After  long eight years of being housed in a shed near the football facility, the Utah ski program will finally get their own, well-deserved ski facility early next year.

The 5,800 square foot three story building will be equipped with men’s and women’s locker rooms, equipment storage, a ski tuning room, a video and film room, a conference room and covered parking for the team vehicles. The building, said to be finished in early spring of 2017 just in time for ski season, is located between the McCarthey Family Track and Field Complex and the Ute Softball stadium.

“The ski building means a great deal to the student athletes for their day to day activities. It also gives them a chance to have a top quality facility for recruiting,” said athletic director Chris Hill. “As with all our sports we want to have our facility as good or better than our Pac-12 peers. For me personally it shows the fact that our contributors continue to want the best for the men and women in our program.”

This 2.3 million dollar building has been in the works for a little over three years now. The idea to create a ski facility and upgrade from the ski shed first started with raising money and selecting a location. Once the sponsors, alumni and team were all on board and a site was selected, it wasn’t long before the project began.

Finally having a place to call their own, the ski team is expected to become an even stronger team than they already are. Not only will the facility help the team in recruiting, it will also increase their chances to win as well. With a place to store equipment and prepare before meets, the team is hoping to get back on top and start winning titles again.

“This building will be a key factor for our recruiting. We now will have the best facility and the best access to skiing so we have everything we need to win another ski championship,” Hill said.

While many buildings across the U’s campus were made possible by the donations of Spence Eccles, the ski facility has a personal connection to Eccles. He was an All-American skier for the Utes back in 1957 and still skis today at the age of 82.

“The connection between Spence Eccles and skiing is as strong as it gets. He was a skier of national acclaim at the University of Utah, and more importantly his family members are all involved in skiing. Skiing is a family affair for the Eccles family,” Hall said.

Eccles worked with other former skiers to find donors to help make this ski facility a reality for the Utes. With 11 NCAA team titles, and one of the U’s top performing academic programs, the program is eager to move into their new home and hopefully win many more NCAA titles in the near future.

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