Wakeboarding park coming to Eagle Mountain
Utah's first wakeboarding resort park is coming this summer to Eagle Mountain. Wakeboarding is to waterskiing what snowboarding is to snow skiiing -- riding a surfboard while being pulled by a boat. Or by a machine, as will be the case at the Eagle Mountain park. Courtesy photo
Ever heard of a wakeboarding park? It’s like a ski resort on water, and one is coming this summer to Eagle Mountain.
Wakeboarding is to waterskiing what snowboarding is to snow skiing — think of it as riding a surfboard while being pulled by a boat. Or by a machine, as will be the case at the Eagle Mountain park.
Two lakes will be constructed for the park, 100 feet wide and 700 feet long. A 20-foot tower will be constructed at each end, with a cable system running between the towers. A wakeboarder, or wakeskater, as they are called, can then ride on the water while hanging on to the cable, rather than behind a boat. The speed is fully adjustable during the ride, and it is intended not only for beginners, but for pros as well, according to city documents. Owners hope to open as early as June.
Darcy Hanks, who owns a fiber optics company, will own Wasatch Wake Park, as it is now tentatively titled. Eagle Mountain immediately loved the idea of a wakeboarding park and even wooed the resort. The city’s proximity to the population centers in both Salt Lake and Utah counties will draw a larger clientele, he said.
With Utah Lake close by, the lake would seem the logical place to build the resort, but creating a resort on a public waterway was not a task Hanks said he wanted to take on.
Originally, the Hanks family had considered building the resort, on a smaller scale, on family property in southern Utah, but as the idea progressed, they realized they may have a business opportunity on their hands, he said.
The resort will be open in both summer and winter, with wakeboarding in the summer and snowboarding in the winter. The resort is considering allowing winter resort-goers to be pulled on tubes over the snow as well. Helmets will be required for all sports, as well as Coast Guard-approved life jackets for wakeboarders.
Tentative prices will be $25 for a two-hour pass, $29 for a four-hour pass, and $35 for an all-day pass. The resort will also rent equipment, and those new to wakeboarding may sign up for private lessons. Coaches will be on hand to oversee the activities. One of the two man-made lakes will feature an obstacle course for advanced wakeboarders.
In another year or two, an additional circular lake will be built with six towers and the potential for eight riders at a time. Because of the economic development potential the resort will have, the city has fast-tracked the application. The city will also provide the initial water to fill the two lakes.
“They are excited about the potential of drawing that niche market of wakeboarders from around the state, and the applicant is especially excited about the opportunity this gives kids in Eagle Mountain to learn how to wakeboard in a controlled environment,” Mumford said.
The planning commission has already given conditional use approval, and the city council is expected to give final approval on Tuesday.
