Eagle Point Owner Sets Goal for Reopening After Devastating Wildfire

Earlier this year, a wildfire that would go on to burn more than 97,000 acres broke out in Beaver County, Utah, due to human causes. Although the exact cause of the Cottonwood Fire has not been released by the Forest Service, it wreaked havoc on the area, including Eagle Point Resort.

Since 2010, Shane Gadbaw has owned Eagle Point Resort in Utah’s Tushar range. Following the devastation of the Cottonwood Fire, Gadbaw joined Tom Kelly on Ski Utah’s Last Chair podcast to discuss the ski area’s future.

Gadbaw recalls that the fire broke out around 3:30 p.m. on Monday, June 22, and that by Tuesday at the same time, his ski resort had burned. On Tuesday morning, the resort was evacuated via the back road, as Gadbaw watched the flames climb 50-100 feet in the air. Local power to the resort was shut off when the fire started, which meant the ski area couldn’t turn on snow guns as a line of defense. By Tuesday night, Gadbaw had received news from local firefighters that the Canyon Side Lodge at Eagle Point had burned.

In total, the ski area lost the Lodge, a warming station, and 145 cabins and condos, and sustained damage to four of its five lifts as a result of the fire.

In the aftermath of the smolder, a flood was nowhere near Gadbaw’s mind, even as the Forest Service started to issue warnings. That is, until an inch and a half of rain fell in roughly 45 minutes, flooding drainages that had previously been protected by foliage, but were now burnt. Water came rushing down the canyon next to Highway 153, taking out the road and the only paved way up to Eagle Point with it.

The State of Utah was candid and told Gadbaw that access to Eagle Point was not in the cards for the 2026/27 winter, given the road damage. However, Gadbaw reported that they’d been receptive to his requests that the road be ready for the 2027/28 season.

Despite all the destruction, Gadbaw is using this as an opportunity for a reset. “We have a chance to use the best practices that are going into resorts these days to sustain mountains and to survive without power for periods of time,” he told Kelly. Through the non-profit he started, BeaverTUF, and state and federal grant funding programs, they’ve been able to plan work to clean up the forest and cut down any remaining, dangerous trees left by the fire.

As for the burned lifts and other infrastructure and plans to rebuild them, “Eagle Point will be reimagined, it won’t be put back together in the same way,” said Gadbaw. The resort hopes to reopen in November 2027.

You can watch/listen to Gadbaw’s full interview with Last Chair below.

Related: Giveaway: Win a Pair of Ellis Kanso 106 Skis and a Copy of POWDER Magazine