Author: Peter Landsman

Lift Profile: Lewis & Clark at Big Sky, MT

Peter Landsman9 Comments
Top/drive terminal of Lewis & Clark.
Top/drive terminal of Lewis & Clark.

Lewis & Clark is a 2005 Doppelmayr CTEC Uni-GS detachable quad in the Spanish Peaks residential development in Big Sky, Montana. It was built during Big Sky’s real estate boom when the Yellowstone Club, Spanish Peaks and Moonlight Basin were all developed. For those who haven’t been to the area, each resort includes lifts and ski trails connected to the original Big Sky Resort. 17 lifts were built during the boom years from 2004 to 2007. No lifts have been built in Big Sky since.

The original Spanish Peaks trail map from 2006.
Spanish Peaks original trail map from 2006.

Spanish Peaks was developed by timber billionaire Tim Blixseth, (who founded the neighboring Yellowstone Club) and James Dolan, the CEO of Cablevision. Doppelmayr built all 5 of Spanish Peaks’ lifts in the summer of 2005.  In addition to Lewis & Clark, there are 2 triples and 2 platters.  Lifts and trails opened for the 2005-06 ski season.

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News Roundup: Reset and Go!

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  • Sugarloaf shuts down 2nd Borvig quad lift.
  • Sugar Mountain, NC to build a base-to-summit Doppelmayr six-pack.
  • Leitner-Poma might have to pay $222k back to the State of Colorado.  This summer doesn’t look to be too busy for them either.
  • Vail Resorts goes to Australia.
  • Lift operator sued after boy hanged from backpack tangled in a chair.
  • The State of Pennsylvania is “not normally in the business of ski-lift construction.”
  • Another child falls from a chair, this time in eastern Canada.  Seems like there have been a lot of similar incidents this winter particularly with children.

Summer 2015 New Lifts – Early Trends

Peter Landsman1 Comment

Resorts are starting to close and construction season is upon us.  Many new lift projects have already been announced.  You can see the full list here.  After last year’s “win” by Leitner-Poma, Doppelmayr will return to dominate with at least 14 projects.  Remarkably almost all of them will be detachables – more on that later.  So far the only other confirmed projects are a Leitner-Poma detachable at Powderhorn, CO and 2 Leitner urban gondolas in Mexico City.  (Apparently these are being built by Leitner in Italy, not by Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction.)

Lifts by manufacturer-year
Last year was the only year since the merger with CTEC that Doppelmayr did not build the most lifts.
The overall lift construction trend continues downward.
The overall lift construction trend continues downward.

2015 also will be the first year since 2011 that more detachable lifts are built than fixed-grip lifts.  So far only 3 fixed grips have been announced.

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New Blog about Lifts

Peter Landsman13 Comments

There is no shortage of interest and information about ski lifts on the internet.
Skilifts.org, chairlift.org, lift-world.info and remontees-mecaniques.net are some of the best sites.  But as far as I know, no one has attempted to create a frequently updated blog about what’s going on in the lift world.

I am going to try.  My name is Peter Landsman and I work in the lift operations department at Jackson Hole Mountain Resort.  But long before I started working in the industry, I was a skier and lift nut.  Over the last 15 years I created a database with statistics and pictures of every ski lift in North America.

My plan is to write longer form posts that fit more logically on a blog than a forum.  Please add your comments, contact me with ideas, or write a guest post and let’s see where this goes.