News

LST Ropeways to Launch Detachable Product This Year

Peter Landsman5 Comments
3582_2_gr
logo_13

The MND Group announced yesterday it will begin selling detachable chairlifts and gondolas from 2016 through its LST Ropeways subsidiary, becoming the first new entrant to the detachable lift market since CTEC in 1990.  Based in France, LST has built more than 550 lifts to date including a handful of detachable chairlifts utilizing grips from the defunct German company Wopfner.  Yesterday’s announcement outlines LST’s all-new detachable product for both mountain and urban applications.  The combined market, estimated by MND at $865 million over the next 25 years, has been a duopoly since Leitner and Poma joined in 2002.  Hence new competition is big news.

LST Grip
LST’s double-position detachable grip.

LST has spent more than $2.7 million to develop detachable technology that doesn’t require licensing from others.  The most important component of any detachable lift is the grip; LST chose a double-position grip that opens and closes only once at each terminal, reducing the number of cycles by half compared with a single-position grip (keep in mind a grip that stays open through terminals presents its own challenges.)  LST says its patented grip requires less force to open and close than competing models, reducing wear while allowing speeds of up to 6 m/s (1,181 ft/min) and requiring 15 percent less energy.  LST detachable terminals will be 70 feet long with 75 percent fewer tires compared with competing terminals.  While LST says its stations will be shorter than its competitors’, I believe the shortest LPA terminal is ~67 feet.  LST’s all-new carriers (both chairs and gondolas) “designed for comfort and safety” are forthcoming.

Continue reading →

News Roundup: Ice Heist

Peter Landsman1 Comment
  • Luckily Manning Park Resort was in on letting pro mountain bikers pretend to break into and operate one of their lifts.
  • When chairs can’t spin because there’s no one to staff them.
  • BMF opens its sightseeing aerial tramway in Puebla.  Its 35-passenger cabins were manufactured in Austria by Carvatech.
  • 12 year-old boy falls out of a chair at Wachusett, avoids serious injury.
  • Snowboarder accuses skier of shoving him off Aspen Highlands’ Loge Peak lift mid-ride in a story that goes viral.  Just one day later, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office thinks they’ve identified a suspect.
  • Doppelmayr is building an 8-passenger gondola this spring at the Oakland Zoo to serve a $62 million expansion called California Trail.  The lift will have 7 towers, 15 cabins and open in late 2017.  The zoo will continue to operate its Safari Sky Ride triple chair that was built by SkyTrans.
  • DCC (Doppelmayr Cable Car) wins a $24 million contract to build its 10th cable-propelled automated people mover in underground tunnels at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.

Vail Resorts Acquires Wilmot Mountain

Peter Landsman1 Comment

trailmapToday, Vail Resorts announced its acquisition of Wilmot Mountain near Chicago, adding to the company’s portfolio of regional resorts in the Midwest.  Vail bought Mt. Brighton near Detroit and Afton Alps near Minnesota’s Twin Cities back in 2012.  The addition of Wilmot brings Vail up to twelve resorts in Colorado, California, Michigan, Nevada, Utah and Australia. The company will announce specific improvements in March, but today’s release mentions bringing state-of-the-art lifts to Wilmot Mountain.  The ski area currently operates eight chairlifts – four doubles, three triples and a quad – built by Riblet, Hall and Borvig in the 1960s and 70s.  This is Vail Resorts’ fifth new ski area in three years and it will be interesting to see where they go next.

Continue reading →

News Roundup: Now That’s a Model

Peter Landsman6 Comments
  • Snowbasin will test solar-powered USB charging bars in five of its gondola cabins in partnership with Goal Zero.
  • Mt. Waterman in Los Angeles’ San Gabriel Mountains reopens this weekend with 3 Riblet doubles operating for the first time in five years.  The mountain will honor all tickets and passes sold since 2011!
  • Two years after his 6-year old daughter fell from a chair, a New Jersey man sues Campgaw Mountain and the town/county it’s located in for “careless and reckless” operation of a ski lift.
  • Sugarloaf just can’t catch a break.  A power failure shut down most of its lifts for hours on their first Saturday with snow.
  • Did you know Doppelmayr operates a zoo with more than 400 animals at its headquarters in Wolfurt?
  • Speaking of Doppelmayr, their interactive installation map now displays 24 world record-breaking ropeways (click the red button on the bottom left.)
  • Somebody had to do it.  Spirit Mountain, Minnesota becomes the first to offer lift-served, downhill fat biking starting Sunday.
  • Whistler Village Gondola cabin #84 returns to its roots in the Alps as The Coffee Gondola.
  • What appears to be a Doppelmayr quad chair rolls back in China, screaming ensues.

News Roundup: Up, Up and Away

Peter LandsmanLeave a comment

920x920
Photo credit: Christopher Strunk

Kicking Horse Gondola Evacuated by Helicopter

Peter Landsman4 Comments

A transformer failed yesterday afternoon at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, knocking two lifts out of service.  Crews restarted the Catamount quad on auxiliary but the Golden Eagle Express Gondola sustained damage to its safety systems such that it could not operate.  With nightfall approaching, some of the gondola’s 75 passengers were plucked out of cabins by helicopter at sunset, making for some pretty spectacular GoPro footage.  The rest were roped down by ground teams over about five hours. The 8-passenger, 11,188′ Golden Eagle Express was built by Poma in 2000 and rises more than 3,500 vertical feet.  The gondola remained closed today but the mountain hopes to have it back in business tomorrow.

Kicking Horse posted the following statement on Facebook this morning:

“Further to an electrical issue, the Golden Eagle Express Gondola was manually evacuated yesterday evening. With everyone safe, warm and fed, we apologize to each of you involved for the inconvenience. We are thankful that everyone is safe and credit to the talented team of professionals; Kicking Horse Mountain Resort teams, Golden and District Search and Rescue & Canadian Ski Patrol.  We are hopeful that the Gondola will be spinning later today, though currently is still on standby. We are offering skiing and snowboarding via the Catamount Chair & Pioneer Chair.  Stay tuned for further updates.”

 

Chair Falls at Heavenly, Lift Evacuated

Peter Landsman5 Comments

According to published reports, an unoccupied chair fell from the light side of Heavenly’s North Bowl triple just before 11:00 am today.  As a result, approximately 65 people were evacuated from the lift in about two hours.  The incident is under investigation.  North Bowl is a 1984 Riblet triple with insert clips.  The video below shows a skier being lowered by rope and North Bowl will remain closed until further notice.

https://www.instagram.com/p/BAGZO2INZ5_/?taken-by=misslaram

News Roundup: Resort Happenings

Peter Landsman2 Comments
  • Hidden Valley, New Jersey will reopen as the National Winter Activity Center this month with two new Partek lifts.
  • The Balsams crosses another hurdle which could mean new lifts in the New Hampshire high country as early as this summer.
  • Sunshine Village hopes to have the Goat’s Eye Express running by today.

  • Construction at Laurel Mountain is 30% complete and ahead of schedule.  The state-owned mountain will open next winter for the first time since 2005 with a brand new SkyTrac quad.
  • Magic Mountain only managed to open one lift last winter and may not spin any this season.  The Vermont area had five aerial lifts in its heyday.
  • CNL Lifestyle Properties, the real estate investment trust that was slated to wind down by Dec. 31st, only sold one of its 16 mountain resorts by that date.  Okemo, Northstar, Big Sky and a dozen others will remain for sale into 2016.
  • Aspen Skiing Company will submit the Pandora terrain expansion and chairlift to the Forest Service for review in 2016.
  • Girl uninjured after mis-loading, dangling by her helmet and falling 20 feet from a chair in Saskatchewan.
  • Thanks to some much-needed snow, Vermont now has a third six-pack with bubble chairs and heated seats.  This one’s not open to the public, unfortunately.

Rope Evac at Sunshine Village Gets Lots of Attention

Peter Landsman5 Comments

Sunshine’s Goat’s Eye Express, a detachable quad built by Poma in 1995, had to be evacuated Sunday afternoon due to a gearbox-related failure. Patrol lowered 110 skiers and riders in about two hours.  While these types of evacuations happen at ski areas many times each winter (and earlier this week at Buttermilk and Montana Snowbowl) this one happened to get a lot of social media and press attention.  The good news is no one was injured and repairs are underway.

https://www.instagram.com/p/_0N-AoGOKD/?tagged=sunshinevillage

Continue reading →