- Indy Pass signs on Manning Park, British Columbia; The Rock, Wisconsin; and Seven Oaks, Iowa.
- Big Snow American Dream will remain closed several more weeks following last week’s fire.
- Leitner-Poma to build the previously announced Lakeview Express at Mt. Rose next year.
- The gondola to the gondola at Breckenridge nears approval.
- Rad Smith completes his largest illustration yet – a new map for Big White in the style of James Niehues.
- Another protest takes place against a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
- Nitehawk continues fundraising for a new chairlift as it nears a second season without one.
- Lookout Pass works to convert Timber Wolf from a double into a triple.
- Alpine-X seeks to raise up to $5 million through crowdfunding.
- An Iowa county agrees to purchase Sleepy Hollow, a chairlift-served tubing park.
- Palisades Tahoe renames two of its chairlifts Resort Chair and Wa She Shu.
- Doppelmayr arrives on site to assess and make recommendations regarding the storm-damaged chairlift in Gallix, Quebec.
- Amsterdam could see a river crossing 3S gondola.
- Sundance will host a party on October 10th to celebrate the final rides on Ray’s Lift before removal.
- Another gondola concept emerges in Los Angeles.
- Lake Louise’s new high speed quad will be called Juniper Express.
- Camelback says it has completed an extensive inspection and certification process for its lifts and implemented additional safety protocols in the wake of last season’s chair fall.
- Stuart Winchester gets the latest from Aspen Snowmass CEO Mike Kaplan on 1A, Pandora’s, Coney Glade, Burnt Mountain, Goldenhorn and other lift projects.
- The Superior National Forest will host a virtual open house Tuesday regarding the Lutsen Mountains expansion.
- West Mountain unveils plans for its first detachable lift, including an intermediate station.
Base area real estate prices are high, so it is developed and the parking lots move elsewhere with a gondola connection to keep vehicles happy, but that enables the new parking lot to have a high land value, which incentivizes that land to be developed and a gondola to be built to connect to new parking lots… This is an endless cycle. Hopefully, a parking garage is viewed as a final solution, as it is more permanent than surface lots.
That Rad Smith map looks great! I never thought I would find anything acceptable besides a Niehues, but I think I may have found a suitable alternative.
Alpine-X having to resort to crowdfunding is not a good sign. It is a shame because I think the project has a lot of potential.
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And how many levels will the Breck garage have? Hopefully it can have at least five stories.
Certainly, the new Big White map actually puts things into better perspective than the current one as far as where trails and lifts go. Here’s the current one:
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“Another protest takes place against a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.” I guess those ‘activists’ are at it again?
Given how short a distance it will go, I think that the proposed feeder to the BreckConnect is going to be a cabriolet.
Makes sense for the Juniper chair to just be called Juniper Express while the Upper Juniper lift is still years away.
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Why can’t Nitehawk just replace the few towers that were damaged in the landslide? Does the entire lift need a replacement? As I understood it, the lift was de-tensioned at the time of the accident, so why does the entire lift warrant a replacement?
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And in other news….
From Bittersweet Ski area in Michigan. “There are lots of changes coming to Bittersweet in the next couple of seasons including, a 2nd high speed chair lift to be installed for the 2022-2023 season! In order to prepare for the new chair, the current Sweet Express is being moved over and a 2nd outdoor heated patio area is being installed.”
Can’t believe they are moving the HSQ over. Pics on their Facebook page. Can’t tell if the whole chair is moving or just the loading station.
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Resort Chair? Ew. I know some people call it that, but I hate it. Bound to cause some confusion too.
Wa She Shu? Kinda sick, but good luck getting people to call it that. I don’t know how to pronounce any of those words. I respect picking a Washoe name, but they could’ve picked an easier one.
I’d have rather they call Squaw Creek “Wa She Shu” and Squaw one “Village Express”, but I guess we’ll have to deal with this instead.
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I think they should’ve just named it the Washoe Express. Now that’s a name that’s easier to remember.
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Donald, Wa-She-Shu is how the Washoe is supposed to be pronounced, but it was how the white settlers understood the pronunciation in 1850s. As a local, I find the new lift name to be fitting tribute to the Washo tribe. https://nevadaindianterritory.com/nevada-tribes/washoe/
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I feel I should add that Boyne Mountain, Michigan is putting in the Midwest’s first high speed 8 next year, replacing two old triples.
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The ‘gondola to the gondola’ over the hill from me is plain silly. The lot is literally across the street from the current BreckConnect. It would be far easier (and let’s not forget cheaper) to build a pedestrian overpass.The forms could be built, and the footers poured, in a couple of weeks- and the bridge itself could be placed at night so as not to interfere with the admittedly large volume of traffic on Park Avenue/Highway 9. CDOT and Summit County did a project just like that last summer over Highway 91 uphill from Copper as part of a bike path project.
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Yeah, I think a covered bridge would be the answer.
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Can someone summarize on what Camelback has done regarding the safety improvements and what not after the chair fell last year? That news site wants a subscription to read the article and I don’t feel up to subscribing just to read 1 story. thanks
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