Snowbird, Utah, has bid farewell to its beloved Wilbere two-seater chairlift.
This summer, the lift will be replaced by a fixed-grip quad.
Wilbere, along with the rest of the terrain in the Gad Valley below Little Cloud, closed yesterday, April 14th, to give the mountain operations team room ahead of the planned lift upgrade. The next change to Snowbird's operating schedule is on April 21st when the Baldy Express closes.
Snowbird, as part of upgrade, is making minor changes to Wilbere's pathing. While the base station is moving from Creek Road to the Creekside base area, its upper terminal will remain in a similar location, preserving the classic lift's terrain access.
The lift, originally constructed in 1971 for Snowbird's opening, was named after founder Ted Johnson's wife, Wilma. She cooked in the Alta Lodge alongside a European chef who struggled to pronounce her name, so he called her "Wilber." The "e" in Wilbere was added later to feminize the nickname.
Alongside the titular two-seater, several runs at Snowbird bear Wilma's nickname, including Wilbere Ridge and Wilbere Cut Off.
In Snowbird's social media announcement video, resort locals gave the Wilbere chair its well-deserved flowers and explained how it fit into their varied experiences at Snowbird.
For ski instructors, Wilbere provided an opportunity for post-work laps between 4 P.M. and 4:30 P.M., while patient powder hounds cruised the lift on deep days when the upper mountain was still closed.
One snowboarder noted that Wilbere, which accesses plenty of beginner and intermediate terrain, was where he first learned to snowboard.
The reminiscing and farewells extended to the social media post's comment section.
"I love Wilbere! It's sad to see it go but it's good for updates to happen," wrote one commenter.
"First chair I rode at snowbird 51 years ago on a spring day in May will miss the original chair," said another.
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