SNOWBASIN, Utah — Do you need new decoration for your living room or perhaps a new front porch bench to enjoy?
Well, you might want to look to Snowbasin Ski Resort, sharing how you can get a conversation piece while preserving history in the process in this edition of Uniquely Utah.
It’s the end of another great season at Snowbasin. Skiers and boarders are getting their last few runs in before closing day.
Davy Ratchford, the general manager of Snowbasin, noted, "You never really have a bad day at Snow Basin."
However, this season marks the permanent closure of one of the icons of the resort.
BECKER CHAIR LIFT
Ratchford said, "It was time to replace Becker. We're at that point after, you know, several decades of great use. It served its purpose for a long time, but it's at that point to replace it.”
The Becker chair lift has taken people up the mountain for nearly four decades, and perhaps the person who has ridden it the most is Troy Price.
Price, the executive director of the Snowbasin Sports Education Foundation, shared, "It's been our home ground for the Alpine training program. For sure, we train on a run called Willow Springs. It's right off the top of Becker, and we've been doing so since I was a kid.”
Troy now trains all ages of students, but he was once a young kid riding this exact lift, learning how to race and compete in ski racing.
"My sister's five years older, so she had the privilege of babysitting me when my dad was off being a ski patrol," he said. "We rode Becker a lot. I got the opportunity to be part of the Snow Basin Ski Team due to scholarships from Coca-Cola. That was in 1988 when I was 12 years old. The Becker chair lift was installed in 1986, so just shortly after, the Becker was the new and greatest thing at Snow Basin Resort.”
Now, as it's time to replace the lift, there are many memories associated with it.
However, there's a way to ensure those memories live on forever, hence the beginning of this article asking if you have extra space in your living room.
THE AUCTION
Davy Ratchford says, "You know the ski team, you know they're the future. So, I met with Troy and the team at the ski team, and I said, 'What if we gave you the chairs and you sold them, and all that money goes towards the kids and the ski team, the Becker?'"
So yes, you read that right: you can bid to own a part of history to give back to the future.
There are 150 chairs in total, all of them the original from 1986 when this lift was installed, and you can bid on them right now to have them in your own home.
Every dollar will go back to the Snowbasin Ski Team and create a first-of-its-kind endowment to make sure every kid has an opportunity to succeed in snow sports.
THE HISTORY
The Becker lift is the third lift to bear the name at Snowbasin and is named after Gustav Becker, a huge figure in Ogden around the turn of the century.
Watch the above video to see why, from Derek Taylor Official (unoffical) Team Historian.
THE FUTURE
This future is represented by young athletes like Anzley, Harrison, Stephen, and William.
Anzley Dibble, a U16 ski racer, remarked, "My favorite part about skiing is probably going fast."
Harrison Middleton, a Devo ski racer, added, "And my favorite part is the community around it."
William Andrasko, competing in U12 alpine and U12 free ride, expressed, "I like racing because I just get to go super fast.”
His brother, Stephen Andrasko, talked about free ride, saying “It’s just freedom.”
The Becker chair lift has been their home for training. "It's a little slow, but it's had so many memories with all my teammates," remarked Anzley. William added, "It's slow, but the amount of memories I have from that chair lift.”
Coach Troy chimed in, saying “From those 15-minute Becker rides is incredible. You get to know your teammates, and as a coach, you really get to learn about the athlete.” With Anzley concluding, "I'm sad to see it go!”
THE NEXT GENERATION OF CHAIR LIFT
So, in putting together this story, I heard a lot about the lift's speed or lack thereof. So how slow is it, actually?
Timing it out, it comes to a total of 12:54.
The new lift will take less than half that time, which will create more opportunity for feedback, coaching, and that ever-crucial time on the snow.
All of that adds up to one goal.
Troy Price expressed that hope, stating, "The hope is that throughout the Snow Basin and local community, we can have one of our own representing in (the 2034 Salt Lake Olympics) and beyond."
Ratchford added, "You know, if we can have a kid from the Snow Basin ski team, a boy or a girl, just crush it in the Olympics…"
Anzley chimed in, expressing her joy, saying, "I hope so. I hope to be here. That'd be such a cool opportunity that I'm really looking forward to.”
For Coach Price, while this Utah staple might be leaving, he sees it as a unique opportunity to use the past to help the future. “
It's served its time. I've served my time," he stated.
Ratchford concluded, "It's like a new lift, but the chairs, with all this history, are going into people's homes. You know, that makes something like this just that much better."
If you want to own a piece of that history for yourself, you still have about 2 weeks to put your bids in, and you can find the auction here.
