Projects & Plans

Loon Mountain & Waterville Valley Look to Build Big New Lifts

October 4, 2019October 4, 2019Peter Landsman45 Comments

loon1819 — The current Loon Mountain trail map shows two lifts on the lower mountain which are now slated to be replaced.

The Interstate 93 corridor in New Hampshire could soon be a hotbed of lift construction. Four exciting projects appeared on the White Mountain National Forest proposed actions page this week. In what would be a major move, Loon Mountain is seeking to replace the Kancamagus detachable quad with an eight seater chairlift. Next, the Seven Brothers triple would be replaced with a detachable quad, presumably utilizing equipment removed from the Kanc. This project would be similar to one Loon’s owner Boyne Resorts completed last year at Big Sky. There, the Ramcharger detachable quad was replaced by North America’s first eight passenger chairlift and the old machine moved to replace a Heron-Poma double.

The Kancamagus quad at Loon is 24 years old and in need of more capacity at peak times.

Just to the south at Waterville Valley, the White Peaks Express is proposed to be replaced by a six passenger detachable lift. The current machine was built in 1988 and shortened to its current length in 1996. In a second project, the Sunnyside triple would be swapped for a fixed-grip quad and the Northside double removed. Both of these lifts were built decades ago by Stadeli. Waterville Valley has been independently owned and operated by a local group of investors since 2010. They recently replaced another aging Stadeli lift with an LST T-Bar.

The White Peaks Express is one of just three lifts in North America utilizing a unique 1988 design from Poma. The others are at Crystal Mountain, Washington and Sunshine Village, Alberta.

It is unknown whether any of these new lifts will feature bubbles and/or heated seats, which have become popular across New England. The Forest Service expects to make decisions on whether to approve the projects in December.

watervillemap1819 — With new White Peaks and Sunnyside lifts, Waterville’s seldom-operated Northside double would no longer be needed.

Gondola Eyed to Link Timberline & Summit Ski Areas on Mt. Hood

October 3, 2019October 3, 2019Peter Landsman15 Comments

When the family that operates Timberline Lodge & Ski Area bought nearby Summit Ski Area last year, an interconnect immediately entered the realm of possibility. The Forest Service recently accepted RLK and Company’s new Summit Master Development Plan, which includes a 10 passenger gondola from the Summit base area in Government Camp to historic Timberline Lodge. The combined resort would feature a vertical drop exceeding 4,500 feet, longest in the United States with all lifts open.

A Timberline Gondola would span 12,952 feet with a vertical ascent of 1,890′. It would require a boundary expansion of 228 acres between the top of Summit’s Homestead double chair and the bottom of Timberline’s Jeff Flood Express. Importantly, the Summit base area would become a transit and parking hub for both mountains, reducing congestion and parking demands at higher elevations. An approximately 30,000 square foot base lodge would replace the existing one at Summit. Guests from Portland would save almost 12 miles of driving each day, instead enjoying an 11 minute flight from Government Camp to the base of Timberline’s Magic Mile quad. “The gondola would not only provide direct, aerial access to Timberline from the Summit’s base area, for both guests and employees, it would also alleviate the congestion on Oregon Highway 173 and re-prioritize the need for additional parking at the bottom of Timberline’s Molly’s Chairlift,” notes the master plan, which was prepared by SE Group. The gondola would travel up to 1,200 feet per minute with a capacity of 2,400 passengers per hour in each direction. It would operate approximately nine hours per day in both winter and summer, serving skiers, snowboarders, sightseers and mountain bikers.

Additionally, the plan prescribes replacing Summit’s 1980 Riblet double with a fixed grip quad called Summit Pass. This lift would parallel the gondola for 1,933 feet and terminate at 4,290 feet in elevation. “By upgrading the existing chairlift conveyance, the overall guest experience would improve by having updated lift technology, allowing ski school and parties of four or less to ride the chairlift together,” the plan notes. Capacity would increase from 1,200 per hour to 2,000. A new carpet lift would also be installed.

The Forest Service’s acceptance of the master plan does not constitute approval of individual projects and, if approved, gondola construction is likely still years away. Timberline’s immediate next lift project is set to be a detachable replacement for Pucci, benefiting beginner and intermediate skiers. The gondola link would be even more impactful with major environmental and guest service benefits year round.

Great Divide to Build Two New Chairlifts

August 19, 2019August 19, 2019Peter Landsman5 Comments

Montana’s Great Divide announced on Friday plans to construct new chairlifts in 2020 and 2022. The first one, dubbed Summit Shuttle, will load at the bottom of the Hiballer run and unload above the Mt. Belmont double‘s top terminal. This will extend Great Divide’s vertical from the true summit of 7,330’. The reasons for Summit Shuttle are four fold: allow skiers to lap the upper mountain without having to return to the base area, add lift capacity for peak days, provide maintenance redundancy and quicken access to Way Out West trails.

In three years, the mountain plans to add a second new lift in terrain known as Tall Timbers south of Rawhide Gulch. Part of this zone will open this winter and it will eventually encompass more than 150 acres. Egress to the base area will be via the existing Rawhide Gulch double. Components for both new lifts are already on site with engineering underway. Great Divide operates a quirky mix of entirely used Mueller and Riblet lifts from other mountains and these are likely to be similar.

In this era of consolidating ownership, it’s fantastic to see a family run, community ski area like Great Divide flourishing and expanding. The 1,600 acre mountain offered the longest season in Montana last year and a walk-up, peak period lift tickets cost $48.

Mayflower Mountain Resort Eyes 2021 Opening

August 13, 2019Peter Landsman14 Comments

midaupdate-tpr-081419-05-1024x663 — Photo credit: Extell Development Company

Mayflower Mountain Resort, the fledgling billion dollar development near Park City, Utah, made headlines early this week on two fronts. First, the proposed resort’s owner reached an agreement with Alterra Mountain Company for Deer Valley to continue leasing a chunk of land on Bald Mountain for 199 years. Second, Mayflower held a media gathering, revealing grand plans for its first lifts to open in 2021.

mayflower_proposed_ski_map — A 2018 Mayflower plan by SE Group identified nine possible lift alignments.

With the new lease between Deer Valley and Mayflower’s parent companies, the existing Mayflower lift and terrain will remain part of Deer Valley regardless of what happens with Mayflower Mountain Resort.

midaupdate-tpr-081419-01-2-1024x614 — Photo credit: Extell Development Company

Most of the 5,600 acres Extell Development of New York City has pieced together is currently undeveloped. That could change shortly with three new hotels, 400 acres of ski runs and multiple chairlifts above the Jordanelle Reservoir. Whether those lifts will be Deer Valley green and disallow snowboarders is an open question. There are a lot of parallels with Moonlight Basin, Montana throughout the 1990s and early 2000s. Initially a modest development with a couple access lifts operated under contract by Big Sky Resort, Moonlight turned into a ski resort of its own before eventually being integrated back into Big Sky’s ticket products and operations.

DVMayflowertrails — Wasatch County’s parcel viewer shows existing Deer Valley ski runs in dark blue and upcoming Mayflower runs in light blue. Deer Valley trails in neighboring Summit County are not highlighted.

Regardless of who operates the lifts, Mayflower could be big. Current plans call for five main lifts and two surface lifts, not counting a potential connector lifts to Deer Valley. Extell is commencing road and infrastructure work this fall with potential lift contracts a year away. The company has roughly two years to sort out whether it wants to be independent, partner more broadly with Alterra or perhaps another ski industry player.

Sunlight Looks to the East

July 10, 2019Peter Landsman10 Comments

It may take a few years, but Sunlight Mountain Resort intends to add 100 acres along its eastern boundary serviced by a fourth fixed grip chairlift. Glading work has already begun and will continue into next summer. “This is a multi-year effort,” General Manager Tom Hays recently told the Glenwood Springs Post Independent. “We are in the very early stages of a process that includes building a capital fund, negotiating additional financing, permitting processes with the county and Forest Service, mapping, planning, and shopping for lifts.” The project is estimated to cost $4 million and is dependent on another season or two as successful as 2018-19.

SunlightMap — Approximate alignment of the planned East Ridge chairlift, shown in orange.

New runs will be cut on private land below the Midland Traverse and will remain hike-out until the lift is installed. The chair will load just above Four Mile Creek and unload above the Beaujolais and Rebel trails. “We’re excited to expand skiing and riding on the already legendary East Ridge,” said Marketing and Sales Director Troy Hawks. “These new runs mean our local skiers and riders will have even more powder to explore and exploit.” If all goes well, the new lift could spin in 2021.

Eaglecrest Considers Building Alaska’s First Gondola

July 3, 2019July 5, 2019Peter Landsman10 Comments

Eaglecrest is the only ski resort in Southeast Alaska, a region seeing explosive growth in summer visitation thanks to the cruise ship industry. While some consider cruises a threat to the ski business, a recent study concluded they could actually help publicly-owned Eaglecrest become profitable. Over just five months, 1.3 million passengers will disembark in Juneau this year, a 17 percent increase from 2018. Many existing attractions such as the Mt. Roberts Tramway are bursting at the seams and the city sees an opportunity for its ski area to become part of the solution.

The City and Borough of Juneau owns and operates four double chairlifts which date back as far as 1975. Eaglecrest is the only ski area in the country located on an island and, while the ocean views are amazing, low elevation sometimes limits winter operating days. A private concessionaire operates a small scale zip tour at Eaglecrest but no lifts currently spin in the summer as the ski area ramps down to just a dozen employees.

Eaglecrest’s current lifts are shown in red with the approximate proposed gondola alignment in orange.

Alaska’s capital city is considering a cash infusion to create a year-round adventure park with skiing, mountain biking, a gondola, zip lines, mountain coaster and more. While the initial outlay is high, projections show the current $950,000 annual subsidy provided by taxpayers could be eliminated while expanding recreational opportunities for residents and visitors alike. The ski area could also be able to pay its employees more competitive wages and operate seven days a week in winter with the money gleaned from summer.

The most expensive component of the $34.9 million plan is a ten passenger base-to-summit gondola which would reach even higher than the current Black Bear and Ptarmigan chairlifts. The gondola would become the primary summit access lift year-round, spanning almost 7,000 feet with 1,680 feet of vertical rise and 20 towers. Capacity would start at 1,500 guests per hour with the ability to go to 2,400. Both Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr have provided bids in the $11.2 million range for the flagship lift with up to 59 cabins. Power would be trenched up the mountain, allowing the gondola to be top-driven and providing grid power to the Black Bear double for the first time.

gondolaprofile — Preliminary gondola profile from Leitner-Poma of America.

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Sun Peaks Confirms Crystal Quad for 2020

June 27, 2019June 27, 2019Peter Landsman16 Comments

Two years after partnering to build the new Orient Quad, Sun Peaks Resort and Doppelmayr will again team up to replace the Crystal triple on the upper mountain. The lift will be realigned, unloading at the Top of the World adjacent to the Burfield Quad. Dating back to 1979, Crystal was the very first Doppelmayr chairlift built at what was then called Tod Mountain. The new fixed grip quad will be Sun Peaks’ 13th Doppelmayr installation spanning five decades. “A new Crystal Chair is very important as we look at the future of our upper mountain terrain at Sun Peaks,” said Darcy Alexander, Sun Peaks Vice President and General Manager in a press release. “As more people continue to discover the Sun Peaks experience, we need to invest in moving additional guests around the mountain effectively and efficiently.” Work on the $3.8 million project will begin immediately with completion in advance of the 2020-21 ski season.

Sun Peaks Resort flanks Mt. Tod in the British Columbia interior.

Sun Peaks also announced the Burfield quad will not be shortened as envisioned in the resort’s master plan. The 9,500-plus foot lift will continue to offer nearly 3,000 vertical feet of skiing from the Top of the World alongside Crystal.

Capacity will increase by 20 percent over the current Crystal triple chair.

Sun Peaks is owned and operated by Nippon Cable Co., the licensee of Doppelmayr technology in Japan. Nippon also owns several Japanese ski resorts and a 25 percent stake in Whistler Blackcomb.

New Quad to Anchor Woodward Mountain Park at Mt. Bachelor

June 17, 2019Peter Landsman10 Comments

Progression will be the name of the game next winter at a reimagined Sunrise base area on the east side of Mt. Bachelor. Powdr Co. today revealed three new lifts, a remodeled lodge and new parking lot will make up the first Woodward Mountain Park, designed to offer a fun and intuitive learning experience. Woodward Mountain Parks will eventually come to multiple Powdr resorts, building on the success of the company’s Woodward indoor action sports parks located throughout North America. At Mt. Bachelor, 70 foot and 300 foot covered carpets will be joined by a 629 foot long Doppelmayr quad chair servicing five new acres below the Sunrise Lodge.

“Woodward is all about stoking passion and I’m excited for our guests to enjoy reimagined on-mountain environments that’ll be fun for every age and ability level,” said John McLeod, president and general manager of Mt. Bachelor in a statement. “The Mt. Bachelor Woodward Mountain Park will debut expanded terrain and new and inclusive experiences that our guests will love. Combined with our significant Sunrise lodge and base area upgrades, we’re transforming the Mt. Bachelor the guest experience for the future.” Relatedly, Mt. Bachelor will debut a new trail map next winter painted by James Niehues.

Utah-based Powdr is on an epic building blitz. The Bachelor addition will be the fourth chairlift for the firm this year on top of new lodges at Killington and Lee Canyon, a major snowmaking upgrade at Pico and the all new Woodward Park City ski area. Last year, Powdr added six lifts at its resorts for an impressive total of ten in two years.

Exploring Big White’s Backcountry Project

June 3, 2019June 3, 2019Peter Landsman12 Comments

As I first wrote last summer, Big White Ski Resort is eyeing its most ambitious expansion since the 1996 Gem Lake megaproject. This time, a pair of quad chairs are planned for east of the Black Forest Express, servicing 300 acres of new intermediate trails and glades within the mountain’s existing controlled recreation area. The expansion is in place of one once planned for west of Gem Lake. “The Black Forest Connector and Backcountry chairs will build on and complement the Black Forest ski pod, the most popular area at Big White,” notes Brent Harley and Associates, which prepared the plan. “Together, these chairlifts represent the full realization of the vision described in the 1999 Master Plan, and the fulfillment of the Controlled Recreation Area’s physical potential to offer a world class alpine skiing experience.”

A gorgeous new daylodge and parking lot opened at the base of Black Forest in 2015, encouraging regional guests to bypass the congested village portal. The upcoming lifts are envisioned as gateways to even more terrain planned for East Peak eventually. Both lifts would be 2,400 passenger per hour quads with Backcountry being detachable and Black Forest Connector being fixed grip. The former would rise 1,250 feet over a slope length of 4,977′ in under five minutes. The smaller lift would be about 4,354 feet long with a vertical of 666′ and ride time just under nine minutes.

Big White operates a mix of mostly older Doppelmayr lifts and a few newer Leitner-Poma models, so I could see either company winning the next contract. Just last year, the resort’s Powder triple was replaced with a Leitner-Poma Alpha quad. Big White initially intended to build both Backcountry lifts in 2019 but the project is still listed as “Under Review” by the province. Not to worry though, the resort is focusing on new bike trails, Gem Lake base area improvements and new employee housing this summer.

A Dozen Years In, Revelstoke Reassesses

June 1, 2019June 1, 2019Peter Landsman20 Comments

revelstoke 3-26-10 113 — Revelstoke Mountain Resort currently operates four Leitner-Poma Omega detachable lifts built in 2007 and 2008.

More than $200 million was invested to create Revelstoke Mountain Resort, an Ikon Pass destination in the Selkirk Mountains of British Columbia. While the skiing is undeniably fantastic, the resort’s timing was poor, launching on the cusp of the global financial crisis in December 2007. Acquired by Northland Properties from an American developer just a year into operation, Revelstoke has slowly grown to 3,100 acres, two gondola sections and two quad chairlifts with a third set to open this year.

Last month, Revelstoke Mountain Resort filed a new master plan with the province. This map shows the current buildout and phase 2.

Revelstoke features a continent-leading vertical rise 5,620 feet and the longest run goes on for nearly ten miles. The lower village lies along the Columbia River at 1,680 feet. Despite the addition of snowmaking in 2011, the entire lower mountain is sometimes closed due to lack of snow. The resort’s new master plan focuses on higher alpine terrain where snowfall is plentiful and reliable. The lift currently under construction, originally called Cupcake but now known as Stellar, will service a teaching zone at 5,600 feet near the summit of the Revelation Gondola.

In addition to the new Leitner-Poma quad, all four existing lifts will be brought up to their maximum capacities of 2,600 to 2,800 passengers per hour this summer through carrier additions. That means 22 new gondola cabins, 21 chairs for The Stoke and 42 more for The Ripper.

After this summer, Northland plans to shift back to adding alpine terrain Revelstoke is famous for. A high speed lift in the North Bowl of Mt. Mackenzie will provide access above The Ripper with a vertical rise of 1,970 feet. The new South Bowl quad will add 395 acres at even higher elevation with panoramic views of the Columbia. Phase 2c envisions a lift duo backing up the Revelation Gondola and a new intermediate quad known as Lift 15. “The focus of Phase 2 will be on increasing uphill lift capacity to accommodate increased visitation, as well as terrain development at higher elevations in more snow-reliable areas within the resort’s current boundary,” notes the approved plan.