- June Mountain closes for two days due to issues with againg J1.
- Loveland proposes replacing Lift 7 with a quad.
- Indy Pass plans more resort additions through the spring and fall.
- One of them is Tenney Mountain, which also looks to build a high speed quad.
- Tenney’s Hornet double needs a gearbox rebuild, will be closed until mid-March.
- Skeetawk, Alaska seeks state funding to develop electrical infrastructure for a future Lift 2.
- Burke Mountain’s receiver says a sale may be near.
- The proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola in metro Vancouver would include significant transit oriented development.
- Mt. Seymour, BC removes the Brockton chair from service for an unknown amount of time.
- Manning Park, BC closes the similar Blue Chair for inspections due to the incident at Mt. Seymour.
- Marble Mountain, Newfoundland hits the market.
- Chair 8 at Bear Mountain suffers a grip slip incident with passengers.
- Rezoning paves the way for more development at Powder Mountain.
- Leitner to build a seven station gondola in Iraq.
- Poley Mountain, New Brunswick works to repair its triple chair.
- Bretton Woods applies to build a new lift, Attitash seeks to reduce capacity on the closed Flying Bear.
- Solitude completes a mid-winter bullwheel bearing replacement on Sunrise.
- The first terminal and towers go up for the winter build Saluda Skyride in South Carolina.
- Mt. Crescent, Iowa rebrands as Crescent Hill.
- An inside look at operating the largest lift fleet in the country.
- And one of the smaller ones.
- Mineral Basin at Snowbird to be closed for a week-ish due to a machanical issue.
News
Instagram Tuesday: Bachelor
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Windstorm
- Killington’s Superstar lift replacement will cancel the 2025 Killington World Cup; chairs from Superstar will move to Golden Express at Pico.
- An unseated passenger is successfully caught in a deceleration net at Killington.
- Powderhorn plans a detachable replacement for West End.
- Gunstock loses its summit chairlift for much of the holiday week due to gearbox failure.
- Silver Mountain, Idaho rope evacuates Chair 4 due to a power outage and evacuation engine failure (now back open).
- A falling tree in high wind causes a three tower deropement on the Belleaye Express at Belleayre, New York (scheduled to reopen some time tomorrow).
- The same storm leads to a deropement and rope evacuation at Pats Peak, New Hampshire (back open).
- And the roof blows off Stratton’s gondola top terminal (also back open).
- Following three recent incidents in the state, New Hampshire clarifies how its tramway oversight works.
- Brattleboro Ski Hill in Vermont closes due to an electric motor issue.
- Arkansas adopts the ANSI standard in advance of its first chairlift installation.
- Pioneer at Park City still hasn’t run this season but may soon.
- Cannon’s tramway is still on track for $19 million in upgrades.
- Sugarloaf confirms plans to install Big Sky’s former Six Shooter to replace Timberline, a two year project.
- Stevens Pass rope evacuates the new Kehr’s quad at night.
- Echo Mountain, Colorado also has a night rope evac.
- Timberline closes the Molly’s detachable quad due to damage to a tower from a snow cat.
- Tenney Mountain, New Hampshire loses its main lift due to a mechanical issue.
- Hersheypark, Pennsylvania retires its chairlift ride.
News Roundup: Valentine’s Edition
- Vail Resorts reaches an agreement with Crested Butte lift mechanics, averting a strike.
- A window falls from a cabin on Stowe’s Mansfield Gondola during operations.
- Mission Ridge acknowledges three different chairs have detached this season from Chair 4, a 1971 Riblet double (all empty and no injuries).
- Waterville Valley completes a midseason splice on the High Country T-Bar.
- A new owner looks to reopen Crystal Mountain, BC via crowdfunding.
- Winter Park’s High Lonesome Express is back after a four week maintenance closure.
- Still no Slide Brook Express at Sugarbush but hopefully soon.
- The Glade Triple at Catamount will miss the rest of the season.
- Badger Pass, California won’t open this season.
- Ditto for Cedar Pass, also in California.
- Park City gets serious about a gondola connecting Main Street to Deer Valley.
- President Trump imposes 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports with potential impacts on lift manufacturers.
- The US Forest Service, landlord to 124 ski areas, lays off 3,400 employees.
- A bipartisan group of Senators sponsor a bill that would direct the Forest Service retain some of the fees resorts pay to the federal government for ski purposes, such as processing resort improvement projects.
- The gondola in Moab, Utah which sat for 25 years without ever opening, is finally being removed.
- Solitude demystifies lift maintenance for customers.
News Roundup: Change at the Top
- An avalanche hits the top of Swift Current 6 pre-opening, resulting in the rope evacuation of seven staff members and damaging several chairs.
- An empty chair falls from Mt. Bohemia’s Riblet double.
- Diamond Peak provides a primer on how lifts are de-iced of rime.
- A guest is injured falling from the new Coach chair at Bogus Basin, Idaho.
- Ditto for a lift at Mt. Holly, Michigan.
- Telluride-area residents seek to have the new gondola election results thrown out.
- British Columbia sues the operator of closed Tabor Mountain, seeks a new operator.
- New Hampshire provides an investigation update on the Attitash chair detachment, Flying Bear to remain closed.
- Wolf Creek forges on independently – selling reasonable walk up tickets, partnering with only one other mountain and building lifts in house.
- Cannon Mountain rope evacuates the Peabody Express due to a bolt failure.
- Pacific Group Resorts transitions from an operating lease to controlling owner of Powderhorn.
- Leitner-Poma is selected to build a new chairlift at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota.
- Middlebury Snowbowl opens Bailey Falls for the first time in two years.
- Whistler Blackcomb nears reopening the Glacier Express after a two week repair.
- Katharina Schmitz to depart as CEO of Doppelmayr USA, be succeeded by current VP, Operations Keith Johns.
News Roundup: Shortest and Longest
- Vista Ridge, Alberta rope evacuates the Wilson quad.
- Lutsen rope evacuates the Caribou Express (*despite what the link says, customers did receive lift ticket vouchers)
- Summit Express at Keystone has been down since last Saturday.
- Both Snowcat and Bobcat are inoperable at Wildcat, New Hampshire.
- The problem with Blackcomb’s Glacier Express is gearbox-related; WB airlifts a new electric motor into the Big Red Express terminal by helicopter with minimal down time.
- A number of lifts are also inoperable at Seven Springs, PA.
- A minor holder of Vail stock calls for executive firings and publishes a detailed presentation why.
- A teenager is injured and airlifted after hitting a lift tower at Mohawk Mountain.
- Killington has looked at replacing Ramshead with a bubble lift.
- Burke Mountain removes its J-Bar from the snow report entirely.
- Sitzmark, Washington won’t open this season.
- The Forest Service green lights Brighton to replace Milly Express and shorten Explorer.
- Looming tariffs on both Canada and the European Union could impact both lift manufacturers and their customers.
- The world’s shortest T-Bar – with no towers and just five carriers – begins spinning tomorrow.
- The world’s longest gondola reaches 60 percent completion with 290 workers on site.
News Roundup: Short Films
- Homewood’s new gondola is finally approved.
- Eaglecrest receives a key gondola construction permit.
- The Wall Street Journal covers several challenges facing Vail Resorts.
- Unionized Crested Butte lift mechanics authorize a strike should they be unable to reach a contract agreement with Vail.
- Breckenridge lift staff stage a one day sick out in protest of employee housing conditions, closing several lifts on Wednesday.
- Pioneer at Park City hasn’t opened this season due to an offseason deropement still being repaired.
- Blackcomb’s Glacier Express to be closed a week or longer due to a possible gearbox issue.
- Mount Snow’s Challenger has been inoperative since January 13th.
- Mammut sponsors a short film exploring the transformation of Shames Mountain, British Columbia into a community co-op.
- British Columbia opens public consultation for the proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Resort.
- A gondola transit network in Oshawa, Ontario could cost CA$1.1 billion.
- Reed Hastings explains his sweeping changes at Powder Mountain including four new lifts in one summer and partial privatization.
- Chicopee, Ontario explains why its three new lifts aren’t spinning yet.
- Bristol Mountain partially rope evacuates the Comet Express.
- Ditto for the Mt. Hood Express at Mt. Hood Meadows.
- The Balsams extends approval for long-delayed redevelopment.
- Mont Farlagne, New Brunswick reopens its only chairlift after a month-long closure due to a bullwheel issue.
- Ischgl invites guests to help build a life size replica of a 3S gondola cabin with Lego bricks.
- The latest New Hampshire tram board minutes hint at a possible new lift for Bretton Woods.
- Mountain Village and Telluride begin planning their new gondola in earnest.
- Vermonters ask Why hasn’t Burke Mountain sold? as receivership fees surpass $12 million.
- Sugarbush gets all but one of its chairlifts going after a challenging start to the season.
- Several videos show the chaotic aftermath of the bullwheel detachment in Spain last week.
- Colorado releases the Winter Park gondola crack incident report, a full report of investigation remains in progress.
News Roundup: The Bar
- Vail Resorts reports a 0.3% decline in North American skier visits through 1/5 with revenue up 4.5%, ski school up 1.1%, dining up 6.6% and retail/rental down 5.4%.
- Park City offers guests who visited during the patrol strike partial credit toward a season pass next year.
- Park City businesses report a drop in business following the patrol strike.
- Kimberley, BC’s Tamarack chair goes down for awhile.
- Another snowboarder falls from a lift in Colorado – this time at Copper.
- A man who fell from Willamette Pass’ Peak 2 triple in high winds seeks $3.6 million in damages.
- Europeans poke fun at the lack of bars on lifts and Americans’ refusal to use them on lifts that are equipped.
- A trial in British Columbia finds proper signage increases bar use dramatically.
- The Atlantic runs a story on ski industry consolidation, labor relations and cheap season passes.
- Mt. Hood Meadows provides an update on Heather Canyon, which has yet to open this season.
- An Alaska windstorm blows a lift shack over on one lift and sends a chair into the bullwheel on another at Arctic Valley.
- Sugarbush apologizes for not having Castlerock and Slide Brook operable at this point in the season.
- Leaders approve a large development at Nordic Valley, Utah; likely to coincide with a new out-of-base lift.
- The municipality of Whistler to study a valley gondola transit line.
- Castle Mountain seeks a name for its first high speed quad.
News Roundup: Strike Over
- Park City’s patrol strike ends after 12 days; Vail apologizes to guests and a class action lawsuit is filed.
- Spirit Mountain, Minnesota solicits bids to replace Gandy with a quad this summer.
- Bald Mountain, Idaho may not open this season due to inability to secure insurance.
- Leitner-Poma President Daren Cole joins Banff Sunshine’s podcast to discuss the Super Angel Express and lift business more broadly.
- A sit skier who fell from Winter Park’s Explorer Express and was seriously injured files suit.
- Pursuit completes its acquisition of the Jasper SkyTram.
- Saskadena Six, Vermont will not operate Chair Two this season, looks at a replacement.
- Eaglecrest, Alaska continues to look toward a sightseeing gondola to subsidize its money-losing ski operation.
- Killington’s Superstar six pack will cost $12.16 million,
- Mt. Bachelor plans several enhancements to the Northwest Express.
- Sugarbush to bring in additional staff from across Alterra to try and get non-functional lifts open.
- Four Seasons, New York is listed for sale.
- Sandia Peak proposes replacing Chair 1.
Ski Butternut to Build New Quad Chair
Family-owned Ski Butternut plans to build its second Skytrac in five years this coming summer. The new lift, to be called Jane’s Quad, will replace the 50 year old Overbrook triple. The quad will load lower on the mountain and unload higher, following a modified alignment. The lift will be named for Jane Murdock, who founded the ski area with her husband Channing in 1963 and passed away last winter. Jane’s will be quite large, spanning 3,633 feet with 125 chairs and 15 towers. Vertical rise will increase from 721 feet on the current Thiokol lift to 757 feet.
Site preparation began last spring in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation. “After a multi-year planning, engineering, and permitting phases, we are excited to bring this modernization to Ski Butternut,” said Dillon Mahon, Marketing Director of Ski Butternut. “This area of the mountain is a favorite among our guests, and this new lift will enhance the overall experience. It’s a long term investment in the future of Ski Butternut and in the enjoyment of our skiers and snowboarders,” he continued.
Jane’s will be the second Skytrac constructed at Butternut following Paddy Wagon in 2021. The area also operates three CTEC quads and will become a 100% fixed grip quad mountain for the 2025-26 season.
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