A base-to-summit six-passenger chairlift is coming to Windham Mountain in the Catskill Mountains of New York. The mile-long Doppelmayr system will replace the Whistler triple, a 1983 VonRoll triple with a ten-plus minute ride. A parallel detachable quad called Whirlwind, built by Garaventa CTEC in 1993, will remain in place at least through this summer. Windham also revealed today it will launch RFID ticketing across its seven lifts next season and Doppelmayr now has at least a dozen lifts to build in the United States and Canada this year.

The Catskill region has seen a number of big new lifts recently, including a gondola at Belleayre and six-pack at nearby Hunter Mountain. Peak Resorts could build another new high-speed lift at Hunter in 2018, raising the bar for the entire region. Windham’s announcement comes after two very quiet months for new lift news, with hopefully a bunch more to come this spring.
It’s great to see the Catskill mountains investing in their lift systems. Hopefully there are many more eastern projects this season.
Also, the original post says the Whirlwind Quad will run this off-season but reading between the lines it won’t in subsequent seasons and the new 6-pack will take over.
LikeLike
There are a few lift announcements dropping soon, I cannot comment more till the the resorts do the press releases though.
LikeLike
We haven’t heard from the Alterra posse of resorts yet.
LikeLike
I’m really hoping that Rusty can move some money around to put a new lift in at Mammoth. At this point, we’ll have gone 7 years without one.
LikeLike
Looks like Thredbo in Australia could be getting a new Dop Gondola.
http://www.majorprojects.planning.nsw.gov.au/index.pl?action=view_job&job_id=9130
LikeLike
Great find, some really cool drawings on there:
Tunnel UNI-G-M at the bottom:
Click to access Plan_%20Doppelmayr%2020198052E009001.pdf
Tunnel intermediate station with parking:
Click to access Plan_%20Doppelmayr%2020198103E009001.a.pdf
UNI-G-L top drive:
Click to access Plan_%20Doppelmayr%2020198093E009001_de.pdf
Profile:
Click to access Plan_%20Doppelmayr%2020198103E009001.a.pdf
LikeLike
You guys at Mammoth are doing fine. Stratton hasn’t added a lift for 17 years and Tremblant hasn’t added a skiable lift for 20 years. Since eastern skiers are not at all happy with the Ikon Pass and loss of the max pass they need to invest heavily in those ski areas to restore faith in the company.
LikeLiked by 1 person
RFID is a great improvement as well. The antiquated hand scanning slowed down the loading greatly.
LikeLike
NO!!! Not the Von Roll built Whistler!!! Those JERKS! :(
LikeLike
There’s no Von Roll at Whistler… Never has been either.
LikeLike
The lift being taken out is called the Whistler Triple or F lift. He’s not referring to the ski area Whistler Blackcomb at all.
LikeLike
This is welcomed news given the recent issues role evac and customer sentiment. Clearly this has been in the works for a while, surprisingly nobody I know expected this so soon. A great move.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I knew they’d eventually upgrade the summit lifts. Had a hunch it would happen this year after they had the rope evac and over a week of downtime.
I wonder if the VonRoll Whistler Triple will be relocated or scrapped. It’s a 1983 but has very few hours for its age and uses mostly Hall parts which are relatively easy to obtain
LikeLike
Can’t wait to try it out next year, this will be nice!
LikeLike
Peter, I saw the news about the Hermitage Club. Are they closed for the foreseeable future, or what is happening? Very vague info from what I have been able to read.
LikeLike
Still open on a reduced schedule with reduced services as of yesterday. https://twitter.com/hermitageclub/status/967506964363337729
LikeLike
…and what ever you do, don’t forget to “#hashtag” every thing you can think of!
LikeLike
I hear that the F lift triple chair is going to Plattekill. (But I don’t know what Plattekill is doing with it. Replacing the double?)
LikeLike
I heard this too. They are replacing the missing chairs on their hall triple and they have a future expansion planned. But they are totally unpredictable.
LikeLike