- Epic Pass adds one more Austrian partner – the mighty Sölden.
- Kirsten Lynch resigns as CEO of Vail Resorts and is succeeded by former CEO Rob Katz.
- Vail details the next phase of its Resource Efficiency Transformation Plan, including reorganizing resort divisions, combining snowmaking/grooming/terrain parks into one department and restructuring summer operations.
- President Trump delays implementation of a new 50 percent tariff on the European Union to July 9th.
- The 10 percent “Liberation Day” tariffs are briefly struck down then reimposed by different federal judges.
- Entabeni Systems closes on its purchase of Black Mountain, New Hampshire.
- Holiday Mountain, New York looks to fund a new chairlift in part by making the top station a billboard along NY-17/future Interstate 86.
- A guest gets caught hanging from clothing on a Mammoth chairlift over Memorial Day Weekend.
- Bartholet releases its 2025 Reference Book.
- A new chairlift project pops up in the Forest Service NEPA system for Aspen Mountain.
- No one bids on privatizing Marble Mountain; the Government of Newfoundland and Labrador will continue operations.
- A new aerial tramway in Texas gets $7 million closer to construction.
- Deer Valley won’t break ground on Snow Park Redevelopment this summer after all.
Lift Blog 
WTH?? How is Rob Katz back as CEO of Vail? Did something happen to Kirsten Lynch?
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It’s not unheard of for large companies to revert back to the previous CEO after what shareholders view as a failed transition. Disney is the case study, with Bob Iger and Bob Chapek. Skiers may not hold a high opinion of Katz, but the shareholders and board care about returns and not much else.
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Those Vail emails are quite something. I don’t think I’ve ever read a message that used so many words to say so little.
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Vail’s announcement was 95% gobbly-gook. As for Kirsten Lynch, it looks like Late Apex Partners collected a scalp. LAP seems otherwise happy with this announcement, though.
The ax is already swinging locally. :-( I know of one mid level manager with over three decades of institutional knowledge and experience sacked solely to reduce payroll. Vail $u¢ks.
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That’s fairly common in today’s corporate and even mom and pop world. They’ll do whatever they have to to reduce costs. Loyalty means nothing- you are replaceable or sackable.. I suppose.
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Crescent Hill, Iowa dropped their master plan 5/31 and it mentions adding carpets to a new beginner area and replacing the double in “Phase 2”. Replacing the Quad in “Phase 3”.
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The project name “Nell to Bell” somewhat implies a replacement for the Bell Mtn. double chair along roughly the same line. Not sure how that might make sense otherwise.
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I was thinking that “Nell to Bell” probably means they plan to replace both Bell Mountain and Little Nell with one chair (running from bottom of Little Nell to top of Bell Mountain).
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Not sure that alignment would make much sense, as it would effectively duplicate the Silver Queen gondola line, requiring skiers/riders to go all the way to the bottom. The current Bell Mtn chair takes you from the top of the Little Nell chair to the top of Bell, avoiding the crowded intermediate run out at the bottom. If they aren’t going to load a future Bell Mtn replacement at/near the junction of Copper and Spar Gulch, then the current line is really the only one that makes sense. This would give them better redundancy on the east side of the mountain in cases where wind/maintenance are impacting Silver Queen.
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Little Nell and Bell Mtn. work together to provide access to the upper mountain of Ajax in case the Silver Queen goes down for mechanical or wether related issues. I’d say having a replacement for both would work out fine as both are slow fixed grip lifts currently, and could use an upgrade at some point.
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It is titled “NellBell”, not Nell to Bell – that little word makes a difference. I believe the intent is to replace both lines with a single chair prior to a replacement/upgrade of the Silver Queen gondola that may take two years to accomplish.
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That’s weird. I could have sworn it was “Nell to Bell” but no arguing with what’s there now. I would still submit that long term, this alignment doesn’t make much sense. Yes it provides redundancy for Silver Queen but effectively along the same line, with the same drawbacks in terms of the long run out for anyone trying to lap the mid-mountain terrain.
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Maybe there will be a mid load similar to West Buttermilk to alleviate that runout? Otherwise, I agree with you on it being kind of a pain from a skiers perspective… unless the Queen is down for whatever reason
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Right. This is especially the case with the new 1A happening. If the Queen goes down, you’d still have two ways up the mountain with relatively high capacity between the Little Nell quad> Bell Mtn and 1A>Ruthie’s.
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Aspen Mountain’s 2018 Master Plan shows two options for a Lift 5 (Bell Mountain) replacement: one with the bottom terminal at the intersection of Copper and Spar, and one with the bottom terminal near the former bottom of Lift 9 (Gent’s Ridge). Neither of these would be accessible out of base, but in my mind that wouldn’t be a big deal with the forthcoming Lift 1A project – if the gondola goes down, that would be the main access to the upper mountain.
https://www.fs.usda.gov/sites/nfs/files/r02/whiteriver/publication/Chapter%206.pdf
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Hope they don’t do an unannounced removal of Bell like they did to Gent’s last summer. Bell has too much history and it should be celebrated proper.
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