Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Month: July 2024
News Roundup: Olympic Games
- Colorado’s Governor, Doppelmayr and investors break ground on the Mighty Argo Cable Car project in Idaho Springs.
- Alterra presses pause on a new parking gondola at the base of Steamboat.
- The Forest Service weighs whether to allow chairlifts at a proposed bike park in Arkansas.
- The International Olympic Committee selects Salt Lake City to host the 2034 games with events at Deer Valley, Park City and Snowbasin.
- A wildfire tears through Jasper, Alberta with Marmot Basin cautiously optimistic but no word on the fate of the Jasper SkyTram.
- Mt. Abram’s Mainside chairlift will miss the rest of the summer due to maintenance.
- An update on Jackson Hole’s new Sublette detachable quad:
Instagram Tuesday: Broadway Express
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Exploration
- Arizona Snowbowl will replace the Aspen double with a Skytrac quad beginning next week.
- Eaglecrest may eliminate features such as restrooms to get its used gondola project off the ground.
- Red Deer, Alberta considers building a river crossing urban gondola.
- A gondola is one option for connecting two parts of Snowmass Village.
- Twin VonRoll gondolas disappear from the map and list of attractions at Six Flags Great Adventure.
- The urban gondola in Medellín that suffered a fatal cabin detachment last month reopened today.
- Public hearings on the proposed Shadow Mountain Bike Park in Conifer, Colorado are set for September.
West Virginia Kicks Off Second Gondola Project
Over the weekend the State of West Virginia broke ground on an $8 million gondola project at Hawks Nest State Park. Doppelmayr will build the fixed grip system, which will carry visitors down 465 vertical feet to the New River and be fully ADA accessible. The top drive, bottom tension design will feature three six passenger cabins in a pulse configuration. A fourth carrier will accommodate kayaks and other outdoor recreation equipment. The new gondola replaces a 1970 Hall jig-back which closed in 2021 due to safety concerns. “A whole lot of people who love Hawks Nest State Park have been waiting for the tram project,” said West Virginia Governor Jim Justice at the groundbreaking. “Hundreds of thousands of folks have created memories here on the tram over the last 50 years, and I’m excited for the next hundred thousand visitors to the park to be able to do just the same.”
This is the second gondola construction project underway in the Mountain State. A $12.4 million gondola is set to open at Pipestem State Park this fall. The Hawks Nest gondola is expected to follow in late spring 2025, completing the replacement of two iconic ropeways. Governor Justice said he expects to be among the first to ride each new gondola with his Bulldog named Babydog.
Instagram Tuesday: Alpental
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Wilderness
- The former Lake Catamount ski resort site near Steamboat may be designated wilderness.
- Discovery Land Company details plans for a private ski resort at Stagecoach, also near Steamboat.
- Mt. Baldy, California escapes damage from a wildfire.
- Burke Mountain could be sold soon via auction.
- Utah reports 6.75 million skier visits, second most ever.
- An all-glass aerial tramway cabin debuts in the Swiss Alps.
- More Lift Blog media coverage in Powder and the Salt Lake Tribune.
Monarch Mountain Expansion Approved
With the electronic stroke of a pen, the Forest Service green-lighted a 377 acre expansion of Colorado’s Monarch Mountain yesterday. The project will include 62 acres of cleared trails, gladed terrain, a fixed grip triple chairlift, restrooms and a warming hut in No Name Basin. “We are SO excited to actually get started on this project after years of planning and project review by multiple entities,” said Scott Pressly, Vice President of Mountain Operations. The basin’s 2,700 foot chairlift will rise 960 vertical feet and become Monarch’s first new lift in 25 years.
The no-frills ski area plans to begin work soon. “This project will involve two summers of construction (2024 & 2025) with the No Name Basin terrain scheduled to open for the 2025-26 winter season,” wrote Pressly. Monarch has not publicly identified the manufacturer of the new lift, though Skytrac built its very first lift drive terminal at the ski area, naming it the Monarch.
Instagram Tuesday: Hot
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Last Journey
- Indy Pass adds Ragged Mountain, NH; Middlebury Snowbowl, VT; Camden Snowbowl, ME; Mt. Abram, ME; Hatley Pointe, NC and Cape Smokey, NS to its roster.
- The public operator of Belleayre, Gore Mountain and Whiteface reports an annual operating loss in excess of $47 million, not including approximately $80 million in capital spending.
- Grouse Mountain’s only current means of access breaks down, closing the mountain for most of the Canada Day long weekend.
- Five people remain hospitalized from last week’s deadly gondola incident in Colombia, the investigation is focused on an issue with one cabin rather than the entire system.
- The Dodgers Stadium gondola in Los Angeles eyes a 2028 opening.
- Brian Head proposes adding 1,570 acres to its permit area.
- A confirmed Six Shooter sighting near Sugarloaf.
- A woman is killed in Italy falling from a material cableway not designed for people.
- Mt. Bohemia reopens its triple chair with a new Skytrac return terminal.
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