Author: Peter Landsman

News Roundup: Wilderness

Peter Landsman7 Comments

Monarch Mountain Expansion Approved

Peter Landsman4 Comments

With the electronic stroke of a pen, the Forest Service green-lighted a 377 acre expansion of Colorado’s Monarch Mountain yesterday. The project will include 62 acres of cleared trails, gladed terrain, a fixed grip triple chairlift, restrooms and a warming hut in No Name Basin. “We are SO excited to actually get started on this project after years of planning and project review by multiple entities,” said Scott Pressly, Vice President of Mountain Operations. The basin’s 2,700 foot chairlift will rise 960 vertical feet and become Monarch’s first new lift in 25 years.

The no-frills ski area plans to begin work soon. “This project will involve two summers of construction (2024 & 2025) with the No Name Basin terrain scheduled to open for the 2025-26 winter season,” wrote Pressly. Monarch has not publicly identified the manufacturer of the new lift, though Skytrac built its very first lift drive terminal at the ski area, naming it the Monarch.

News Roundup: Last Journey

Peter Landsman8 Comments
  • Indy Pass adds Ragged Mountain, NH; Middlebury Snowbowl, VT; Camden Snowbowl, ME; Mt. Abram, ME; Hatley Pointe, NC and Cape Smokey, NS to its roster.
  • The public operator of Belleayre, Gore Mountain and Whiteface reports an annual operating loss in excess of $47 million, not including approximately $80 million in capital spending.
  • Grouse Mountain’s only current means of access breaks down, closing the mountain for most of the Canada Day long weekend.
  • Five people remain hospitalized from last week’s deadly gondola incident in Colombia, the investigation is focused on an issue with one cabin rather than the entire system.
  • The Dodgers Stadium gondola in Los Angeles eyes a 2028 opening.
  • Brian Head proposes adding 1,570 acres to its permit area.
  • A confirmed Six Shooter sighting near Sugarloaf.
  • A woman is killed in Italy falling from a material cableway not designed for people.
  • Mt. Bohemia reopens its triple chair with a new Skytrac return terminal.

Doppelmayr to Expand US Headquarters in Salt Lake City

Peter Landsman8 Comments

Today Doppelmayr announced a major expansion of its longtime facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. The project will nearly double the size of the US headquarters to include 120,000 square feet of indoor production and warehouse space, 68,000 square feet of covered outdoor space and 40,000 square feet of office and training space. The expansion will be constructed directly east of an existing building, which originally served as CTEC’s headquarters near the Salt Lake City International Airport. “As ski resorts across the USA continue to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to enhance guest experience, including new ropeways, the facility expansion positions Doppelmayr USA to better meet the growing demands of the thriving North American ropeway market,” the company said in a release.

Doppelmayr currently produces tower components, control systems, electrical cabinets, operator houses and fixed grip terminals for projects across North America in Salt Lake. “The current facility has served us well for over 20 years, but we are bursting at the seams,” said Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz. “The new facility will be a state-of-the art manufacturing facility where we will continue to design and produce the highest quality ropeway systems in North America. We are excited to expand our production capabilities and our workforce and continue Doppelmayr’s legacy of building ropeways in Salt Lake City,” she noted. The Doppelmayr Group operates one other North American production site in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec and also produces components for the North American market in Wolfurt, Austria.

This news comes less than two weeks after Doppelmayr’s main competitor HTI opened a new 130,000 square foot facility to support both Skytrac and Leitner-Poma in Tooele, Utah. The Utah ski industry is booming with new lift projects underway or planned at Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain, Powder Mountain, Snowbird, Sundance Resort and Wasatch Peaks Ranch. The state reported a record 7.1 million skier visits in 2022-23 and expects to host the Olympic Winter Games for the second time in 2034.

Architecture and engineering designs for Doppelmayr’s new Salt Lake facility are currently being developed. Construction is anticipated to start in early 2025, with the target to be producing out of the new facility by mid-2026.

News Roundup: Antitrust Scrutiny

Peter Landsman2 Comments

Gondola Collision Kills One in Colombia

Peter Landsman9 Comments

A serious incident occurred on the world’s second largest urban gondola network early this morning, killing one person and injuring twenty others. A gondola cabin reportedly hit another cabin as it entered one of the elevated stations of Medellín’s Metrocable Line K. The second cabin then fell onto a car on the street below. The incident occurred at an intermediate station called Popular, one of four stations on the line. After the incident, about 200 people remained stuck in other cabins before being evacuated. The deceased individual was identified as John Jairo Londoño Arango, age 55.

Line K is the oldest of six gondola lines that make up Medellín Metrocable aerial network, which is fully integrated with the city’s subway, streetcar and bus system. The system was built by Poma and opened in 2004 with 93 cabins connecting four stations. The lift’s cabins were manufactured by Sigma and carry up to 2,800 riders per hour in an 8 seated, 2 standing configuration. The system reached 100,000 operating hours in 2019, running seven days a week for 19 hours per day. It was recently closed for a multi-day maintenance period at the end of January.

Line K will remain closed while the incident is investigated. “Services will be suspended until the causes of this tragedy are clearly identified, the pertinent corrective measures are taken and the safety of the users of the system is guaranteed,” said Mayor Fico Gutiérrez. Other lines of the Metrocable system continue to operate.

Alta Plans to Rebuild Supreme Lift

Peter Landsman32 Comments

The experiment to build a detachable quad with an eight degree turn and no angle station may be coming to an end. This week Alta Ski Area General Manager Mike Maughan revealed the Supreme lift is suffering from accelerated metal fatigue, requiring the ski area to look at major modifications. Specifically the lift’s chairs have become damaged over time as they pass through numerous canted sheave assemblies. “Every one of those [chair pans] is cracked significantly,” Maughan told the Alta Town Council Thursday. “An investigation by engineers said we’re accelerating fatigue on the chairs, the grips and the bend itself.”

Supreme was constructed in 2017 to replace two separate lifts – Cecret and Supreme – which ran consecutively in different alignments. A new high speed quad was envisioned to include an angle station near the top of the old Cecret chair where beginners could unload. Chairs would detach, turn and continue to the Supreme summit. That plan proved expensive so Alta pivoted to a unique bend design that kept chairs moving at full speed through a line turn. By following both old lift lines with a bend, Alta would cut fewer trees and avoid significant ground disturbance. Doppelmayr reportedly declined to bid on the bend design and would only supply the lift with an angle station (like they did on nearby Collins.) Alta went ahead with Leitner-Poma and the new Supreme opened for the 2017-18 season. From the beginning skiers noticed the ride through the bend was quite bumpy and jarring. Last winter, Alta experimented with a different Leitner chair design in an attempt to mitigate the rough ride through the bend.

Fast forward to today and Alta sees two possible paths forward. The first is to rebuild the lift in a straight path between the top and bottom terminals. This would require every tower and terminal foundation to be replaced. “All the equipment would be re-used with maybe a few new towers added to the mix,” said Maughan. A second, less likely option is to keep both terminals in place and build a full angle station where the bend stands today. Analysis is underway to determine the best solution. “We approached the Forest Service and they are open to the realignment approach which would end up with a simpler lift with fewer moving parts and less wear and tear,” noted Maughan. Either way, the project will be a major undertaking targeted for summer 2025. “We’re waiting for numbers back from Poma to understand the cost of both options.”

For the upcoming 2024-25 season, the lift is expected to continue operating with chairs either repaired or replaced as necessary. It’s important to remember Supreme has operated safely for seven years and thorough inspections caught the issue before any incident. Now that the problem is known, Alta will work closely with the Forest Service, Leitner-Poma and the Utah Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee on safe interim and long term solutions.