Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Month: March 2021
Whistler Blackcomb to Shut Down Again
The largest ski resort in North America is closing for at least three weeks effective midnight tonight. The pause comes as part of a provincial effort to slow the spread of Covid-19 through new restrictions on business and travel. Gyms, indoor dining, and houses of worship are also closing by order of the BC government. Whistler Blackcomb was specifically identified to “address and prevent community spread related to non-essential travel,” according to a news release. Other British Columbia ski resorts are currently allowed to remain open.
“Covid-19 continues to create challenges for people and businesses throughout B.C., and we are grateful for the sacrifices people continue to make to keep one another safe,” said British Columbia Premier John Horgan. “We know that the idea of more restrictions is not welcome news, but we are asking people to rise to the challenge with the confidence that vaccines mean better days are ahead. We are not out of the woods yet, but the provincial health officer’s orders, combined with our vaccines, give us the tools we need to move out of this pandemic together.”
Whistler Blackcomb parent company Vail Resorts recently announced 28.4 percent decline in net income due to effects of the pandemic. Whistler Blackcomb was disproportionately impacted due to the Canadian border remaining closed. Destination visits declined to 15 percent of Whistler Blackcomb visitation this season compared to 48 percent in the same period the prior year. Skier visits across all North American Vail Resorts declined 8.2 percent for the season as of March 7th.
The Whistler Blackcomb closure order is scheduled to last through April 19th, 2021. Whistler Mountain had been scheduled to close April 18th with Blackcomb Mountain planned to remain open until May 24th.
On Monday evening Whistler Blackcomb Chief Operating Officer Geoff Buchheister issued the following statement:
“Throughout the season, Whistler Blackcomb has prioritized the health and safety of our guests and employees. Monday’s order from the Province of British Columbia to close Whistler Blackcomb came as a surprise and we respect the decision and are taking immediate steps to comply. We would like to thank all of our guests and employees for their willingness to adapt to our COVID safety protocols and will update the website with more information on the future of the 2020-21 season.”
By Tuesday, resort officials decided to close both mountains for the season and turn their attention to summer.
News Roundup: RFP
- The European Union will pay French ski operators up to 49 percent of lost revenue from this winter.
- Ober Gatlinburg’s tram closes for two months for track rope and drive replacement projects totaling $4.5 million.
- Bluewood’s general manager explains why fixing a 43 year old lift still makes sense for the mountain vs. buying a new one.
- The Burke Mountain and Jay Peak receiver says in a court filing the mountains are “desperately in need of liquidity” while battling financial services giant Raymond James.
- Whiteface issues a request for proposals to replace the Bear double with a fixed grip quad starting lower in the base area.
- Kelly Canyon’s new Skytrac will be a triple reaching 600 feet beyond the top of Chair 2.
- With one Doppelmayr gondola finished but never opened to the public and another partially complete, Icy Strait Point removes all booking availability until April of 2022.
- Skiland performs a rope evacuation of the northernmost chairlift in the Americas.
- The National Ski Areas Association updates its lift safety fact sheet.
- Mission Ridge isn’t done with On the Way Up just yet! Episode 18 explores the parking system and more.
- At a leadership forum in Park City, Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory says his company will invest $200 million on capital improvements this year and plans to build the Squaw-Alpine gondola.
- We also learned Deer Valley is in talks with Mayflower Mountain Resort about shared access.
- Rusty next joined the Storm Skiing Podcast, confirming the Ikon Pass will add at least one new resort for 21-22.
- Vail Resorts slashes Epic Pass prices by 20 percent.
- Developers say the Moosehead Mountain project is “moving fast” with a lift to be ordered as soon as May for completion late this year.
- Two more days until Snow King’s Summit double stops for good to make way for a gondola, though the Forest Service’s Record of Decision has not been signed and litigation looms.
- Pennsylvania’s Department of Labor and Industry confirms it’s investigating last weekend’s chair fall at Camelback but does not expect to make the report public.
Instagram Tuesday: Stockpiling
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Chair Falls from Camelback’s Sullivan Express
A chair fell from the Sullivan Express at Camelback Resort in Pennsylvania today along with three passengers who were riding in it. Pictures posted to social media show a significant patrol response as well as ski and snowboard gear surrounding the chair on the ground. A local dispatch log notes a call came in at 3:39 pm for a 40 year old male with back and hip injury, a 12 year old male with an arm injury and a 9 year old female with an abdominal injury. The entire west side of the resort was closed for the remainder of the day. Weather in the area was reportedly good with sunny skies, light winds and temperatures in the 50s.
The lift involved is a 1995 Doppelmayr detachable quad with DS series grips. It operates in winter as well as summer for water park operations. While Doppelmayr detachable lifts have an excellent safety record, other instances of chairs falling have occurred. A 2015 incident on Mt. Bachelor’s Sunrise Express was blamed on component failure. At Thredbo, Australia, quad chairs fell in both 2016 and 2019 from the Gunbarrel Express due to windy conditions.
As of Monday morning, the Sullivan Express remains closed with the Bailey double operating in its place. Sullivan’s sister lift, the Stevenson Express, is operating normally.
Camelback released the below statement Monday afternoon:
Camelback issued a second statement the morning of Tuesday, March 23rd:
The Pennsylvania Department of Labor and Industry confirmed to me it is investigating the incident but declined to provide further information. “The results of the investigation are not considered a public document,” an agency spokesperson noted.
News Roundup: No Reservations
- The Forest Services releases its Environmental Assessment for a modified Purgatory Ice Creek expansion and seeks public comments.
- Bluewood closes for a weekend due to drive line issues with the Skyline Express triple (now back open).
- For the first time in 15 years, The Summit at Snoqualmie sends a cat to the top of Alpental to clear snow from the Edelweiss lift line and top terminal.
- A Canadian resort trains a very good dog to catch and hold Ts for skiers.
- One of only two chairlift operations in Kentucky goes up for sale (asking price $750,000).
- Aspen Snowmass visitation falls significantly.
- Another chairlift fall video, this time from China.
- Also in China, Poma nears completion of a world first: three interconnected 3S gondolas.
- There was a serious grip slip incident at Snowstar, Illinois a few weeks ago.
- A company called Towpro tries breaking into the surface lift business with a low cost rope tow.
- Ski Area Management and Leitner-Poma launch a contest to recognize top lift maintenance teams.
- Arapahoe Basin will continue limiting both season pass and day ticket sales next season.
- No reservations will be required for passholders across Vail Resorts next season.
- After a few weeks idled, Big Sky announces Dakota will remain closed for the remainder of the 20-21 season due to “mechanical challenges.”
- Warner Brothers abandons plans to build a Hollywood gondola, opting to focus on its core business.
- A wild Red Bull video features an athlete sliding down a six pack’s haul rope under a parachute.
- A maintenance worker is injured when the chair he was riding falls from a Bartholet lift in Luxembourg.
Instagram Tuesday: Top Form
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
New Lift Coming to Kelly Canyon
For the first time in decades, Kelly Canyon is getting a new chairlift. The fixed grip triple chair is the first new lift announced in the state of Idaho for 2021. The lift will service new terrain above the current lift-served summit with an exact location to be announced later.
With six complete lift projects and multiple retrofits already confirmed, Salt Lake City-based Skytrac is gearing up for one of its busiest construction seasons ever.
Kelly Canyon will run a contest on social media to name the new lift.
Mont-Sainte-Anne Gondola to Reopen
367 days since technical problems forced its closure, L’Étoile Filante is reopening at Mont-Sainte-Anne. The gondola suffered not one but two incidents in February and March of 2020 before Covid paused skiing globally. Over the past many months, the resort, Doppelmayr and the Government of Quebec have worked to resolve unspecified technical challenges.
“We have just received approval from the Régie du bâtiment du Québec, which has given the green light for an official reopening,” said Maxime Cretin, Vice President and General Manager, Eastern Region for Resorts of the Canadian Rockies. “This approval was received following the security and compliance clearance obtained from the contract engineers. It confirms that the ski lift is safe and fully functional. We would like to sincerely thank you for your patience, understanding, resilience and loyalty through this difficult time. We know the wait has been long and the journey has been strewn with disappointments. Today, we are happy to share this good news with you and to finally be able to turn the page. We would also like to thank all of the employees and stakeholders for their continued collaboration in this very complex case.”
For the rest of this season, the gondola will operate with 50 percent of its cabins (45 of 90) with Covid loading protocols in place.
News Roundup: More Than a Mountain
- Mission Ridge is named its community’s Business of the Year for pressing forward with an ambitious lift replacement project using local labor during the pandemic.
- An auction gets underway for Howelsen Hill’s retiring double chairs.
- More than 28,000 non-union Vail Resorts employees will see end of season bonuses.
- Looking to cut costs, Six Flags axes one of its last three remaining VonRoll gondolas in Georgia.
- Silverton, Colorado weighs building a traditional ski resort to complement the non-traditional Silverton Mountain.
- Another child slips out of a chair but this time hangs on all the way to the top.
- Vail Resorts announces a better than expected 28.4 percent decrease in revenue for the quarter ended January 31st. Season to date through March 7th, skier visits are down 8.2 percent, lift revenue is down 8.9 percent, ski school revenue down 43.2 percent, dining revenue down 56.9 percent and retail/rental revenue down 31.6 percent.
- A report prepared by SE Group suggests $23 million worth of improvements to Spirit Mountain including a replacement Gandy lift. Under the plan, Double Jaw and Summit would be removed without replacement.
- Great Bear begins construction of its new Skytrac quad.
- A strategic plan for Arctic Valley includes T-Bar replacement.
- Blue Knob performs a night rope evacuation of the Route 66 double.
- The former owner of Showdown Montana floats developing a small ski area atop an EPA superfund site near Great Falls.
- The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram will shut down for maintenance all summer but two gondolas and a chairlift will spin instead.
- Leitner introduces an online ropeway configurator tool.
- A new lost Northeast ski area video series begins with an episode on Hogback Mountain.
- Virginia could become home to an even larger indoor ski area than New Jersey.
- Big Sky and Bridger Bowl skier visits trend lower than last year.
- Mt. Sunapee will auction chairs from the Duckling double to benefit the EpicPromise Foundation.
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