- Now open: Nordic Valley’s flagship six pack, dubbed the Nordic Express.
- The Yellowstone Club trail map is updated to show two new additions for a total of 23 lifts.
- Still without access to the summit, Mission Ridge provides expanded updates on the Wenatchee Express project including another video.
- Grand Targhee modifies its proposed expansion, pushing potential approval out to March 2022.
- A local newspaper obtains inspection reports from 49 Degrees North showing no red flags prior to last month’s accident.
- Doppelmayr showcases AURO, an autonomous lift which can be run by one person in a ropeway operations center.
- A storm packing 150 mph winds shutters Dodge Ridge for eight days. Eight towers de-roped on Chair 8 with 1,000 feet of comm line needing to be replaced.
- A child is seriously injured in a fall from the lone chairlift at Blue Hills, Massachusetts. The ski area said no mechanical issues caused or contributed to the unfortunate event.
- Three days later, the very same lift strands riders for hours.
- Gearing up for a busy summer, Skytrac is hiring lift construction project managers.
- ORDA will spend $2.2 million for electrical upgrades to Whiteface’s Cloudsplitter Gondola and Face Lift.
- Two more resorts are set to join the Indy Pass on February 2nd.
- Re: Indianhead, an incident report notes the chair hit a halo on tower 4, causing its clip to be ejected from the haul rope. A follow up inspection found no mechanical or structural deficiencies with the lift.
- Steamboat plans to move the bottom terminal of the new Steamboat Gondola outdoors and 300 feet east this summer to make room for the future Wild Blue Gondola.
Lift Blog 
With Steamboat moving the gondola bottom terminal that pretty much confirms a lot of projects such as Wild Blue (The reason terminal was built) Sundown, Thunderhead, Bashor bowl, New beginner lifts in Bashor bowl.
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I wonder if they will need to move all of the towers as well.
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I don’t think so. They are just moving the terminal to where the magic carpets are now.
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They won’t. To give a few examples of relocation projects of a similar nature:
* Stevens Pass moved the Skyline Express’s loading area uphill in 2019 to make room for the Brooks Express. This only required replacing tower 1 with a new one by Doppelmayr.
* Deer Valley moved the Quincy Express’s loading area uphill by 100 yards in 2004 to make room for the Judge lift.
* Breckenridge extended the Independence SuperChair downhill by 600 feet in 2008 to incorporate the lift into the Peak 7 base area. This was done by moving the bottom terminal and first two towers, and installing an infill tower, 2A, at the point where the lift originally started. The rest of the towers from tower 3 to the top were left untouched.
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Thanks. I forgot for a second which direction they were moving it. I thought there would be an angle change but it looks like they are shortening it. Steamboat is going to build big with two huge adjacent gondolas out of the base.
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They really are making the base of Steamboat overly cluttered and messy. It was nicely laid out when I visited 5 years ago, but since then they have built the ugly mountain coaster, now they are moving the Gondola onto the slopes, and are somehow going to fit in another Gondola. I would just leave the current Gondola as is, and build the new Gondola with its base where preview currently is. Preview will not be needed if the new beginner area is developed in Bashor Bowl, and would eliminate the need for the new Gondola to cross over Christie Express. I also do not understand the need for the new gondola to go all the way to the summit. All of these developments for the new Gondola are making Steamboat a lot uglier.
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I agree the mountain coaster really cluttered up the base and it looks really ugly in person. They also got rid of terrain on preview which got rid of a trail going directly to base when mountain coaster was installed. I agree there is not a need for preview because it’s all accessible by Christie peak Express.
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I’m guessing when Thunderhead gets upgraded it will have a loading carpet so beginners can load easier. Sundown upgrade and Wild blue will probably happen the same year or Sundown gets an upgrade first because it would not be wise to have not enough capacity on Sundown when Wild Blue gets built. Also when the master plan is done I’m guessing the next master plan will have a Morningside upgrade to a HSQ on a longer alignment into Holy bowl which Steamboat will need a SUP expansion for. Burgess Creek and Storm Peal will also be likely to be upgraded in this next master plan. Also a Sunshine replacement with a more modern lift will likely happen too. Then I’m guessing we might see a few infill lifts here and there.
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I’m confused by what Grand Targhee means by “pulling cat skiing from the expansion plan” the article talks about cat skiing in South Bowl but I can’t find it on the master plan
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The only thing that confuses me about steamboat is: why didn’t they relocate the base when they completely rebuild when they could have done that trivially, but do it two years later? Seems like a lot of extra cost, and some lost opportunities to purpose build the infrastructure for the new location.
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I don’t think Wild Blue was in the master plan yet and the Bashor Bowl gondola was going to start where the gondola is being moved to.
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There are many ski areas where the only constant is plans changing. This will be the third Doppelmayr contract involving the gondola in five years. One of the last things Intrawest did was start the process with the grip/hanger/terminal replacement in 2017. Two years later, Alterra did the towers, cabins and haul rope with some two year old equipment being scrapped. Now two years after that, the terminal that was so carefully shoehorned into the old building will be moving.
I hope the Wild Blue plan stays as is because it’s a great one.
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Honestly I think it will stay the same with a change being the exact location of the bottom terminal. I honestly think preview will be removed to make way for Wild Blue bottom station.
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This has been an interesting upgrade process at Steamboat. They will be without their flagship out-of-base lift for most of 3 summers after this year due to the various upgrades, but will end up with a state of the art Doppelmayr gondola like no other at the end. On a line that is so long and on such an important lift, staging the construction out like this might have been the best option to avoid one monster construction season.
I am very interested to see the new open air terminal. By my count, that sketch has 43 windows which would make it one of the longest open air terminals that I know of. By comparison, the very long UNI-G bottom terminal on Centennial at Beaver Creek has 35 windows. The current gondola terminal has loading/unloading only on the straights and I believe a cargo system (although I’m not sure on that so please correct me if I am wrong). I am looking forward to seeing what Doppelmayr and Steamboat come up with to incorporate these elements in this unique new terminal.
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It took Nordic Valley this long to come up with the uncreative name Nordic Express?
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I guess so. Maybe Wasatch Express or Ogden Express would have been more creative but still even those are not too creative.
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I would have gone with Eden Express and saved Nordic Express for the Apollo replacement.
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I was thinking that Pineview Express wouldn’t be a bad name either.
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Regarding the Steamboat Gondola base relocation, it all makes sense to me except one aspect. Aren’t they going to lose the indoor parking for the gondola cabins given its currently at the base/bottom? Given the investment in brand new cabins i would be surprised if they are willing to leave them on the line all night/summer. Or is there enough parking at the top? Curious if anyone has any info.
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I’m pretty sure there is parking at the top but it may be not enough to hold all the cabins.
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There is 100% parking at the top. They never park at the bottom.
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