This is a list of new lifts likely to be built in North America during the 2022 construction season. Last updated 5/15/2021.
Blue = Doppelmayr
Yellow = Leitner-Poma
Green = Skytrac
Red = MND Ropeways
Purple = Partek
Orange = SkyTrans
Gray = Re-installations (used lifts)
White = To be announced
ATW = Aerial Tramway
CL = Chairlift
G = Gondola
SL = Surface lift
D = Detachable
F = Fixed grip
M = Monocable
P = Pulse
J = Jigback
Is Snowshoe Going To Build A New Lift?
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I wonder when powder monkey will be coming
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I think it’s going to stay the same Thiokol triple, but there may be a plan to bring back Hawthorne as an intermediate ski area with a 6 pack chairlift.
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A six pack may be overkill, unless they can cut more than the two trails that were originally there. In my opinion, I hope they put more investment in the Western territory, which already has a lift and is pretty underutilized.
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Maybe A Doppelmayr Fixed Grip Quad Instead
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Merrill Hill will be a fixed-grip triple or quad. There is a rumor of them moving either White Cap or Aurora over and then replacing one of those two respective lifts with a detachable quad, but I am not sure of its validity.
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Merrill Hill will be a fixed triple
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Curious on the West Mountain Express shown as a CLD at Sugarloaf. I see there is a CLD-6 for the West Mountain slated for 2021. Their plan shows a shortening of west mountain. I think I assumed they would just take the current lift and move the top terminal to midstation. Seems unlikely a detach would go there. Though more condos will be built on the skiers right of West Mountain this would be a high-speed lift serving one trail for ski-in-ski-out mostly.
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I meant to move the new lift from the 2021 list to 2022 after hearing Karl Strand on a podcast. Unlikely the current West Mountain lift will be replaced any time soon. It’s going to be awhile before we have clarity on many 2021 projects, let alone 2022.
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I’m not sure the last time this was updated, but right now this says it will be a 4-CLD from Loon Mountain which I can only assume will be the former Kancamagus Quad? But I thought they were going to use that to replace the Seven Brothers Triple at Loon?
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They have implied this, but never committed to it. There is no reason for them to do this when there is no pressure and reason to lose the flexibility. I would probably give it a 90% chance of happening.
Loon said mountain biking will move over to Kanc8 and Seven Brothers will be replaced by summer 2023 at the latest. I am not positive whether they have announced or only implied that the Seven Brothers replacement will be a detachable quad, but it will be. Elsewhere in the Boyne network: At Sugarloaf, their next three replacements will be West Mountain, Timberline, and Double Runner. West Mountain was announced as a six-pack, so maybe Kanc could replace one of the latter two? However, they are likely farther down the line than Seven Brothers, so the lift would be in storage for a bit. At Sunday River, the next two projects after Merrill Hill are Barker and Jordan Bowl replacements, both of which will be larger than a quad. I guess they could move Kanc out west somewhere, but that would surprise me. Kanc going over to Seven Brothers just makes too much sense.
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Loon has not explicitly said that the SB replacement will be a HSQ, but according to the Forest Service Schedule of Proposed Actions, linked here: https://www.fs.fed.us/sopa/components/reports/sopa-110922-2019-10.html , it will be. If nothing else, this is a pretty good indicator that Kanc will go here. It’s already at Loon, so it would make sense to keep it there. However, on their Instagram posts about Kanc 8 and the final day of operation of Kanc Quad (March 28, 2021), people have asked if Kanc will replace SB. Loon has responded by saying that there are multiple scenarios for Kanc’s future but the definitive answer is TBD.
I’m curious, though, if they’ll do with this what they did with the former Ramcharger at Big Sky when they relocated it to Shedhorn, and give it a UNI-G enclosure? Personally I wouldn’t mind if they kept the 90’s UNI “spacejet” enclosure as I always liked the way they looked.
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Both the Boyne CEO and the GM of Sugar Loaf, Karl Strand said that West mountain will be a signature lift. It does say it is slated for a CLD-6 on the map and, Loon GM Jay Scambio said that Kank quad will be moved to seven brothers. Karl also said the announcement will be the winter before construction which is I assume is 2022 summer. That same summer Barker and Jordan will be done which are both likely bubbled CLD-6s, the same as West mountain. Both from Dopylmayr and I assume they will get a great deal because buying three 6, 7, 8 million dollar lifts is a pretty big investment. Boyne CEO Stephen Kircher already said on the storm skiing podcast that he is not interested in buying more high speed quads. There is no way that they will move that lift over to Sugar Loaf.
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Aren’t they doing the anti sway technology Doppelmayr is developing on Jordan? That is what I heard.
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That would be correct. I also believe they have not decided between an 8 and 6 pack for Barker. Sunday river wants the 6 pack but Boyne is pushing for the eight pack.
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After reading this I just remembered Jay Scambio on the Storm Skiing podcast. It was recorded in February of last year, so before COVID shook things up, but he said as of then, **most likely,** Kanc will stay with Loon for Seven Brothers, but I don’t see any reason why that would have changed.
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I believe Sugarloaf wants to use an updated Bullwinkles for more conference and banquet events which would need at the very least a bubble if not a Chondola for that on rainy days…
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Why don’t they put in a 6/6 chondi similar to Sunday Rivers at but with a smaller capacity gondola. They wouldn’t even need to put bubbles on it.
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Do you think California Express and red dog will get done in 2022?
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It won’t happen until a summer after Squaw changes it’s name
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I actually think it would make a great project to do the same summer the name change is implemented (i.e., 2021). Especially if they decide to do away with the name “Alpine Meadows” and combine the resorts under one name and brand.
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Any news on barker at Sunday River?
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I heard it will be replaced by Summer 2024 at the absolute latest, more likely in 2022 or 2023.
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Sugarloaf will do west mountain next year which will probably be a bubble 6. Jordan at Sunday River will most likely be a bubble 6 as well. The Sunday River president said that Sunday River will do Barker and Jordan at the same time so, If Boyne is buying two or three of the same lifts from doppyelmayr they’ll probably get a great deal especially since they’ve formed a partnership in the last few years. With all that information I would think they will all be done next year.
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Any news on Pioneer Express at Winter park? That lift is really really old.
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1986 isn’t exactly “really really old.” Yes, it’s 35 years old, but there are quite a few lifts out there that old that still operate. Mad River Glen and Mt. Eyak operate lifts that are easily 35 years older than Pioneer.
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High speed quads seem to work themselves to death a lot faster than fixed grips, though. A good number of the high speed quads of the Pioneer Express’s age in Colorado have been replaced in the last ten years, generally with high speed six packs.
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Is there any more news on when Lift 6 at Loveland will be replaced? I saw that it was removed from the 2021 list.
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Caberfae Peaks in Michigan is working on something. While the rumored installation of a new lift to serve the “Backcountry” is years off, could the old Hall double “Bo Buck” lift be coming back? Last summer they built up the earth at the edge of “Smiling Irishman” into what looks like a top station for the small lift, the old station location being now underground. The base station is in shambles but note that the motor has been stored elsewhere and the stations from the recently removed “Club” lift are also stored somewhere and the Clubs chairs were stacked in the dirt next to Bo Buck’s old chairs. I’m guessing we will see foundations go in this summer?
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Looks like this lift base station will be just to the left of the Shelter lift, not the old Bo Buck site, as I had hoped. But it looks true to what I heard when the Club lift was taken out, it would be moved to parallel the Shelter lift. Shelter has 64 chairs (total), the North Peak lifts have 66 each, South Peak has 74. This lift will go past and above the Shelter top station to that site on Smiling Irishman quite a distance further, this may end up being the longest chair? This is just my best guess but the stakes and tree cutting just below Mountain Slayer tell the story.
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Looks like the Shelter lift will be removed, the new lift will take its place for the base station in the summer of ’22. This summer we will likely see more dirt moved and foundations. No word on what kind of lift will go in, I would love to see an express lift here but I’m guessing another Doppelmayr fixed-grip triple. No official information. BTW, I was wrong above, North Peak quad has 76 chairs but this chair will be longer. I have a YT channel of the same name and did a short video on this there.
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I wonder when Snoqualmie will put in International Express
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I wonder if relocated Swift Current would be good for it. It may be too long though.
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Yeah, it’s too big for it.
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Hopefully never.
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Why?
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Would International Express go to the top of Edelweiss, or will it stop short of the ridge?
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When did you put Pioneer to be replaced with a 6 pack?
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There is another document that has it listed specifically as a six-pack, but I cannot find it at the moment.
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One of Lookout pass new lifts on eagle peak the main lift will be a quad likely from skytrac and I have heard rumors that they will reinstall the removed chair 1 for the second lift which will be the shorter one.
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Reinstalling the removed chair 1 might be kind of a struggle with no towers. The new quad reused the existing towers.
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Chair 1 isn’t that old to begin with. If they can afford a new Skytrac, they can afford towers for a used fixed grip. If they can’t get new towers that work, there’s always Superior Tramways.
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Is Superior Tramways an operating company? The last time they updated their website was 2014.
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I think Superior Tramways was bought by or merged into Aerial Engineering Inc. a couple of years ago.
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The good news about today’s announcement of Vail pursuing to have as many skiers as possible: They hinted that this would be coupled with an appropriate investment in lift and trail infrastructure to accommodate everyone. That means 2022 could be a big year after an already busy 2021, where 7 lifts were built.
There are plenty of options to choose from around the empire. Bergman at Keystone seems very likely, and perhaps it could be joined by Game Creek’s long-awaited upgrade in Colorado. Maybe Tahoe finally gets some love? Whistler and Park City, being so large, have a number of additions that would be welcome. Next season will also be the first with the Northeast Value Pass and no VT travel restrictions, so Mount Snow and Stowe may need some relief (Okemo getting more after two new lifts this summer is probably unlikely).
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Parking and more quads at Stevens! A replacement for the Horstman T-bar, and expansion to the west on Whistler Mountain!
> Maybe Tahoe finally gets some love?
I know this is Lift Blog and not Lodge Blog, but what about replacing the temporary lodge at Timber Creek at Kirkwood with a permanent day lodge? The weird fiberglass FEMA shelter thing is now ~15 years old.
We can dream.
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Kirkwood is long overdue for some investment. They don’t need to do anything fancy but some reinvestment and/or strategic minor expansion would be fantastic. It’s really the only good option if you’re in the South Bay.
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Doesn’t seem to be any talk of any new lifts at any of the Tahoe Vail resorts in the near future. Kirkwood would probably be last on the list. After being involved with Kirkwood for 30+ years it does OK being tied in with the Vail group, but has never really made any money on it’s own.
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Creative solution for Stevens Pass parking problem that is likely too ambitious to ever happen:
Build a large parking area where there is much more flat land west of Stevens Pass around the exit on US-2 for the Old Cascade Highway, around where the western portal is for the Cascade Tunnel. In addition to there being plenty of relatively flat land, this location also has the benefit of being at ~2200 feet, so it receives significantly less snow than Stevens Pass and is easier to clear in high snow years (like this one). Then, construct a ~2.5-mile gondola to connect the base with the top of Brooks. While this would absolutely be expensive, this would have the great benefit of significantly reducing traffic over the pass itself. Also, they could even attempt to start a ski train from Everett or Seattle up to the tunnel portal like they do at Winter Park to further reduce traffic.
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This is too good of an idea for anyone with power/money/influence to actually carry out. If you were worried about avalanches or environmentalists along the Highway 2 / Tye River side, do it in two stages, the first parallel to the high tension power lines over the Tunnel Creek drainage to the base of Jupiter/Southern Cross on the back side, then a second up and over (chondola?) to the main base, supplementing or replacing Southern Cross / Double Diamond / Katz’s.
(And then recondition and move Southern Cross to Kirkwood as a Martin Point chair.)
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Oh, I meant Kehr’s Chair. The run nearish to there is Wild Katz.
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I mean with the big new California Express going in we might get some investment from Vail for competition. We all know that Heavenly is the biggest resort in the Lake Tahoe area but with this new gondola, Squaw/Alpine will beat it. Hopefully with this at the very least Northstar and Heavenly might get investment.
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Considering that Red Dog is not getting a replacement this year I wonder if it will get replaced in 2022. I know that the California Express is getting built and the existing Red Dogs terminal getting relocated but I wonder if they are planning on doing it in a multi-stage project or holding off Red Dog replacement for later. It also would be nice if they replaced Granite Cheif. If they did replace Red Dog I really hope it gets re-used at Squaw Alpine, I think it would fit well as a replacement for Alpine Bowl with the return up higher on the summit, plus the Poma terminal is compact and would be perfect for that situation.
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Another good idea could be to split Red Dog into two parts one to replace Alpine Bowl and the other to replace Meadows and Subway as listed in their master plan. It would be super interesting to see it used as a new High Rollers lift but it seems Alterra has all but scrapped that idea.
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Looks as though Green Ridge at Okemo will be relocated to one of Vail’s PA resorts, so either Liberty, Roundtop, Whitetail, Jack Frost, or Big Boulder. I figure it will happen in 2022, as it is not included in Vail’s 2021 capital improvement plan. Honestly, all five of those resorts are in pretty decent shape lift-wise. Maybe consolidate Merry Widow I & II into a single triple at Big Boulder? I would say to do the same with either E I & II or D I & II at Jack Frost, but those doubles are much younger.
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One of the captions for Liberty’s terrain park J bar says that they were planning on replacing it with a triple, perhaps this is it?
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I think it was set to be one of the CTEC triples from Ascutney. That plan was all pre-Vail. We know when Vail comes in a lot goes out the window. I doubt we’ll ever see the Crested Butte expansion proceed as Triple Peaks envisioned either. Or the Sunapee lift shuffle.
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Peter, West mountain at sugarloaf will be Dopylmayr lift. Boyne hasn’t worked with LP in years.
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But we don’t know if it will be new or used.
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The only lift that may be moved is Swift from Big Sky but Sugarloaf all ready said that this will be their flag ship lift like the Chondi at Sunday River, Kank8 at Loon and, Ramcharger at Big sky. It is safe to assume it will be a new CLD-6 bubbled from Dopylmayr.
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For the Steamboat Gondola will the second section be built the year after? If so will we see the stations interconnected so you can ride from the bottom of the first stage all the way to the top of the second or will we see a setup like Revelstoke’s gondola where you have to get off and then get back on?
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I have no concrete numbers to back this, but it seems as though there have been a high number of 2022 lift announcements at this point in time compared to previous years. Perhaps it is the pandemic shifting projects back?
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Anyone have any information on International Express at Alpental?
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I have heard rumors that Boyne is installing Barker and Jordan Bowl 6 packs at Sunday River the same year. Either will happen next year, 2023, 2024
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Jordan will be a Bubble D lined 6 pack with the anti sway/wind technology. I still think Barker is still under consideration between a 6 and 8 pack. Maybe Doppelmayr will put the first red bubbles on this lift.
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Why aren’t more resorts building D-Line 6 packs? I can see because of price but the Uni-G has been phased out in Europe and has been in North America for a long time now. I think it’s time for some new lift tech in North America.
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