- Snow Flyer is the name for Bittersweet’s upcoming high speed quad.
- The Steamboat Gondola suffers an extended breakdown with hundreds aboard.
- Steamboat outlines the push to remove, relocate and build multiple lifts this summer.
- Sasquatch Mountain Resort moves ahead with mega expansion plans.
- Doppelmayr is hiring construction employees across the United States including in Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont and Washington.
- Snowbird officially retires its original tram cabins.
- The Utah Department of Transportation needs more time to decide between a gondola and enhanced bus service for Little Cottonwood Canyon.
- Attitash will auction 145 chairs from the East-West Double Double for charity.
- A gondola from the Montage to Andesite and more lifts at Moonlight are among the possibilities for future lifts at Big Sky.
- Seattle’s regional transit authority calls a West Seattle gondola “not feasible.”
- Gallix, Quebec and Doppelmayr begin rebuilding the quad lift damaged by a flood last year.
- Doppelmayr and the Government of Brazil inaugurate the first air conditioned gondola in the Americas.
- A new study pegs the economic impact of Sierra-at-Tahoe’s missed season at $43.5 million. The resort missed out on $24 million in revenue and will spend nearly $17 million rebuilding.
- Alta will spin Albion for one final send off on Tuesday.
Lift Blog 
Classic Seattle. What a dissapointment.
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It’s not feasible AT ALL as a solution for West Seattle. Light rail provides higher capacity, better reliability, better expansion/extension possibility, and is already in study for construction within the next ten years. Light rail has been identified as a priority for West Seattle for DECADES and now this group comes out of the woodwork since there’s actually money for construction.
I love gondolas and ropeways as much as the next guy but Sound Transit is right to shut this silly idea down.
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As a native of Seattle I completely agree. Much more feasible for a gondola system on a route like South Lake Union-Capitol Hill or Lower Queen Anne-Upper Queen Anne.
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Actually SLU-Broadway would be FANTASTIC and take over a portion of the KC Metro 8 line which is one of the busiest. Wish one of our city’s gondola activists would propose that.
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Hopefully Steamboat will consider finding a new location to build a mountain coaster.
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There isn’t really anywhere else to build it maybe they could find space by the midstation of Wild Blue gondola and have people ride the gondola to it. I’m kind of glad it’s gone as it was a massive eyesore right in the middle of the mountain taking up a bunch of space.
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It pretty much got in the way of a lot of the beginner routes.
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My top pick for relocation is at the top of the existing gondola to the south (west of Elkhead). The terrain faces southwest, so it will never be developed for skiing, although it would require an expansion of their SUP.
If it leaves Steamboat altogether, send it east! Sugarbush and Stratton could both use one to help boost their summer offerings.
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I don’t think Steamboat can do that or it would be really hard to get an extended SUP there because that area is a protected Elk habitat.
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Mountain coasters are custom, one-of-a-kind machines. They really can’t be relocated wholesale. I’m not sure about Weigand, who built Steamboat’s, but ADG (who built ours) does have a standard set of track sections that can be mixed and matched according to the design so a potential new owner would only have to buy maybe half of what they’d need.
Coasters definitely bring in summer revenue but they’re needy from a maintenance perspective. Maybe it’s because coasters are relatively new (and thus don’t have generations of insight from my predecessors) but I find taking care of a massive detachable like the Flyer easier and more straightforward than the Rocky Mountain Coaster.
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A fully built-out Sasquatch could actually provide much-needed relief for Whistler. Who knows if it will happen, but it would be awesome for Vancouver residents.
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Its pretty low elevation. I’ve got to think its going to be a struggle with warming climate.
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Question on the Steamboat Gondola back-up engine/motor- They said it runs extremely slow when on the back-up. is this normal? I’ve seen some back-up diesels and what not for high speed chair lifts which allow the thing to run at 500+ FPM while on that backup. I’ve seen the Snowbasin Gondolas running at 500+ FPM on back-up as well. I’ve not had the opportunity to see the back-up drive for the Steamboat Gondola. Maybe some of you have and can enlighten me? Thank you
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Was talking to a mechanic and he said a fault occurred that wouldn’t allow them to start the AUX, that’s why it took so long.
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A lot of detachables have two back up diesels. One is an auxiliary (standby) drive that can operate the lift at or close to full capacity. The other is an evacuation drive that only runs about 1 m/s (200fpm). It was the evac they couldn’t start for some reason.
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Thank you for the info. That makes sense now.
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I also hope they can find a good location at Steamboat for the coaster. It is a ton of fun and can be a good source of revenue in the summer months, not just the winter. It was very popular this season.
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They began removing the sleds from the Mountain Coaster at Steamboat today.
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Anyone have any insight to what Doppelmayr’s doing in the WA?
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Something at Snoqualmie is the rumor (Boyne is loyal to Doppelmayr). Sky at Cypress got announced very late as a fixed-grip replacement, so something similar would make sense given the timing.
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