter!