Powderhorn, Colorado will welcome a new lift for its 60th season, expanding detachable access to 100 percent of terrain in 2026. The new Wild West Express will replace the venerable West End double, which has served the western half of the resort since 1972. The new lift will cut ride time by more than half from 13-plus minutes to about six. Pending Forest Service approval, Wild West will follow a shorter alignment terminating 700 feet below the current top station.
Leitner-Poma of America, headquartered in nearby Grand Junction, will realize the project utilizing parts from the former Elk Camp lift at Snowmass. LPOA plans to overhaul both terminals, rebuild sheave assemblies, replace the electrical drive system and supply new grips. Leitner-Poma and Powderhorn completed a similar refurbishment to create Powderhorn’s other detachable, the Flat Top Flyer, in 2015. That project included used equipment from Marble Mountain in Newfoundland, Canada. Interestingly Poma constructed both Elk Camp and the Marble lift in 1995 and the two machines will reunite at Powderhorn 30 years later. “Powderhorn has a special place in my heart, both personally and professionally,” said Daren Cole, President and CEO of Leitner-Poma and former Powderhorn general manager. “Our teams are excited to work on our hometown mountain. Once the lift goes through our rigorous refurbishment process, it will feel like a brand-new installation. Powderhorn is an essential asset for this community, and we are honored to be a part of their future.”
Powderhorn is one of six regional mountains operated by Pacific Group Resorts and a new detachable is a big deal for the company which last built a lift eleven years ago. “This is a major step forward for Powderhorn,” noted Powderhorn General Manager Ryan Schramm. “Installing a high-speed lift on the west side of the resort will feel like opening new terrain,” he continued. “The old West End lift was long enough that most people only did a run or two before returning to the Flat Top Flyer. This upgrade marks the next chapter in our commitment to invest in the resort’s future and enhance the guest experience across the mountain.” Construction is expected to commence in summer 2026 with opening planned for the 2026-27 ski season.
Lift Blog 
No!!!! Leave it alone!!!
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word. that area is soooo nice right now. way less hectic than the main area. also it sounds like the new lift won’t have the pond flyover near the top :/
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The pow lasted all day on the west side…
To be fair, the previous West End lift looked and felt real old. I do wish the replacement was just a triple or something fixed. The ride length never bothered me, I’d spend a good 5-10 min of each ride just scouting lines. The area is steep, gladed, and un-groomed enough that I never minded the extra few min of ride time to recover.
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I have a feeling the crowds this upgrade will attract will only stick to the groomers/cleared runs. The main appeal to West End in my mind is the endless amount of glades and tight trees, where the powder lasts forever. I can’t imagine that’ll be too affected.
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when you pop out from an Aspen grove into a pillow line with a little cliff drop at the end and just enjoy that everyone in the state is somewhere else.
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Seriously though, this is a good deal for Powderhorn. I also liked the praise and appreciation shown to Powderhorn by LPOA. West End is indeed tired and has served well. She’s earned her retirement.
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Why shorten it?
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really though? Unfortunate. It won’t be 100% of area serviced by high speed lifts, when we lose >2% of the resort area’s lift access lol.
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you mean the rock garden that isn’t steep enough to ski, and definitely not snowboard? It’s just gonna end in front of the pile of rocks that currently is where the break over is, followed by the pond. The mountain will lose like 2 acres of cat track.
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@W2OShredder while I agree that it’s not quite justifiable to shorten it, there is probably a reason for why that is. Judging from a quick look on GoogleMaps and the scoping map above, it looks like the shortened length would provide better access to the Tenderfoot (left) and Red Eye and Bear Claw trails (right), which looks like quite narrow to start off when you exit the chair currently.
However, with (roughly) 700 feet shortened from the top terminal that exists now, that is still quite a lot of length chopped off.
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I don’t know the area, I am only looking at Google Maps, however maybe, in an attempt to lessen the overall imprint on the land (by building a new lift), the offer was made to shorten the lift so that fewer trees (and therefor less wildlife habitat) would need to be affected. Skiers may focus on one run gets shortened by a couple hundred feet, while Management might have said the lift goes in at a lower price and look how many trees we saved. Just my two cents. I sure that once the lift in done, most people won’t notice a few feet got chopped off. Besides: 10% faster by getting off sooner. And the bottom terminal probably got moved forward a bit too, so the entire 700 feet is probably not coming off the top.
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Not in this case. Powderhorn sits on the edge of a fairly flat mesa, and the current West End double actually gets to the flat part. The liftline underneath the top few hundred feet of lift only gains 10′ vertical. The flat section it’s travelling over is also a big pile of rocks that rarely fills in, so it hasn’t been skiable. 2 cat tracks will get slightly shorter. West End was built “too long” because it made sense for the unload design, not to have optimal terrain access. This will literally be better.
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The top of this lift is currently just a bunch of catwalk in every direction. Shortening the lift should take away effectively zero access to the terrain you want to ski. The pond flyover was neat and all, but it was always annoying to get to the top of the lift line and still have 1-2 minutes of ridetime just to get to a flat zone you need to skate through anyway.
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it was a good snowboarder deterrent tho … like Pioneer @ Winter Park, pre-mid station lol
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The shortened length on top may be related to slight differences in lengths of Elk Camp lift v West End lift. West End is a very long lift, seems more comparable to Two Creeks or Sheer Bliss in length. According to the plan submitted to the forest service, placing the top terminal at tower 22 on current West End won’t take away much terrain since the last 3 towers are on flat terrain. It might be a slightly longer traverse to Thunder Mountain and Mudslide glades and the main mountain but should still work out well. It will be nice skiing/riding more than 3-4 runs per hour on that side of the mountain.
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Elk Camp is 7,600 feet long, West End is 7,000 feet (soon to be a bit shorter).
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For anyone who has not skied the West End, the top is flat as a pancake. The new location for the top terminal will be a benefit for all users.
I just hope they have fewer hairs further spaced apart on the line so capacity is not raised too much on that side of the resort.
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There will undoubtedly be a capacity increase. West End currently carries 1,020 pph, Elk Camp carried 1,600.
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Being the second refurbed install by LPOA at Powderhorn and the fact they are part of PGR, I do wonder if this relationship will expand our now to more PHR resorts. We all know brand new lifts aren’t getting any less expensive, so I wonder if this will mark a push across PGR to do refurbished installs with LPOA for upgrades? Thinking Jay Peak for example.
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RIP to another real one.
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