- The first lift-served bike park in Texas opens January 18th with a fixed-grip quad called the Texas Eagle.
- What was once the longest triple chair on the continent is officially off the Sunrise Park trail map.
- Pajarito does a rope evac of the Aspen lift on opening day.
- Simultaneously, Whitefish evacuates East Rim, which goes over quite the cliff.
- Breckenridge brings out the ropes for the Quicksilver Super6 the same day.
- Yet another lift is rope evacuated at Loch Lomond, Ontario.
- 39 lawsuits have been filed against The Hermitage Club and its founder to date.
- Attitash provides daily updates on Summit, which has been down a bunch lately.
- Hickory, NY won’t reopen this winter.
- Killington still plans to open the new South Ridge quad sometime this winter.
- Map master James Niehues gives up on retirement and is painting a new trail map for Mt. Bachelor.
- The planned race training T-Bar at Sunday River is a go for this summer.
- A teenager dies from a chairlift fall at Blue Mountain, PA.
- A lucky nine year old keeps on skiing after falling 40 feet from Solitude’s Moonbeam Express.
- A teen girl dies after jumping from a quad chair in Quebec.
- Greater Vancouver’s transit agency still wants to build a gondola up Burnaby Mountain but needs funding for it.
Crested Butte to Replace Teocalli Lift
Just weeks after declaring the Teocalli lift wouldn’t spin this season due to needed maintenance, Crested Butte Mountain Resort today announced the Riblet double will be replaced with a new fixed-grip quad next summer. Teocalli opened in 1979 and was the last operating Riblet lift at the resort. Pending Forest Service approval, the larger lift will increase capacity by more than 50 percent. The lower terminal will remain in its current location while the top station will shift closer to the Red Lady Express summit.
“The realignment and improved capacity of the lift will provide an elevated on-mountain experience via quick terrain access, improved egress to the resort base area and access to Uley’s Cabin – one of CBMR’s premier on mountain restaurants,” said Tim Baker, general manager of the resort in a blog post. “We believe this investment can provide a significant benefit to a variety of guests in the near future, and we’ll continue to listen to feedback and evaluate other potential investments that will have a similar impact for a spectrum of guests moving forward.” Ten of Crested Butte’s eleven lifts are of Leitner-Poma lineage but no manufacturer was specified. The new lift is the third to be announced by Vail Resorts for 2019, following the company’s commitment to replace two chairlifts at Stevens Pass next summer. Both Crested Butte and Stevens were acquired by Vail last summer.
Instagram Tuesday: Milestones
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
The Lift Business Jumped Forward in 2018
With 52 new ropeways servicing ski slopes, fairgrounds and theme parks, 2018 marks the fifth straight year of lift construction growth that began in 2014. All manufacturers did well this year and numbers were particularly strong in the Eastern United States and Canada. With North America’s first eight passenger chairlift, pioneering double loading gondolas, the first direct drives from two manufacturers and the first D-Line detachables, 2018 will be remembered as a pivotal year for North American lift building.
Forty three lifts were brand new this year while nine were relocated. Killington moved two lifts to new spots on the mountain, Doppelmayr relocated high speed quads at Whistler Blackcomb and Big Sky while Skytrac reinstalled Poma fixed grips at Catamount, New York and Spider Mountain, Texas.
Months ago I nicknamed 2018 the year of the gondola with a record ten new installations including combination chair/gondola lifts at Bromont, Quebec and Copper, Colorado. New gondolas sprouted coast to coast in both the United States and Canada in a year that won’t soon be repeated.
Bubble chairlift construction also surged with big installations this winter at Big Sky, Copper Mountain and Killington. The new American Flyer is the longest bubble lift in the world with 182 six place chairs set to carry skiers and snowboarders very soon. Copper, Winter Park and Big Sky’s new lifts are the first in North America with direct drives that cut gearboxes out of the equation for increased reliability.
News Roundup: Wrapping Up
- Winter Park’s Gondola becomes the third direct drive lift to open in as many weeks in the United States. As of October, there were zero!
- Pico is added to Ikon, bringing the pass to 40 mountains with a combined 474 lifts in the the US and Canada.
- The Hermitage Club won’t reopen until January at the earliest.
- The last of British Columbia’s seven new lifts debuts at Sun Peaks.
- I did a double take on this lift: a D-Line gondola with Carvatech cabins.
- The new American Flyer is very close to becoming the world’s longest bubble chair.
- Stratton’s new high speed quad is now set to open early in the new year.
- Skeetawk remains on track to become Alaska’s eleventh lift-served ski area next winter with a SkyTrans triple chair.
- An 8 year-old boy sustains only minor injuries falling 33 feet off a lift at Nordic Valley.
- The Colombian capital of Bogotá launches a $73 million urban gondola called TransMiCable.
- Frost Fire says it cannot open yet due to “contractual obligations with our chairlift,” a brand new Skytrac quad.
- Big Sky brings high speed access to the southern flank of Lone Peak with Shedhorn 4.
Burst Snowmaking Pipe Sends Gondolas Swinging at Stratton
A large pipe broke on Christmas Eve at Stratton Mountain Resort, sending a gush of water into the path of the mountain’s gondola. Videos circulating on social media show a few cabins bearing the brunt of the geyser and Stratton Mountain Resort released the following statement via yesterday’s snow report:
“At about 3:30 pm Christmas Eve, a break in a snowmaking pipe on Lower Standard sent water at a 45 degree angle toward the gondola. Snowmaking computers showed a drop in pressure and operators immediately began the process of shutting down the system. The operations team simultaneously stopped the lift, restarting it slowly to reposition the cabins. Approximately seven minutes later, the gondola made its way to the summit where guests disembarked. We are pleased to report that no one was injured in what was a scary episode for seven skiers and riders in two gondola cabins. The gondola is running as usual today and snowmaking operations continue using alternate pipes in the network.”
The Poma-built Stratton Mountain Gondola opened in 1988 and received 58 new Sigma Diamond cabins in 2014. Thankfully the water line broke near the gondola and not under an open chairlift. Great job Stratton crews moving cabins out of harm’s way and getting the water stopped so quickly.
Instagram Tuesday: Merry Christmas
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Silverton Considers Growing Kendall Mountain
Silverton, Colorado – population 650 – is home to two ski areas with a grand total of two double chairlifts. The smaller of the two at just 16 acres, owned and operated by the town, is Kendall Mountain. Silverton recently commissioned SE Group to study possibilities for additional ski terrain and year round recreation. The viability assessment, released last month, is very intriguing.
Kendall Mountain Recreation Area’s current lift, installed in 2006, is a 1972 Poma double with a 1990 return terminal. The lift has a design capacity of 800 people per hour (pph), but currently operates at 760 pph. It rises only 263 vertical feet on a mountain that stretches some 3,500 feet above the top terminal. The setup reminds me of Whitetooth before Kicking Horse or Powder Springs pre-Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Both were modest community ski areas at the bases of large mountains transformed into destinations by private developers. Silverton isn’t currently considering anything on the scale of the new British Columbia resorts but the project could eventually yield Colorado’s third largest vertical drop in a place known for epic snowfall.
As part of its public outreach, the town held multiple community meetings to gain feedback over the past year. Top priorities residents came up with at a first brainstorming session were expanded lifts and terrain. SE Group identified excellent ski terrain on the central part of the mountain with a large quantity of terrain suitable for ability levels from novice up to advanced. Importantly, the mountain’s high elevation would provide desirable snow conditions without the need for snowmaking.
SE Group also notes there is potential for Silverton to rise in popularity as a ski destination, benefiting both Silverton Mountain and Kendall Mountain as well as nearby Purgatory Resort. The study concludes that “expanded skiing infrastructure on Kendall Mountain would benefit the existing Silverton Mountain Ski Area by providing a complimentary experience that would draw additional visitors to the area during the winter season.” Silverton currently offers guided lift and helicopter skiing for experts only.
News Roundup: Only in Utah
- Australia’s Financial Review reports Vail Resorts will acquire Falls Creek and Mt. Hotham from Merlin Entertainments for about $85 million USD.
- With its purchase of Deer Valley, Alterra Mountain Company now owns about half the land under Park City’s Jupiter chair.
- Gore Mountain evacuates the Northwoods Gondola by rope.
- Salt Lake City is selected to bid for another Winter Olympics.
- Telluride CEO Bill Jensen joins CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the economics behind the Epic and Ikon passes.
- The top shack of Anthony Lakes’ only chairlift blows over just before planned opening day.
- The Adventure Group of Whistler proposes building a 9,000′ gondola on Oahu. Hawaii is one of only five U.S. states currently without an aerial lift.
- Mt. Spokane grows by 279 acres with seven new runs and a Skytrac named Northwood.
- Europe’s new highest ropeway is also the pinnacle of industrial design.
- The Hunter North expansion and shiny Northern Express six place chairlift launch Christmas Eve.
- Days before the second DirectDrive detachable is set to open at Copper, Jon Mauch of Leitner-Poma answers questions about the new lifts.
- In France, La Plagne announces an indefinite closure of the first French-manufactured LST detachable due to technical problems.
- Cherry Peak is set to open a third chairlift this season after three years of construction.
- Shuttered Mt. Timothy, BC is purchased by investors who plan to reopen it.
- Vail Resorts-operated Mt. Sunapee is approved to expand into West Bowl.
- The Zugspitze Cable Car reopens today with a new cabin exactly 100 days after this accident.
- Bromont inaugurates North America’s eighth combination chair/gondola lift, L’Express du Village, Sunday morning.
- Check out these photos of the Snowbowl Express build and sweet new color scheme at Stratton.
Instagram Tuesday: In the Alpine
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Lift Blog 
