ANACONDA — Skiers bracing for Discovery Ski Area’s targeted Thanksgiving Day opening will be greeted by two new lifts and more deck seating around the lodge.

This year’s projects — which cost an estimated $750,000 — include a new triple chairlift going in on the northwest side of Rumsey Mountain, running from the bottom of Summer Gulch to Winning Ridge.

General manager Peter Pitcher said he expects the lift, which came from Sun Valley, Idaho, to open sometime before Christmas. Construction began in mid-July.

“This is expanding our area quite a bit,” Pitcher said. “It’s going to add more trails and terrain.”

The chairlift is 4,500 feet long, Pitcher said, with 142 seats. It adds 1,000 feet of vertical drop to the mountain, bringing the total drop up to 2,442 feet. It’s expected to add about 400 acres of intermediate slopes.

Along with the new chairlift, Discovery is working to build a half-mile road that will eventually connect with Rumsey Road to Philipsburg. This would make the mountain accessible to skiers coming from the west — without having to drive over Flint Creek Pass.

The access is not part of the resort’s expansion at this point, as it works to resolve issues with public land. Crews could begin developing the road next year, Pitcher said, though that would be a best-case scenario.

For Missoula skiers, it would trim 20 to 30 minutes off their drive time. For Philipsburg skiers, it would mean access to the area seemingly from their backyard. “It’s certainly going to be a lot more convenient,” Pitcher said.

 

‘Carpet ride’

 

The chairlift is not the only new lift Discovery will feature this season. It also bought a conveyor carpet for beginners and children to ride on the bunny hill. Vice president of resort operations Ciche Pitcher compared the conveyor carpet to an airport’s automatic walkway.

Skiers stand on the belt, which carries them to the top of the hill. Having the conveyor carpet makes the beginner area even friendlier, Ciche Pitcher said, and gives kids independence as they learn to ski.

“It’s nice that you can have parents or grandparents interacting with their kids without having to ski themselves,” he said.

Ciche Pitcher, the son of Peter Pitcher, said he was sold on adding a conveyor carpet to Discovery after watching his then 3-year-old daughter ride one a few years back. “We got her on one of these, and she really enjoyed herself,” he said. “She wasn’t intimidated by it at all.”

Discovery installed the conveyor carpet in September. Ciche Pitcher said he thinks, after five or six laps, beginners will be ready to take on the chairlift.

“This was an important addition,” he said. “I think it’s going to go a long way in furthering the ski experience for people just learning.”

 

New deck area

 

Along with the new lifts, Discovery has remodeled parts of the cafeteria-ticket office building.

For example, 1,000 square feet of new decking will grace the north side of the building, Ciche Pitcher said. The deck will provide fresh perspectives of Rumsey Mountain, and will be closer to the bar area. “We’ve never had deck space on the north end of the building,” he said. “I think people will enjoy the newness of it.”

On the south end, 1,500 square feet of deck space will be enclosed to provide more indoor seating on cold and busy days. “I think we’ve always had an abundance of deck space, so to have some of it usable regardless of weather conditions … we feel that’s a positive,” he said.

Enclosure of the south deck space began in September and should be complete by Dec. 1. As the area grows, Discovery wants to have the capacity to accommodate more skiers.

“We’ve always taken pride in not having lift lines or crowded trails,” Ciche Pitcher said. Peter Pitcher said it is typical for the ski resort to spruce up every season.

“This might be a little more than what we usually do in one year, but it’s pretty normal for us to make improvements.”