New Night Lights Installed on Casper Ski Slopes

On Tuesday night, the Hogadon Basin Ski Area tested new lights they installed to allow for night skiing on two runs and should be available for the upcoming winter season.

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Beth Andress, Keep Casper Beautiful coordinator, said the price and hours will be finalized by the time season tickets go on sale in a few months, but she believes people should be able to night ski for around four hours, so tickets should be cheaper than regular skiing, which goes for eight hours, and could also be an add-on to the season pass.

Andress said the project has been going since 2016 when John Lutz went before Casper City Council to begin the process, along with other donors like City Service Electric Company, the Daniels Fund, and the Johan Bank of Wyoming.

If the project does not provide the ski resort with enough revenue to make up for the construction, Andress said the people providing the donations will have to pay back the difference for the next three years.

Lutz, founder of the non-profit Hogadon Night Skiing ​Project, said as someone who skied a lot when he was younger, is glad to bring that enjoyment to Casper.

"I grew up skiing, in a place called Brighton Michigan, which has a ski hill, and that ski hill has lights, and I ski raced junior high through high school, a little bit into college. We would do ski practice right after school, get out of classes and meet out there, and the course would be ready to go, for a few hours and race, and it was a great experience. I saw that growing up and I wanted to bring it to Casper."

Initially, Lutz said the night skiing would be on Friday and Saturday between 4 p.m. and 8 p.m., but, depending on how successful it is, could be expanded to Wednesday and Thursday night as well.

Much of the money for the project came from the City Service Electric Company, who matched $200,000 worth of donations that Lutz received from other sources.

Mike Morrissey, regional business manager for Rocky Mountain Power, said they are has also been involved in the project, with the company donating labor to help install 46 lights along the slopes on July 7 and 8 this year and last year, when the lights had to be removed after installation due to structural flaws in the light poles.