News

Vail Resorts Unveils Park City’s New Brand

Peter Landsman1 Comment
Park City Mountain's new trail map!
Park City’s new trail map!

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.

The new Park City logo takes inspirations from the now retired Canyons logo.
The new Park City logo takes inspirations from the now retired Canyons logo.

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.

McConkey's six pack in the process of being repainted into the new Park City red and silver color scheme.
McConkey’s six pack in the process of being repainted into the new Park City red and silver color scheme.

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Arizona Snowbowl to Build First New Lift in 30 Years

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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.

Flyer for Arizona Snowbowl's 2015 Improvements including a new quad chairlift and snowmaking upgrades.
Flyer for Arizona Snowbowl’s 2015 improvements including a new quad chairlift and snowmaking upgrades.

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.

Snowbowl's master plan includes replacing and realigning several lifts.
Snowbowl’s master plan includes replacing and realigning several lifts.

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

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The Pine Fire near Wrightwood, CA narrowly missed Mountain High Resort earlier this week.
The Pine Fire near Wrightwood, California skirted Mountain High Resort earlier this week.  Photo credit: Stuart Palley.
  • 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.
Snow King's Rafferty lift opened on July 12th.
Snow King’s new Rafferty lift and alpine slide finally opened on July 12th, about a month behind schedule.

Saddleback Needs $3 Million for New Lift to Avoid Closure

Peter Landsman5 Comments

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.

The 4,550' Rangeley double has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.
The 4,550′ Rangeley double has reached the end of its useful life and needs to be replaced.

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.

Saddleback needs $3 million for a new Doppelmayr quad to match Kennebago, seen here.
Saddleback needs $3 million for a new Doppelmayr quad to match Kennebago, seen here.

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News Roundup: SkyTrac Gets a Lift

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Twin lifts at Solitude, Utah earlier this week.
Twin lifts at Solitude, Utah earlier this week.
  • Pomerelle Mountain near Twin Falls, Idaho announced they will replace their 39-year old SLI double chair with a new SkyTrac triple.  This is SkyTrac’s only publicly announced project for this summer.  Apparently they have another contract for a lift in Arizona.  Leave a comment if you know where.
  • Saddleback, Maine has listed their Rangeley lift for sale for $350,000.  They had previously listed just the drive terminal for $200k.
  • Steamboat’s new master plan including two new six packs approved by Routt County.
  • State of Pennsylvania opens bidding for a new quad chairlift at the troubled Laurel Mountain State Park.
  • Jackson Hole’s new Sweetwater 8-passenger gondola approved by the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
  • Sugarloaf removes the damaged drive terminal for the King Pine lift which rolled back in March to make way for a new Doppelmayr terminal.
  • Group wants to reopen Mt. Ascutney in Vermont.  It’s tough to run a ski resort with no lifts, however.  The mountain’s high speed quad was sold to Crotched Mountain and other lifts went to Pat’s Peak.
  • The Pope rides one of Bolivia’s new Doppelmayr urban gondolas.  The entire line had to be closed until he finished his ride.

Garaventa Building Record-Breaking Tram in Germany

Peter Landsman4 Comments
Germany's highest mountain is getting a new tram. Photo credit: Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG
Germany’s highest mountain is getting a new tram. Photo credit: Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG

Just weeks after opening two record-breaking aerial tramways on the Italian side of Mont Blanc, the Doppelmayr/Garaventa Group has begun construction on an even more remarkable tramway to Germany’s highest summit.  Replacing a 1963 jig-back tram, the new 120-passenger Eibsee Cable Car on the Zugspitze will leave a base terminal at 3,337 feet and top out at 9,718 feet with only one tower in between.  Two other aerial tramways that reach the same summit, the Tyrolean Zugspitzebahn and the Zugspitze Gletcherbahn, will remain unchanged.

Summer rendering of the new bottom terminal building. Photo credit: Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG
Summer rendering of the new bottom terminal building. Photo credit: Bayerische Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn AG

The new cable car will maintain the old version’s record for the largest vertical rise of a single tramway span at 6,381 feet, down slightly from 6,398 feet.  Its lone tower will be the tallest in the world at 416 feet – 43 feet taller than the current tallest on Austria’s Gletscherbahn Kaprun III.  The new cableway will also have the longest unsupported span at 10,541 feet, breaking the current record of 9,941 feet on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola’s middle span.

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News Roundup: Planned Openings

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IMG_7602
A sea of lift parts converge from St. Jerome, Salt Lake City and Wolfurt in Jackson Hole’s parking lot.

News Roundup: Paragliding Into a Tram Car

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  • Okemo Mountain Resort announces new fixed-grip quad and conversion of the Jackson Gore Express into a bubble quad called Quantum 4.  Their press release (falsely) claims Okemo will be the first resort in North America with two bubble lifts.
  • The last two victims of a 2010 de-ropement at Sugarloaf settle their lawsuit with Boyne Resorts, or more likely their insurance company.  Next up: claims from the victims of this year’s rollback.
  • Mont Cascades’ new TC quad lift will be a Doppelmayr Eco-Drive.
  • Adanac Ski Hill in Ontario wants $1.8 million from taxpayers to replace their T-Bar.
  • Lutsen Mountains breaks ground on the most expensive lift project ever at a Midwest ski area.
  • Marshall Mountain, Montana is for sale for $2.95 million.  Its lifts – a Thiokol triple and Poma T-Bar – haven’t spun since the 2002-03 season.
  • The British Columbia Safety Authority releases its incident report on Crystal Mountain’s de-ropement and it’s not pretty.  The ski area has been closed ever since the March 1, 2014 incident.
  • Add San Diego to the growing list of cities that want to build a gondola.  This one would have 8-passenger cabins and two mid-stations.

Sugarloaf Announces Lift Safety Upgrades and Website

Peter Landsman1 Comment

Yesterday Sugarloaf Mountain Resort, the site of two of the worst lift accidents in recent memory, announced $1.3 million in lift safety upgrades including a new Doppelmayr drive terminal for the lift that rolled back in March.  The mountain will also launch a new website devoted solely to lift safety and maintenance with a tip line for anyone to submit questions and concerns about lifts.  All of this is moving forward despite Sugarloaf’s looming sale.

The King Pine Quad's bottom drive terminal will be replaced with a new Doppelmayr one.
The King Pine Quad’s bottom drive terminal will be replaced with a new Doppelmayr one.
In December 2010, the Spillway East double, built by Borvig in 1975, experienced a de-ropement that caused numerous chairs to hit the ground and drag approximately 40 feet.  Eight skiers were injured and the last legal claim was settled just last week.  The State of Maine’s investigation found inadequate maintenance records, poor training, high winds, and component failure as probable contributing factors.  The full report is here.  Spillway was replaced by a Doppelmayr quad the following summer and renamed Skyline.

The King Pine Quad, a 1988 Borvig, rolled-back approximately 460 feet on March 21, 2015, resulting in numerous injuries.  Skiers went around the bottom bullwheel at high speed and many others jumped off.  Sugarloaf’s internal investigation found that the drive bullwheel’s drop dog failed to deploy due to a faulty switch and the lift was eventually stopped by an operator who manually activated the lift’s emergency brake.  The state has not yet released its investigation into this incident.  King Pine and its sister quad called Timberline were both closed for the remainder of last season.

King Pine's new drive terminal will be similar to Skyline's.
King Pine’s new drive terminal will be similar to Skyline’s.
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News Roundup: New Controls

Peter Landsman2 Comments
Doppelmayr USA has redesigned all of their controls for 2015.
Doppelmayr USA has redesigned all of their controls for 2015.
  • Apparently Doppelmayr has redesigned their controls for 2015.  A new pedestal pictured above looks like an improvement, especially the speed selector replacing slow/medium/fast buttons.
  • Willard Mountain, NY files for bankruptcy, proving once again it is best to control all of the land your ski resort sits on.  The area has a Borvig and Partek doubles.
  • Saddleback Maine has put the drive terminal for its main lift up for sale on Resort Boneyard for $200k.  Hopefully a new lift is on the way.
  • Vail Resorts voluntarily raises the minimum wage it pays lift operators and other workers to $10 an hour.
  • Lots of improvements coming to Powderhorn in addition to their first detachable lift.
  • Whistler-Blackcomb to test snowmaking as a means to preserve summer skiing on Horstman Glacier, home to the only glacier-anchored lifts in North America.
  • West Mountain, NY is moving forward with making one old lift into two new ones.
  • Singapore opens its second Doppelmayr gondola line with three stations and 8-passenger cabins.