Resorts of the Canadian Rockies today unveiled a landmark order for four Leitner-Poma and Skytrac quad chairlifts set to debut at three British Columbia mountains over the next two years. The news follows RCR’s similar deal with Doppelmayr for three detachable lifts at Mont-Sainte-Anne in March. The total commitment for seven new lifts is remarkable considering the company last built a lift in Western Canada in 2011 and Eastern Canada in 2017. Over the next three years, RCR will add a 10 place gondola, two six packs, three detachable quads and one fixed grip quad across four of its six mountains. From the Leitner-Poma/Skytrac order, two lifts will go to Fernie Alpine Resort, one to Kicking Horse Mountain Resort and one to Kimberley Alpine Resort. “This is a major investment in our BC resorts and shows our company’s commitment to providing excellent experiences for our guests and our resort communities,” said John Shea, President & Chief Resort Officer at RCR.
First up, Leitner-Poma and subsidiary Skytrac will head to Kimberley, replacing the Tamarack double with a fixed grip quad. The current chair is the oldest in RCR’s nationwide fleet, dating back to 1972. Tamarack was originally installed at Lake Louise before moving to Kimberley in 1998. The Tamarack Quad will follow the existing alignment and is expected to debut in December 2026. It will become just the second Skytrac in Western Canada following Whistler Blackcomb’s order for a Monarch quad earlier this year.
The following season, Leitner-Poma will construct two detachable quads at Fernie. The first will replace the 1989 Elk Quad, an out-of-base workhorse that spins both summer and winter. Elk Express will reduce ride time by nearly 50 percent and better accommodate downhill mountain bikers. Equally exciting is the installation of Cedar Bowl Express, a brand new lift from the bottom of Cedar Bowl to the summit of Great Bear Express. This lift will effectively replace the Haul Back T-Bar and eliminate a three lift ride from Cedar Bowl to Bear. Both of Fernie’s new detach quads are slated to debut in late 2027.
Finally comes huge news for Kicking Horse, which has suffered from lack of redundancy and lift downtime in recent seasons. A new Pioneer Express quad will more than double out-of-base capacity and travel to Stairway to Heaven, providing a sorely-needed alternate to the Golden Eagle Express Gondola. As part of this project, a 1986 Riblet also called Pioneer will retire. Pioneer Express will follow a completely new alignment to Crystal Bowl, rising some 2,600 vertical feet over 8,200 feet of slope length. This beast of a machine is expected to open for the 2027-28 ski season.
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies also announced major new real estate projects at Fernie and Kicking Horse. “Undertaking these new projects is a significant investment into our resorts and allows us to modernize our infrastructure and to significantly improve the experience for our guests, focusing on performance, comfort and innovation,” said Matt Mosteller, Senior Vice President of Resort Experience.
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I wonder if that Pioneer express is in response to the long term closure of the Golden Eagle Gondola last season after the cabin fell. That basically shut down the whole mountain unless you wanted to hike or take a snowcat. Regardless, great for kicking horse, this is a huge upgrade for them.
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The gondola incident shut down the gondola, the rest of the lifts still ran. There was no snowcat shuttle but yes you could hike to the stairway chair from the top of the existing pioneer chair.
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How did it affect summer ops, particularly mountain biking?
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All summer ops were done on Catamount until the gondola reopened in September, including mountain biking.
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The lift that really hamstrung a RCR resort was the Northstar at Kimberley… a gearbox failure took it out for a few weeks in the 20-21 season, and then arson at the summit tanked their 21-22 season. It has no redundancy and was a long shuttle/hike for skiers both those seasons. They basically used Fernie & Kicking Horse as substitutes for their pass holders those times.
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The gondola is 25 years old. It could soon be up for replacement
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Knowing RCR, wishful thinking …..
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That thing has definitely racked up alot of hours over the years operating summer and winter
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Exciting news for sure for these mountains.
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Here’s hoping this pushes the Gaglardis to make similar investments at Revelstoke. RMR faces many of the same infrastructure challenges as Kicking Horse and could really use what Fernie just got. A chairlift alternative to the gondola and a South Bowl chair would do wonders.
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I expect many upgrades through this part of Western Canada as expanded direct flights into Calgary’s airport, Alberta’s rapid population and the region’s rising profile as a ski destination attract more business.
That being said, Fernie needs to find some higher elevation terrain as it is the most rain exposed of the resorts.
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Since Revelstoke installed their last new lift in 2008 other than a short beginner lift, their own Ikon competitors have caught up and in some ways surpassed Revelstoke.
Red and Whitewater have added hundreds of acres of new expert terrain, turning that far southern region of BC into a ski destination just as attractive as Revy.
Lake Louise has expanded, added redundancy, and improved its crowd flow significantly. Sunshine has had some less exciting but needed replacements as well, together making Banff far surpass Revelstoke in ski experience.
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This makes me so excited ! The Kicking Horse project was needed, but the Fernie upgrades are massive! I’m a bit questionable about the Cedar Express, as the bowl is one of the quietest areas at the resort, but this will double Fernie’s detachable count and make it a true destination resort. I’m a bit doubtful about Tamarack; I feel like Northstar needs as much attention as the KH redundancy, but hopefully, it’s coming soon. Needless to say, this is incredible for Western Canada and especially RCR, which had this cheap reputation for years. It’s clear both doubles will not get relocated; the same goes for the old Haul Back, which is just too short to relocate to someplace useful. However, I really hope someone buys the old Elk chair; it’s still pretty new. Perhaps Red Mountain can use it for its Kirkup expansion.
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Yeah exactly, in terms of Red’s fleet, the Elk chair would be considered nearly new hehe.
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It would be similar to when they installed the Grey chair. A used relatively new quad. They stated that the next priority is Kirkup, so Elk would be perfect there. Besides, its bottom terminal is already painted red, so it’s like a sign of destiny.
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It would be a lot more aged though.
The Grey Poma was installed at Alyeska in 1992 and removed in 2012 so it ran for 20 seasons.
The Elk chair will run this winter yet, so it will have 38 seasons at Fernie. Add on top of that a lot of summer ops, so it will be a lot longer in the tooth than Grey was at its relocation.
But in terms of Red’s heirarchy, it would still qualify as a young lift lol.
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I do like the red terminal too, hopefully Red wouldnt paint over it in their grey.
One thing that might make it less than perfect would be that it is a top drive, I dont think Red would want to run a hydro line all the way up Kirkup. But the concrete vault can’t move anyways… so could all the drive equipment be swapped to a new bottom terminal without much difficulty?
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Yes, when moving a lift with a vault drive, you must pour a new concrete vault at the new mountain so Red could swap the lift from top drive to bottom, just like Polar Peak when it was moved from Nakiska.
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they should just move it to Kimberley as a backup to the backside
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At Kimberley, the logical place would be the replacement of the old Rosa chair, a backup to the Northstar express.
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they should move it Kimberley as a backup directly accessing the backside. Like from the base to top of tamarack
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Elk should be used as a front side transport lift to the backside in Kimberley. Maybe only to the top of Tamarack. Then, if the Northstar lift ever breaks down, this lift can still run and bring people directly to backside. (Although a Northstar 6-pack upgrade would be helpful too at this point.)
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Wow somebody found RCR’s chequebook and got their pen warm. Even one lift announcement from RCR would be surprising given their tight purse strings, but four is amazing! Does LPOA offer bulk discounts? hehe
This will really boost Fernie’s profile in particular.
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Wow, never thought I’d see new lifts for RCR, particularly at Fernie. I’ll miss the Haul Back though. I can dream they could put it where Face Lift used to be…
The new alignment for Pioneer is obvious to get to Stairway, but I wonder if the base of the Pioneer will stay put or move to the main base?
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Brilliant! Makes me look forward to trying our or returning to these locations.
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RCR finally making investments in their resorts, Fernie and Kicking Horse getting massive upgrades in their lift fleets, Pioneer Express going to Stairway now means if the Gondola breaks down, you can still lap upper mountain terrain via Stairway without hiking. As for Fernie, Elk definitely needed the detachable upgrade as well as the new Cedar Bowl Lift making a 3 lift lap into a 1 lift lap.
I have a few questions though
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With Fortress potentially starting construction in 2027 or 2028 and Nakiska announcing summer ops soon, it is almost guaranteed that Silver will not make it to 2030, but Bronze might wait longer. The Pioneer lift might be sold, but since Riblet doesn’t exist, it might be a tougher sell than Elk, even if Elk has way more hours on it. As for footrests, I think they will have them.
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I suspect Silver will see an upgrade with expanded 4 season attractions at Nakiska:
https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/calgary/nakiska-ski-area-all-season-resorts-act-9.7167209
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Nakiska’s Silver lift is 40 years old turning 41 next season making it one of the oldest detachables still operation tied with lifts such as II at Sutton and Falls Express at Falls Creek
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Happy for KHMR skiers. Its a special mountain, with not so special lift infrastructure. If Stairway was a detachable and the Gondola had a mid-station, it would turn into Canada’s finest overnight.
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I might try Fernie, Kicking Horse, and Kimberley some day when all the new lifts are installed, seems like game changers for these lifts.
I believe these will be the first, 2nd, and 3rd LPA Detachable Chairlifts in BC and only the 4th all together, the 1st one being the Gondola at Grouse.
I think the next upgrades or additions would be a Silver 6 Pack Replacement at Nakiska as well as an 2nd out of base lift for Kimberley just like the Rosa Triple up until the mid 2000s, considering the fact that Northstar recently had 2 major breakdowns in the Gearbox failure and the Top Hut Arson making the Tamarack and Easter terrain hike to or snowcat shuttle.
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i hope they move the elk quad to Kimberley to serve as like a front side redundancy lift like from the base to the top of the new tamarack chair. It will make the mountain less reliant on the Northstar Express in case it breaks down again.
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I think the Pioneer chair (assuming it is in decent condition) would be an excellent fit for this role. Yes, it has spun 3 more seasons than Elk, but most of those have been only winter weekend operations (other than before the gondy and when its broken) so its actual hours of usage would be much less.
I don’t think it would run much at Kimberley… they don’t really need a relief lift, they need a redundancy lift. If they did this they could recoup some of their investment by selling Elk, as a quad is much more desirable on the used lift market than a double.
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I totally see your point with the Pioneer Chair at Kicking Horse currently getting low hours of use per year (for the past 24 to 26 years). I am curious what it’s load was in the 1986 to 2000 period when Kicking Horse was in it’s previous rendition. Was the mountain weekends and holidays only, for instance.
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It would be prettywell impossible to find records from that long ago, but being it was a local ski hill in that era, my guess is that they would have operated 3-5 days a week (closed some midweek days) and would have operated full time during holiday season and school breaks.
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If Fernie upgrades Deer and adds Currie Bowl Express, they would be complete as a mainstream destination resort in terms of infrastructure.
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why deer? It’s not that long.
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Mostly age, and also because a triple isn’t the most inviting lift for beginners. It doesn’t need to be detachable, just a newer quad, even if I love the look of the current lift.
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With a loading carpet. Then, it would make the experience even better
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Also, a detachable lift from Catamount to Terminator 1 Peak, a stairway to heaven detachable with bubble upgrade and a Kicking Horse gondola upgrade.
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Hopefully they will extend Tamarck a bit higher to give many more option to ski without having to take Northstar. Ideally to the top of Tamarack ridge.
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The only ski resort that I feel like that needs an upgrade in the RCR portfolio is Stoneham. The detachable is really old and could be upgraded to a detachable 6-pack (with bubble) and the Aurora lift can be upgraded to detachable quad.
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