This is a list of new lifts likely to be built in North America during the 2020 construction season. Last updated 12/9/2019.
Blue = Doppelmayr
Yellow = Leitner-Poma
Green = Skytrac
Brown = LST
Purple = Partek
Orange = SkyTrans
Gray = Re-installations (used lifts)
Red = To be announced
CL= Chairlift
G = Gondola
SL = Surface lift
D = Detachable
F = Fixed-grip
M = Monocable
P = Pulse
Awesome. One tweak. I believe the plan is for the McCoy Park Egress to be a 3-CLF
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Where is the new PC lift gonna be at?
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Per some real estate renderings from last year, it’s supposed to start at the new upper village area near the Hyatt and Sunrise lodge/base of current Sunrise lift. From there it seems to head SW or SSW to somewhere between the base of Peak 5 and Dreamcatcher – unclear on specifics given the available information. If done right, it could be transformational from the perspective of enabling single-ride access to the southern half of the old Canyons terrain. Lift layout would still suck there, and be permanently hamstrung by short-sighted real estate decisions, but I guess a step in the right direction.
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Would it replace the existing sunrise double?
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I believe the plan is to replace that with a different lift.
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You should make a “planned lifts” page that lists planned lifts that don’t have a definitive or anticipated construction date.
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Snowbird seems to be planning a new race lift:
https://bryceastlefoundation.com/bryce-astle-memorial-training-facility/
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Interesting. If this goes through I wonder if Wilbere would be removed. The top terminal of the proposed race lift would intersect with the top unload of Wilbere, and that is already a very high traffic intersection of Bass Highway cat-track, and it doesn’t offer much space for a new lift and more unloading traffic.
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I’m told nothing is set in stone re: the race lift.
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Hey Pete, any reason this isn’t accessible from the drop-down menu? And on the map you called sunrise express a clf.
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What is the Flatirons Lift at Big Sky?
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It will connect the lower part of Spanish Peaks to the top of Lone Moose. The lift line was cut last summer. It is scheduled to be built in either 2019 or 2020.
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I believe this one will connect the highlands development to the ski area correct?
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Peter, you linked a master plan on the 10/5/18 news roundup that indicates that two lifts will be built on that peak: one from the base of Spanish Peaks (Highlands), and one running up the east face (Flatiron). From your description, wouldn’t this be the Highlands lift?
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Wonder if one wasatch will ever come. Highly doubtful the pc/brighton link will ever happen now with vail and alterra, but I wonder if the cottonwoods will link up.
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I hope not I would like to keep the resorts not connected but there is some trails that do connect solitude and Brighton together to make solbright and there is a pass for both same with snow bird and alta
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Mount Snow, VT has been hinting to a Leitner-Poma detachable quad to replace the fixed grip one on the Sunbrook side. However, this is not final. Just an FYI.
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It’s about time.
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But where would the old sunbrook quad be relocated to?
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I would think that I could be a good contender to replace Tumbleweed. It’s a CTEC, so Peak Resorts could even opt to sell it (someone would buy that lift). It certainly wouldn’t be scrapped.
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They did mention that they were going to convert Heavy Metal #3 into a quad, so that could be an option. As Max said, that would be a good contender to replace Tumbleweed. That lift needs some higher capacity anyway, especially since it serves a lodge.
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Let’s hope we can see a Lutsen lift or two here, we could have the answer by June
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Solitude pushed back the sunrise replacement to 2020.
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Tamarack in Idaho is putting back a lift where the Wildwood Express used to be
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Should be this year (2019) not 2020.
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Hi Peter, yes it should be this year. It is purchased and will be installed this fall.
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Can they reuse the footings from the old wildwood and save money on survey, clearing, excavation, concrete? Seems like they could just fly in new towers and terminals and be done
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Even the operator houses are still intact!
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Dhowe I think they can. Doppelmayr still makes the Uni-G, which structurally was exactly the same as the Uni-GS. They should be able to just put Uni-G terminals of the same length onto the existing foundations. They could probably still even use the exact same layout in terms of towers and their heights. The surveying and design work is already done (from the old lift); I would think that they could use pretty much everything from when the first Wildwood was built. Even sheave assembly size and placement is already on paper from the old lift. Doppelmayr designs just haven’t changed enough to create a real problem.
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A new Ullr mountain fixed grip quad with carpet would be great at Lutsen. And I’ve always wondered about expansion to mystery mountain. A new triple there, maybe?
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For Mystery maybe a low capacity high speed quad
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Where is Purgatory’s Gelande Express supposed to go?
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Regarding the Game Creek Express lift upgrade, it’s going to be interesting to see whether that one goes to Doppelmayr or Leitner-Poma, seeing as both companies have built six-packs for Vail (Northwoods Express for Leitner-Poma, and the Mountaintop Express and Avanti Express for Doppelmayr). Will they go with Doppelmayr (since there are no Pomas in that part of the mountain and the six packs closer to that area are Doppelmayrs) or stick to Leitner-Poma?
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Doppelmayr will be interesting, as I think I recall hearing that they were hoping to phase out the UNI-G a few years after the D-Line was introduced, like they did with the UNI-M after they introduced the UNI-G. As far as I know, all of their 2019 winter-use installations are UNI-G, but it’ll be interesting to see if Vail leads the charge with D-Line adoption.
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Whats the peak 7 infill at breck?
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I’m wondering about that too. I suspect it could be a high speed quad or something that makes it so skier traffic on Peak 6 can bypass Peak 7 Base when returning to Peak 8 (much like the Peak 6 Parkway allows one to go directly from the Rocky Mountain SuperChair to Zendo without going through Peak 7 Base).
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So Shadow Mountain is proposed to be a high speed quad/six-person gondola cabins Chondola?
And I too wonder what the “Peak 7 Infill” lift at Breck will be. My guess is that it’s probably going to be a high speed quad that will run from the junction of Monte Cristo and Wirepatch up to Pioneer Crossing. I suspect since the proposed lift is to improve circulation of skier traffic, the lift is probably going to be one that allows for Peak 6 skiers to get back to Peak 8 without going through Peak 7’s base area, and also allow those skiing laps on Monte Cristo, Angel’s Rest, Lincoln Meadows and Wirepatch to lap those runs without having to ski the icy runout of lower Monte Cristo. Taking that skier traffic and putting it all into a new lift could achieve the goal of absorbing a good share of the Independence SuperChair’s traffic. And result in Peak 7 having two superchairs that serve most of the same terrain but have different functions, in much the same way the Colorado and Rocky Mountain SuperChairs handle lower Peak 8 while the Beaver Run and Mercury SuperChairs handle upper Peak 9.
And if it’s a high speed quad, this infill superchair will be Breckenridge’s sole high speed quad to not use Omega chairs (since every indication these days is that Leitner-Poma’s Omega chairs are not only used on fixed grip lifts, with the LPA chairs being the standard for detachables; Hunter’s Northern Express being probably the sole exception in recent years as it received Omega chairs per a custom order).
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Per the project link: https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=55905
“Proposed chairlift to improve skier circulation on existing lift-served terrain on Breckenridge Ski Resort’s Peak 7.”
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I would expect the new Snowshoe lift to be a Doppelmayr given their prior history there.
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I see that dagmar is installing a new lift in 2020 to replace the rendezvous triple.
I’m guessing its either going to be a used BM Lifts Quad, an LPOA fixed grip quad similar to favourite or a skytrac quad.
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The Squaw Alpine California Express Gondola cleared more hurdles yesterday and now only needs USFS approval (which they should get relatively soon). The Squaw terminal will be basically where Red Dog is today and Alterra has said they have only delayed the replacement of Red Dog to see where the gondola terminal would go, so this lift will probably replaced with a detachable quad or six pack at the same time as the gondola installation. I would expect these two lifts to be installed in 2020.
Once this occurs, I presume Alpine Meadows will be officially folded under Squaw Valley and it will be one unified resort (similarly to Canyons being folded under Park City when Vail connected the two mountains).
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I don’t think that Alterra will spend that much money in one resort. Squalpine just got a two-stage detachable quad; a three-stage gondola *and* a six-pack would be insane. Mammoth, for example, hasn’t had a new lift since 2011.
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I expect 2020 to be a huge year for Alterra. Mammoth will likely get something too if Squaw is getting the California Express and Red Dog replacement. I’ve also heard of lifts at Tremblant and Snowshoe rumored for 2020.
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So then the predictions are:
Crystal: ?
Squaw: Red Dog replacement, California Express
Mammoth: 16 replacement
June: N/A
Big Bear: N/A
Deer Valley: N/A
Solitude: Sunrise replacement
Steamboat: N/A
Winter Park: N/A
Snowshoe: ?
Stratton: N/A
Blue Mountain: N/A
Tremblant: ?
That’s comes out to 5-6 express lifts, when they normally only build 3.
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For blue mountain, they could either build a new L-Hill lift (either a detachable quad or a 2400 p/h detachable 6 pack) like intrawest originally planned or a new lift at the north end of blue which runs up rabbits run in front of TSC (either a detachable quad or six)
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If the new C Hotel is going to open at Tremblant for the 2020-2021 ski season, then Tremblant will get a new lift in the form of either Timber or Le Soleil 2.0 as a six-pack. Snowshoe has been rumored to get a Powder Monkey replacement for next year as well. I also think Mammoth will replace 1 before 16, although there are a number of replacement they can and should make.
Then there are the unanswered questions. Will Crystal finally replace Rainer Express or add the Bullion Basin or Kelly’s Gap lifts? Will Deer Valley finally try to finalize a Main Street gondola or replace Mayflower to prepare for the new Mayflower real estate complex? Will Steamboat or Winter Park get new lifts again especially if Vail decides to do a few major upgrades in Colorado? Will Blue Mountain finally put in the L-hill six pack? There are dozens of lifts Alterra mountains have proposed, and some of them are pretty desperately needed. Alterra has prioritized snow infrastructure like snowcats and snowmaking equipment because they understand that lifts are useless without good snow while also focusing on where they can directly increase their revenue (mountain biking, on-mountain dining, etc.). However, they are reaching a point where these one time investments have been made and they can now focus on chairlifts.
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The Timber expansion is on the master plan, and the snowmaking upgrade on Algonquin makes it clear as day that it’s a priority. Depending on the reliability of Soleil this coming season, I think Timber should be done first.
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Le Soleil isn’t incredibly unreliable, but is (as expected) sensitive to cold and wind, so it’s put on hold frequently. It doesn’t have many years left, from what I could tell – maybe 2 or 3, tops. Timber is indeed on the master plan, but things might have changed with the change in management to Alterra. There’s little evidence aside from the snowmaking upgrade on L’Algonquin that the Timber expansion will be done; keep in mind also that Tremblant likes to prioritize beginner and intermediate terrain for snowmaking, and L’Algonquin is a major beginner trail.
Having been to Blue Mountain a few times, I think the L-Hill lift is a priority before anything on the north end. The central area is far more frequently busy.
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Timber will be all beginner and intermediate terrain, and they need more intermediate terrain. That is why I see it as a priority, in addition to the fact that Tremblant is bursting at the seams with the crowds it gets. An expansion would allow things to be spread out.
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There’s no way that Mammoth does anything other than 16 first. They already have the paperwork for 16 submitted, not any other lift like 1. 16 is a lot more of a workhorse than 1 because Canyon lodge is used as a base by the majority of skiers, and it’s the main out-of-base lift of the four at Canyon. My guess at Mammoth’s priority is:
1. Replacement of 16
2. Replacement 1
3. Switching of 15’s chairs for gondola cabins, and a second stage to the top of 5 (Rusty Gregory indicated that this would happen once the land exchange happens, and he’s now CEO of Alterra)
3.1 Extension of the village gondola to what will be 15’s midstation
3.2 A tram from the top of 5 to the summit
4. Replacement of 2, with the current lift being relocated to 25 in an alignment starting at the bottom of 9
5. Replacement of the 12 and 14.
6. Construction of new beginner surface lifts, including a replacement of seven, and a new detachable parallel to 2 ending halfway down Forest Trail
And at some point, they’ll build a lift from the top of 9 to the top of Dave’s Run to allow the East ridge to be lapped. Beyond the master plan, I wouldn’t be surprised if 10 was replaced and recycled to replace one of the fixed grips.
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If Canyon Lodge is the most crowded, then a bubble-8 for 16 would make all the sense in the world. I’ve never skied Mammoth so I’m not really sure about the rest. The problem with converting 15 to a gondola and adding a second stage is that it’s a prototype UNI-G which was only made for one year. I don’t know how different the UNI-G is now compared to the prototype.
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They should replace the Lions express at cypress mountain with a six pack and move that to replace raven ridge, drawing more advanced skiers and boarders over to that area, possibly convincing the owners to open that area earlier in the season.
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And for whistler next season they should replace franzs and the t bars with a detach quad, and either replace glacier or 7th Heaven with a 6
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I would not necessarily replace the Glacier Express with a 6 chair. I think the quad that is there has and ideal capacity but it could be higher. I was there the first week of 2019 and the runs did not seem too skied off and it was some of the only good snow on the mountain. If there was a six chair there, I do think the lines on the two T-Bars would be too long. If I was Whistler, I would replace 7th Heaven with a new 6 chair (like you suggested) and overhaul this lift with new terminals, get the chairs re-galvanized and new seat pads, and new haul rope. Then they could increase the capacity to 2,700/hour by reusing some of the chairs from 7th Heaven. Maybe they could reduce the amount of traffic on 7th Heaven by replacing Horstman T-Bar with a fixed quad with a low capacity of 1,800 hour. They could reuse towers and chairs from 7th Heaven.
I do like the idea of replacing Franzs chair and the T-Bars with a new high speed quad.
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Having skied whistler 6 times, compared to other lifts the queues on glacier express are minimal so a quad would be fine. Hortsman should probably be replaced with a quad tripe or double because it is always too steep and icy to run. A quad would be open more allowing advanced skiers to ski pakalolo, cougar chutes, teetering, purple haze, colour extreme and false face without having togo up jersey cream and seventh heaven (which are quite crowded). As for six packs, jersey cream, symphony and big red are the best for that. But the most important thing whistler has to do lift wise is increase the capacity form the main village up the mountain. You could wait in two hour queues.
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On the Whistler side, they can increase capacity by just running Fitzsimmons all day long.
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I think the best option is to increase capacity out of the Whistler Village is to replace the WVG with a 10 pack gondola. The current lift has a high amount of hours on it (I’m guessing over 100,000) and the lines are long. This would let them reduce the amount of hours on Fitzsimmons, and when I was there last January they ran the Fitzsimmons all day and the gondola still had lines. Since this was peak season, they probably needed to run the lift all day to help with capacity. Yes, the replacement may pose a problem for summer operations, but I think it would be worth the investment. The lift did get overhauled in 2014 with new cabins and some other updates. For the “new” cabins, Whistler would store them and then in future years they would upgrade the Creekside Gondola using those cabins.
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The Inyo National Forest website is now stating that they’re expecting a decision on the Chair 16 upgrade at Mammoth to come in November, with work on the replacement to start in May 2020.
https://www.fs.fed.us/sopa/components/reports/sopa-110504-2019-07.html#7
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Do you know who will build the new lift?
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Since Yan went under in the 90s, Mammoth has only bought from Doppelmayr. It will be from them.
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Probably Jersey Cream at Whistler is more needed as a 6 pack.
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Especially since of the new gondola and that it’s getting old.
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would the new pali be a triple or quad? Also I’m thinking can’t Molly Hogan be replaced with a carpet? It is really short.
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A little while back, A-Basin said that they were going to replace Pali with a new double chair. I don’t know if that’s still the plan as I believe A-Basin is now operated by Alterra. If I were A-Basin, I would replace Pali with a low capacity high speed quad. Maybe 1800/hour?
As for Molly Hogan, the lift is short, but I do think a surface lift would work in the alignment. Maybe a platter? This is just my opinion as I prefer lifts to carpets. Hope A-Basin gets some new lifts next summer!
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A-Basin is not operated by Alterra
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Pali would be awesome as a low capacity high-speed quad, as it would relieve base congestion and reduce the number of lifts required to get to the Beavers, but it is not A-Basin’s style. As demonstrated by the Beavers and Zuma installations, A-Basin is fine having fixed-grip lifts at lengths which many would consider too long even on terrain with intermediate runs.
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It may not mean anything but found it interesting that Beaver Creek has a link to details on the McCoy Park Expansion and is only showing one lift.
https://www.beavercreek.com/explore/mccoy-park.aspx
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Something must’ve happened that led them to scale back to just a single high speed quad.
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If Arizona snowbowl s chondola is built, they should build a low capacity t bar or platter in North bowl.
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The Pucci Express upgrade at Timberline (OR) has been formally approved by the Forest Service.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/project/?project=56594
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Unofficial Networks is reporting that Chair 6 at Loveland will be replaced in 2021. They’ve occasionally had issues fact checking, but felt like it was worth mentioning.
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You have a lot of faith in Saddleback for putting a Rangeley HSQ on the list for this Summer.
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I see searchmont is planning two skytrac lifts next summer.
What are their plans for these two lifts?
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What do you guys think are the most likely new lifts for Vail resorts this year?
Here are a few of my predictions:
Vail: Game Creek Express 6
Keystone: Wayback Express or Outback Surface Lift
Kirkwood: Wagon Wheel Express
WB: Jersey Cream 6 or 7th Heaven 6, Franz’s Express ( from the bottom of Franz’s to the top of the T bar)
Park City: Sunrise has been confirmed, right?
Mt Sunapee: Could this be the year of the West Bowl Expansion?
Stowe: This is optimistic but Mountain or Lookout express
Okemo: Jackson Gore beginner lift
I think 2020 will be a big year for Vail.
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I think they will replace Big Chief @ Stevens with a fg quad,
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Breckenridge: Infill high speed quad on Peak 7
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Very happy about this! Less crowding and the ability to lap ore bucket! :D
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Most of these look reasonable, though the Stowe and Sunapee ones seem a bit more hopeful than likely. If they start anywhere at Sunapee, I suspect it would be the long rumored replacement of Sunbowl with a high speed lift that precipitates a three-way shuffle. The current FG4 would replace the North Peak triple, which itself would be repurposed to provide lift access from the bottom of Sun Bowl to the top of North Peak – think it’s been referred to as the Cataract lift. Can’t imagine they’d start with West Bowl, assuming the permits are even in place for it.
For Stowe, my suspicion is that they’ll give some love to the Toll Road area in order to reduce crowding in the Mansfield Lodge area from an access/egress perspective. Maybe include a mid-station for lapping beginner terrain near the Toll House. But Lookout (vs Mountain) would be the choice among the two you mentioned given the terrain mix.
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The Sunbowl upgrade took place 5 years ago…
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Indeed it did. My bad.
IIRC, the old FG quad is still in storage, so the part of the plan involving its relocation to North Peak may come to pass.
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I’m guessing that the Peak Resorts acquisition makes the Sunapee West Bowl expansion unnecessary, even though it is approved. They now have three other ski areas in NH and more in VT. If people want something bigger than Sunapee, then they will steer them to another larger area in the region. They may still do the North Peak triple replacement and Cataract lift, but that may be it. As for Stowe – a Toll Road high speed replacement would make that area more useful/popular. Lookout should probably be a fixed grip carpet loading quad, giving them something that might be less susceptible to wind, when the FourRunner is down for that reason. Of course, I thought Stowe would get something in last year’s announcement…. Stowe and Sunapee may also just get base lodge remodels this year… Okemo could also use a whole base lodge/plaza renewal…
Other possibilities might include the long rumored Mount Snow Sunbrook HSQ, and an Atitash Summit Triple replacement – but I’m guessing these may need to wait a couple more years- after all, Vail wasn’t promising a whole lot of immediate investment in the Peak Resorts….
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With Stowe, they should upgrade Lookout or Mountain to a high speed quad to supplement FourRunner. Preferably Lookout, since Mountain is a triple chairlift. Or replace both with a single high speed quad running from the bottom of Mountain to the top of Lookout.
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Mountain Triple is useful as it is, when there are wind holds, it can be the only thing open on that side of Stowe. They could replace FourRunner with SixRunner :-) and move FourRunner over to Lookout….
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FourRunner should stay as is. I think the reason they went for keeping FourRunner as a high speed quad when the old lift was replaced was that a quad minimizes overcrowding on the trails. For busy days, Lookout exists to take some traffic off of FourRunner. A high speed quad replacing Lookout would be accomplishing a similar effect to what Breck accomplished when they built a second high speed quad on Peak 9 to complement the Beaver Run SuperChair.
In this case, it would be that FourRunner is used for everything from Starr through Nosedive, while Lookout gets used for everything from Starr on south to Tyro.
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I would prefer Mountain Triple being replaced with a HSQ and Lookout remaining as is. My reasoning is that for intermediates, Lookout and Fourunner serve the same 2 trails which already get skied off very quick. Replacing Lookout with a HSQ will cause Lord and Sunrise to get skied off even quicker, and make the intersection of Lord and Haychute more dangerous. To me it would be better to leave Lookout as is as a secondary lift that is mostly used by experts. Where the Mountain Triple which serves mostly intermediate trails and the terrain parks would be a better lift to replace with a HSQ. This will help segregate the intermediates from the advanced/experts on Mansfield. I understand this might be unlikely due to Lookouts age compared to Mountain.
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