After weighing private property rights against well-established public access, the Cache County Council will allow Powder Mountain to build a private ski lift and maintenance shack this summer. However, the Eden-area resort’s plan to build nine miles of trails for an “art hike” has been put on hold.
In a split decision, the council voted Tuesday night to suspend its rules and grant Powder Mountain a development agreement to build a lift in the Davenport area on the north side of the resort. The lift passed with a 4-2 vote with councilmembers Nolan Gunnell and Keegan Garrity opposing it. Garrity voted in favor of approving the maintenance shop in a 5-1 decision.
Powder Mountain requested an expedited decision from the council because it does not have an approved master plan in place and wants to complete the projects before the start of the 2025-26 ski season. The resort submitted a master plan to the Cache County Planning Commission last October, but due to staffing shortages in the county’s planning and development office, the commission has not yet reviewed the proposal. At an April meeting, the commission nevertheless recommended approval of the three projects.
“The master plan shows interest in private and public balance,” Garrity said, “but I don’t want to dismiss the concerns that have been brought up that the master plan hasn’t been approved yet. And even though there’s intent, it’s not formal, so I’m hesitant to approve this one.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A pool table offers a different bit of recreation at Gunsight Pass on the residential only side of Powder Mountain on Friday, March 21, 2025. The Powder Mountain ski area wraps up its first season under Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings's experiment of taking some lifts private while leaving other public.
This marks the second summer that Powder Mountain has asked the council to circumvent the standard process and approve developments without a master plan in place. Last spring, the council approved the construction of two lifts, one public and one private, that the resort promised visitors and residents would be operational by this ski season.
Addressing the council Tuesday, opponents of the projects said they worry that if Cache County continues to take a piecemeal approach to approving developments, Powder Mountain’s operators will have no incentive to keep the greater public good in mind. In particular, they voiced concern about the resort pricing out locals or shutting out the public entirely.
Blake Hofmeister, who started a Change.org petition to prevent the privatization of the resort, spoke on behalf of the community group Save Powder Mountain. He said the council has “a real opportunity to ensure permanent public access” to the public lifts within Cache County. Those include Paradise, Hidden Lake, Lightning Ridge, Sunrise and Timberline.
“What’s before you tonight is part of a troubling trend with one-off approvals without a cohesive plan,” Hofmeister said. “The way I view it is: You’re approving the framing of the house, but we don’t know what the foundation looks like or if there even is one.”
Under the leadership of Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings, who became the ski area’s majority owner in late 2023, Powder Mountain has embarked on a public-private business model that is unique in the ski industry. This season, Hastings privatized two previously public lifts — Village and Mary’s — making them accessible only to members of the resort’s Powder Haven luxury community and their guests. Last summer it also built a third private lift, Raintree, in addition to building a public lift up to Lightning Ridge.
Though some of the lifts are private, the entirety of the resort’s 8,464 acres of skiable terrain remain open to public and private guests. Hastings has emphasized that he has no intent to privatize the entire ski area.
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) Homes in Powder Haven, near the residential only Village Lift at Powder Mountain, are pictured on Friday, March 21, 2025. The Powder Mountain ski area wraps up its first season under Netflix cofounder Reed Hastings's experiment of taking some lifts private while leaving other public.
Furthermore, Powder Mountain, the largest ski area in North America in terms of skiable acres, sits entirely on private land. Brooke Hontz, Powder Mountain’s chief development and construction officer, told the council that has been the case as far back as she can find ownership records.
“I have a little bit of a heartbreak if we go in there and tell private landowners that they can’t shut it down. We demand public access,” council member David Erickson said. “Now that bothers me.”
When it came to the art trail, however, the discussion around private property rights versus public access appeared to become more muddied.
Powder Mountain sought permission to build nine miles worth of hiking trails that would ramble around numerous art installations. The trail will be free to the public in the summer and fall, Hontz said, though users may eventually have the option to pay for a lift ride back to the top of the mountain. During the winter, access will be restricted to resort guests, both public and private.
“it isn’t just trails and it’s not just art, it’s both,” she said, “and it is available to the public.”
(Francisco Kjolseth | The Salt Lake Tribune) A skier rings a bell at Powder Mountain on Friday, March 21, 2025.
The proposal mostly received support during the public comment period. Yet rather than approve that project as it had the others, the council tabled its decision at least until it meets again May 27.
Council member Kathryn Beus made the suggestion to delay the vote. She said she would like to see Powder Mountain include some verbiage in its application that would guarantee public access in perpetuity. Council member Gunnell then asked her how she differentiated between that and the council stipulating that Powder Mountain guarantee public access to other parts of the resort.
“Because they told us they wanted to give it to us for public access,” Beus said. “I just don’t want it to be kind of like a promise that can be pulled back.”
