The Tremblant gondola opened in 1998 and replaced a Doppelmayr high speed quad.The bottom terminal is located in a building which also houses cabin parking.The top terminal has more parking and a Doppelmayr enclosure.Unloading area up top.Big breakover.View down a section of the line.The lower station building.Laoding and maze area.Terminal placement within the village next to the Cabriolet.Tower 2.The cabins are Gangloff rather than CWA.Side view of the bottom terminal.Lower terminal overview.Doppelmayr detachable equipment in the return station.View up at the top terminal.Looking down from near the summit.The gondola is over 8,000 feet long.View up at tower 16.Lower part of the lift line.View up at tower 6.A cabin with new CWA ski racks.Exposed bullwheel in the bottom station.Carrier in the lower terminal.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.Part two from the Worldbook.
This lift is nearly identical to Cloudsplitter at Whiteface. Same terminals, cabins, number of towers, and length. The main differences are that vertical on this lift is slightly less, it has more capacity, and typically runs at a much higher speed.
Strawberry at snowbasin is running the same speed as the high speed quads/six. Probably because of high winds at the top. Needles is now the fastest lift at snowbasin.
I asked to see the lift shack at the top once, and there’s a sign saying they are allowed to run it at 5.8 m/s which translates to about 1140 fpm. I’m not sure the exact reason the shack is on the wrong side, but I think it’s due to space constraints with the lodge on one side and cabin parking on the other, but there are mirrors and cameras that allow the entire platform to be seen from inside the shack. It used the be the cabin parking building was reserved for use by ski school during the day, but I was also able to go in it once last season.
This lift might only be 20 years old, but at that it’s the mountain’s workhorse lift – open daily from season start to season end, and during the summer months too. It’s racked up high hours, and its current capacity falls short every weekend – causing huge, 15+ minute crowds far too frequently.
I’d really like to see it replaced by a 10-person, D-Line gondola. The lift isn’t old enough to be scrapped, but could well be relocated to another mountain in need of a gondola – there are plenty. Solden (in Austria) did the same a few years back, replacing a 2800 pph, 1998 Doppelmayr gondola with a high-capacity (4000 pph) D-Line lift. It seems to have been done to great effect, since the new lift doesn’t quite experience the same crowds of the old one. A 6.5 m/s lift in North America would also be quite incredible.
I think a better idea would be to put upgrade flying mile to a six or a bubble chair. Still have to wonder if this could be repurposed for another alterra resort. though. Grizzly gondola connecting solitude/alta is an interesting thought… Or a gondola replacing J1, J6, or J2 at June.. town gondola at Deer Valley? Or heck, the California express connecting squaw and alpine meadows.
10 person gondolas really don’t work very well, or at least the “10 person” gondolas I have ridden. Most gondolas regulated for 10 people just load 8 anyways, due in part to the fact that most only seat 8. Nobody wants to stand in a gondola. The way we are going to get more capacity with gondolas is speed, or larger cabins (which is unlikely).
D-Lines are rated for 7 m/s, although I’m skeptical any resort would run a lift at that speed (due to wear and tear). This gondola could well head to another Alterra resort, although I’m pretty certain the California Express will be brand new (it’s an LP lift whereas this is a Doppelmayr, and it’s much longer with midstations).
The new Omega V cabins can seat 10 people, though you’re definitely right that 10-person gondolas with 8-seater cabins don’t work out.
Flying Mile doesn’t quite have the length or wind exposure to warrant a bubble chair, though a six-pack with 3600 pph simply wouldn’t work. Those who take Flying Mile up MUST take TGV if they wish to reach the summit. TGV has a design capacity of 1800 pph, fairly low, which would easily be overwhelmed by traffic from both Flying Mile and its own trail pod. TGV must be upgraded before Flying Mile – most would like to see a non-bubble six-pack there.
TGV is 2800/hr according to the sign at the top. It has closer chair spacing than Expo and the same design speed. They typically run it at 1000 feet per minute rather than 1100 so the capacity is closer to 2400.
No question the gondola could use a capacity upgrade, but I think Duncan and Soleil need upgrades first. They are very old and seem to have the most down time. If those replacements have bubbles, that will automatically take a bunch of traffic off the gondola.
The non-full length detachables have lower ridership than the full length ones, and I see them as less of a priority to upgrade. A lot of people just ride them to avoid riding the full length lifts when there are big lines. The fact that they did a high speed quad instead of a 6 for Lowell Thomas shows that Alterra agrees with this.
If the gondola is replaced before it’s time for it to go to the scrapyard, I think June Mountain would be a good place to relocate it replacing J1. Since they are renting the mountain this year, it makes sense to have a nicer lift out of the base.
I never noticed the sign, I would think it’d be 2400-2800 pph with that chair spacing. Peter should update the capacity on the spreadsheet.
Soleil is less exposed to the wind, so experiences less downtime. Replacing both with bubble sixes might be a stretch financially, so I could see only Duncan becoming a bubble six. It also needs to be noted that the Versant Soleil doesn’t have too much trail capacity, and the trails there deteriorate faster than anywhere else on the mountain (because of its insolated position). Soleil also doesn’t have capacity issues, so Alterra could get away with a quad, or a bubble quad.
Tremblant’s lift infrastructure is quite old, especially for its popularity. Quieter resorts in Quebec can get away with operating Dopplemayr detachables from the 1980s, but Tremblant isn’t quite in the same position. It goes without saying that Duncan and Soleil will probably have to be replaced first, by virtue of their age. After that, though, I’d really like Alterra to invest more into the second-busiest resort in Canada. The gondola should be rapidly earmarked for replacement, followed by perhaps TGV. Expo can stay, since it’s not a principal lift on the mountain (most taking Expo are doing it to avoid Duncan).
If I had to bet on it, I see the next lift project being a Copper-style upgrade of both Duncan and Soleil the same year. That would happen around 2021 give or take a year. At that time, Duncan will be 30 years old and Soleil will be 33 years old. By then, I would expect that the D-Line is the only Doppelmayr product at least for bigger lifts like that. For parts commonality, both would be bubble-6’s with chair spacing and loading intervals set for the capacity required. Duncan would require a higher capacity than Soleil.
By 2025, the gondola will be 27 years old and with super high hours. Since the UNI-Spacejet systems should be able to last longer than the CLD-260 style system used on the Steamboat gondola, it will have life left in it by that time, but it could be getting to the point where it needs to be upgraded on capacity. D-Line 10 person gondola with a capacity of 3600/hr would be a no-brainer.
As you stated with Expo, I think a lot of people ride the shorter lifts just to avoid the full length ones. People really prefer to ski top to bottom at Tremblant. By upgrading the 3 biggest lifts on the mountain, that should take a lot of people off the shorter lifts, and none of the older 3 would need to be replaced on capacity. However, they will all need replacements at some point due to age. I honestly have no idea when that would happen. TGV just got a major overhaul after the fire in 2014. Expo and Flying Mile could also use similar rebuilds. I also wonder if Edge will go detachable at some point and whether they’d upgrade one of the shorter high speed quads to a 6 pack and relocate it to Edge or just build a brand new lift there.
So apparently Tremblant had record crowds and insane lift lines this past weekend. I was there on Saturday and it was very busy, but I heard Sunday was much worse. Can ATC 1701 confirm or deny?
If it keeps getting as busy as it did this weekend, I would hope some lift upgrades are coming sooner rather than later.
I was working at LTE on Sunday, and on my break I remarked that all the other lifts on the mountain (especially Duncan and the Gondola) were the busiest I’d ever seen them to be. Then again, I’ve only been working here since November. Some folks who have been here for longer say these are the biggest crowds in years. The summit itself was unbelievably packed – a sea of people.
I suspect it happened because most Canadian provinces have a public holiday today, making this a long weekend. I think there’s an American holiday around now too. Combine the influx of Anglophone Canadians with some Americans and the Quebecois locals…and yes, record crowds and insane lift lines. I think the wait at the Telecabine may have gone over 30 minutes.
Yes indeed it was a holiday weekend in the US. Duncan had about a 15 minute line at 11am Saturday. I only rode the Telecabine once late in the day and waited about 10 minutes. I noticed Flying Mile was most definitely not flying and LTE was going quite slowly too, which I was surprised to see given how busy it was. I was impressed with how efficiently Tremblant loads their chairs. Every seat is always full with very few exceptions. Do you always work at LTE?
I heard it was 30 minutes midday, around 11 AM, at least Sunday. The Telecabine crowds improve as the day goes on, so you caught a good time period. Flying Mile tends to run slower – 800-900 fpm, partially because it serves a decent bit of beginner terrain mid-mountain.
We do make an effort to load the chairs efficiently – and quads aren’t all that hard. People tend to arrange themselves 4 by 4, especially with singles, and it’s a fairly orderly process even on busy days. The Telecabine is where we step in to make sure each cabin has 8 people. What I don’t like is the habit of manually scanning tickets at base areas. It’s more thorough, but can become overwhelming with large crowds. I’d much rather prefer to see pass readers installed, although that’s nowhere near happening.
I’m not exactly sure why LTE ran slowly Saturday. It may be winds, crowds, or just arbitrary. I don’t always work there, and my favourite lift is definitely Le Soleil. A unique Doppelmayr classic.
When I was at Tremblant earlier this year, the resort staff I spoke with all said crowds this year are the higher than ever, and they attributed this to Ikon. I believe Duncan is the lift that needs an upgrade the most, especially given its age and high hours. Honestly, given its length and demand, Alterra really should install an 8 pack here with bubbles/heated seats. The company has stated it will not be cheap like Intrawest was, so they could demonstrate that here. Ideally, TGV/Flying Mile would also become 6 packs, TGV would move over and replace Edge (again), and Soleil would go 6 pack with bubbles/heat (again due to length). However, those projects are further down the road.
Alterra will be installing RFID at all of their resorts who don’t already have it in place. Not sure if that will be this summer or next (or if they will spread out the installation over two summers), but it is coming.
One of the things I like about quads is that people can group up into 4’s easily with minimal staff intervention. That can’t be done on a 6 or 8, so they would need to switch from the alternating style queue on any upgraded lifts to a front row style queue with staff directing things. But with the much higher possible capacity, it’s worth requiring extra staff. RFID would eliminate the need for manual ticket checking and allow that staff to be reassigned elsewhere.
I’d rather see a new gondola than a new Flying Mile and TGV as so many people ride those lifts to avoid the gondola. I’m not sure of the timeline, but I think it would have to come after Duncan and Soleil. I initially thought that upgrading Lowell Thomas would’ve postponed the need to upgrade Duncan, but last weekend showed otherwise.
Does anyone know about how many skier visits Tremblant gets both annually and on a busy weekend day?
We don’t have any 6’s at Tremblant, but I have been to other resorts which do have 6’s, and I’d say staff intervention is the best way to make sure each chair is loaded and ensure maximum efficiency.
I don’t have any information on skier visits, though it’s at least in the upper hundred thousands (800-900,000). On a very busy day, we probably get over 10,000 visitors, though again, I don’t have exact information. To my knowledge, we don’t cap tickets sold (just look at the crowds!).
A lot of lifts at Tremblant need replacing, since the lift infrastructure doesn’t have the capacities to serve the crowds we receive. Duncan, Le Soleil, and the Telecabine are obvious priorities, although eventually TGV will have to be replaced too, since it serves a substantial trail pod. If the Gondola is upgraded, Flying Mile has at least another 8-10 years in it.
Glad to see that RFID is coming in the near future!
I do not know exactly what Tremblant’s skier visits number is in a normal year, but I do know it is above 800,000. How far above that, I am not sure. I am sure that they receive over 10,000 skier visits on peak days because there are mountains in VT that do with fewer visitors. Honestly, it would not surprise me if Tremblant hits 14k-15k visitors on peak days.
Tremblant’s lift lines make Strattons look tame in comparison. Tremblant is incredibly overbuilt for its capacity and terrain, and anyone who skies there regularly knows that its the worst place to ski in the east on the weekends, with consistent 45 minute lines at a minimum on this gondola, and a majority of other lifts. As they say, Tremblants great for everything but skiing. Alterra and the Ikon pass had nothing to do with the lines, considering Tremblant has had consistent 45 minute lines since the early 2000s in the Intrawest days
Similar to what happened with Flying Mile, this lift climbs out of the base much steeper than the Tremblant Express did. The Tremblant Express had the initial hold down, then a support tower, then another hold down before going up over the cliff. This lift just has the initial hold down and then a support tower before it goes over the cliff. The Tremblant Express had a very short tower on top of the cliff which is now the upper of two towers on the evac training line.
This lift has been frequently running 1200 fpm recently. I took videos of the bottom and top yesterday. Pretty impressive for a 22 year old workhorse with very high hours.
Tremblant is only loading six people in each cabin this year. I am not sure if that is a Covid restriction, as they were doing it regardless of how many different parties were in each lift.
Honestly, it would not surprise me if this is due to weight issues. I believe the weight limit per cabin is 1411 lbs, and with the average Canadian adult male now weighing 187 lbs without gear, they could run into issues. It reminds me of the old North Ridge triple at Killington that ran into weight issues in its last few years because the average American weighed substantially more than when it was installed.
Looks like they are replacing the rope on the Gondola and today (24-04-26) that they are doing the splice. You can see a large group of people just above the base house. Over the last two days, I have noticed a huge reel with the cable being paid out. Use the Place St. Bernard web cam and click on the left of the image until it swings around far enough to see the lift. It looks like they are also doing this at their sister hill in Ontario, Blue Mountain. The Silver Bullet chair looks like it is getting a new rope too, but the single webcam does not afford a good view.
To comment on a few things being said, I also work and the mountain and i am hevaily invested in ski lifts depsite not being an operator. The mountain is very aware of the fact that it lacks significnant skiable terrain for the amount of people that visit it. This is why they are focused on building the Timber side. It has been delayed because of COVID and they also had to restart all of the plans they had made pre covid which is why it is delayed so much. The gondola is also nearing the end of its life because of how often it runs. A few years ago they were faced wiht either getting a new gondola or refurbishing this one so thta it can last longer. Given how covid went I think they decided to refurbish it for now, but they are intrested in changing it eventually. I asusme this change will happen after Timber is built.
The versant soleil lift will also porbably be changed before duncan but after Timber. The bringing of new investments to that side of the mountain plus the new condos and private lift which will be built there will inevitably cause more traffic on that side. And currently, the soleil lift cannot handle it. despite it not being the side with the most wind, its an old lift and it very often is one of the firsts to shut down when its windy. So much so that there is saying “If you want the day off, go work at soleil”.
And lastly about the edge, it will not be replaced. The mountain does not want to. Why? because its old and non-detachable. It requires little maintenance and hardly ever breaks down. And givien that the edge is mostly glades, the lift operates a lot less than any other, meaning it has less hours. The mountain much prefers putting their money into other more used lifts that require a lot of mainteance costs rather than changing a low cost lift with another used one from elsewhere which will just cost more. Plus (other than on opening days or big powder days) the lift is hardly ever at capacity. So there is no need to increase it. And if they did it would only cause more traffic in the glades which the mountain does not want.
How often do they replace the rope on Gondolas? It was replaced in April of 2024, but if you go to the St. Bernard web cam and scroll the camera to the hill by clicking on the left hand side of the image, you can see that they are replacing the rope again, 19 months since the last replacement. They are just splicing the cable together now
You sure it has been replaced and not just shortened? We see cables get shortened/re-spliced sometimes a year or two or three after being installed, due to stretching out.
Take a look for yourself and decide. They had a huge spool and they have been feeding that out for the last couple of days, same as they did in 2024-04. It certainly looks like they are replacing the rope with a whole new spool. I cannot see the spool at the work site any longer. The web page that gives the best view is: <https://tremblantwebcams.com/e/newmain.html?p=stbernard&vbcam=4&name=PLACE%20ST-BERNARD> keep clicking on the upper left of the image until it scrolls around to where you can see the work being done.
Lift Blog 
This lift is nearly identical to Cloudsplitter at Whiteface. Same terminals, cabins, number of towers, and length. The main differences are that vertical on this lift is slightly less, it has more capacity, and typically runs at a much higher speed.
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It usually runs between 5 and 5.5 m/s – I’ve rarely seen it go at 6. On windy days, it’ll even go at 4 m/s, sometimes even lower.
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That has been my experience, though I have seen it go 6 m/s for public. Cloudsplitter only runs at 4.5 on all but the busiest days when it goes 4.7
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Strawberry at snowbasin is running the same speed as the high speed quads/six. Probably because of high winds at the top. Needles is now the fastest lift at snowbasin.
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I asked to see the lift shack at the top once, and there’s a sign saying they are allowed to run it at 5.8 m/s which translates to about 1140 fpm. I’m not sure the exact reason the shack is on the wrong side, but I think it’s due to space constraints with the lodge on one side and cabin parking on the other, but there are mirrors and cameras that allow the entire platform to be seen from inside the shack. It used the be the cabin parking building was reserved for use by ski school during the day, but I was also able to go in it once last season.
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This lift might only be 20 years old, but at that it’s the mountain’s workhorse lift – open daily from season start to season end, and during the summer months too. It’s racked up high hours, and its current capacity falls short every weekend – causing huge, 15+ minute crowds far too frequently.
I’d really like to see it replaced by a 10-person, D-Line gondola. The lift isn’t old enough to be scrapped, but could well be relocated to another mountain in need of a gondola – there are plenty. Solden (in Austria) did the same a few years back, replacing a 2800 pph, 1998 Doppelmayr gondola with a high-capacity (4000 pph) D-Line lift. It seems to have been done to great effect, since the new lift doesn’t quite experience the same crowds of the old one. A 6.5 m/s lift in North America would also be quite incredible.
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I think a better idea would be to put upgrade flying mile to a six or a bubble chair. Still have to wonder if this could be repurposed for another alterra resort. though. Grizzly gondola connecting solitude/alta is an interesting thought… Or a gondola replacing J1, J6, or J2 at June.. town gondola at Deer Valley? Or heck, the California express connecting squaw and alpine meadows.
10 person gondolas really don’t work very well, or at least the “10 person” gondolas I have ridden. Most gondolas regulated for 10 people just load 8 anyways, due in part to the fact that most only seat 8. Nobody wants to stand in a gondola. The way we are going to get more capacity with gondolas is speed, or larger cabins (which is unlikely).
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D-Lines are rated for 7 m/s, although I’m skeptical any resort would run a lift at that speed (due to wear and tear). This gondola could well head to another Alterra resort, although I’m pretty certain the California Express will be brand new (it’s an LP lift whereas this is a Doppelmayr, and it’s much longer with midstations).
The new Omega V cabins can seat 10 people, though you’re definitely right that 10-person gondolas with 8-seater cabins don’t work out.
Flying Mile doesn’t quite have the length or wind exposure to warrant a bubble chair, though a six-pack with 3600 pph simply wouldn’t work. Those who take Flying Mile up MUST take TGV if they wish to reach the summit. TGV has a design capacity of 1800 pph, fairly low, which would easily be overwhelmed by traffic from both Flying Mile and its own trail pod. TGV must be upgraded before Flying Mile – most would like to see a non-bubble six-pack there.
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TGV is 2800/hr according to the sign at the top. It has closer chair spacing than Expo and the same design speed. They typically run it at 1000 feet per minute rather than 1100 so the capacity is closer to 2400.
No question the gondola could use a capacity upgrade, but I think Duncan and Soleil need upgrades first. They are very old and seem to have the most down time. If those replacements have bubbles, that will automatically take a bunch of traffic off the gondola.
The non-full length detachables have lower ridership than the full length ones, and I see them as less of a priority to upgrade. A lot of people just ride them to avoid riding the full length lifts when there are big lines. The fact that they did a high speed quad instead of a 6 for Lowell Thomas shows that Alterra agrees with this.
If the gondola is replaced before it’s time for it to go to the scrapyard, I think June Mountain would be a good place to relocate it replacing J1. Since they are renting the mountain this year, it makes sense to have a nicer lift out of the base.
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I never noticed the sign, I would think it’d be 2400-2800 pph with that chair spacing. Peter should update the capacity on the spreadsheet.
Soleil is less exposed to the wind, so experiences less downtime. Replacing both with bubble sixes might be a stretch financially, so I could see only Duncan becoming a bubble six. It also needs to be noted that the Versant Soleil doesn’t have too much trail capacity, and the trails there deteriorate faster than anywhere else on the mountain (because of its insolated position). Soleil also doesn’t have capacity issues, so Alterra could get away with a quad, or a bubble quad.
Tremblant’s lift infrastructure is quite old, especially for its popularity. Quieter resorts in Quebec can get away with operating Dopplemayr detachables from the 1980s, but Tremblant isn’t quite in the same position. It goes without saying that Duncan and Soleil will probably have to be replaced first, by virtue of their age. After that, though, I’d really like Alterra to invest more into the second-busiest resort in Canada. The gondola should be rapidly earmarked for replacement, followed by perhaps TGV. Expo can stay, since it’s not a principal lift on the mountain (most taking Expo are doing it to avoid Duncan).
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If I had to bet on it, I see the next lift project being a Copper-style upgrade of both Duncan and Soleil the same year. That would happen around 2021 give or take a year. At that time, Duncan will be 30 years old and Soleil will be 33 years old. By then, I would expect that the D-Line is the only Doppelmayr product at least for bigger lifts like that. For parts commonality, both would be bubble-6’s with chair spacing and loading intervals set for the capacity required. Duncan would require a higher capacity than Soleil.
By 2025, the gondola will be 27 years old and with super high hours. Since the UNI-Spacejet systems should be able to last longer than the CLD-260 style system used on the Steamboat gondola, it will have life left in it by that time, but it could be getting to the point where it needs to be upgraded on capacity. D-Line 10 person gondola with a capacity of 3600/hr would be a no-brainer.
As you stated with Expo, I think a lot of people ride the shorter lifts just to avoid the full length ones. People really prefer to ski top to bottom at Tremblant. By upgrading the 3 biggest lifts on the mountain, that should take a lot of people off the shorter lifts, and none of the older 3 would need to be replaced on capacity. However, they will all need replacements at some point due to age. I honestly have no idea when that would happen. TGV just got a major overhaul after the fire in 2014. Expo and Flying Mile could also use similar rebuilds. I also wonder if Edge will go detachable at some point and whether they’d upgrade one of the shorter high speed quads to a 6 pack and relocate it to Edge or just build a brand new lift there.
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So apparently Tremblant had record crowds and insane lift lines this past weekend. I was there on Saturday and it was very busy, but I heard Sunday was much worse. Can ATC 1701 confirm or deny?
If it keeps getting as busy as it did this weekend, I would hope some lift upgrades are coming sooner rather than later.
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I was working at LTE on Sunday, and on my break I remarked that all the other lifts on the mountain (especially Duncan and the Gondola) were the busiest I’d ever seen them to be. Then again, I’ve only been working here since November. Some folks who have been here for longer say these are the biggest crowds in years. The summit itself was unbelievably packed – a sea of people.
I suspect it happened because most Canadian provinces have a public holiday today, making this a long weekend. I think there’s an American holiday around now too. Combine the influx of Anglophone Canadians with some Americans and the Quebecois locals…and yes, record crowds and insane lift lines. I think the wait at the Telecabine may have gone over 30 minutes.
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Yes indeed it was a holiday weekend in the US. Duncan had about a 15 minute line at 11am Saturday. I only rode the Telecabine once late in the day and waited about 10 minutes. I noticed Flying Mile was most definitely not flying and LTE was going quite slowly too, which I was surprised to see given how busy it was. I was impressed with how efficiently Tremblant loads their chairs. Every seat is always full with very few exceptions. Do you always work at LTE?
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I heard it was 30 minutes midday, around 11 AM, at least Sunday. The Telecabine crowds improve as the day goes on, so you caught a good time period. Flying Mile tends to run slower – 800-900 fpm, partially because it serves a decent bit of beginner terrain mid-mountain.
We do make an effort to load the chairs efficiently – and quads aren’t all that hard. People tend to arrange themselves 4 by 4, especially with singles, and it’s a fairly orderly process even on busy days. The Telecabine is where we step in to make sure each cabin has 8 people. What I don’t like is the habit of manually scanning tickets at base areas. It’s more thorough, but can become overwhelming with large crowds. I’d much rather prefer to see pass readers installed, although that’s nowhere near happening.
I’m not exactly sure why LTE ran slowly Saturday. It may be winds, crowds, or just arbitrary. I don’t always work there, and my favourite lift is definitely Le Soleil. A unique Doppelmayr classic.
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When I was at Tremblant earlier this year, the resort staff I spoke with all said crowds this year are the higher than ever, and they attributed this to Ikon. I believe Duncan is the lift that needs an upgrade the most, especially given its age and high hours. Honestly, given its length and demand, Alterra really should install an 8 pack here with bubbles/heated seats. The company has stated it will not be cheap like Intrawest was, so they could demonstrate that here. Ideally, TGV/Flying Mile would also become 6 packs, TGV would move over and replace Edge (again), and Soleil would go 6 pack with bubbles/heat (again due to length). However, those projects are further down the road.
Alterra will be installing RFID at all of their resorts who don’t already have it in place. Not sure if that will be this summer or next (or if they will spread out the installation over two summers), but it is coming.
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One of the things I like about quads is that people can group up into 4’s easily with minimal staff intervention. That can’t be done on a 6 or 8, so they would need to switch from the alternating style queue on any upgraded lifts to a front row style queue with staff directing things. But with the much higher possible capacity, it’s worth requiring extra staff. RFID would eliminate the need for manual ticket checking and allow that staff to be reassigned elsewhere.
I’d rather see a new gondola than a new Flying Mile and TGV as so many people ride those lifts to avoid the gondola. I’m not sure of the timeline, but I think it would have to come after Duncan and Soleil. I initially thought that upgrading Lowell Thomas would’ve postponed the need to upgrade Duncan, but last weekend showed otherwise.
Does anyone know about how many skier visits Tremblant gets both annually and on a busy weekend day?
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Can confirm what @skitheeast said, at Stratton the crowds this year have been worse than ever before mostly because of ikon.
6’s can group without help from staff, see it all the time. Maybe on a lift like duncan having staff making groups would be a good idea though.
No idea how many skiers tremblant gets on a busy day, I wonder if they cap the amount of lift tickets they sell, because I know Stratton does.
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We don’t have any 6’s at Tremblant, but I have been to other resorts which do have 6’s, and I’d say staff intervention is the best way to make sure each chair is loaded and ensure maximum efficiency.
I don’t have any information on skier visits, though it’s at least in the upper hundred thousands (800-900,000). On a very busy day, we probably get over 10,000 visitors, though again, I don’t have exact information. To my knowledge, we don’t cap tickets sold (just look at the crowds!).
A lot of lifts at Tremblant need replacing, since the lift infrastructure doesn’t have the capacities to serve the crowds we receive. Duncan, Le Soleil, and the Telecabine are obvious priorities, although eventually TGV will have to be replaced too, since it serves a substantial trail pod. If the Gondola is upgraded, Flying Mile has at least another 8-10 years in it.
Glad to see that RFID is coming in the near future!
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I do not know exactly what Tremblant’s skier visits number is in a normal year, but I do know it is above 800,000. How far above that, I am not sure. I am sure that they receive over 10,000 skier visits on peak days because there are mountains in VT that do with fewer visitors. Honestly, it would not surprise me if Tremblant hits 14k-15k visitors on peak days.
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Tremblant’s lift lines make Strattons look tame in comparison. Tremblant is incredibly overbuilt for its capacity and terrain, and anyone who skies there regularly knows that its the worst place to ski in the east on the weekends, with consistent 45 minute lines at a minimum on this gondola, and a majority of other lifts. As they say, Tremblants great for everything but skiing. Alterra and the Ikon pass had nothing to do with the lines, considering Tremblant has had consistent 45 minute lines since the early 2000s in the Intrawest days
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Similar to what happened with Flying Mile, this lift climbs out of the base much steeper than the Tremblant Express did. The Tremblant Express had the initial hold down, then a support tower, then another hold down before going up over the cliff. This lift just has the initial hold down and then a support tower before it goes over the cliff. The Tremblant Express had a very short tower on top of the cliff which is now the upper of two towers on the evac training line.
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This lift has been frequently running 1200 fpm recently. I took videos of the bottom and top yesterday. Pretty impressive for a 22 year old workhorse with very high hours.
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Tremblant is only loading six people in each cabin this year. I am not sure if that is a Covid restriction, as they were doing it regardless of how many different parties were in each lift.
Honestly, it would not surprise me if this is due to weight issues. I believe the weight limit per cabin is 1411 lbs, and with the average Canadian adult male now weighing 187 lbs without gear, they could run into issues. It reminds me of the old North Ridge triple at Killington that ran into weight issues in its last few years because the average American weighed substantially more than when it was installed.
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Looks like they are replacing the rope on the Gondola and today (24-04-26) that they are doing the splice. You can see a large group of people just above the base house. Over the last two days, I have noticed a huge reel with the cable being paid out. Use the Place St. Bernard web cam and click on the left of the image until it swings around far enough to see the lift. It looks like they are also doing this at their sister hill in Ontario, Blue Mountain. The Silver Bullet chair looks like it is getting a new rope too, but the single webcam does not afford a good view.
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To comment on a few things being said, I also work and the mountain and i am hevaily invested in ski lifts depsite not being an operator. The mountain is very aware of the fact that it lacks significnant skiable terrain for the amount of people that visit it. This is why they are focused on building the Timber side. It has been delayed because of COVID and they also had to restart all of the plans they had made pre covid which is why it is delayed so much. The gondola is also nearing the end of its life because of how often it runs. A few years ago they were faced wiht either getting a new gondola or refurbishing this one so thta it can last longer. Given how covid went I think they decided to refurbish it for now, but they are intrested in changing it eventually. I asusme this change will happen after Timber is built.
The versant soleil lift will also porbably be changed before duncan but after Timber. The bringing of new investments to that side of the mountain plus the new condos and private lift which will be built there will inevitably cause more traffic on that side. And currently, the soleil lift cannot handle it. despite it not being the side with the most wind, its an old lift and it very often is one of the firsts to shut down when its windy. So much so that there is saying “If you want the day off, go work at soleil”.
And lastly about the edge, it will not be replaced. The mountain does not want to. Why? because its old and non-detachable. It requires little maintenance and hardly ever breaks down. And givien that the edge is mostly glades, the lift operates a lot less than any other, meaning it has less hours. The mountain much prefers putting their money into other more used lifts that require a lot of mainteance costs rather than changing a low cost lift with another used one from elsewhere which will just cost more. Plus (other than on opening days or big powder days) the lift is hardly ever at capacity. So there is no need to increase it. And if they did it would only cause more traffic in the glades which the mountain does not want.
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How often do they replace the rope on Gondolas? It was replaced in April of 2024, but if you go to the St. Bernard web cam and scroll the camera to the hill by clicking on the left hand side of the image, you can see that they are replacing the rope again, 19 months since the last replacement. They are just splicing the cable together now
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You sure it has been replaced and not just shortened? We see cables get shortened/re-spliced sometimes a year or two or three after being installed, due to stretching out.
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Take a look for yourself and decide. They had a huge spool and they have been feeding that out for the last couple of days, same as they did in 2024-04. It certainly looks like they are replacing the rope with a whole new spool. I cannot see the spool at the work site any longer. The web page that gives the best view is: <https://tremblantwebcams.com/e/newmain.html?p=stbernard&vbcam=4&name=PLACE%20ST-BERNARD> keep clicking on the upper left of the image until it scrolls around to where you can see the work being done.
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