Long live the Ranch! More funky than fancy, but old school in the best way, preserving the spirit of the ’80s – slow lifts, cheap tickets, and cheap beer. On a holiday weekend, when all the other local resorts are circuses and your pass is blacked out anyway, the Ranch is the place to go.
I am honestly surprised Powdr has not bought the Ranch and combined it with Boreal. You can ski from the top of Chair 5 to Boreal and from the top of Boreal down the back to Donner Day Lodge, so a basic link would only need a rope drop.
Maybe the owners of Donner don’t want tor sell. I think it’s been in the same family ownership for a while. I skied there for a day back in 2004 while on a business trip. Fun little resort. Very old school
The current owners are the Tuttles, who purchased it in 2001 for $10 million. I am not sure of their willingness to sell or their overall financial situation, but they have expressed financial concern in the past during low snow years when their season is short and trails are not able to open.
Boreal/Powdr has no interest in DSR or being king of the hills. Combined they would have just under 1000acres and the same 500ft of vertical. Boreal is a park and first time/beginner mountain. They have adequate terrain to serve both groups well, especially when you include soda springs as the separate family and kids focused area. In fact a lot of their current terrain is rarely open and barely used when it is. That’s why they never reopened quicksilver. Adding more of the same terrain and vertical would do little to entice a different clientele (intermediate and advanced big mountain skiers). Sugarbowl, Palisades and Nstar skiers would still have no interest. DSR is a also maintenance headache with cobbled together old riblets and worn outdated infrastructure. It’s kind of amazing they keep hanging on.
This is the complete lift history of DSR:
1946-1959, T-bar, Constam (1,700 ft long, 650 ft vertical and 600 pph, sold to Silver Springs)
1955-1985, Chair 1, Double, United Tramway (2,100 ft, 850 ft, 750 pph, sixth chairlift in California)
1964-????, Poma #1, T-bar/platter, Tiegel (converted to a platter about 10 years later)
1970s-????, Poma #2, platter, Tiegel (relocated from Dodge Ridge)
1975- , Chair 2, Double, Riblet (relocated from Vail, likely Chair 5, both 2 and 3 were built of it, but other parts were also used)
1976- , Chair 3, Double, Riblet
1984- , Chair 4, Double, Riblet (relocated from Mt. Shasta)
1985- , Chair 1, Triple, Poma (replaced the United Tramway double)
1986: Chair 3 was extended further down
1986- , Chair 5, Double, Riblet (relocated from Squaw: Siberia)
????- , Chair 6, Double, Riblet (relocated from Boreal, replaced the first Tiegel)
Lift Blog 
I figured out the following stats of all the lifts
Chair 1: 9 Towers; 88 Chairs; 230 horsepower
Chair 2: 11 Towers; 54 Chairs; 413 ft vertical; 1,656 ft length; 450 fpm speed; 150 horsepower
Chair 3: 13 Towers; 116 Chairs; 511 ft vertical; 3,000 ft length 500 fpm speed; 200 horsepower
Chair 4: 8 Towers; 36 Chairs; 257 ft vertical; 1,045 ft length 370 fpm speed; 80 horsepower
Chair 5: 10 Towers; 64 Chairs; 300 ft vertical; 2,996 ft length 450 fpm speed; 170 horsepower
Chair 6: 7 Towers; 48 Chairs; 157 ft vertical; 970 ft length 450 fpm speed; 100 horsepower
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Thanks Erik!
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Long live the Ranch! More funky than fancy, but old school in the best way, preserving the spirit of the ’80s – slow lifts, cheap tickets, and cheap beer. On a holiday weekend, when all the other local resorts are circuses and your pass is blacked out anyway, the Ranch is the place to go.
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I am honestly surprised Powdr has not bought the Ranch and combined it with Boreal. You can ski from the top of Chair 5 to Boreal and from the top of Boreal down the back to Donner Day Lodge, so a basic link would only need a rope drop.
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Maybe the owners of Donner don’t want tor sell. I think it’s been in the same family ownership for a while. I skied there for a day back in 2004 while on a business trip. Fun little resort. Very old school
LikeLike
The current owners are the Tuttles, who purchased it in 2001 for $10 million. I am not sure of their willingness to sell or their overall financial situation, but they have expressed financial concern in the past during low snow years when their season is short and trails are not able to open.
LikeLike
Boreal/Powdr has no interest in DSR or being king of the hills. Combined they would have just under 1000acres and the same 500ft of vertical. Boreal is a park and first time/beginner mountain. They have adequate terrain to serve both groups well, especially when you include soda springs as the separate family and kids focused area. In fact a lot of their current terrain is rarely open and barely used when it is. That’s why they never reopened quicksilver. Adding more of the same terrain and vertical would do little to entice a different clientele (intermediate and advanced big mountain skiers). Sugarbowl, Palisades and Nstar skiers would still have no interest. DSR is a also maintenance headache with cobbled together old riblets and worn outdated infrastructure. It’s kind of amazing they keep hanging on.
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This is the complete lift history of DSR:
1946-1959, T-bar, Constam (1,700 ft long, 650 ft vertical and 600 pph, sold to Silver Springs)
1955-1985, Chair 1, Double, United Tramway (2,100 ft, 850 ft, 750 pph, sixth chairlift in California)
1964-????, Poma #1, T-bar/platter, Tiegel (converted to a platter about 10 years later)
1970s-????, Poma #2, platter, Tiegel (relocated from Dodge Ridge)
1975- , Chair 2, Double, Riblet (relocated from Vail, likely Chair 5, both 2 and 3 were built of it, but other parts were also used)
1976- , Chair 3, Double, Riblet
1984- , Chair 4, Double, Riblet (relocated from Mt. Shasta)
1985- , Chair 1, Triple, Poma (replaced the United Tramway double)
1986: Chair 3 was extended further down
1986- , Chair 5, Double, Riblet (relocated from Squaw: Siberia)
????- , Chair 6, Double, Riblet (relocated from Boreal, replaced the first Tiegel)
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This isn’t good. This is the second structure fire at DSR in a few years during the season. The last fire took out the warming hut on the backside.
https://www.2news.com/news/fire-breaks-out-at-top-of-donner-ski-ranch-resort/article_d4b56c96-7aeb-11ec-a7c9-276c8545bb76.html
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