On the morning of January 15th, after receiving its largest snowfall of the season, Nordic Valley’s historic barn was destroyed by fire.

The historic barn is the original barn of the Silver Bell Ranch and has been one of the community’s beloved and iconic landmarks for decades.

Almost immediately after the news hit the local media, calls of concern began to come in. Chief among them was, “Please restore the barn! I learned to ski there.” And just as quickly, offers of assistance came pouring in as well.

MCP (Mountain Capital Partners) operates the ski resort and uses the barn to provide skier services. The owners of the barn are Nordic Valley Ventures—which includes GWC Capital, a subsidiary of Clyde Companies, and their French partners SMB (Skyline Mountain Base).

Sadly, the barn cannot be salvaged and will have to be torn down. It will be replaced with a new ski lodge.

However, requests to rebuild and offers to help have been so overwhelming that the Nordic Valley Village Community Benefit Foundation is stepping up to build a replica of the barn for the community.

Nordic Valley Ventures has committed to donate an acre of property, located to the east of the barn, to the foundation which the foundation will use to build a new community park. Details of the park plan are still forthcoming, but it will feature a replica of the historic barn. The barn replica will attempt to incorporate as many salvaged artifacts of the original barn as possible in order to preserve the community’s unique history.

The foundation will own and operate the park and barn for the benefit of the larger Upper Ogden Valley community.

“While we are deeply saddened to lose our historic barn, we are equally encouraged that we have the opportunity to replace a community icon through the foundation and give the community an enhanced asset it can enjoy for generations to come,” notes Robert Behunin, chair of the foundation board. “The foundation looks forward to working with the community and the many stakeholders who have reached out as we begin our work.”