Common Ground Outdoor Adventures looking to community for additional donations for lodge

By Anna Tuckett
hardnewscafe.usu.edu/?p=11178

A local adaptive-recreation organization will need to partner with additional groups before starting construction on a new, year-round lodge at Beaver Mountain Ski Area.

After bids for the long sought-after lodge came back $100,000 over budget, Common Ground Outdoor Adventures decided to postpone construction until the snow melts in the spring. To fund the building, the organization has asked additional groups from the valley to help raise donations in the form of money, building materials and labor.

Sammie Macfarlane, the organization’s executive director, attended a meeting on Dec. 2 with prospective partners who she hopes will “rally the community behind the cause.”

“With the few staff that work here, adding this huge project onto our plate is pretty hard,” Macfarlane said. “So we need help from as many members from the community as possible.”

To this point contributions have primarily consisted of in-kind support, grant money and large donations from corporations and individuals.

Macfarlane said she will announce the names of the additional groups when arrangements are finalized.

The organization originally planned on the lodge’s completion by the fall, before the start of the skiing season.

Beaver Mountain operations manager Travis Seeholzer said he thinks postponing construction was a good decision.

“This will enable us to get it right,” Seeholzer said. “It makes more sense to stand back and do it correctly.”

The ski area has helped raise funds for the lodge at its facilities and via social media. It has also donated the land where the lodge will be built.

Seeholzer said the ski area will continue raising money for the lodge fund.

The lodge will be a 4,000 square-foot “home” at the ski area for Common Ground Outdoor Adventures members. It will include storage for adaptive equipment, accessible bathrooms and locker areas, and a large deck.

The organization said the building will allow it to operate more efficiently and provide opportunities for more members of the community. More information available at: cgadventures.org/Beaver-Mtn-Lodge.