- The owner of Cape Smokey, Nova Scotia to acquire Ski Martock, also in Nova Scotia.
- Titcomb Mountain, Maine seeks final funding to replace its second T-Bar.
- Keystone proposes replacing A51 with a detachable quad.
- Yet another excellent Deer Valley construction update.
- Mantis Ropeway Technologies to install Assistance software on five lifts in Austria to detect misloads using AI.
- The BC Okanagan Gondola project hits a snag related to water.
- Mission Ridge, Washington launches an expansion website.
- Mountain Capital Partners to buy a majority stake in four more Chilean mountains.
- Sun Valley proposes more Bald Mountain lift upgrades.
- Four Seasons, New York looks to be liquidating its ski operations.
- A storm causes an aerial tramway to derope in Dornbirn, Austria. Even the rescue ropeway de-roped, requiring the use of a helicopter to save 19 passengers and a dog.
- Skeetawk, Alaska completes preliminary geotechnical work for a proposed upper mountain lift.
- Big Moose Mountain, Maine performs similar work with the goal of returning lift service to the summit.
Lift Blog 
Yup. Very much time indeed to replace A-51 at the Stone. As for Sun Valley… We already know 2026 will bring Lookout Express and Christmas replacements.. Frenchmans, Lookout (fixed grip), Mayday, and River Run are looking like probable targets.. for what exactly? Well let’s talk it out on here. What do you think?
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I personally think Mayday could become a detachable quad for faster lapping, and River Run may become a gondola. Sun Valley could even replace both River Run and Lookout with a 2 stage Chondola with mid loading station where the current River Run terminates and the current Lookout lift starts. The lift could be run as a whole or have both stages run separately, similar to the Wild Blue Gondola at Steamboat.
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@coloradoskilifts, due to the amount of staff necessary for operation with a mid-station, a chondola you describe is quite unlikely. I think it is best to keep them separate lifts because Lookout has more lappable terrain, while RR is just for out of base access.
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In that case, it seems River Run could become an 8 passenger gondola, and Lookout could either become a 6 or stay the same (I do not know how bad the lines get on Lookout)
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The plan as of last season was for the chondola.
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how exactly is a chondola with a mid more staff than 2 separate lifts? Its one less station to man.
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@withoutapal, because there are both chairs and gondolas to load and unload, so double the staff of a regular HSS or gondola, and then add a third station, it is more than two simpler lifts.
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I think The Storm podcast had someone from SV two months ago, and he’d apparently said that they’ve decided to not look to install a high speed lift for Mayday.
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Mayday’s probably going the route of a fixed grip quad with loading carpet.
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Faster lapping. When did skiing become like competitive swimming?
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You are correct about the chondola, at least that is what I always heard being discussed.
Never heard about a replacement in the works for Mayday. I hope they can just keep that lift running the way it is. Highly doubt it would ever become a high speed lift due to crowds being only on the rare powder days and the top terminal location would need an extensive rework to support such a large structure.
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I love Mayday as it is. No lines, pleasant ride up over some really nice terrain. I hope they get another decade out of it.
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Why would Keystone replace A51? It’s just a terrain park lift, I would rather see them replace Wayback. As for Sun Valley, I would suggest Mayday would be quite high on the list, but it also seems like SV is really trying to get rid of the Yan HSQ. River run is likely to happen before Frenchman since it is an out of base lift. I do not see the point in replacing Lookout (the triple) as it is effectively a connection lift that is not always open.
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I’d say with A51, it has something to do with shifting traffic over to that side of the mountain.
I wonder if they’ll extend it to make it a bit longer than the existing lift to make better use of that terrain in lower Packsaddle Bowl.
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I agree, Wayback should be the first priority instead of A-51. The quad feels so incredibly slow after riding so many detachables. Even though A-51 is a bit older, it makes so much sense to keep it a double as there is not much traffic on it anyway.
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Not sure why Wayback’s been put on the backburner. Maybe the resort thinks that it’s because bringing chairlift service to Bergman Bowl shifted some traffic away from the Outback.
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I feel like an A51 detachable quad is unnecessary, considering it is one of the shortest lifts on the mountain. I feel like a more appropriate idea is to replace it with a fixed-grip quad or triple.
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It’s worth noting that A-51 being upgraded was on older master plans.
And as this map shows, it also included extending the lift to start lower in Packsaddle Bowl.
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Please don’t confuse the Lookout express that is already getting replaced next year with the fixed grip lookout triple. I was referring to the Triple just on age alone. I’m sure she could go a good number of more years given she doesn’t get used as much as the others, but the bigger mountains like Sun Valley like to replace things before they become ancient.
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The most logical to me for Sun Valley is this…
Frenchman’s: Probably just replace with a new detachable quad. You could maybe make a case for upgrading, but it seems fine as is for the area it serves.
Lookout: Leave it as long as it works, remove without replacement once it doesn’t. It’s more of a convenience lift than one needed for terrain access.
Mayday: The length justifies a detachable, but a fixed grip would discourage access by those not ready for the terrain. Could see either type of quad.
River Run: This one really doesn’t make a ton of sense in its current position except as a reliever for the gondola, so I’d replace it with a six and extend it to end up by Flying Squirrel and Frenchman’s (possibly with a mid unload at the current top). This would allow for direct access to every main lift out of both base areas and give the lift more purpose than just providing an alternate path to the summit.
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1: seems appropriate, eventually.
2 agree for that too. If SV REALLY wants a new lift there, they should just do a FGQ.
3 Since it’s a more isolated lift, I would say a FGQ
4 Yeah, it only serves one or two runs, a 6 is all it needs since there is already a gondola too.
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Happy 4th of July!
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does MCP actually have control over these Chilean ski resorts other than Valle Nevado? Supposedly they bought la Parva yet they operate independently and do not have a combined lift pass. I’ll bet there are some quirks about what “ownership” means in chile that prevents foreigners from actually controlling ski resorts other than assets in some places
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From what I’ve seen and heard it’s almost the opposite, if you pay your taxes the Chilean government enforces much less oversight than land managers like the USFS, BLM, or Canadian Crown land.
I’ll ask a Chilean friend for more specifics, because the specifics could matter for the mega resort MCP seems to be attempting.
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I know Valle nevado, El colorado and la Parva are adjacent, but how plausible would connecting the three be, how many lifts, more acres etc?
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Since there is already a skiable connection between all three mountains, no new lifts should be needed for an interconnect. Not sure about acres.
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It’s interesting that no other big operators have gotten involved in South America. It seems like that could be one driver of this transaction with MCP––keeping out Vail or some other conglomerate.
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