Eagle took its final flight on Sunday. Installed in 1989 by Solitude’s owner at the time, Gary Deseelhorst, Eagle Express was the first high-speed detachable chairlift in Utah. The last chair was shared by Solitude President & COO, Amber Broadaway, VP of Mountain Operations, Nate Lee, and the man who has kept this lift running smoothly into its final winter, Casey Hall, Director of Lift Operations.
Casey and Nate have both been working on Eagle Express since the mid-90s. The replacement is a bittersweet relief for all that have worked on the lift and they are both pumped about the replacement. The upgrade to a modern six-pack will make maintenance on the lift a lot easier and free up time to work on other projects.
Why are you replacing Eagle has been a popular question since the announcement. Running this lift over future years would be a challenge because everything about this lift is obsolete and if anything were to go wrong, we can no longer get spare parts for it.
The last chair ceremony was joined by Dave & Nic DeSeelhorst, the son and grandson of Gary Deseelhorst. Nic expressed the joy and gratitude Gary would’ve felt from everyone in the community that came out to help us retire this historic lift.
There are just under two weeks remaining in the season at Solitude as we are open daily until May 21. Join us for a celebration of our longest season ever on our latest closing day ever!
To catch up on previous Amber’s Updates, visit: https://blog.solitudemountain.com/category/ambers-updates/