New York Governor Announces Gondola & Skyride at State Fair

Peter Landsman2 Comments
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A not-so-accurate rendering of a proposed gondola at the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse, NY.

A $15 million gondola system will connect the New York State Fairgrounds in Syracuse to a nearby amphitheater, Governor Andrew Cuomo announced this morning.  “This is very, very exciting and it brings the energy of both facilities together for a synergy between the two,” Cuomo noted, calling the planned gondola “world class.”  The lift’s 38 cabins will cross Interstate 690 along a 3,700′ route.  The project still requires federal approval but is scheduled for completion in June 2018.

The gondola will link more than 15,000 parking spaces at the fair to the 17,500-seat Lakeview Amphitheater, which will host major acts such as Zac Brown Band and Third Eye Blind this summer.  The amphitheater gondola station will also serve Onondaga Lake Park and its network of popular trails.  The state- and county-owned facilities are currently connected by shuttle buses operating on a circuitous route during major events.  Capacity of the eight-passenger lift will be 1,200 passengers per hour.  An expansion to 75 cabins would achieve an ultimate capacity of 2,400 per hour.  A manufacturer has not yet been selected and the state will hold a competitive bid process in the coming months.

A separate, privately-funded and operated skyride lift will also be built this spring, traveling 1,500 feet over the fairgrounds with between 100 and 120 double chairs.  Dozens of fairs across the country operate either chairlifts or gondolas for fair-goers, among them a new Skytrac ride at Cal Expo, a Partek chairlift at the North Carolina State Fair and the Texas Skyway gondola built at the Texas State Fair in 2007.

Governor Cuomo also announced $20 million in improvements at the state-owned Belleayre, Gore Mountain and Whiteface ski resorts today, including a new enclosed upper terminal building for Gore’s Northwoods Gondola and a new lift connecting Whiteface’s learning center to mid-station.  New York State owns more lifts than any other state – 27 in total – including the Roosevelt Island Tramway.  The government has been a frequent customer of both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma over the years.

News Roundup: Huge

Peter Landsman2 Comments

Leitner-Poma to Install New Drive on Quickdraw at Granby Ranch Following Accident

Peter Landsman11 Comments

Leitner-Poma wasn’t involved in recent work that likely caused last month’s fatal fall at Granby Ranch, but the original manufacturer of the lift will fix it.  Ten days after re-opening using only the lift’s diesel auxiliary, Granby Ranch has a plan to restore Quickdraw to full capacity with a new electronic drive.  In a statement issued today, The ski area acknowledged a third-party company modified the drive system over the summer, as I reported last week.  “Preliminary investigation has revealed that the issue that likely caused the incident was the independent contractor’s modification to the lift’s electrical drive/control system,” the release notes.  The third-party installed system only operated 13 days before a chair hit a tower Dec. 29th, killing 40-year old Kelly Huber of Texas and injuring her two daughters.

The Quickdraw lift at Granby Ranch seen last summer, when a third-party contractor installed a new electronic drive system.

Earlier today, Granby Ranch said Quickdraw would be closed today and tomorrow for additional testing, as ordered by the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board.  The area hopes to re-open again under diesel power in the next few days and Leitner-Poma will install the new electronic drive system in the near future.  The CPTSB will release its official report on the December incident in the coming months.

Update 1/21/17: A state spokesman says the CPTSB ordered the lift closed until further notice at an emergency meeting after reviewing “unusual/irregular conditions” observed while Quickdraw was operating with the diesel auxiliary.

Mt. Bachelor Releases Stunning Cloudchaser Short Film

Peter Landsman7 Comments

A new lift changes a mountain.  In this story, the mountain is a volcano and the actors are Mt. Bachelor, Doppelmayr, Highlander Lift Services & Construction, Timberline Helicopters and the Forest Service. Cloudchaser: The Story Behind Building a New Lift is one of the best videos you’ll see in awhile.

Congratulations to the team on a job well done.  Thanks to their efforts, Mt. Bachelor is now the sixth largest ski resort in the United States!

“We don’t fly the helicopter and we don’t tie the knot.” – Paul Johnston, Highlander Ski Lift Services & Construction.

Loveland Closes Two Yan Lifts for Unspecified Repairs of Similar Issue

Peter Landsman5 Comments

Loveland Ski Area has closed its two oldest chairlifts – Lifts 1 and 6 – following discovery of similar problems at each.  Lift 6 is a 1977 Lift Engineering double chair that closed in the middle of the day on Sunday, January 15th due to a problem at the top terminal.  Lift 1 is a 1981 Lift Engineering triple that operated until an inspection found the early stages of a similar issue today (interestingly, Lift 1 opened as a double chair before being upgraded with larger chairs a few years later.)

“We are dedicated to safe lift operations and have decided to close Lift 1 to immediately perform the necessary repairs,” Loveland said in a statement this evening.

While Loveland’s social media posts do not specify what is wrong, they say repairs to Chair 1 should take about two days with Lift 6 taking longer.  Both chairs are bottom drive/bottom tension, so the list of things that could go wrong up top is limited.  In the meantime, the mountain is offering $51 discounted tickets.

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Update 1/20/17:

Yellowstone Club to Expand with Gondola & More on Eglise Mountain

Peter Landsman8 Comments

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View of Eglise Mountain earlier this season with new trails cut over the past two summers.  The expansion will include at least three new lifts.
The Yellowstone Club in Big Sky, Montana will likely build not one, but three new lifts this summer as it adds Eglise Mountain to its expansive roster of ski terrain.  The second section of a future two-stage gondola, along with a detachable bubble quad chair and new beginner triple chair are all slated to debut in time for the Club’s 17th winter season next year.

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Doppelmayr USA will build the new lifts and already poured many of the tower and terminal footings last summer.  The upper section of the 8-passenger Eglise Gondola will debut first, with the lower stage to be added when the 550,000 square-foot Village Core is substantially completed.  That project, located adjacent to the Warren Miller Lodge, is also underway and currently the biggest construction project in Montana.  A dedicated building in the village will eventually house the new gondola’s base terminal, not far from the Lodge lift.

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News Roundup: Building

Peter Landsman6 Comments
  • I talk six-packs with the Vail Daily.
  • Heavenly’s Comet Express remains closed following a Jan. 1st rope evacuation, apparently due to a gearbox issue.  This is one of the reasons Vail Resorts is replacing its fleet of 1980s-vintage detachable quads.
  • Doppelmayr and the United Nations are hosting a week-long urban mobility ropeway class in April.
  • The New York Times tells the tale of Big Sky Resort.
  • Ski patroller severely injured in fall from chair at Terry Peak.
  • Gondola proposed to serve airport in Vietnam’s congested largest city.
  • BC Parks considers a gondola to Mt. Seymour to alleviate parking and traffic problems.
  • Ski Area Management‘s lift construction survey dropped this week.  Highlights from its outlook for 2017:
    • “We’re off to a strong year for ’17, there are lots of people asking about lifts…It’s very positive compared to the previous two years.” – Jon Mauch, Senior Sales Manager at Leitner-Poma
    • “There’s a lot of enthusiasm about what could happen under a Trump administration.  People expect deregulation and a more business-friendly climate.” – Mark Bee, President at Doppelmayr USA
    • “We’re seeing lots of requests quotes, lots of major modifications and retrofits…It’s all being driven by the age of the existing lift infrastructure.” – Carl Skylling, General Manager at Skytrac
    • I’ve already identified 29 new lifts likely to be built in 2017, pacing well above the last few years for mid-January.
  • Slovakian manufacturer Tatralift debuts its third detachable lift using a Wopfner grip.  That makes seven companies capable of building a detachable lift globally – Bartholet, BMHRI (China), Doppelmayr/Garaventa (Austria), Leitner–Poma (Italy), LST (France), STM (Turkey) and Tatralift (Slovakia.)

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Whitefish Mountain to Build New East Rim Chair

Peter Landsman4 Comments

Whitefish Mountain Resort will make a big lift move this summer, relocating Chair 5 from Ptarmigan Bowl to become a new East Rim lift.  Chair 5, also known as Glacier View and at times High Five, has not seen public operation since 2014/15 due to its redundancy with the Big Mountain Express and will better serve skiers in the North Bowl.  The $1.2 million project will cost more than double what the ski area paid for the original CTEC installation in 1981.  Whitefish Mountain Resort has contracted with Skytrac to make the move.

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Approximate location of the new East Rim chair looker’s right on the front side of Big Mountain.

“We are pleased to continue what has been a decade of steady improvements at Whitefish Mountain Resort with the re-position of Chair 5 to better utilize our lift infrastructure and improve the guest experience as we celebrate our 70th anniversary,” Whitefish Mountain Resort CEO Dan Graves said in a press release.  Although technically it does not open any new terrain, the East Rim lift will create a new pod between Chair 1 and T-Bar 2.  The new lift will rise 814 feet with a slope length of 2,540 feet and capacity of 1,600 skiers per hour. It will sport a new electric motor, drive, brakes, hydraulic tensioning, rebuilt gearbox and added restraining bars in the new location.

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Chair 5 at Whitefish will be moved East to North Bowl.

Whitefish has been all in on lift shuffling lately, acquiring the former Moab Scenic Skyway lift in 2006 and installing it as Easy Rider.  The original Glacier Chaser Express quad moved to become the Swift Creek Express in 2007, the same year old Easy Rider became Elk Highlands.  In 2011, Whitefish installed the Bad Rock triple which was relocated from a resort in Pennsylvania.  The 2014 addition of the Flower Point triple came from Kimberley, BC.  The new East Rim triple is scheduled to open in December 2017.  You can find out more about the history of Chair 5 and the new lift on the Whitefish Mountain Resort blog.

News Roundup: 360

Peter Landsman1 Comment