- Alta seeks Forest Service approval to realign Supreme.
- Brighton looks to replace the Milly Express and shorten Explorer.
- Indy Pass adds a slew of mountains including Loveland, Colorado; Bear Creek, Pennsylvania; Bear Valley, California; Bousquet, Massachusetts; Bruce Mound and Christie Mountain, Wisconsin; Camp Fortune, Massif du Sud and Mont Rigaud, Quebec; Cazenovia and Hunt Hollow, New York; Lost Valley, Maine; and Mt. Holiday and Norway Mountain, Michigan.
- Norway Mountain is on track to reopen this season after many years.
- After the only bid to replace the Cannon Mountain tramway came in millions more than expected, the State of New Hampshire investigates whether it can reuse existing towers.
- Pleasant Mountain to auction retired chairs next week.
- One non-essential lift was damaged by the wildfire at Mountain High.
- Canada’s Competition Bureau to probe whether the Arizona company behind the Jasper SkyTram and Banff Gondola unfairly competes with ski area sightseeing gondolas.
- Voters in Casper, Wyoming will be asked whether to fund a new chairlift at Hogadon.
- A real estate developer and Doppelmayr break ground on a new access lift at Tremblant.
- Local co-op organizers estimate Mt. Bachelor will sell for $180-200 million.
- Sponsored jobs: Lift Electrical Technicial Level 3 at Copper Mountain and Ski Lift Service Millwright at Doppelmayr Canada.
News
Instagram Tuesday: Opening Day
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Battery Powered
- West Virginia State Parks delays opening of the new Pipestem gondola to spring 2025.
- A tower crane working to build the Grands Montets 3S in Chamonix collapses due to wind and ice.
- Keystone installs solar panels on the Bergman Express to power ancillary functions such as lights.
- Perfect North transforms the Red Chair into an LED light show for the holidays with individual chairs lit by batteries.
- ORDA plans to build not one but two people mover chairlifts at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
- Hunter names its new quad chair Otis.
- Planning documents show the alignment and D-Line equipment for a planned gondola at Stagecoach, Colorado.
- More ink on the unfortunate closure of Homewood this season.
- The world’s shortest T-Bar to be built with only 5 Ts.
- A criminal trial begins regarding the deadly gondola collapse in Turkey last spring.
- Garaventa installs a robotic cargo loading system on the world’s steepest aerial tramway.
- Kendall Mountain, Colorado suspends pass sales due to lift maintenance.
- Killington’s CEO talks about future lifts beyond Superstar; how the sale to locals went down.
- Park City weighs possible routes for a transit gondola from Old Town to Deer Valley.
- Mt. Waterman, California sells to a new owner promising private powder days.
- Powder Mountain won’t sell any lift tickets on weekends in February.
- Sun Peaks’ new trail map shows the West Bowl expansion.
- Indy Pass to announce new resorts next week.
News Roundup: No Boundaries
- Homewood will miss the 2024-25 ski season.
- Closed Big Tupper, New York to be auctioned November 7th.
- A ranch owner in Nevada’s Ruby Mountains explores building the region’s first ski resort.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire is sold to Indy Pass, may become a community co-op.
- San Francisco to assess an urban gondola route between a light rail station and hospital.
- Bloomberg explores broad community benefits from Mexico City’s growing gondola network.
- The No Boundaries Pass won’t return this year, citing Indy Pass exclusivity policies.
- Killington’s new owners share details about the future.
News Roundup: Fresh Logo
- Poma introduces a totally new logo.
- Telluride residents will vote whether to fund a new Mountain Village gondola November 5th.
- Riverbanks Zoo & Garden in Columbia, South Carolina plans to debut a Leitner-Poma eight place gondola in 2025.
- Indy Pass to host a community meeting on the future of Black Mountain, New Hampshire tomorrow.
- Homewood presents an updated master plan with a new gondola and replacement Ellis chair.
- Powder Mountain carves out, re-brands three of its lifts as a private ski area called Powder Haven.
- Hidden Valley, Ontario offers up retired chairs from the Red and Blue lifts.
- Doppelmayr’s first TRI-Line nears completion in Switzerland.
- Vail Resorts and the Town of Vail reach an agreement to develop a fourth base portal, likely including a new gondola.
- The reopening of the Palm Springs Tramway following a maintenance period is postponed a second time due to “unforseen technical difficulties.”
- Eaglecrest warns the Black Bear chairlift may not operate at all this season due to “significant mechanical damage.”
- Lookout Pass’ new trail map shows a future Lift 6.
- Deer Valley previews an all new trail map by Rad Smith showing expansion lifts.
- Spirit Mountain retires the Double Jaw lift and is selling the chairs.
- A woman falls out of a gondola during high winds in China.
- OSHA reaches a settlement with Park City regarding the death of an employee who fell from a lift in 2023, dismisses a proposed $2,500 fine.
- The Province of Quebec and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies reportedly reach an agreement to improve lift infrastructure at Mont Sainte-Anne.
- Bear Mountain’s new Midway six seater will feature a loading conveyor and 3,200 skier per hour capacity.
- Sublette towers flew last Wednesday above Jackson Hole.
News Roundup: Ever Optimistic
- Vail Resorts reports annual skier visits down 9.5 percent, net income down 14 percent, EBITDA down 1 percent and season pass sales down 3 percent in units but up 3 percent in dollars. The company announced no new 2025 lift projects and will lay off 14 percent of corporate staff along with limited operational staff.
- Hatley Pointe, North Carolina retires the Laurel double, plans to build a new chairlift eventually.
- County planners unanimously reject the Shadow Mountain Bike Park proposal in Colorado.
- Sleeping Giant, Wyoming will hibernate again this winter.
- Huff Hills, North Dakota reaches a one year agreement to operate this winter.
- Aspen’s proposal to replace Lift 1A remains alive.
- Whitetail, Pennsylvania to sell Hall chairs from Jib Junction.
- Leitner to build a seven station urban gondola in Morella, Mexico for $100 million.
- Mexico’s President and President-elect inaugurate a six station urban gondola line by Doppelmayr in Mexico City.
- A Hezbollah rocket strikes a chairlift in Israel held territory.
- Snowbird turns an old tram cabin into a bar.
- Sandia Peak proposes replacing Chair 1.
- Tamarack scales down expansion plans to seven new chairlifts and an extension of the Wildwood Express with no new gondola.
- The under construction One&Only resort with a two station gondola connecting to Big Sky Resort catches fire.
- Ever optimistic Les Otten still aims to re-open The Balsams with three new chairlifts in phase one.
News Roundup: Topridge
- Gore Mountain plans to replace the Topridge triple with a fixed quad next summer.
- ORDA would relocate Topridge to Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
- Grouse Mountan will hold an art contest to wrap new gondola cabins.
- Another art contest to decorate retired gondolas in Park City.
- Cascade Skyline Gondola proponents argue the competing Bridal Veil Mountain Resort project in BC shouldn’t be built due to spotted owls.
- A young Canadian racer suffers severe injuries in Switzerland allegedly due to a malfunctioning T-Bar.
- A lift maintenance worker is killed in Italy after being hit by a carrier.
- A study concludes that only 9 percent of chairlift riders use safety bars in the Midwest compared with 80 percent in the Northeast.
- A French resort highlights how used chairlift projects generate significantly lower carbon emissions than new.
- A number of Aspen executives to retire amid sale rumors.
- In Canada, Lake Louise’s new six pack will be named Pipestone Express; Mont Grand-Fonds’ will be named Lynx Express.
- I joined the Low Pressure Podcast to talk about lifts.
News Roundup: Fire Recovery
- The developer that sought to rebuild Big Moose Mountain, Maine, pulls out of the project.
- Trails are cut for the No Name expansion at Monarch Mountain.
- Closed Woodbury Ski Area in Connecticut will become a private home.
- Hunter Mountain to auction chairs from the retired E-Lift.
- Holiday Mountain also will sell chairs next week.
- The Summit at Snoqualmie too.
- The fire-impacted Jasper SkyTram won’t reopen this year but plans to fly in 2025.
- Mountain High plans to open this winter but wildfire damage assessment continues.
- Doppelmayr reports a double digit sales increase.
- A Jackson Hole Sublette update:
Instagram Tuesday: Telehandler
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Megaprojects
- Alterra details its 2024 capital plan, totaling $300+ million with six new chairlifts.
- Following yesterday’s announcement of three new lifts this year, Deer Valley also outlines the seven detachable lifts opening in 2025 for a total of 10 in two years (counting the two section gondola as two.)
- A presentation details massive construction underway at Deer Valley.
- Deer Valley will hold an open house to update the community on construction and future plans next Thursday.
- Park City continues to explore a gondola connection from Main Street to Deer Valley.
- Speaking of megaprojects, here are some unofficial photos of the two D-Line gondolas with six total stations under construction at Big Sky.
- The world’s largest indoor ski area opens near Shanghai with a detachable chairlift and gondola from Poma.
- Parks Canada approves the Banff Gondola owner’s purchase of the Jasper SkyTram.
- A Swiss newspaper reports Alterra may be as interested as Vail in acquiring Swiss resorts.
- Vail Resorts to report earning September 26th, traditionally when lift projects are announced for the following year.
- Vail to sell Wildcat Express gondola cabins, run only chairs in the future.
- Solitude will auction 29 chairs from the Moonbeam quad, which operated only four years.
- Wachusett orders a Doppelmayr UNI-G six pack to replace the Polar Express.
- A rider is injured and airlifted after falling while boarding Schweitzer’s Great Escape Quad.
- Five years since the Sea to Sky Gondola‘s haul rope was first cut and four years since it was cut again, police are still looking for the perpetrator(s).
- Maintenance workers on London’s IFS Cloud Cable Car plan a strike.
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