- Watch LST Ropeways build its first detachable lift in three minutes.
- A Swedish company has developed a new, more comfortable T-Bar carrier called Boardie.
- Doppelmayr moves into new $62 million Wolfurt headquarters.
- Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Brundage, Sun Valley, Mt. Hood Meadows and Tamarack are operating a total of 13 lifts on August 21st for the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States since 1979.
- Sunlight’s end-of-season survey includes some insightful tidbits:
- “Sunlight is evaluating the addition of a high-speed detachable lift.”
- “Understanding that lift ticket and season pass prices would likely increase with the addition of a high-speed lift, please rank how favorable this would be.”
- Vail and Replay Resorts break ground on LIFT development set to anchor future detachable Sunrise lift at Park City’s Canyons Village.
- Preliminary gondola tree cutting and construction work spotted at Walt Disney World.
- Waterville Valley secures $7.5 million for future projects including multiple unspecified lift upgrades. “To answer one burning question, we do have multiple options in development regarding the High Country lift,” the resort says on Facebook.
- Utah sets another all-time record for skier visits.
- Two new Skytracs in St. Maarten won’t open until late summer but are already getting rave reviews.
Silver Star Announces New Gondola for 2018
Silver Star Mountain Resort in Vernon, British Columbia will build a Summit Gondola next year, ending a three-year drought for new lifts in the region. The 8-passenger Doppelmayr will replace the Summit double, a 4,000′ Mueller built in 1970. The lift will open in July 2018 and serve summer guests before opening to skiers and snowboarders for 2018-19. After the upgrade, Silver Star will operate one of the most modern lift fleets in Western Canada with seven Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr lifts built since 2002.
An initial fleet of 21 Omega IV LWI cabins in the five colors of the Silver Star logo will provide an uphill capacity of 1,200 passengers per hour, with the ability to add 22 more to meet future needs. “These new cabins will whisk guests from the bottom to the top of the summit in a third of the time of the existing double chair,” says Silver Star Director of Operations and Maintenance Brad Baker. “The ride will now take four and a half minutes from village to summit traveling at five meters per second.” Slope length will be 3,487′ and vertical rise 961′. In a unique move, all foundations and the top terminal will be completed this fall with the remainder of the lift going in next spring in time to celebrate the resort’s 60th anniversary. The addition of a gondola is a huge milestone for any resort and Silver Star will be no exception.
Doppelmayr to Build Arizona Snowbowl’s Third New Lift in Three Years
After debuting the Humphreys Peak Quad in 2015 and the Grand Canyon Express in 2016, Arizona Snowbowl will replace its Hart Prarie lift this summer, marking another major investment by owner James Coleman. Surprisingly, the contract went to Doppelmayr and Snowbowl will operate new lifts from all three major manufacturers next winter. In a blog post announcing the project, General Manager J.R. Murray noted, “Arizona Snowbowl enjoys having the best learn to ski and snowboard progression terrain in the entire western US with Hart Prairie boasting a wide open and gentle meadow, allowing beginners to learn and gain confidence on the slopes. Snowbowl is where Arizonans learn to ski and snowboard because of the fantastic and easy terrain.” The new quad chair will only improve that offering.
Hart Prarie is a 1981 Riblet with center-pole double chairs, one of two such lifts remaining at the resort. The new top drive, Alpen Star-model Hart Prarie will feature a Chairkit loading carpet, padded seats and footrests. An 1,800 skier per hour capacity doubles that of the previous lift. The alignment will be slightly shorter – 2,533 feet – with a vertical of 518′.
With new Skytrac, Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr chairlifts built since 2015, Snowbowl will have increased uphill capacity by 85 percent next winter. Impressive indeed.
Instagram Tuesday: Austria
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Shuffle
- Bridger Bowl is sending Virginia City up to Teton Pass.
- Oakland Zoo’s California Trail gondola
opened Mondaywill open soon. - China Peak will replace Chair 2 with a Yan quad from Steamboat this summer.
- The Subway in the Sky celebrates three years.
- Alyeska is removing its oldest, longest and tallest lift with no replacement immediately planned.
- Eldora’s new six-place has a name: Eldo Express.
- Cranmore is moving the bottom terminal of the South Quad to make room for a real estate project.
- Intrawest shareholder sues to stop Aspen Skiing Co. and KSL purchase.
- Vail-Stowe deal closes.
- Vail Resorts says in its third quarter results that Epic Pass sales are up 10 percent over last year. The company typically announces new capital projects just after Epic Pass sales conclude in late November.
- The Indiana State Fair is getting a chairlift.
- Beartooth Basin’s two platters open for summer turns for the first time since 2014.
- Urban gondolas are changing the world.
- Leitner Ropeways finishes its newest urban gondola in Mexico.
Instagram Tuesday: New & Old
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BUdZEc2DYNi/?taken-by=bartzbenjamin
News Roundup: Pulse
- New owners of Alpine Mountain, PA say they can only afford to keep one chairlift and plan to sell two others.
- Mi Teleférico’s upcoming Purple and Orange UNI-G stations look super cool.
- Dismantled skyride at Western Fair in London, Ontario may go to Saskatoon, Saskatchewan.
- Ski Blandford is insolvent and may close.
- Doppelmayr USA is hiring construction laborers for Beaver Creek, Copper and Snowbasin projects; Leitner-Poma of America needs help at Breck, Keystone and Vail.
- A mile-long gondola will connect Jerusalem’s New and Old cities beginning in 2021. The Christian, Muslim and Jewish holy site attracts 130,000 visitors every week.
- Poma lands $100 million design-build-operate-maintain contract for phase one of urban gondola system in Guayaquil, Ecuador.
- Sunday River’s stricken Spruce triple went to Lost Valley.
- Stoneham’s Chinook T-Bar is going to Troll, BC.
- A new double chair will replace Pallavicini soon at Arapahoe Basin.
- Facing another six-figure landslide repair, Howelsen Hill looks toward new chairlift.
Instagram Tuesday: Drone
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
The Biggest Gondola You’ve Never Heard of is in Oregon’s Wallowas
You probably don’t know about this lift, even though it has the largest vertical rise of any gondola in North America. Yes, more vertical than if Vail had a top-to-bottom lift and more than the (much newer) gondolas at Revelstoke, Kicking Horse, Silver Mountain and Aspen. You wouldn’t know how cool this lift is from the tiny ticket booth and parking lot, or from the tramway’s Facebook page, which lists it as “permanently closed.” Despite all signs pointing to a lackluster roadside attraction, the Wallowa Lake Tramway, as it’s known, is incredible.
Situated at the far shore of its namesake, past the end of an abandoned railroad and at the dead-end of a 13-mile road, it feels like a trip to the Alps with high mountain peaks all around. Opened in 1970 after two years of construction at a cost of $700,000, the tramway was conceived as the launch point for a large ski area, so the cabins have ski racks. Although skiing never materialized, nearly fifty years later the gondola serves as a scenic throwback for the lucky few who venture six hours from Portland or 4.5 from Spokane or Boise (the local Lions Club opened a ski area nearby called Ferguson Ridge in 1983.) Those who trek to the Wallowas are rewarded with a 3,700′ vertical lift to 8,256′ Mt. Howard with monster mountain views along the way and a shimmering blue lake below.
Stoneham Replacing Two Lifts with Doppelmayr Quad
This is big news as the last new lift built at Stoneham is 28 years old! Thanks to Julien C. for the head’s up.
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