- Indy Pass signs its largest partner yet by skier visits: Mt. Hood Meadows.
- Former Indy Pass resort Marmot Basin joins the Mountain Collective.
- Some 300 people show up to what was intended to be an executive session of the Gunstock Area Commission to discuss legal, financial and employment matters. Two commissioners end up walking out. Another meeting is scheduled for today.
- Resigned Gunstock Area Commissioner and former Stowe CEO Gary Kiedaisch attempts to un-resign.
- A New Hampshire State Representative alleges former Gunstock General Manager Tom Day improperly donated $500 in public money to Governor Sununu’s 2020 re-election campaign.
- Organizers of a music festival set to take place at Gunstock next weekend threaten legal action if the Panorama high speed quad doesn’t run as contracted.
- Deer Valley and Mayflower work toward an operating agreement.
- Eaglecrest General Manager Dave Scanlan goes on the radio to talk about the gondola project.
- Skytrac is still hiring folks to build ski lifts, particularly at Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania.
- Smugglers’ Notch gives a rundown of all the work that goes into servicing a bullwheel.
- Sierra at Tahoe completes haul rope replacements on two more lifts.
- A bolt tightening contractor is hit by a tram carriage and seriously injured at Jackson Hole.
- Skytrac begins building on Eagle Peak at Lookout Pass.
- Greek Peak starts construction of a new Chair 3.
- Utah Olympic Park’s big expansion won’t be open to public skiing with limited exceptions.
- The first D-Line in California is approved, will feature unique angle stations.
- Closed Connecticut ski area Woodbury goes back up for sale.
- The company seeking to build a gondola in Edmonton, Alberta would pay $1.1 million a year to lease city right of way.
- A woman found dead under Anakeesta’s chondola last night is believed to have fallen from the lift, which remains closed today.
- Two men are killed while working to build a Doppelmayr gondola in France.
- Below is the July 8th Notice of Noncompliance the Forest Service sent Keystone regarding unauthorized road construction in Bergman Bowl. Since the letter is three weeks old, Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams sent an update on where things stand.
Another haul rope replacement going on the single chair at Mt Eyak. “Starting today we will be installing a new haul rope on the chairlift, the parking lot is blocked off for equipment to maneuver. You can park on the road. Please stay clear of all working equipment, thanks”
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So basically nothing is being reused up a fortress am I interpreting it correctly. Sad to see the last of alpine lifts to go.
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The Alpine Lift double (Farside) would have been replaced anyway according to staff on the mountain. The other two chairs are operable and can be re-started with some work. Based on what I was told when I was up there, they still want to try to re-furbish the newer chairs for the first few years before replacing them.
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My partner hiked a south loop on the nature trail from the top of Dercum yesterday, said there was a helicopter operating approximately in the Bergman area of Keystone. Makes one wonder how ‘ceased’ the Keystone project really is?
Would there be activities the USFS wouldn’t have stopped (ie: The lodge expansion? Work on other lifts or infrastructure?).
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Yes they only stopped activities related to the road however they did say other aspects of the project would be allowed to continue. It’s very possible they are doing extra flying to continue bringing things up without utilizing the road I would imagine.
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As to Mayflower & Deer Valley: The idea that they could ‘segment’ the resort and allow snowboarding on only a fraction of it? Absurd.
I get that DV has a brand and an image. But snowboarding is definitely here to stay, and plenty of well heeled families include a mix of skiers and boarders.
Developers looking to sell 100s of millions of dollars in new high end condos would be nuts to exclude that many potential residential customers. Especially as real estate cools a bit, and interest rates keep rising.
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I see absolutely zero point in snowboarding ever, but I agree 100%. The bans at Alta and MRG and DV make no sense at all. At this point it can only be inertia and a handful of grumpy rich dudes just wanting to piss as many people off as possible. Just allow the damn things, and move on; the terrain and snow will either speak for itself, or it won’t. The rest, the stuff that actually makes these greedy f#%#s money in the first place, is not affected one iota by one’s choice of tool for descending. And, spoiler for those who don’t already know, DV isn’t special when it comes to terrain. It is definitely fun, but not special. I’ve been fortunate to ski a good many hills, and DV’s turns only stand out cos they were free and my Dirtbag Pa and me and my Dirtbag partner skied better than most of the clientele while they looked down at us for our clothing and much-used gear.
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They take pleasure in pissing people off.
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DV’s lack of snowboarders is really a brand thing. Alta and MRG have decent justifications, given the High Traverse (which would be hell on a snowboard) and the single chair (which seems to be part of their rationale). At DV, there’s no real terrain- or safety-related justification––it’s mainly to give a sense of luxury.
Anyway, FWIW it’ll be interesting what route the decide to go. I’ve heard that Mayflower is supposed to essentially become a full-on part of DV with no distinction from a lift ops or ticketing/pass perspective. But the idea of a “Mayflower at Deer Valley” with a cheaper (day) ticket, that allows snowboarding, isn’t super crazy. It’s kind of like how airlines will have a sub-fleet for their transcontinental flights, with more amenities.
Would require AltaBird-like ticket scanners in a few places, though.
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Something like that could work, but the article seemed to suggest it might just be a few hundred skiable acres that would deign to allow snowboarding within Mayflower.
Maybe some kids would put up with that if the rest of the family skis. But it just seems bizarre to me to launch a new, huge real estate project and think “Ehh, maybe we can exclude at least 25% of the potential buyers and still get full market pricing.”
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Not even sure that oversight makes the top 5 around this project, given the obvious snowfall, snow retention and terrain quality issues, to say nothing of the ridiculous framing as a military benefit.
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I think the mistake is seeing this as a “new ski resort” rather than as a real estate project with an expansion of DV to provide access, which is what it’s always basically been.
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Not sure if this is the right place to ask, but do all D-line terminals have the same length? Or can they be ordered with different lengths like the Uni can be ordered in different terminal lengths?
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In your last weekly news list you mentioned that two men died working on a Doppelmayr project
In fact they were working for the Mountain Construction crew
In Europe most of the large resorts do most of the prep work for there lift construction project’s
The lift company will send in there crews when erecting terminals but still using the Mountain Construction crews These crews work on the mountain in the winter
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