- Challenger at Mount Snow is down due to mechanical.
- Two people are hospitalized after falling from the Mountaintop Express at Vail.
- Canyons Village Management Association says the outgoing Cabriolet will not move to replace Frostwood after all but it’s in talks to sell the Cab to another mountain.
- Lake Louise’s new map depicts the Richardson’s Ridge expansion.
- Quebec clears Mont-Sainte-Anne to reopen lifts ordered closed for inspection last week.
- Eaglecrest delays the opening of the summit Ptarmigan lift due to extended maintenance.
- Crystal Mountain, Washington will operate at limited capacity through January due to a road washout.
- British Columbia selects a new operator for closed Tabor Mountain.
- Telluride details where negotiations stand with its ski patrol union. Both sides plan to meet Saturday.
- The last segment of the first Bartholet Ropetaxi on demand gondola opened today.
- Also a remarkable new 3S in the Dolomites.
- Leitner opens its first Ropera next-gen detachable.
- MND’s first production Orizon detachable to be commissioned summer 2026 in Uzbekistan.
- ORDA may spend $3 million on a consultant to guide maintenance on more than $600 million in infrastructure.
- Loon Mountain formally seeks approval to build the Gateway pulse gondola.
- A new ownership group is under contract to purchase Hermon Mountain, Maine.
- The Royal Gorge, Colorado gondola to receive glass floors in 2026.
- Instead of replacing two lifts in 2026, Mt. Ashland will likely do Windsor in 2026 and Ariel for 2027.
Lift Blog 
Stevens Pass is also in trouble as the only highway accessing the area from Seattle will be closed for months. Vail Resorts is making many friends by refusing to refund epic passes bought by locals since there is an alternative road accessing the area that adds 100 miles to the trip making it a 4 hour trip each way.
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Since when is any ski area responsible for factors out side their control? Sucks people can’t access the hill easily, but this is not on Vail, much as the whiners disagree. Buying a pass has risks. The two big ones are snow and access.
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I agree that the road access isn’t a valid refund reason, but the Epic T&Cs are pretty clear that 7 days of closure (It has been 9 days since the flooding) due to a natural disaster (Flooding is explicitly listed as a natural disaster) during the Core Season (which started December 7th) qualify for a refund (if Stevens Pass was selected as your resort for Epic Coverage).
I do think you are going to get a lot more Washingtonians this winter up at Whistler this season with the road closure. East-side access should open up for SP this week (about 20 dump trucks of gravel passed my house today), but the west-side closure (and eventual traffic once a lane is open) will push people north.
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doesn’t epic have some sort of force majeure clause? Even if they didn’t, acting like a cable monopoly and pissing off customers seldom works when they have substitutes. And in Seattle they do.
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@AussieRob that’s a really bad take if you ask me.
Washington state has the washout declared a natural disaster and has closed Highway 2 for months. This severely impacted communities and workers across Washington.
Against that backdrop, it’s disappointing to see Stevens Pass characterize this as a mere “traffic challenge” and refuse any season-pass flexibility, even a temporary deferral, while access is materially blocked.
Other WA resorts recognized the moment and offered accommodations.
Stevens Pass hasn’t.
This isn’t about skiing. It’s about how large operators respond when a disaster affects real people and access to public infrastructure.
The least Vail could do is offer some sympathy towards the people who have lost their investment with the mountain.
That’s apparently too hard for Vail.
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Vail chooses to advertise free “Epic Coverage” in order to sell passes. It covers “Natural Disasters” defined as flood, hurricane, tornado, earthquake, fire, or volcanic eruption. Epic Coverage has been widely criticized because it’s run by a large claims company called Sedgwick with poor customer service.
Right now Stevens is closed due to lack of snow and the road situation. Soon there will be snow and then it’s purely a road situation. Perhaps not a flood situation but a road situation caused by a flood.
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As someone within the closure zone, I have 4 days of touring at SP this year and they do have enough snow. They aren’t open today because
It is a super complex situation but saying that Stevens Pass’s closure is not due to a natural disaster is disingenuous.
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Yeah, this is clearly an Epic Coverage-qualifying event. There’s certainly enough snow up there for at least a limited opening at this point.
That said, I don’t begrudge Vail waiting a bit longer to see if WSDOT can get the road open from the west (which apparently wasn’t as hard-hit as the east side). Apparently there’s already a contractor working on cleanup and repairs in at least one section. But their poor communication is what leads to people asking for refunds. If they were simply more transparent and communicative (updates to their website and social media in the morning and evening each day with status reports, even if there’s nothing new to share), that would cut down on a lot of the frustration and anxiety.
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I can only see a handful of mountains wanting to buy the Cabriolet, like Mt. Hood Meadows where it could drastically increase the size of its Sunrise Parking lot.
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Loon could buy it!
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Snowmass too. There were plans to replace Sky Cab.
It can be also great for skyrides at fairs or amusement parks.
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I vote Jackson Hole, nice flat straight away from Ranch Lot to Base area. And I believe is/was a proposed solution over the buses at somepoint.
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When was the last time a cabriolet was made new? Seems like they used to be somewhat popular, at least at intrawest resorts
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