The Snow Ghost Express, the newest chairlift at Whitefish Mountain Resort, opened to skiers and snowboarders Friday.

Also known as Chair 4, the high-speed lift is the largest on the mountain by capacity, carrying up to six people per chair. Chair 4 picks up passengers in the base area by the lodge, and whisks them 2,200 feet up to the top of Inspiration Ridge in seven minutes.

The resort estimates that Snow Ghost Express can serve over 2,000 guests per hour and officials expect that the addition of the lift will change how skiers approach the mountain’s terrain.

Attending the ribbon cutting ceremony were relatives of Ed Schenck, who founded the resort with George Prentice 75 years ago this winter.

Resort officials expect the Snow Ghost Express to alleviate the lift queues that can form at Chair 1 on busy days, providing skiers with an alternative way to access most of the mountain’s vertical feet.

“[In the past], most guests would take Chair 1 to the summit and this [new lift] will take a whole new swathe of people in a new direction,” said Matt Gebo, director of sales and marketing at the resort, in the run up to the lift’s completion.

Getting to Chair 1 from the base lodge, which houses ticket sales and ski rental facilities, previously required a connecting trip via Chair 6.

President Nick Polumbus said that the resort invested in the new lift to improve skier experience.

“We did a ‘six-pack’ because it was right from a skiers per hour perspective,” he said. “A lot of places might put in an ‘eight-pack’ and put a heated bubble and wifi on it just to say they did it.”

“Here in Whitefish, we like our six-packs cold,” he added.

Reporter Adrian Knowler can be reached at 758-4407 or aknowler@dailyinterlake.com.