- Snow Partners and Mountain Collective form an alliance, offering discounts on each other’s multi-mountain products for passholders.
- Snow Triple Play adds Kissing Bridge, NY to its partner lineup.
- Ikon Pass signs three more mountains to the two day bonus tier: Grouse Mountain & SilverStar in BC and Ski Butternut in Massachusetts (full Ikon only, subject to blackout dates.)
- The Black Mountain Community Corporation completes land acqusition and seeks initial accredited investors.
- Investors in Burke Mountain’s EB-5 projects will get only 36 percent of their principal back as part of the mountain’s sale.
- Cannon Mountain partners with SCJ Alliance to perform structural analysis on the soon-to-close aerial tramway and determine what components could be re-used on a new tram.
- A jury finds the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and a drop ride manufacturer liable for $205 million after a child’s death; the gondola-accessed park says “the size of the total jury verdict award puts the existence of Glenwood Caverns at serious risk.”
- Camelback removes two chairlifts from its trail map: Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
- Amid removal rumors, I asked Hunter Mountain about D-Lift and the Highlands Poma. GM Trent Poole shared the following:
“We’re in the process of removing the D-Lift. Thanks to last year’s Epic Lift Upgrade – the new Broadway Express – our updated lift infrastructure provides faster, more efficient access than what D-Lift provided, and similar terrain can be accessed at Hunter North via the Northern Express. At this point, the lift is both redundant and outdated, and the time and resources needed to revive this lift are better focused where guests will see a positive impact to their experience on mountain, like our snowmaking upgrades.
The Highlands Poma is something our team has discussed as part of long-term planning. We’re always exploring ways to enhance the guest experience, and that lift remains part of the broader conversation. For now, our focus is on showcasing the significant upgrades we’ve already delivered—Broadway Express, Otis, and automated snowmaking additions—along with maximizing the terrain available on Hunter North, West, and East. It’s also worth noting that Hunter is the only ski resort in New York to feature three high-speed six-passenger lifts: Northern Express, Katskill Flyer, and Broadway Express. For now, we’re confident in the strength and efficiency of our current lift system.”
- A lift and parking expansion pops up the Forest Service system for Lost Trail, Montana.
- White Pass to sell and auction Riblet double chairs.
- A mechanic is killed after becoming entangled in terminal machinery in Switzerland.
- Grand Junction’s newspaper catches up with a busy Leitner-Poma.
- The first urban gondola in the Paris region to open December 13th.
- More than 5.4 million people rode Mexico City’s Cablebús Line 3 in the first year of operation.
- Vermont’s Brattleboro Ski Hill seeks donations to continue offering $5 lift tickets to the community and upgrade controls on its 1964 T-Bar.
- Eaglecrest begins gondola road construction and issues an RFP for a general contractor:
Lift Blog 
Sad to hear that Hunter’s D-Lift is now retired. I first rode it in 2004 on my first visit to Hunter, and I rode it all the time when I was skiing there regularly from 2011-2016. It never had a line, and directly served some of the resort’s signature trails. I always appreciated the old school feel. I even have one of the original triple chairs. That being said, I understand the decision to remove it. The Broadway Express can move probably the same number of people as both B and D combined, and it serves all but 2 trails that D served. It didn’t run a single day last year, and I figured it was on borrowed time. I’m glad I got to ride it as much as I did.
Here’s a recording I took, in December 2019, shortly after it was converted to a double.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Sad to see this one go too! I have many fond memories on D lift as well, in my case from the 1990s when I was a kid growing up in the area. I wonder how many more years H lift over at Hunter One will remain standing; once it’s removed that’ll end the era of classic (pre-Alpha drive) Pomas at Hunter. At least the original Snowlite Express lives on in its refurbished form on the West Side.
LikeLike
Hey Peter, it seems that the method of searching with nothing in the search bar doesn’t really work to find new posts anymore, do you know of anyway to get around this so that we can see when you post new lifts onto the blog?
LikeLiked by 1 person
I’m shuddering imagining getting entangled in terminal equipment. Final Destinination-ish death.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Interesting that Deer Valley paint their pylons green. I can’t remember ever seeing a resort painting their pylons at all; its usually bare steel.
Do they have to repaint it often for wear and tear?
LikeLike
Also in Utah, powder mountain is painting their towers too. I’m not sure what is the frequency of repainting.
LikeLike
Painted lifts are so prevalent they support a micro industry of business that paint ski lifts.
As for repainting, it really depends on the environmental conditions the lift is exposed to. Quite a few places have an internal plan they follow, but if you look through the collection of photos here you’ll notice that paint doesn’t make it on the budget very often at some mountains.
LikeLike