View of Eglise Mountain earlier this season with new trails cut over the past two summers. The expansion will include at least three new lifts.The Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana will likely build not one, but three new lifts this summer as it adds Eglise Mountain to its expansive roster of ski terrain. The second section of a future two-stage gondola, along with a detachable bubble quad chair and new beginner triple chair are all slated to debut in time for the Club’s 17th winter season next year.
Doppelmayr USA will build the new lifts and already poured many of the tower and terminal footings last summer. The upper section of the 8-passenger Eglise Gondola will debut first, with the lower stage to be added when the 550,000 square-foot Village Core is substantially completed. That project, located adjacent to the Warren Miller Lodge, is also underway and currently the biggest construction project in Montana. A dedicated building in the village will eventually house the new gondola’s base terminal, not far from the Lodge lift.
So-called whale’s tails rise at the site of a new mid-station on Eglise Mountain. Because two stages are being built separately, the gondola will likely have independent haul ropes, two drive systems, etc.The entire expansion is focused on the Club’s beginner and intermediate lesson programs. At the top of the gondola, a learning center will be constructed with magic carpets and a relocated Little Dipper triple chair. Y.C.’s seventh high-speed, bubble quad chair will stretch from the top of the gondola to near the summit of 9,573-foot Eglise Rock. Unlike some other lifts here, Upper Eglise will have bubbles on every chair and maybe even heated seats.
You can see the future gondola angle station site in the center of the photo, with the future Village station below the skier bridge and upper lift line in the trees above.Those who were hoping Yellowstone Club would debut the Doppelmayr D-Line option in North America will be disappointed, as the foundations appear to be for standard Uni-G stations. Even so, you can bet no other expense will be spared on these stations, cabins and chairs.
The new lifts will be the first batch built at the Club since 2007, when a decade of construction ended in bankruptcy (Y.C. bought 15 Doppelmayr lifts in ten years during the boom, neighboring Spanish Peaks added five before also going bankrupt.) The Eglise expansion is designed to accommodate membership growth while maintaining Yellowstone Club members’ signature access to Private Powder™.
A latest-generation Doppelmayr bubble chair on the Lodge lift at the Yellowstone Club last year.Limited to 864 families, the Yellowstone Club added its most new members each of the last three years, buoyed by record numbers of real estate transactions. A gondola and dedicated low-intermediate mountain will surely elevate the ski experience and only add to the Club’s ongoing success.
Peter, would you happen to know what the model name of the pictured bubble chair is? I know that they are the same as the bubble chairs found on Big Sky’s Lewis & Clark Quad, and that Lewis & Clark’s non-bubble chairs are Doppelmayr’s 4E98 quad chairs. Sunday River’s Chondola chairs are 6E98s, Lewis & Clark’s chairs seem to be the four passenger size of that style of carrier. YC’s older bubble chairs were just EJ chairs with bubbles (right?), but the newer (and seemingly European) bubble chairs have had me stumped for a while.
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So hyped for these lifts! Almost as much as much as I was for Powder Seeker and Challenger!
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“At the top of the gondola, a learning center will be constructed with magic carpets”
Isn’t this exactly what Jackson Hole just did?
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Yep, Beaver Creek did it too. I find it interesting that YC will go so far as to remove the beginner lift in the base area.
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Check out Reuters news feed/Intrawest. Great news for us at Mt Tremblant Fortress is looking to sell
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Peter, would you happen to know what the model name of the pictured bubble chair is? I know that they are the same as the bubble chairs found on Big Sky’s Lewis & Clark Quad, and that Lewis & Clark’s non-bubble chairs are Doppelmayr’s 4E98 quad chairs. Sunday River’s Chondola chairs are 6E98s, Lewis & Clark’s chairs seem to be the four passenger size of that style of carrier. YC’s older bubble chairs were just EJ chairs with bubbles (right?), but the newer (and seemingly European) bubble chairs have had me stumped for a while.
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