The Legacy of Beaver Mountain Ski Resort
For three generations, the Seeholzer family has preserved Beaver Mountain's authentic spirit, where slower lifts mean deeper conversations and community remains the biggest draw.
A trip to Beaver Mountain Ski Resort can often feel touched by magic. As you make the trek along the Logan Canyon National Scenic Byway (Highway 89), there may be little snow visible on the jagged limestone cliffs towering over the canyon. But just past Ricks Spring, the road takes a final, sweeping turn, and suddenly – there it is! Beaver Mountain, cloaked in a dazzling mantle of white.
Turns out, the snowy slope is not so much magic as it is local knowledge and good planning. It's the legacy of the ski area’s founders passed down through the generations. A legacy inherited by the current operators, which include third-generation owners and direct descendants of those visionary founders who wanted a place for their community to gather and ski. While some resorts lure patrons with luxurious slopeside lodging and a sea of off-mountain amenities, Beaver Mountain offers community and, well, a genuine ski mountain. And one that might just become your mountain.
Arriving at Beaver Mountain Ski Resort
Like the drive from Salt Lake City to any of the resorts in the Cottonwood Canyons (Alta, Snowbird, Brighton and Solitude), it’s not even 30 scenic miles from Logan to Beaver Mountain. Logan is the artsy and energetic college town 85 miles north of Salt Lake at the mouth of Logan Canyon, where you’ll likely be spending your nights. More on that later. (Read: A Local’s Guide to Logan)
To help welcome you, Beaver Mountain recently added parking and a new access road to reduce congestion at the lodge and successfully manage their increase in visitation. Next up is a stop at the ticket office. For decades, mountain matriarch Marge Seeholzer has been the familiar face behind the counter. The second-generation owner is as iconic as the ticket lodge, and both regularly appear in social posts by guests and media photos. But the 2024-25 season marked the largest investment in capital in the history of the resort and by 2025-26, the lodge’s original fir sidings will be repurposed in the new facility. That’s according to Marge’s son and third-generation mountain operations manager, Travis Seeholzer.
It’s here we begin to understand exactly why “community” is a big reason you’ll want to visit Beaver Mountain.
Says Travis, “We really value getting to know our guests. [Marge likes only] to make money so we can improve the ski area — so people can enjoy her place and their mountain. That shows through even in the pricing as the world gets more expensive and skiing gets more expensive. It’s a genuine desire to keep that affordable for everyone. There’s no doubt we could charge a little more for tickets than we do.”
In some ways, a lot is changing. But not what makes Beaver Mountain special.
That’s the view of Eric Bishop, a 27-year veteran of Beaver Mountain’s all-volunteer ski patrol and its current director. “The culture is not going to change. Just the buildings that we go to. And maybe the lifts have been upgraded and a few new runs will be cut in. But the community and all of that has been constant.”
"The culture is not going to change. Just the buildings that we go to. And maybe the lifts have been upgraded and a few new runs will be cut in. But the community and all of that has been constant."
– Eric Bishop, Beaver Mountain Resort Ski Patrol Director
Getting Up the Mountain
About those ski lifts. Along with two surface conveyors, Beaver Mountain has four lifts. Just four. It’s been said that for a small resort, Beaver Mountain “skis big.” What that really means, Seeholzer believes, is that most of the experience at Beaver is truly downhill skiing, with outstanding fall lines. He points out that some resorts of similar size have multiple lifts, catwalks and hiking. “People expect a little hill and we’re definitely not that,” says Seeholzer. A likely reason for the misconception is that compared to Utah’s more famous and larger resorts to the south, Beaver Mountain’s 828 skiable acres appear, on paper, modest in size.
And, okay, it takes a little longer to get up the mountain, but both Seeholzer and Bishop give that fact perspective.
“We don't have as many people on the hill,” says Bishop. He compares Beaver to resorts with high speed six-packs dumping skiers onto the hill and instantly creating crowds. At Beaver, he says, visitors can still get runs almost to themselves. And there are fewer collisions. In addition, Bishop laughs, he’s not as young as he used to be and would, “Almost rather wait for a minute and enjoy the next one, and have fresher legs.”
Seeholzer sums up the experience well: “It’s not for everyone. If you’re looking for that Park City experience, they do it very well. If you don’t mind sitting on a little slower chair lift and talking to someone for a little longer period on that lift, and ideally paying a little less for your lift ticket…frankly, a destination ski trip and doing the whole thing is pretty expensive these days.”
"People expect a little hill and we’re definitely not that."
– Travis Seeholzer, Beaver Mountain Resort Operations Director
Sounds pretty good so far. But as you have an extra minute on that lift, how about a little history?
Take Harry’s Dream Lift. The “monument to determination” — as the Alf Engen Ski Museum calls it — carries visitors to the top of Beaver Mountain and a view over the ski area’s state-owned lands and the adjacent national forest. The Harry of Harry’s Dream is Harold Seeholzer — the grandfather Travis never got to meet. Harold and his wife, Luella, launched the modern visitor experience on Beaver Mountain with base parking and a 1,000-foot rope tow back in 1949, just a decade after establishing skiing on the mountain that was once accessible only by hiking a mile first. It was Harold’s dream to install a lift from the base to the top of the mountain. Harold passed away in 1968, but his family made the dream a reality in 1970. That same year Travis’ father Ted took over operations and Marge went to work full time in the ticket office. (And you thought “for decades” was hyperbole.)
Over the years, Harry’s Dream evolved from a double to a triple, the family added Marge’s Triple Lift, and Little Beaver became a triple with occasional public night skiing. While getting up the mountain has changed a little, chances are still good you’ll run into a Seeholzer on a lift or out on the mountain.
You’re even more likely to encounter one or more of the 110-member volunteer ski patrol, who on their shifts are encouraged to ski the mountain and meet people at the base or terrain park or on the lifts. Some advice: take advantage of your time with them and tap their experience and expert mountain knowledge. They may even offer to show you around. But also remember they are there to protect the skier experience and help if there is ever an issue.
The Best Ski Runs at Beaver Mountain
A lot of planning, prep and travel goes into a ski trip. All that effort combined with the anticipation built on the lift, and you’d be forgiven for getting right to the business of skiing the Beav’.
But take a moment to pause at the top and appreciate that view. Then get ready to enjoy the mountain’s 48 runs and all the natural advantages that make Beaver Mountain a legitimate alternative to larger resorts. Some years, its northeastern exposure is known to maintain snow coverage and a sense of winter beyond many resorts. And the mountain averages around 400 inches of snowfall a year.
Both Seeholzer and Bishop jump to powder skiing as their ideal day, but they also are quick to add the groomers and glades to the list of must-experience runs on the mountain.
“On a powder day, Beaver is well known for really good glade skiing. Both pine fir trees but also really nice aspen glades,” says Seeholzer. “But definitely my favorite top-to-bottom groomer at Beaver is Stan's Bonanza, which is also off the Harry side. I think it's one of the better fall-line groomer runs in the state.” It’s understandably not easy to get Seezholer off the topic of favorite runs. Among others, he also rattles off the 2.5-mile, meandering Gentle Ben, on the “upper end of green runs” from the top of Harry’s to the base of Marge’s as a top choice.
"Both Seeholzer and Bishop jump to powder skiing as their ideal day, but they also are quick to add the groomers and glades to the list of must-experience runs on the mountain."
Undiluted, Affordable and Accessible
While the on-mountain skiing experience rightfully gets all the attention, the family ownership and decision-making of the Seeholzers means Beaver Mountain often attracts a different type of skier.
The Indy Pass offers skiers and riders access to independent, character-rich ski areas as an alternative to the major resort passes like Epic and Ikon (Read: Max Out Your Multi-Mountain Ski Pass). The pass has helped Beaver Mountain welcome visitors from around the world, including those who link together multiple regional resorts on a single trip. Seeholzer notes many of these passholders are looking for the relative affordability, and “some of the quirkiness that goes along with the local ski hills."
"While some resorts lure patrons with luxurious slopeside lodging and a sea of off-mountain amenities, Beaver Mountain offers community and, well, a genuine ski mountain."
Regarding the aspirations of his grandfather, Travis Seeholzer says, “I wonder a lot…did they ever envision this? Where did they think this was going back in the day? [He] talked about bringing the family together…and taking the plunge.” There’s a parallel in the present with the current level of investment that Seeholzer says is scary given their business is dependent on the weather and there’s almost no safety net, other than the family. In fact, a lot of decisions are made over dinner.
In other words, there’s no separating work from home life, a model of ownership that factors into the ski experience and its accessibility. In short, people figured out they can have a pretty affordable ski trip.
“I’m going to drive past 12 or 13 world-class ski areas to get here from the Salt Lake airport. Why am I going to do that?” Seeholzer asks. “For skiing the way it used to be…a more genuine experience.”
The effort to consistently connect operational decisions back to guest experience demonstrates how the family ownership model directly benefits visitors. It’s a model that appeals to intermediate and advanced skiers and riders seeking authentic mountain experiences as well as beginners or families concerned about affordability and accessibility.That a humble resort in the extremes of Northern Utah can experience strong growth in an ever-changing industry while maintaining its soul is truly impressive. Perhaps the real magic of Beaver Mountain isn't in the northeastern exposure or the expertise of its founders — it's in how three generations of Seeholzers have preserved an authentic mountain experience where community is still the resort’s biggest draw.
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