- US skier visits jump 6.6% to an all time record of 64.7 million with accompanying record capital investment.
- Copper Mountain says it’s in negotiations with both major lift manufacturers for new Timberline and/or Lumberjack lifts.
- Ditto for Sugarbush with Heaven’s Gate and North Ridge.
- In Germany, a paraglider flies into moving aerial tram, necessitating his rescue plus an overnight evacuation of 60 passengers and restaurant patrons.
- A proposed new ski area in Valdez, Alaska gains preliminary approval.
- Vail Resorts trucks its first eight pack from Utah to British Columbia for installation.
- A bill in the Florida legislature targets Walt Disney World’s monorail and gondola systems with new inspection requirements in possible retaliation for the company’s political statements.
- Doppelmayr chairs from retired Challenger will be used to replace Yan teardrop chairs on at Sun Valley’s Christmas and Frenchman’s lifts.
- The contractor removing the Tulsa Skyride backs out half way through the project.
- Belleayre to sell chairs from outgoing Lift 7.
Lift Blog 
A “Valdez” ski area would surely require a double-black run named “Exxon” :)
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Last loads of lift parts should be arriving in Whistler today.
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Did the six pack come up too or is that staying in Utah for now?
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No. Coming next year. No room here for it during the winter.
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Does anyone know the projected PPH for the new Fitzsimmons 8?
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Originally, the equipment was supposed to increase the capacity of Silverlode at PCMR by 20%. If the database is correct and the current capacity of Silverlode is 3000 pph, then the 8-pack should be 3600 pph.
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Is the 8 pack the one that was supposed to go in park city or just a new one?
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The one from PCMR
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Why did it never get installed at PCMR?
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Short answer is the town of Park City wouldn’t approve it.
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3 miles long for a chairlift in the Valdez project would make it the longest chairlift in North America if it weren’t a gondola or tram. I’m guessing they will go with a gondola or a tram if it’s going to be 3 miles long.
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I think I read somewhere that it is supposed to be a chondola.
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I wonder where they will get enough money to build that it will probably cost more than $40 million to make and build.
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I think it’s important to keep in mind that with the growing U.S. population, per capita skier visits are still down 20% from the late 1970s.
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why are they replacing the teardrop chairs with the awful early 90s EJ chairs, horrible idea in my opinon
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The EJ chairs have footrests, are supported by Doppelmayr and already made to fit the yan hybrid terminals, unfortunately the Yan chairs have no support so spares are non existent and at this age I am sure they are finding indications on structural parts.
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I find it hard to believe considering that Sun Valley had about 30+ teardrop chairs from the `1990s in their boneyard as of a couple years ago. Seems unlikely that all 30+ of those chairs were condemned. If there was a problem with the Yan chairs themselves I would think Sun Valley would have replaced the chairs in the 90s when they replaced the older generation chairs on all their other Yan detachables.
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Dude! it doesn’t matter how many spares they have its a limited supply, Sun Valley management wanted to add footrests to the lifts and the EJ chairs already have footrests, they can get new parts from Doppelmayr, and they have an opportunity to use an existing stock of chairs they already own to upgrade the lifts. Yes the teardrop chairs are neat but its not practical for an operator to keep obsolete or “unique” equipment just because. Sun Valley is not going to pay to manufacture new restraint bars with footrests for the Yan chairs when they can use what they already own. As to why they didn’t upgrade back in 97 well they rebuilt most of 7 lifts and I am sure costs at the time became an issue; it’s almost 30 years later the situation is different now.
Sorry for my tart reply it has been a day!
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UPS- There are and have been problems with Yan carriers, much like any other manufacturer. Many of them take time to manifest and may not have been apparent in the 90s. As Vons3 says, they are most likely finding them now, as many of us are. Most of ours are repairable but not all, and eventually the existing stock of spares is used up. We’ve had to trade consumables for spares from a couple neighbouring ski areas, for example. The teardrop carriers are comparatively rare so I imagine SV has used most of their spares. Vons also makes a good point that EJ carriers are fully supported- we’ve been able to get new parts for our ’94 with no problems.
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We know that Sugarbush is planning on replace Heaven’s Gate with a fixed quad, wonder about North Ridge though. Would they just replace it with a new detach quad or upgrade it to a 6-pack?
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Do they really need a 6 at North Ridge? Not likely
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Unless there is a major documented wind issue, I can’t imagine it’s worth investing the extra $$ in a 6-pack for any lift at Mt Ellen given its 100-day season and lesser crowds throughout the winter.
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Unless in the long term they want to try to draw more skiers over to Mount Ellen…
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I’m sure they’d like to as a general rule, but not at the expense of Lincoln Peak where the vast majority of their investments live – Claybrook, Rice Brook, Farmhouse/Schoolhouse and future phases to come. The goal will almost certainly be to increase total skier visits until they feel that LP is at its comfortable carrying capacity, at which point perhaps they aspire to drive a higher share of visits to ME, potentially including splashy ideas like the Upper Inverness pod. But that’s got to be at least 10 years away given other investment needs higher in the queue like snowmaking infrastructure at both mountains, additional beds/critical mass at LP Village and the aforementioned lift replacement for NR and HG.
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