- Mountain Capital Partners successfully brings back Sandia Peak Ski Area, opening for the first time in three seasons tomorrow.
- Doppelmayr plans a €200 million expansion in Wolfurt to support strong ropeway demand, particularly in North America.
- The Colorado Supreme Court will hear the case of a rider seriously injured falling from Crested Butte’s Paradise Express.
- A skier sues Sun Peaks for a chairlift unloading injury.
- The sale of Jackson Hole to a new ownership group closes.
- Mt. Hood Meadows eyes building a new Lift 15 pod in 2026 and replacing Heather Canyon in 2027.
- Lake Louise continues construction over winter on a UNI-G bubble six pack for next season.
- In China, an unseated passenger is successfully rescued after operators reverse a lift.
- Sugarbush’s new Heaven’s Gate quad will be a Doppelmayr Tristar with loading conveyor costing $3.2 million.
- Teton Pass Ski Area’s owner pens a letter explaining why he was forced to close after just four operating this season.
- Mammoth Mountain’s Broadway Express is expected to close April 1st for removal and replacement.
Lift Blog 
I drove up to Teton Pass midweek about a month ago and the snow conditions were dire. The lodge and lift both looked to be in great shape though, it had a homey feel that makes me really want to return, that and the incredible views, lack of crowds, and unpretentious attitude. We loved the town of Choteau too.
The boneyard up near the base area is chock full with SLI chairs, sheaves, sheave trains, operator houses, and what looks like motor room equipment. They’ve all sat a while so I’m unsure of their present condition.
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The owner has been very proactive over the years, I think Sierra at tahoe and Pomerelle SLI lifts are in his boneyard.
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Pomerelle, Tahoe Donner SLIS, Wilmot Halls, Bridger Bowl and Hogadon Riblets. It’s quite the collection.
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So this is why some lifts can run in reverse (aside from chair parking)
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How do you go about running a lift in reverse?
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We put it in reverse. I’m not being snarky.
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Huh. For some reason i always assumed they where one way
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Some are. The Eclipse Triple at Tenney Mountain is one such example, the only way that they can “run” it in reverse is with a pipe wrench on the shaft from the evacuation engine with the clutch released. Others, such as many modern detachables, such as Doppelmayr D-Lines, can do it at the touch of a button.
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For decades that was the case. There are one-way backstops and bearings on the drivelines to prevent the lift from rolling backwards. However, with advances in technology and engineering, it’s become possible to eliminate the mechanical backstops and therefore allow the lift to run in reverse, with limited speed. Great for maintenance, and, as we can see here, the occasional passenger misload.
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Do lift gearboxes have a reverse gear, or do you guys release the clutch, or is stuff like this only possible with direct drive?
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we have 4 1998 Dopp Detaches at my resort. For reverse it is as easy as turning the key from Forward to Reverse.
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Three Doppelmayrs here, ‘94, ‘11, ‘17. All work as Kasey mentions. What actually happens is the motor spins backwards relative to normal ops. No reverse gear necessary.
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The Crested Butte suit could be summarized as, “Misload goes badly”. Typically, when it comes to smaller kids, an attendant will comes up behind the chair to help with hoisting the kid into the chair. This is probably going to be attributed to an inattentive lift attendant much like was the case with the recent case of the woman on Heavenly’s gondola.
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I think it’s still pretty rare that an attendant will walk behind the chair, though it does seem to be more prevalent in the last year or two. Also not ideal at fixed grips with 1 worker.
I did have one of my twins hanging off a chair once. It was a rare double misload, and I was initially helping the other one. Decided to push her off at about 5 feet up rather than trying to pull her up and risking having her still hanging on up higher. We were probably about 15 feet up when the lift stopped.
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The Sun Peaks BC Supreme Court case is wilder. The claims says she was hit at the unload by the chair behind her chair. Lawyer probably doesn’t realize Burfield has the longest chair interval on the continent at 31 seconds. That is an eternity. If you can’t get out of the way in 31 seconds…
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Since Burfield’s chairs have the spacing of a 2,400 pph high speed quad, it makes me think the plaintiff’s injuries are more likely a result of her own negligence.
I could possibly believe these claims if this incident happened on the adjacent Crystal lift, however, given the chairs on that lift are very tightly spaced.
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I hope that that lawyer rides Burfield soon….
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Should be an easy win for Sun Peaks. 😂
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I’ll add that I’ve been bonked by the Burf a couple times upon unload; but that’s making contact with the chair I just unloaded from and not the one behind.
In one case, there were very strong winds at the summit in the opposite direction to the lift, so when we unloaded, a strong gust of wind blew us back into the seat, and we had to shove ourselves off again to get clear.
In a more recent case, it just seemed like we couldn’t get enough speed to glide clear of the chair before it went around the bullwheel; and they even had a sign drawn next to the lift shack that said “Push off chair!” or something to that effect. I wonder if this is what happened to the woman: she was knocked over by her own chair after unloading too slowly (perhaps from the inside seat). This is something I could imagine, given her description of the fall.
The article obviously does say “next chair” so clearly the story hasn’t been thought through…
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completly agree
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Follow up to this:
https://www.denver7.com/news/state-news/liability-waivers-dont-shield-ski-resorts-that-violate-state-law-colorado-supreme-court-rules
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In addition to the Lift 15 beginner pod, Mount Hood Meadows’ master plan includes something for a high speed quad on Elevator, running from near the summit of Stadium and Heather Canyon up to the top of Elevator.
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on the master plan linked it looks like Lift 15 actually runs south of Vista and Buttercup down towards the sunrise parking lot- so this would mostly serve beginner terrain
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I unfortunately didn’t go to Sandia today, but I did go to Pajarito. I started swinging my chair on Mother, and the people behind me told me to stop for safety. I felt like the insert clip would come off, since they’re dangerous
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First off, please don’t swing the chair. The people behind you were absolutely correct. Second off, the clips aren’t dangerous.
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These people were also afraid the lift would derail or chair would run into a tower, like the Montana Snowbowl incident. I once loaded on the outside of a chair (Sierra at Ski Santa Fe) and the chair itself was swinging without me doing it, and the hanger arm hit a guardrail on a tower
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Don’t ever swing the chair. It’s that simple.
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Who does that on purpose aside from 16 year old boys who don’t know any better?
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I thought all doppelmayr bubble six packs must be D-Line now?
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The upper Juniper at Lake Louise will be a UNI-G
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And in new trail map news…Wild Mountain, MN. has a complete reimagined mountain look for their new map.
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Yes, and I absolutely HATE it. I think it’s supposed to give a retro vibe but to me it just looks dated and they need to bring the old one back.
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I’m surprised Doppelmayr is investing that €200M in one spot. I didn’t see any mention of the North American manufacturing plants in St. Jerome and Salt Lake. That’s too bad.
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Yep, especially when so much of the detachable product comes from overseas. Make some more of it in North America.
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If you read the article they give several good reasons for this investment, and since that’s their home base, I can’t say as I blame them.
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They’re certainly addressing some legitimate localized impacts with the expansion, I don’t think anyone is blaming them for any of the decision(s) they’ve made, but my opinion is:
There’s a manufacturing potential their North American plants could be expanded upon. I’d be interested in their reasoning as to why more of the D-Line machinery isn’t produced here. Nine North American D-Lines in 23’ by tonnage makes a huge case, then consider the forecasted sales…you see where I’m going with this. If you look at the wages, the local labor markets feeding the two NA plants are at a loss.
On the flip side who’s to say they won’t, but if they will in the future, why wouldn’t they state it?
There isn’t anything technologically different about the D-Line machinery (compared to any other detachable technology) that couldn’t be manufactured closer to the NA customer even when considering differences in steel prices.
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I see where you’re going with this, yes. I was addressing the original assumption that Doppelmayr was ignoring the North American market, at least on the labour side.
I think you’re absolutely correct that they could manufacture more parts over here. I would think there would be cost savings in shipping at a minimum. If they, like Leitner and Poma, continue to maintain a Europe-only stance in building grips, they’d still save shipping costs if the large, bulky pieces are manufactured here. They already do that with the Uni terminals, and as you say there’s nothing really different about the D-Line from a technological perspective.
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