Shuttling guests through a maze of rough work roads in the bustling Martis Camp development, Northstar-At-Tahoe and Martis Camp brought club members and guests to the base of Northstar’s Lookout Mountain Saturday to view the new runs and base area of the much anticipated Martis Camp Express lift.

In a move to connect the Martis Camp community to Northstar resort, the old Lookout Express chairlift has been extended by 2,306 lineal feet to terminate at a new base station just inside Martis Camp. In total, the new lift will be 5,128 feet long with a vertical drop of 1,722 feet. The lift will be open to all Northstar skiers and riders, while Martis Camp club members will also have access to a private warming hut and shuttle service from their homes.

Tim Beck, Booth Creek’s executive vice president of planning, explained the details of the extended lift, the new runs, and the low-impact effort taken in their construction.

“This has been a very sensitive project for us,” said Beck referring to the forestry work on Lookout Mountain. “For all the glading work we’ve hand cut the timber and brought the logs out without machinery because we can’t bring heavy equipment into these areas.”

Three existing advanced runs will be extended in the development, in addition to the creation of one brand new intermediate run to the east of the existing Lookout Mountain trails.

“We tried to create a unique run that was more sensitive to the land than it looks,” said Beck, discussing the new ski run, an intermediate called Washoe. “The run will have tree islands all the way down the middle. You’ll be able to get a different experience every time you ski the run depending on how you move through the islands.”

Construction on the lift and runs is on schedule for an opening this winter.