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The revamped “Umiat Hilton” provides comfortable accommodations The Umiat Commercial Co. has opened a new lodge in Umiat and is upgrading all of the facilities around the Umiat airstrip Alan Bailey
People working in the central and southern areas of the North Slope will be pleased to know that they can find comfortable lodgings and year-round logistical support services in Umiat. The revived “Umiat Hilton” (no connection to the Hilton Hotel chain) has opened for business.
PNA reported in May that Umiat Commercial Co. was undertaking a major upgrade of the facilities in Umiat. Work on the facilities continued apace over the summer, and the settlement now boasts comfortable, modern accommodations for up to 44 people.
“We’re totally up to speed now — we’re able to accommodate people comfortably in a new environment,” Mike Tolbert, president of Umiat Commercial Co. Inc., told PNA recently.
Umiat enjoys a 5,400 foot gravel airstrip and excellent telephone communications.
Upgrade work during the summer focussed on the construction of a new lodge. The new buildings meet modern standards for comfort and construction quality, Tolbert said.
“The new area’s really looking quite nice — we’re real pleased with it,” he said.
Tolbert’s company is also clearing up the old structures: “We’re in the process of tearing down the old facility — some of that we’ll retrofit and use as offices for clients that need office space.”
As well as accommodations, Umiat Commercial Co. provides general logistical support, including fuel supplies, equipment and freighting services.
“We have fuel available year round, used by contractors and whoever comes in there, rather than having to fly or haul their own in,” Tolbert said.
And experience so far indicates that plenty of people will make use of the Umiat facilities. “There was a lot of activity this summer,” Tolbert said, “helicopters, fixed wing in and out of there.”
Much of the air traffic stemmed from U.S. Bureau of Land Management activity in the area. However, the U.S. Corps of Engineers also used Umiat as a base for the first phase of a major environmental cleanup project in the area. Expects a busy winter Tolbert anticipates another burst of activity in the winter. He expects to see several seismic crews in the area during the winter months; phase two of the Corps of Engineers’ cleanup project should get under way in December and January.
“We’re pleased,” Tolbert said. “Obviously, when you are going into a project, you have great ideas and plans for it that sometimes take on a different dimension, but we’ve probably done more than we anticipated.”
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