- The former Lake Catamount ski resort site near Steamboat may be designated wilderness.
- Discovery Land Company details plans for a private ski resort at Stagecoach, also near Steamboat.
- Mt. Baldy, California escapes damage from a wildfire.
- Burke Mountain could be sold soon via auction.
- Utah reports 6.75 million skier visits, second most ever.
- An all-glass aerial tramway cabin debuts in the Swiss Alps.
- More Lift Blog media coverage in Powder and the Salt Lake Tribune.
News
Instagram Tuesday: Hot
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Last Journey
- 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.
Instagram Tuesday: Independence Week
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Doppelmayr to Expand US Headquarters in Salt Lake City
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
- Deer Valley initiates construction on Lifts 2, 3 and 4A with the rest of Expanded Excellence lifts in final engineering and procurement.
- Detroit Mountain’s mountain biking lift goes down for the much of June due to a mechanical problem.
- Proponents of the Cascade Skyline Gondola project criticize British Columbia’s slow approval process.
- Snowbird and Jackson Hole both offer very expensive chairs with portions going to charity.
- Doppelmayr introduces an underground vertical ropeway for the mining industry.
- The American company which owns the Banff Gondola acquires the Jasper SkyTram from the Canadian firm that owns Marmot Basin for CA$25 million.
- The Department of Justice seeks information on Alterra’s proposed purchase of Arapahoe Basin.
News Roundup: 750
- Leitner plans to offer the ConnX multi-model gondola system from 2025 after passing tests in Hungary.
- A progress report on the first Doppelmayr TRI-Line in Switzerland.
- Also on the first MND Orizon detachable in France.
- MND inaugurates a new production facility to support the Orizon line.
Skytrac celebrates its new facility in Tooele, Utah.
Bartholet releases its 2024 reference book. - Alta clarifies it supports a Little Cottonwood gondola.
- White Pass adds chairs to boost capacity on the Great White Express.
- A viral video shows a lift being jostled by a small tornado.
- Homewood now plans to build its already-delivered D-Line gondola in 2025 and upgrade Ellis in 2030.
- Burke Mountain delays summer opening to mid-July due to a mechanical issue with the Sherburne Express.
- Marmot Basin to sell chairs from the Knob double.
- Jackson Hole to auction Sublette chairs.
- Beartooth Basin is for sale.
- I visited my 750th ski area this week, marking the completion the Canada Lift Database.
Bluewood to Install Detachable Quad
Bluewood Mountain Resort will build its first high speed lift in 2025, replacing the aging Skyline Express. The outgoing Borvig triple has served as Bluewood’s primary lift since 1978. “We couldn’t be more excited about the purchase of a high-speed quad for Bluewood,” Said Buck Lewis, Vice President and spokesperson for Bluewood’s ownership group. “This new chair will greatly decrease seat time and increase ride time on the hill, providing a much more enjoyable day on the mountain. This is a fantastic milestone for our resort and community.” As part of the project, Bluewood also intends to install a snowmaking system at the base of the mountain to improve early season coverage.
Bluewood says it’s under contract for the new lift though a manufacturer was not specified. A rendering suggests the lift may be a pre-owned 1990s Doppelmayr model out of Europe. A number of mid-sized resorts including Mission Ridge, Washington; Castle Mountain, Alberta and Pleasant Mountain, Maine have recently opted to install used detachable quads due to the rising costs of new equipment. Bluewood expects to break ground next April and become Washington State’s seventh ski area with a detachable for the 2025-26 ski season.
Instagram Tuesday: Gore Range
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Act 2
- Sundance plans to build a detachable from the base of Wildwood to the summit of Red’s in 2026.
- Snowmass proposes replacing both Alpine Springs and Elk Camp.
- Park City breaks ground on the Sunrise Gondola.
- The appeal of Deer Valley’s Lift 7 approval is dropped.
- Angel Fire faces an extended closure of the Chile Express due to gearbox failure.
- A former Eaglecrest manager questions the installation of a used pulse gondola.
- Eaglecrest may not complete the gondola until 2026 or 2027, five years after it arrived in Alaska.
- Vermont reports 4.1 million skier visits, down less than half a percent from last year.
- A team from the University of Utah works to develop a better adaptive bike carrier.
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