Alterra Mountain Company’s lift construction push continues. Fresh off projects at Mammoth, Schweitzer, Snowshoe, Solitude, Steamboat and Winter Park, the company plans to build a new gondola at its outpost in Ontario, Canada. Blue Mountain currently operates the Silver Bullet Express as an open air gondola in the summer months but lacks a truly accessible year-round lift attraction. The new scenic gondola will load near the Village at Blue Mountain, where a new base lodge is also planned. The top terminal will sit near the Southern Comfort six pack with the gondola running diagonally up the mountain.
Blue Mountain notes the 20 year old Silver Bullet will need to be taken out of service for an entire summer soon for refurbishment and the new gondola will better serve summer and winter guests going forward. Construction is expected to begin next year, subject to local approvals. No manufacturer was announced but Blue Mountain currently operates a 100 percent Leitner-Poma lift fleet.
Lift Blog 
This gondola is a great addition to Blue and will further support a very successful village.
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Hopefully the new gondola will help alleviate the long lines that sometimes occur at Silver Bullet.
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Be surprised if it is used for skier traffic.
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One huge benefit of this new gondola (there are obviously many , otherwise Alterra and Blue Mountain would not build it) will be that non skiers will be able to park in the many parking lots at the bottom of the mountain and not have to navigate the steep , windy (sometimes icy) Scenic Caves Road, to get from the bottom of Blue Mountain to the top where they have a 1.1 km (.68 mi) skating loop. Skating Rink is very popular but Scenic Caves Road can be hard to navigate without snow tires. The view of Georgian Bay is lovely, so this will be there first lift that climbs the mountain at an angle for sight seeing. I hope it gets built.
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I can assure you the drive up Scenic Caves Road was the last thing they thought of when planning this…
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Scenic caves road is free….the gondola won’t be.
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I wonder if they will convert Silver Bullet to an 8-person…
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Doubt it . Trail capacity is maxed out as it is.
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What about the L-Hill lift they wanted to build? Any whispers on that?
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I would doubt it…..same answer trail capacity.
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Im suprised Blue mountain isn’t aquiring and expanding its terrain further left of the village and putting the gondola there to spread out the crowds more. Blue Mountain is essentially just a ridge that spans dozens of km past the terrain boundary and with lift lines now rivalling Tremblant’s as the worst on the east coast of North America, it seems like a relatively easy expansion by east coast standards.
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Brett. Your points are all correct. However, for this to be possible a Blue Mountain Owner, long before Alterra would have needed to acquire the land and move a road (Scenic Caves Road ) which right now is just two hundred feet( to the right) as you get off the top ramp of the Orchard Express Six pack at Blue Mountain. Fortunately, or unfortunately (depending on your view) the land on that Ridge is heavily controlled and regulated for development, by an organization called the Niagara |Escarpment Commission, an agency of the Government of Ontario. Fortunately for Blue, Scenic Caves Road bends sharply to the right from the top of the Orchard Six Chair, allowing Blue Mountain to have seven runs plus a snowshoe trail on that Orchard Six Pod. Expansion to the left of the village. No more room because of Scenic Caves Road. Getting permission to cross that road for ski hill expansion might be tough from the agency mentioned above, the Niag Esc Com. My two cents.
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Thanks for the correction and the detailed information. Makes sense now why BM has not gone down that route
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