- Telluride weighs building at least one big detachable next summer as the Forest Service tentatively approves replacements for Plunge, Sunshine Express and Village Express.
- White Pass, WA retires its platter in favor of a 380’ carpet.
- LiftDigital goes live for testing at Winter Park.
- Taos says goodbye to two more chairlifts – that’s four in one summer!
- Song Mountain, NY is replacing its 1965 Thunderbird T-Bar with a chairlift.
Anyone know where it’s from? - The Rainforest Adventures crew gets one Skytrac back in action and works to repair the other following Irma’s devastation of St. Maarten.
- Scroll through these photos of a new high-speed quad in Switzerland with four stations, three sections, two haul ropes and only one drive!
- Albany gondola group to be led by former chief executive of the New York State Department of Transportation and Federal Highway Administration Thomas Madison, Jr.
- Authorities briefly seize Granby Ranch, site of last season’s fatal lift incident, over delinquent taxes.
- Spout Springs in Oregon won’t open for a second year in a row and remains for sale.
- Mi Teleférico’s Orange Line did 93,847 riders its first weekend.
- Frank F. sent over these photos of the new Skytrac Buttercup Quad going in at Mt. Hood Meadows:
Lift Blog 
Mystery solved thanks to a reader: Song’s new lift is a Riblet from Giants Ridge.
Also the Swiss Garaventa lift is similar to what is planned for Squaw-Alpine’s Base-to-Base gondola with the double bullwheel transferring power between sections. Pretty slick.
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Which lift was it: the double or the triple? Thanks!
Still heartbroken that the Thunderbird t-bar is no more. Loved riding that lift.
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The 1997 triple – Sarajevo.
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Ha! I used to ride up those Riblets at Giant Fridge (as we affectionately called it, being so cold there) for ski races – from my recollection, they seemed like they were in really good shape.
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Lift 9 upgrade would be amazing for Telluride. It’s great terrain but that lift is painfully long.
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I understand the Plunge and Sunshine upgrades at Telluride being entirely necessary, but whats the reasoning behind the potential Village Express upgrade? Is it merely for increased capacity?
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A six-pack makes sense to me and the quad could then be used to replace Coonskin.
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That’s kind of what I figured. The one time I skied Telluride, we stayed in town and relied on Coonskin to get to the mountain and I definitely thought it was an obvious weak spot in their lift infrastructure. Thank you for another quick response, Peter! I love your work and have followed your site since the beginning and will continue to follow your quality content. Thank you for all the work you put in on this awesome site!
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The Village Express Quad is planned to become the new Lift 9 at Telluride. Similar rope lengths. The upgrade at Village Express to a 6 pack is to maintain uphill capacity with less loading stress through greater chair spacing. Coonskin, which is in desperate need of complete replacement looks to be a long way off I’m afraid…
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The one time I skied Taos, 5 and 6 were not running but should have been. I have not heard if the quad detachable is still a go for next summer but hopefully it is. I believe I will wait to go back there until they have some more efficient lifts in service. Those long lines will not be fun.
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5 & 6 are being retired a year early because their haul ropes where condemned this summer. Growing up in NM I remember riding both lifts as they operated daily till the quads where built in the 90s.
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Aww man. We were going to go to Song last winter, but we cancelled that. Too bad… At least it’s a used vintage lift, not a new one.
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