One of the smallest-gauge gondolas in North American skiing could soon be headed for retirement. The Forest Service today posted Loon Mountain Resort’s application to replace the four passenger White Mountain Express Gondola with a 10 seat D-Line model from Doppelmayr. The new flagship would follow roughtly the same alignment and be constructed in 2027 or 2028. “The current gondola is one of the oldest detachable lifts in New England and nearing the end of its life cycle,” Loon wrote in its application to the White Mountain National Forest. “Visitation at Loon has increased significantly since 1988 when the current gondola was installed. Increasing the uphill capacity of the existing lift from 1,000 people per hour to approximately 1,800 to 2,400 people per hour would better serve guests.” Ten passenger cabins aren’t required to achieve such capacity but they’ve become the gold standard globally for gondolas. With ample space, families can ride together, lessons don’t need to split up and wheelchairs or mountain bikes are easily accommodated. Loon’s parent company, Boyne Resorts, recently partnered with Doppelmayr to install a similar 10 place gondola at Big Sky Resort. Like at Big Sky, I expect the new Loon gondola will feature Omega V cabins, heated seats and a direct drive.
The bottom terminal will move uphill and out of the Octagon Lodge while the top terminal will sit near the current one. Carrier parking will be included at one or both stations. The 7,000 foot long lift line will need to be widened from 35 feet to 65 feet, resulting in up to five acres of disturbance. At last week’s National Ski Areas Association convention, Under Secretary of Agriculture for Natural Resources and Environment Michael Boren told the industry the Forest Service plans to work expeditiously moving projects through environmental reviews. The Forest Service expects to analyze Loon’s project via a Categorical Exclusion, the lowest of three levels under the National Environmental Policy Act. A smaller pulse gondola project is also currently under review by the Town of Lincoln, which would connect Loon’s South Peak base with RiverWalk Resort at Loon Mountain. It’s possible Doppelmayr could construct both lifts at the same time.
When Loon’s existing gondola is retired, Telluride will operate the only remaining four place gondola in North American skiing.
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End of its life cycle? Amazing how a 64 Year old Von Roll VR 101 still operates and has no end of life. They dont build them like they use to
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So i do understand the towers on the Loon Gondola were built in 1966. What other parts are original PHB Hall? and what parts were Dopplemayr 1988?
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Not sure what you would classify the Jordanelle gondola at Deer Valley. If im not mistaken if can technically fit 6 people but they only load 4 max.
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On paper it’s a six place.
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One of the oft stated reasons that they didn’t upgrade this lift was that there wasn’t enough trail capacity on the summit to support the extra traffic. Now I’m sure they’ve done their homework on this, but I do wonder if they will do anything mitigate that potential problem? Cut or widen trails off the summit? Improve the snowmaking in the East Basin area to get those trails open reliably?
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Whether it ends up at 1,800 or 2,400 pph, that’s modest as far as gondolas go. The new Deer Valley, Steamboat and Big Sky gondolas are designed for 3,000, 3,200 and 3,270 per hour respectively.
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