- The Town of Jackson keeps on fighting against recently-approved Snow King Mountain improvements.
- A new round of engagement asks the public to choose between three routes for the Burnaby Mountain 3S.
- The State of Maine prevails in a lawsuit against Big Squaw owner James Confalone, who is ordered to pay a fine and restore the mountain.
- Snowhaven, Idaho will sit this winter out due to Covid.
- Ski Magazine ranks the top lift systems in the country.
- Europe is divided on whether ski resorts should open.
- Park advocates oppose a Dodger Stadium gondola.
- Interalpin, the biennial mountain technology trade show, is canceled for 2021.
- Here’s a Mont-Sainte-Anne gondola update.
Month: November 2020
Instagram Tuesday: Iron Range
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Name Game
- Ski areas across New Mexico are ordered to close for the rest of the month.
- Saddleback GM Andy Shepard joins the Storm Skiing Podcast to discuss reopening, possible 2021 lift additions and more.
- Mission Ridge aims to open Washington’s first bubble chair by the Christmas holiday.
- Big Tupper is likely to be foreclosed on this spring and a group wants the town to buy it.
- Snow Ridge, NY and Antelope Butte, WY join the Indy Pass, bring it to 59 mountains.
- The proposed community ski hill in Valemount, BC looks to buy a T-Bar.
- Could the pandemic finally bring order to chaotic lift mazes in the Swiss Alps?
- The Hermitage Club relaunches as a member-owned ski area.
- Sun Peaks’ new map shows the route of the new Crystal chair.
- Take a video visit to one of America’s largest lost ski areas.
- The City of Burbank opposes a gondola in Griffith Park near Los Angeles.
- Vail Resorts will report earnings on December 10th, traditionally when the company announces capital improvements for the following year.
- Belleayre renames the Superchief lift Belleayre Express and Whiteface christens its new lift Falcon.
- New Bousquet owners intend to upgrade or replace the Blue chair in the coming years.
- The State of Utah officially adds the La Caille gondola base option to the Little Cottonwood transportation study.
Instagram Tuesday: Raise it Up
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: New Names
- A new ownership group takes over Brundage Mountain Resort.
- Commuters in the Vancouver region overwhelmingly support a Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- The Sea to Sky Gondola team and partners splice together multiple haul rope sections to run cabins off the line, completing cleanup.
- The Ropeway Center at Colorado School of Mines presents a new video series.
- Doppelmayr will build the Yodeler detachable quad at Holiday Valley.
- The Forest Service says yes to two future chairlifts at Lee Canyon.
- Ditto for Sunlight’s East Ridge project.
- With its high speed quad nearing completion, Saddleback is poised to reopen in mid-December.
- Windham Mountain renames the Wheelchair lift Baker in honor of a former ski patroller.
- Arizona Snowbowl publishes a new trail map painted by Kevin Mastin.
- Big Sky’s new map shows Madison is now called Jayhawk.
- The Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region will spend six figures to study gondola transit.
- Without an operator, the only lift in Oklahoma faces an uncertain future.
Instagram Tuesday: Snowy Start
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Bergman Bowl Project Moves Forward at Keystone
Being the first Front Range mountain to open wasn’t the only great news for Keystone Resort this morning. The White River National Forest also released a Draft Decision Notice paving the way for construction of the mountain’s seventh high speed chairlift. The lift will service 555 acres of alpine terrain in Bergman and Erickson bowls, delivering up to 2,400 skiers per hour to an altitude of 12,300 feet. The project also includes 20 acres of new snowmaking, expansion of the Outpost restaurant and a ski patrol station atop Bergman Bowl.
The White River hosts the most skiing of any National Forest and staff worked closely with Keystone to minimize environmental impacts. The lift’s bottom terminal, towers and access roads were shifted from initial locations to reduce impacts on wetlands. Required glading was also reduced by 19 acres and tree clearing by 10 acres to lessen pressure on Canada lynx.
Project approval is subject to a 45 day objection period. Assuming everything is still a go, Vail Resorts could opt to start building as soon as next summer. Keystone’s parent company had planned to replace the Peru Express this year, a project awarded to Leitner-Poma but delayed by the coronavirus. Vail also postponed construction of new lifts at Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Crested Butte. If the ski season now underway is successful, the Bergman Bowl Express could be one of a bunch of new lifts in Colorado over the next few years.
News Roundup: Olympics
- The proposed Park City gondola system I wrote about last week could be tied to a 2030 or 2034 Salt Lake Olympic bid.
- Another Mission Ridge bubble update.
- Timberline Helicopters, the leader in ski lift flying for the Western United States, adds another Black Hawk to its fleet.
- The State of Virginia proposes building a chairlift at Natural Bridge State Park near Lynchburg.
- Vancouver explores another winter Olympic bid.
- Vail Resorts retires some former Peak Resorts lifts: Mad River at Mad River Mountain, the Double Chair at Alpine Valley and Black Forest at Big Boulder (all Hall doubles).
- One of Marble Mountain’s chairlifts will sit idle this season and the ski area won’t open until January.
- Chairs are being sold off from three of six chairlifts at closed Sugar Loaf, Michigan.
- TimberlineMountain.com goes live with a new trail map.
- A late season fire scorches 60 acres near Tamarack’s Summit Express.
- Receiver Douglas Wilson looks back at saving Tamarack during the 2008 financial crisis.
- Wachusett adds new graphics to the Polar Express, which is named for sister company Polar Seltzer.
- Sugarbush’s new chief discusses the future of Slide Brook Express, possible expansion and potential lift upgrades.
- Poma’s business is down 30 percent but the French company will keep its 1,300 employees working.
- One project keeping Poma busy: a showcase urban 3S in Toulouse.
- The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram will carry 25 passengers at a time this winter.
- This is how gondola Wi-Fi works.
- Aspen Snowmass prepares to debut its first DirectDrive lift.
- Sun Valley’s new lift, pictured below, gets named Broadway. Updated trail map here.
Instagram Tuesday: Decision Day
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Mt. Sunapee Master Plan Includes Lift System Overhaul
Vail Resorts recently submitted an updated improvement plan for Mt. Sunapee to the State of New Hampshire which includes construction of five new chairlifts and two surface lifts. Most transformative would be the West Bowl expansion, including a mile long high speed quad and 1,082 feet of vertical. This would be Mt. Sunapee’s second longest lift, servicing five new trails. West Bowl would also feature a new beginner conveyor, parking and guest services building.
Vail also plans to upgrade the Sunapee Express to a six pack or combination lift with gondola cabins capable of moving 3,000 guests per hour. The existing high speed quad opened in 1998 and is undersized for the amount of terrain it services.
As planned by Triple Peaks before the 2018 Vail purchase, the North Peak triple would be replaced by a fixed grip quad. The nearby Spruce triple is also slated to be upgraded to a fixed quad, compensating for Vail’s recent removal of the Duckling double. It’s possible one of these two lifts would utilize equipment from the former Sunbowl quad, which remains in storage on site.
A new triple chair would be be built to connect the bottom of Sunbowl to North Peak. Known as Cataract, this lift would service a modest amount of new terrain and improve skier circulation. Rather than purchasing new, Vail may opt to re-use equipment from the North Peak and/or Spruce triples for Cataract.
A rope tow is proposed to link Parking Lot 2 and Spruce Lodge, reducing the resort’s reliance on shuttle buses. Finally, Vail seeks to add a grip maintenance building and carrier storage for the Sunbowl Express.
The plan would increase Mt. Sunapee’s comfortable carrying capacity by 40 percent to 6,850 skiers. Most of the proposed projects were previously approved during Triple Peaks ownership, though a few are new. A public meeting will be held Thursday evening to solicit comments or you can submit them to MountSunapeeComments@dncr.nh.gov. The deadline to weigh in is November 12th.
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