- Squaw Valley President and COO Ron Cohen explains why the resort’s name is changing and gives an update on the Squaw-Alpine gondola.
- The other Squaw ski area will not be changing names.
- Whitefish cuts the line for its future Hellroaring lift.
- Icy Strait Point, home to two new Doppelmayr gondolas, is in the running for Global Cruise Port of the Year.
- Nitehawk commences fundraising to replace its destroyed chairlift, though the community ski area may only be able to afford a T-Bar.
- Jay Peak reopens its tram tomorrow with freshly-slipped track ropes.
- The public is asked to weigh in on three Burnaby Mountain Gondola alignments.
- Red Mountain becomes the eighth Ikon Pass destination in Canada.
- Big Snow’s reopening first chair goes up empty in honor of the more than 14,000 New Jerseyans who have died from Covid.
- The first lifts at Mayflower Mountain Resort are now set to open in 2023 instead of 2021. A new project video suggests it will be worth the wait.
- Mad River Glen will get a James Niehues trail map if fundraising efforts succeed.
- Granby Ranch gets a new owner and operator.
- The Perfect family has pumped more than $13 million into Timberline Mountain this offseason, including the two new chairlifts which are 75 percent complete.
Lift Blog 
Watching the mayflower video and listening to those people made me hold on to my wallet a little tighter
LikeLike
Agreed. The people in the video seem super optimistic about it, but it looks like a tough task. I am not quire sure how I feel about the resort. Will it affect business at other Utah resorts? Will their prices go up too?
How are they going to get 8 lifts done in such a short period of time and how will they finance it? That two stage gondola seems like it will have a high price tag. From the looks of the video, Leitner Poma will be the ones building the lifts. I only saw a few Doppelmayr/CTEC Lifts there, and those were mostly in clips when they were talking about Deer Valley. It will be cool to see a modern cabriolet lift though. Wondering if/how the design will change.
LikeLike
I’m not sure the snow conditions over on Mayflower are that good but would it be possible to build a d-line cabriolet?
LikeLike
With an increase in the supply of tickets at a luxury resort, no, we will not see an increase in ticket prices because of Mayflower.
LikeLike
That’s what I was thinking. The two officials from the state of Utah seemed the oiliest of all. Not a real professionally scripted video. Why would they have that blond woman drone on about the lease terms in a marketing vid? Also, from looking at google earth it appears that the site has a southeastern exposure and a lower elevation than DV or park city. I doubt if even a big snow making system could make it viable. I’m surprised SE Group signed on or maybe it’s really a giant snow pocket.
LikeLike
If it all materializes, the real estate could easily pay for the lifts. If they are able to market the properties as ski-in/ski-out at Deer Valley, they can get a lot of money (I would recommend a quick Zillow search for Deer Valley if you are not familiar with real estate prices in the area). Based on the maps and renderings that have been published, most of the terrain seems to be below and east of Mayflower/Sultan at Deer Valley, so a similar northeastern exposure but it is at a decently low altitude. The base would likely be below Jordanelle around 6400-6500 feet, with the highest point around 8100-8200 feet. The 3000 vertical number they published would only be possible with Deer Valley’s terrain.
Getting SE Group to sign on is not a big deal. Anyone with enough money can pay them to make plans for a ski area and they will simply do the best they can with the land available.
LikeLike
So is Mayflower going to be another SKI-ONLY destination? I didn’t see any snowboarders in that video and I assume with its relationship with D*** Valley that it will only allow skiers.
LikeLike
If I had a guess, the resort will end up with an agreement similar to Deer Crest, where Deer Valley operates all of the lifts and the majority of the trails. It would eliminate a potential competitor for Deer Valley and expand their skiable acres to ~7600 (if Mayflower does end up being as large as it says it will), pushing it to the number one spot in the country ahead of their neighbor. For Mayflower, it would eliminate the need to have to run a ski resort in direct competition to the two industry titans and expand their advertised terrain offerings for potential real estate clients. So if I was gambling, I would put my money on ski-only.
LikeLike
That’s Awesome News From Timberline! Snowshoe Needs To Replace Grabhammer With A New Triple Or Quad.
LikeLike
I really hope the Burnaby mtn gondola is built. It will finally show the benefits of aerial transport, not just at mountain resorts. And make the case for more systems in North America.
LikeLike
How come Nitehawk can’t reuse their current lift they could just reinstall the towers or is there something more to it than just towers moving down a slope
LikeLike
Nitehawk wants to do some test drilling to see if the water flow was just surface flow that sunk down a bit to create a washout , or whether the water flow in the ground is deeper (springs-like)/ If it is just surface water, then maybe a few culverts to divert water off the hill during spring melt, will work. If it is deeper spring water activity, it could be a more costly problem to fix. Just my two cents.
LikeLike
I have to say, one of the most annoying things about that Mayflower video to me was the use of ski footage that was fairly obviously not from the Wasatch or Utah.
Lots of shots from Japan, BC, the alps, etc. When you have such a beautiful and accessible location as the Wasatch, why not get shots from the location?
Video quality aside, I also think they massively overstated the value of this resort. The highest elevation is 9400 feet (and that’s utilizing the lifts on Deer Valley that go up to bald mtn) and I think the acreage is definitely oversold. No way they’ll reach 4600 acres of skiable terrain. I’ve looked up that drainage when driving by and you can’t convince me that’s within spitting distance of the entire size of Vail. I don’t see the area getting a ton of snow either, and the ski terrain does not look particularly interesting – especially with little cottonwood canyon, big cottonwood canyon, and snowbasin only an hour’s drive away.
It ought to sell a lot of real estate though. That area is definitely blowing up right now.
LikeLike