Seventy three years after building the West Coast’s first gondola, Sugar Bowl will invest in a brand new gondola for 2026. The eight passenger, Doppelmayr D-Line system will anchor a major revitalization encompassing multiple lodges and facilities. The new gondola will run from an overhauled parking garage along Donner Pass Road to North America’s only snowbound village at the base of the Disney Express.
CTEC manufactured the current Village Gondola in 1983, carrying four passengers at a time between the parking area and village. The low angle gondola traverses over several roads, past several railroad tracks and under high voltage power lines. Historically the system ran 24 hours a day during the winter season. Recently it has operated less and become subject to frequent maintenance closures. The new lift will be more reliable and one of two new D-Line gondolas in Tahoe next year, the other being at Homewood Mountain Resort.
The new Sugar Bowl gondola is expected to be completed in November 2026.
Vail Resorts reports pass sales down 1 percent in units and up 2 percent in dollars. Full season skier visits fell 3 percent (7 percent in March and April), quarterly net income rose 8.5 percent, lift revenue rose 3.3 percent, ski school revenue fell 0.6 percent, dining revenue rose 1.4 percent, retail revenue fell 10.1 percent and rental revenue fell 5.5 percent.
Mont Sutton plans to revitalize its teaching side of the mountain in 2026 with a fixed grip quad from Skytrac. The new lift will replace three aging Mueller doubles and become the first Skytrac in Quebec. The news marks a significant milestone as Doppelmayr dominates the Quebec market and its 75 ski areas (more mountains than any other Canadian province or US state.) Skytrac’s expansion into Canada has been measured thus far with the first Monarch in Canada debuting in 2018 and three projects following at Searchmont, Ontario in 2020, 2021 and 2022. The Leitner-Poma subsidiary has yet to build any lifts in Western Canada.
Sutton’s new lift will load near the main chalet and transport 2,400 skiers per hour. It will feature a loading conveyor and greatly improve the learning experience for beginners and intermediates. As part of the project, Mont Sutton will move an existing conveyor lift, add a second conveyor, implement RFID gates and improve snowmaking around the new chair. The CA$8 million lift project, funded in part by the Government of Quebec, represents the largest investment in the resort’s 65 year history. “This announcement is the culmination of the planning work of all the teams over the past few years,” noted Jean-Michel Ryan, President and CEO of Mont Sutton. “The Skytrac quadruple chairlift, thanks to the quality of the overall proposal made by Poma Canada, meets all the essential criteria sought by Mont Sutton.” Construction is expected to commence in spring 2026 and be complete in time for the 2026-27 ski season.
Doppelmayr Canada will dramatically expand its base in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, situated between Montreal and the Laurentian Mountains. The new facility will feature approximately 120,000 square feet of indoor production, service and warehouse space; 31,000 square feet of covered outdoor space; and a 34,000 square foot office and training facility. The news comes just a few weeks after Doppelmayr broke ground on a similar expansion in Salt Lake City. “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,” noted Luc Guy, CEO of Doppelmayr Canada. “We are excited to expand our production capabilities and our workforce and continue Doppelmayr’s legacy of building ropeways in Saint-Jérôme.”
The existing Saint-Jérôme plant opened in 1978 and today specializes in building UNI-G detachable equipment for Canada and the United States. The new headquarters will rise alongside the existing building and allow Doppelmayr to better serve the growing North American market. “Our employees do an outstanding job completing all our ropeways on time and to the highest standards,” said Gerhard Gassner, Doppelmayr Group Managing Director. “However, due to growing market volume, the new building has become essential to continue meeting these expectations,” he continued. The United States and Canada comprised 29 percent of the Group’s revenue last year, eclipsing €300 million.
Canada Economic Development for Quebec Regions (CED) granted Doppelmayr Canada a repayable financial contribution of $3 million for the project. Construction is anticipated to start at the end of May with production set to begin at the new facility by the fourth quarter of 2026.
Austria’s Saalbach, Zell am See-Kaprun, Mayrhofen, Hintertux and Silvretta Montafon join the Epic Pass as partner resorts, bringing Epic to nine European destinations.
Poma releases its 2024 Reference Book highlighting projects around the world.
Colorado gem Ski Cooper is thriving among giants. Over the past ten seasons, visits have grown 63 percent, fueled in part by affordable lift tickets. Last winter, a midweek ticket cost $45, regardless of the time or method of purchase. Peak days cost $110 with Fridays and Sundays running a bit less. Surrounded by Copper Mountain, Vail, Breckenridge and Beaver Creek; Cooper’s customer base naturally skews local. But the hill also attracts a growing number of skiers from the Front Range and surrounding states, owing to its accessible tickets and laid back character.
Cooper is an outlier, especially in Colorado. Lake County owns the fixed assets like buildings and the hill straddles two National Forests. Operations are handled by Cooper Hill Ski Area Inc., a 501(c)4 nonprofit organization. Last year the mountain brought in $6.8 million in revenue, more than triple its sales in 2011. Expenses have also creeped up but not as quickly as revenue. The ski area netted $1.1 million in 2024 and carries no debt. This model has allowed consistent re-investment including a new conveyor lift in 2006, the Little Horse T-Bar expansion in 2019 and overhaul of the Piney Basin triple in 2021. Future improvements will be funded by retained earnings, not debt or taxpayer funds.
View down the Little Horse T-Bar line with Chicago Ridge and the proposed Sawmill double lift line in the background.
Because Cooper sits on Forest Service land, it’s required to periodically file a Master Development Plan (MDP.) The current master plan dates back to 1999 and Cooper is in the final stages of perfecting its 2025 Master Development Plan. The ski area expects to submit the plan to the Forest Service in July for acceptance. Like with all MDPs, projects are conceptual in nature and subject to NEPA approval before implementation. Unlike most master plans, Cooper’s 2025 MDP includes projected costs and phasing. In true Cooper fashion, it was prepared in house rather than by a consulting firm.
Phase one includes relief for the base-to-summit 10th Mountain Double. Replacement of the workhorse 10th has long been envisioned and was first approved in 2000. Instead of replacement, Cooper now plans to run a new fixed grip quad alongside the double and utilize both on peak days. The new quad combined with water/sewer upgrades, a lodge addition and parking expansion in phase one would cost $13 million.
Phase two would see a new lift constructed on Chicago Ridge called Sawmill. This double chair would serve 250 acres within Cooper’s existing permit area but never previously lift-served. Sawmill would rise 1,093 vertical feet and increase Cooper’s overall vertical drop by 382 feet. “A future Master Plan may envision further lift served use of the Chicago Ridge area within the SUP,” the plan notes. New double chairs are exceedingly rare in the United States with the last one installed at Arapahoe Basin in 2020. The last instance before that was six years earlier at Crystal Mountain, Washington. Like with those examples, a double would allow Cooper to service intermediate and expert terrain with a relatively fast lift (550 ft/min) at relatively low cost. Expansion up Chicago Ridge would also require a new patrol facility, skier bridge and trail improvements. Together with a second beginner conveyor in the base area, phase two totals $12 million.
Phase three includes Cooper’s first-ever snowmaking system and a second new double chair called Hoyt’s. This lift would service 60 acres of intermediate-pitched meadows on the west-southwest face of Cooper Hill. Hoyt’s double would span approximately 4,000 feet with a vertical of 942 feet and five new trails.
A third project in phase three is a replacement for the Buckeye Platter, which dates back to 1983. This project is planned as a T-Bar, increasing capacity by 120 percent. The mountain’s second T-Bar could run at a speedy 600 feet per minute with an intermediate unload station. Combined with a new lodge and additional parking, phase three is estimated to cost $14.5 million.
Cooper’s current comfortable carrying capacity (CCC) totals 1,819 guests but gets exceeded several times most winters. If all MDP projects are completed, the ski area could comfortably accommodate 3,682 guests, effectively doubling capacity. “Ski Cooper’s goals are to continue operating at less than full capacity, but add lifts, lift capacity, and terrain in order to improve circulation, keep wait times at lifts at a comfortable level, improve overall terrain offerings, and therefore maintain the reliably high-level ski experience Ski Cooper’s guests have come to expect,” the plan notes.
Lake County is currently soliciting feedback on the plan before submittal to the feds.
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