Last month, Travis and Kristy Seeholzer, owners of the longest continuously-run family-owned mountain resort in the United States — Beaver Mountain —unveiled their newest project: a new cabin and rental shop.
Built on the site of the old ticket office, the cabin incorporates some of its wood and decor as a nod to the resort’s history.
It features a new cafe and gift shop, with both indoor and outdoor seating, along with administrative offices and employee areas.
After decades of being housed on the first floor of the lodge, the rental office will now occupy its own building. Travis Seeholzer said the old office is under renovation and will soon be turned into a designated sack-lunch area with tables, new restrooms, and day-use lockers.
“We are excited to move in here and be able to accommodate our guests better," Travis Seeholzer said.
Alongside its new facilities, the resort has switched from physical to digital passes.
The owners said the online RFID cards will eliminate long lines by allowing visitors to purchase tickets in advance and scan their cards directly at each lift.
Amidst all the changes, Kristy Seeholzer said employees will stay just as valued — if not more so.
“We aren't taking any people out," Kristy Seeholzer said. "We don't have gates. We have handheld scanners. Every person is still needed that we've had in the past.”
Besides, she said she wouldn’t want the resort to lose its personal touch.
“Even as people do purchase their passes online, we hope they still come in and visit, and we can still know our guests, and we don't get so big that we can't greet somebody by name,” Kristy Seeholzer said.
When asked about rumors that the improvements might signal an upcoming sale, the owners set the record straight, saying the business will remain in the family.
“We're not forgetting who we are, but it doesn't mean we can't have nice things, you know, and we just needed these facilities," Travis Seeholzer said. "You know, we're still Beaver."
For some loyal visitors, the changes bring a touch of nostalgia.
“We're just a little bittersweet about the whole thing, because it's a lot of memories, a lot of history," said an attendee of the event. "Just spent a lot of our lives here. ... But no matter what, it's always the Beave.”
