Estimated read time: 2-3 minutes
This archived news story is available only for your personal, non-commercial use. Information in the story may be outdated or superseded by additional information. Reading or replaying the story in its archived form does not constitute a republication of the story.
RICHMOND, Cache County — Winter is turning to spring in Utah a lot faster than most people thought it would, especially at Cherry Peak Ski Resort, where trails should have been full of skiers and snowboarders by now.
“We're learning a lot as we go,” said Forrest Fackrell, Cherry Peak’s general manager. "There's a little bit of disappointment associated with it. Any time you work up to a certain thing, you want that to happen. But it's OK, it was the right decision."
Friday morning, Fackrell and other managers decided to stay closed for this ski season.
"Up until just a few days ago, we thought, ‘Hey, let’s do this, we can make it,’ but unfortunately we're going to postpone for just a little bit,” said Fackrell.
Cherry Peak, located in the mountains east of Richmond, was set to be Utah's 15th and newest ski resort this winter season.
The biggest factor for us has just been the fact that we've made a lot of improvements, a lot of expansions to the design and layout of our lodge and some of the other things associated with our mountain, and frankly they just took a little bit longer than we anticipated they would.
–Forrest Fackrell, Cherry Peak Ski Resort general manager
But it's not the lack of snow keeping them from opening now.
"The biggest factor for us has just been the fact that we've made a lot of improvements, a lot of expansions to the design and layout of our lodge and some of the other things associated with our mountain, and frankly they just took a little bit longer than we anticipated they would,” said Fackrell.
Because of those expansions, workers needed additional permits.
Getting those permits takes time.
“A lot of the changes we made to our lodge, for example, they are improvements. Those design changes require engineering and those engineering changes require approvals,” said Fackrell.
Managers decided not to rush the opening.
Those who bought passes are being offered refunds and discounts for next season.
"We want to open and give the right impression right from the beginning,” said Fackrell. “We recognize that we maybe got out just a little bit ahead of ourselves and we apologize, of course, for anybody that has caused an inconvenience to, but we think it will be worth the wait.” Contributing: Mike DeBernardo
