The Canyons in Park City to add heated lift seats, snow machine

Skiers and riders at The Canyons Resort this winter will be treated to heated seats and ski lift chairs covered in weather-protected orange plastic. The "bubble" chair lifts were purchased from Austria and will be the only ones of their kind in the U.S., said Mike Goar, the resort's managing director.

The resort also plans to change its name to "Canyons," leaving off "The" and "Resort." It will rebrand itself, starting with an ad campaign that asks, "How do you mountain?" Some of the transformation will take place in about 18 months, but changes on the slopes could take five years or more. Beyond the new-age bubble chairs, Canyons and its owner, Talisker, have purchased a snow-making machine and a 20 million-gallon reservoir, plus a lift to Iron Mountain that opens 300 acres of new terrain. If everything goes as planned, that would put the resort at about 4,000 skiable acres, with a total 176 trails.ew amenities will come with "a small amount" of increase in both daily and season ticket prices starting this year, Goar said.

Citing its privately held status, Canyons also declined to comment on how much was spent on the upgrades, how many visitors it has annually or how many more visitors it expects in 2010/2011. However, resort managers said they plan to add about 100 employees during peak times, bringing the total to 1,700. This summer, the company has had about 150 construction workers at the resort. The Deseret News