Last time I stopped by Grand Targhee, I could still ski down Chief Joseph Bowl as the Blackfoot double was being deconstructed to make way for a new Doppelmayr quad chair. Three months later, workers have finished removing the last of the old Riblet and prepped both station locations for modern terminals. The new Blackfoot will move up to 1,800 skiers per hour 1,200 vertical feet in seven minutes. When completed, Grand Targhee will operate four Doppelmayr and CTEC quad lifts, all built after 1996, with a third high speed quad coming soon.
The new Blackfoot will start a little higher up and further north, though it’s tough to tell where the old base stood with how much dirt has been moved. The new top station is just about in the same spot as the previous one. Lots of rock is getting pushed to make a large unload area in place of the steep wooden ramp at top of Blackfoot since 1974. This week Doppelmayr is tying re-bar for towers and both terminals. The project is still in its beginning stages but will ramp up over as concrete gets poured and steel arrives this fall.
I also hiked to the top of Peaked Mountain, home to Targhee’s next new lift in the pipeline. In 2014, owner Geordie Gillett asked Teton County for a $3 million loan towards a high speed quad to the 9,830′ summit of Peaked. Back in 2001, Garaventa CTEC built Sacajawea on the lower half of the mountain with the upper 600 acres left to be served only by snowcat. Under the terms of the 2014 proposal, Teton County would own the Peaked lift for five years until Grand Targhee could afford to purchase it. A decade earlier, state and local governments refused to provide $20 million for a new tram at JHMR and County Commissioners similarly balked at the idea of owning a chairlift at Targhee. As such, Blackfoot is being financed privately, partly through the sale of the old double chairs for $500 each.
By most accounts, Grand Targhee is in its best financial position ever and hopefully the new Peaked lift is only a few years away. High alpine terrain with panoramic views of the Teton Range will be worth the wait. In the meantime, skiers will enjoy a shiny new Blackfoot this winter.
Lift Blog 
While Targhee is an amazing place to ski, I feel it has always been in the shadows of Jackson Hole and has never received the skier visits that it deserves which makes it an epic powder mountain. With that said, I don’t think getting a third high speed quad makes viable sense unless it can possibly buy one of Red Lodge’s HSQ if it ever decides to remove them based on lack of use.
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A reader sent me this cool picture of the cut Peaked lift line from below.
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