- In Aspen, the Lift 1A saga continues.
- Poma has begun construction on a 13,000 foot gondola to the ancient Peruvian fortress of Kuelap. The $18 million system will span 2,170 vertical feet in 20 minutes and open by July of next year.
- Despite having a bunch of brand new lifts that haven’t spun since the Olympics, Russia is spending $76 million to build four new lifts in 2016 at Rosa Khutor.
- Sun Peaks Resort, already Canada’s second largest resort, is cutting new runs in preparation for a new West Morissey lift. If you haven’t gotten the chance to ski there, Sun Peaks has a very cool 360-degree layout with three mountains circling the village.
- Berkshire East’s former Summit triple is up for sale. It’s a 1988 Poma that was previously at Magic Mountain, Vermont. The other lift on there is from the defunct Ascutney Mountain.
- Alpine Valley, Wisconsin is getting a new beginner lift which will be a used Hall double with a new SkyTrac Monarch drive terminal. SkyTrac is also reportedly finishing the half-completed Stagecoach lift on the Moonlight side of Big Sky.
News
Vail Resorts to Add Lift Wait Times to EpicMix
Last week, Vail Resorts announced their EpicMix mobile app will provide guests with live lift wait times for 55 lifts at Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge and Keystone starting this winter. Vail Resorts will use their app to track guests through lift lines to provide a crowd-sourced estimate called EpicMix Time. The technology is currently being tested at the company’s Perisher resort in Australia. Vail compares the system to Google’s Waze app, which crowd sources traffic and accident information for Google Maps. The company plans to expand the technology in future years to all its resorts and other places where guests have to wait in line such as restaurants and rental shops.
Other resorts have tried to provide lift waiting times in the past. For years, Whistler-Blackcomb has had lights on its lift status signs that indicate whether a lift line is less than 5 minutes, 5-15 minutes, or more than 15 minutes. I suspect Whistler’s system is powered by lift operators calling a dispatcher which is a less than perfect solution. Vail’s technology will be much more accurate and timely.
News Roundup: Hilltrac Funicular
- When I was hiking around Park City last week I discovered a large new funicular railway in The Colony development near the new gondola. It was built by Hilltrac, sister company to lift-maker SkyTrac. The funicular serves an entire neighborhood unlike others at Deer Valley that serve only one house. One section is completed with the possibility to add another section later.
- The City Council of Casper, Wyoming, which owns of Hogadon Ski Area, declares one of two Riblet doubles there as surplus property to be sold. Apparently it has not spun in years and parts were cannibalized last season to keep the other lift running.
- Chris Farmer, Saddleback’s Marketing Director says on Facebook that there is no news to announce re: new lift or closure. In case you don’t have Facebook, here is the statement: “Saddleback friends: I know that everyone is eagerly awaiting an announcement on our situation and recognize we are beyond the initial deadline. We remain heads down on finding a solution. As soon as we have news we will announce it. Until then, our full attention is on solving the issue. You are all important and I recognize you all want answers. I fully expect decisions will be made some time this week. Thank you for your consideration and continued support. Please do not be offended by my inability to respond to each of you individually. I hope you understand.”
- Aspen Skiing Company remains committed to building the new Burnt Mountain lift at Snowmass but still has no timeline for it.
- Protesting lifties shut down Chile’s Cerro Catedral, demanding a 30% wage increase. Meanwhile, most of Argentina and Chile’s ski resorts have been getting tons of snow.
- Echo Mountain, the closest ski area to Denver, will reopen to the public this season after failing to make it as a racer-only training mountain. The area formerly known as Squaw Pass has just one lift currently, a Yan triple chair.
- South America solidifies itself as the worldwide leader in urban ropeways with the capital of Peru getting not one but two gondolas by 2017. There are already a dozen gondolas operating in Bolivian, Venezuelan, Colombian and Brazilian cities.
- Vermont lift construction update, thanks to NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com.
- Doppelmayr wins a $21 million contract to build two ropeways in Georgia (the country, not the state, although there is a large Doppelmayr tram in the State of Georgia too.)
- The Teton quad at Jackson Hole is on schedule to be load tested by mid-October. All the large components for the top terminal were installed earlier today by crane.
News Roundup: Adding Lifts
- The Balsams mega-project gets snowmaking water permit and releases its phase one plan which includes six new lifts. That will be the contract of the year next summer if it really happens.
- The owners of Saddleback have extended the deadline to find financing for a new lift before pulling the plug on this season.
- Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe announces an $11.00 minimum wage for all resort employees next season.
- Kitzbuhel in Austria will add another 8-passenger bubble lift for next season to be built by Leitner.
- France’s Avoriaz also announced a new Poma six-pack.
- Whistler will add the Creekside Gondola to its Bike Park starting Friday. The gondola has been outfitted with the latest Deasonbuilt center-pole bike carriers. Creekside will become Whistler-Blackcomb’s 11th lift open for summer operations including three gondolas and six detachable quads.
- The Neptuno double chair (Poma) in Las Lenas de-roped off 5 towers last week thanks to an avalanche. See photo below.
Beijing 2022 Olympics: Where are the Ski Venues?
This morning the International Olympic Committee announced Beijing as the host for the 2022 Winter Olympic Games. This means the next three Olympics after Rio will be held in Asia. The 2022 games are shaping up to be a lot like Sochi with entire ski resorts being built for two weeks of competition. In fact, only two of the four planned skiing and snowboarding venues exist today. At least in China the facilities will probably be well-used after the games, unlike Russia where entire 3S Gondolas sit shuttered.
The snowboarding slopestyle, halfpipe, and some of the freestyle skiing will take place at Genting Secret Garden near Chongli. This resort opened in 2011 with two Doppelmayr detachable quads with bubbles and heated seats. It added a Doppelmayr 6/8-passenger chondola the following year that serves 1,300 vertical feet. Right next door, the older Wanlong Ski Resort will host slalom snowboarding. It has three fixed-grip double chairs and a quad that look like the fake Doppelmayr lifts that China built for North Korea. These lifts may have been fabricated in China or the ones China copied when they built the lifts for the North Koreans. None of the lifts at Wanlong appear in Doppelmayr’s world ropeway map or Worldbooks despite being built relatively recently.
Nearby Wanlong and Genting Secret Garden there is a third resort under construction called Taiwu which will host the snowboard cross and freestyle skiing. Wanlong, Genting Secret Garden and Taiwu are all in a cluster 140 miles from Beijing. (For reference, Whistler was 75 miles from Vancouver in 2010.) None of them get much natural snow so snowmaking will be essential.
News Roundup: Doppelmayr Garaventa 2015
- Doppelmayr wins a €9.4 million contract for a detachable gondola in Bogota, Colombia. The 10-passenger, two mile system will carry 2,600 passengers per hour.
- The US Forest Service accepts Crested Butte’s new master plan for review. It includes replacing the North Face lift as well as two new lifts in Teocalli Bowl.
- Rick Spear, the president of Leitner-Poma, thinks an aerial tram from Staten Island to Manhattan is (not surprisingly) a good idea.
- Arizona Snowbowl’s new lift announcement gets lots of press.
- Italy’s Leitner and Aguido are merging. Leitner built a couple dozen lifts in the US and Canada before their joint venture with Poma began in 2002. Aguido built the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway in New Hampshire.
- Sugarloaf decides it doesn’t have the money to upgrade its oldest lift to acceptable safety standards so it will be removed without a replacement. Bucksaw was built in 1969. After it is removed there will be 23 Stadeli lifts remaining in operation, four of which are older than Bucksaw.
- Construction on The Balsams has been delayed again. I’ll believe the hype when lift towers start going in.
- Rumor on Skilifts.org is SkyTrac will complete the abandoned, half-constructed Stagecoach lift on the Moonlight Basin side of Big Sky. I believe this Doppelmayr double came from the defunct Fortress Mountain in Alberta.
The Stagecoach lift was partially completed before Moonlight Basin went bankrupt in 2009.
Vail Resorts Unveils Park City’s New Brand
At an event this afternoon, Vail Resorts officially launched the brand for America’s new largest ski resort. The new Park City logo combines the Canyons infinity symbol with a new Park City red color and the tagline “There is Only One.” This is not terribly surprising from a company whose flagship resort is branded “Like Nothing on Earth.” CanyonsResort.com now redirects to the new Park City website, which ironically is the old Canyons site. No doubt the new logo and colors look sharp and will serve them well for years to come. Many of the lifts have already been repainted in the new red and silver color scheme in preparation for this winter.
Also unveiled today was a new trail map painted by James Niehues. The working name for the new gondola (Pinecone Gondola) has been scrapped in favor of Quicksilver Gondola in an ode to Park City’s mining heritage. I liked the Pinecone name; it was chosen for the ridge the gondola crosses but I imagine Vail was worried about confusion with the existing Red Pine Gondola. Quicksilver fits well with the mining names already in use at Park City such as Silverlode, Bonanza, Motherlode and Payday. The new lodge at the base of the Quicksilver Gondola will be called Miner’s Camp. Although it has mostly disappeared, the Canyons name lives on as the northern base area has been renamed Canyons Village.
Arizona Snowbowl to Build First New Lift in 30 Years
James Coleman, the new owner of Arizona Snowbowl and three other resorts in the Southwest has gone lift shopping again. Snowbowl’s new Humphreys Peak Quad will be built by SkyTrac in Salt Lake City and open for the 2015-16 season. Coleman already bought two lifts from Leitner-Poma this year – a beginner quad for Sipapu and detachable quad for Purgatory to replace the Legends triple. Humphreys Peak will be the first new lift at Arizona Snowbowl since CTEC built the Agassiz triple back in 1986.
Snowbowl’s new lift will be located between the Hart Prarie and Agassiz lifts, serving intermediate terrain. It will be 3,060 feet long and rise 780 vertical feet with a very low hourly capacity of 1,000 skiers per hour. SkyTrac has committed to complete the project by December despite the late start. This is SkyTrac’s second complete lift project this summer after Pomerelle, Idaho announced a new triple chair last week.
Arizona Snowbowl also announced today planning for the new Grand Canyon Express which will be the resort’s first high speed lift and serve 90% of its skiable terrain. Although a timeline was not announced, I would not be surprised to see the project happen next summer. Arizona Snowbowl’s master plan also includes replacing and realigning the Aspen and Hart Prarie lifts which are both Riblet doubles. It seems James Coleman has no shortage of money to spend on capital improvements.
News Roundup: Fire Season
- The North Resort at Mountain High narrowly escapes one of California’s many wildfires burning out of control.
- Leitner-Poma is about to start 3 1/2 months of construction at Sipapu, New Mexico.
- Next season will not happen at Saddleback, Maine unless the resort can secure $3 million for a new quad lift in the next two weeks. Or so they say.
- In central New Hampshire, Waterville Valley continues clearing for the Green Peak expansion while Tenney Mountain prepares to reopen after a decade being closed.
- Sugarloaf launches their lift safety website that appears it took an intern half an hour to make.
- Leitner gets into the surfing business with DirectDrive.
- Poma’s 2014 Reference Book is now online. Better late than never!
- Snow King Mountain’s very wealthy investors announce phase 2 expansion with a base-to-summit gondola and major skiing expansion.
Saddleback Needs $3 Million for New Lift to Avoid Closure
Maine’s third largest ski resort is in trouble. We knew something was up earlier this summer when Saddleback put their main out-of-base lift up for sale on Resort Boneyard for $350,000. Today the Berry family definitively announced the 52-year old Rangeley lift will not spin again. The lift has upgraded Doppelmayr terminals but aging towers, line equipment and chairs. $3 million is needed by August 1st to build a new Doppelmayr fixed-grip quad or the ski area will close.
Saddleback’s story includes decades of ups and downs like many mid-sized New England ski resorts. A bank foreclosed on the entire property in 1975 but it remained open. In 2002, the previous owners announced Saddleback would close. Local skier Bill Berry stepped in and bought the mountain for $8 million in 2003. After their first season of ownership, the Berry family invested heavily in lifts, installing the South Branch quad and replacing both of Rangeley’s terminals with new Doppelmayr CTEC ones in 2004. A new James Niehues trail map was commissioned that at one point showed six new lifts to be built. The Kennebago T-Bar was replaced with a Doppelmayr CTEC quad in 2008 but no other lifts ever got completed.
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