Crowds chase clouds as Mt. Bachelor’s new lift opens

On Friday, Mt. Bachelor opened its first new chair lift since 1996, making it the sixth largest ski area in the nation. The name of the lift? Cloudchaser.

“Today is living exactly up to why we named the lift Cloudchaser,” said Drew Jackson, director of sales and marketing for Mt. Bachelor.

“It’s cloudy and foggy on the west side of the mountain,” he said, “and here on the east side, over Cloudchaser, we’re getting holes in the clouds — truly chasing the clouds away over here,”

Hundreds of people lined up to get their first taste of the new terrain. Matt Gilstrap and his friends won a Facebook contest to ensure they were the first ones to ride Cloudchaser.

“So I tagged a few buddies, and they became the lucky winners. They notified me on Wednesday, and I freaked out — it was huge,” Gilstrap said.

NewsChannel 21’s Dani Fried rode the lift and said it only took about eight minutes to get up to the top.

The lift opens 13 new marked runs and a ton of new unmarked terrain as well.