RENO, Nev. – Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe’s Lakeview Chair will be getting a facelift, which will not only speed-up the lift but will also allow visitors to access more of the mountain.

This March, Mt. Rose will begin deconstruction of the Lakeview Triple, which is a fixed gripped chair that was constructed in 1980. The chair will be replaced with a high-speed quad.

The new lift will be called the Lakeview Express and will go up two towers higher than the current lift.

“It’s going to be a neat lift, we will really improve our traffic patterns and our guest flow out of the Main Lodge,” said Mike Pierce, Marketing Director, Mt. Rose.

The Lakeview Express will significantly decrease the chairlift ride time. According to Pierce, the current lift takes about nine to 10 minutes to ride, while the new chair will take about four minutes.

The chair replacement had been on the resort’s to-do list for a while but delays and backed-up traffic during the pandemic caused the resort to move quicker on the project.

“Last year during COVID, when we were separating guests with gaps on the chairs, it created longer lines than we were comfortable with and it just kind of expedited the fact that we knew we wanted to improve that chair and that just upped it in the timeline,” Pierce said.

Mt. Rose is split between private ownership and Forest Service land. The side this project is on is privately owned but Pierce said the Forest Service is still supportive of the project.

The $7 million project will give guests a greater view of Lake Tahoe and allow guests access to the Around the World Trail via a new advanced-beginner trial. The Lakeview Run will make it easier for guests to access Around the World and will also break-up some of the congestion that happens in the areas just off the lift.

It will also open up access to a glade that isn’t normally skied because it’S NOT currently convenient to get to even though it is within the resort’s current boundary.

“The last time we improved a lift was a few years back when we realigned the Wizard Chair,” Pierce. “This is a pretty big deal, it’s another new lift in Tahoe, it’s accessing relatively newer terrain that other people haven’t been on. The industry is moving along and there’s definitely interest in skiing, this is a good improvement to Mt. Rose, as well as Tahoe.”

The new chair is slated to be up and running in time for the 2022/23 season.

Mt. Rose will be releasing their Double Down Pass on Feb. 10 which allows guests to finish out this season, as well as ski next season. Renewal pass sales will be available in April.

So, for those who have fond memories of taking a leisurely ride on the Lakeview Chair, now is the time to get those last few runs in before the chair is taken down in March.