News Roundup: Oregon

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Vail Resorts to Build Three New Six-Packs in Colorado for 2017-18

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With strong Epic Pass sales and early snow blanketing its properties, Vail Resorts revealed today it will go big on new lifts in 2017, adding additional six-place chairlifts at Vail, Keystone and Breckenridge as part of a $122 million capital program.  In the company’s first quarter results, CEO Rob Katz noted, “we remain committed to reinvesting in our resorts, creating an experience of a lifetime for our guests and generating strong returns for our shareholders.”  The news follows construction of four new lifts at Vail mountains in both 2015 and 2016.

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The Northwoods Express #11 on Vail Mountain will be replaced at the end of this year, the resort announced today.

On Vail Mountain, the Northwoods Express #11 will be replaced, leaving only three CLD-260 first-generation detachables in service.  The new Northwoods will also become the mountain’s 10th new lift in 11 years.  At Breckenridge, Vail will upgrade the Falcon high speed quad on Peak 10 to a six-person detachable, allowing more guests to experience some of the best intermediate and advanced terrain on the mountain.   The Falcon SuperChair is a 1986 Poma high speed quad also approaching the end of its useful life.  At Keystone, the 1990 Doppelmayr Uni-model Montezuma chair will be replaced with a six-pack version.

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The six-place Avanti Express #2 at Vail replaced an older high speed quad in 2015 as part of Vail Resorts’ ongoing initiative to replace high-traffic lifts in recent years.

Leitner-Poma is likely to build Breckenridge’s newest lift, which would extend a 16-lift streak for the manufacturer at Breck.  Vail and Keystone operate a mix of Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr lifts and could plausibly sign with either company.  Noticeably absent from today’s release was any mention of new lifts for Park City or the newly-Epic Whistler-Blackcomb.  Vail Resorts will detail further capital improvements in the spring but these three projects are a huge start.

Update 1/23/17: Leitner-Poma will build and install all three of these lifts.

Ambitious Gondola Proposed for Branson, Missouri

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8.5 miles.  12 stations.  500 cabins. $160-200 million.  These are big numbers for a gondola in a town with barely 10,000 residents.  Yet Branson, sometimes known as Nashville West, hosted more than eight million visitors last year.  Jeff Green, President of American Gondola, Inc., says that fact combined with worsening traffic congestion make the city a prime candidate for one of the world’s largest gondola systems.  “The need for a transportation solution when combined with the possibility of an entertainment attraction creates an opportunity to address both issues using a single system like an aerial gondola,” Green told me by email this week.

The privately-funded system along Highway 76 from Downtown to Silver Dollar City would cost riders $15 per day and be geared towards visitors.  American Gondola is working with Leitner-Poma and showed a Sigma Diamond demo cabin at their first public meeting a few weeks ago.  I asked Jeff Green about the decision to work with Leitner-Poma at this early stage.  “Both [Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma] have very competitive products and the ability to provide a solution,” he said.  “We have found L-P to be extremely knowledgeable and very interested in working with us to address and resolve all the issues and problems and to help us assure a quality product is delivered.”

The system would most likely be constructed with five separate haul rope loops and cabins interlining between them.  American Gondola seeks a Memorandum of Understanding with the city this month and hopes to begin construction in 2017.  The company has a long way to go but its list of backers is impressive.  “Our financial investors have said, that if we could get the MOU next week, they would have our funding in place by the end of the year,” says Green.   Of course, that is contingent on achieving final design, obtaining necessary property agreements, easements and permits.  Green is optimistic and noted that the demo cabin was already a big hit.  “Everyone, including city officials, appreciated the efforts of AGI and Leitner-Poma to provide an example of a cabin they could actually touch and experience.”

News Roundup: Out of Commission

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  • Leitner-Poma, Georgetown University, ZGF Architects host urban gondola forum with speakers from the Portland Aerial Tram and Medellín Metrocable, among others.
  • With one of three chairlifts out of commission, Big Tupper, NY is unlikely to open this winter.
  • 14-year old boy falls from the Emerald Express at Whistler.
  • Costa Rican officials and Doppelmayr Mexico sign letter of intent to build Central America’s first urban gondola.
  • $15 million Arthurs Seat Eagle debuts in Australia.
  • Brest Cable Car (shown above) shuts down after only two weeks of operation.
  • Nakiska’s sole summit access lift has been down since November 27th.
  • The latest D-Line chairlift installation Waidhofen is reportedly also the first in the world supplied with Doppelmayr Direct Drive (DDD.)
  • Loon Mountain restores a 1966 Hall Skycruiser gondola with help from Lutsen.
  • The Boston Globe Magazine explains how a non-skier in Fort Lauderdale came to run two of Vermont’s major ski resorts.
  • Grand Canyon Escalade legislation heads to the second of four Navajo Nation committees on Tuesday.
  • Granite Peak releases more details about its proposed lift and trail expansion.

News Roundup: One Third

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  • Alpine Mountain says goodbye to skiing.  The Pennsylvania ski area once operated three Borvig fixed-grips chairlifts.
  • Nearing December, Suicide Six and Waterville Valley are still building their respective new lifts.
  • Skytrac talks ANSI and more with Ross Stevens of Stevens Engineering.
  • East River Skyway gains more backers.
  • City of Branson to vote on American Gondola agreement Dec. 13th.
  • One summer is down, two more to go building the world’s highest 3S.
  • Chile’s President inaugurates new Poma gondola in Santiago.
  • Saddleback Mountain Foundation raises one third of the millions needed to reopen Maine’s third largest resort as a co-operative.
  • Parks Canada is not on board with gondola transit for Banff.
  • Ski racer gets $750,000 after being left on a gondola at Killington for five hours in October 2011.

Ober Gatlinburg Survives Fire, Sky Lift Fate Unknown

Peter Landsman16 Comments

Fast-moving fires tore through Gatlinburg, Tennesee last night, forcing the evacuation of 14,000 people and burning at least 250 structures.  The town home is home to the Ober Gatlinburg ski resort, a scenic aerial tramway and the Gatlinburg Sky Lift.  While reports are conflicting, Ober Gatlinburg posted on its Facebook page that the ski resort is undamaged and the company is assessing the lower tram terminal downtown.  VonRoll built a 130-passenger tramway between the town and ski resort in 1973 and it received new cabins in 2007.  The ski area features two Borvig quad chairs, a 1978 Riblet double and 1962 Carlevaro-Savio double.

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The Gatlinburg Sky Lift’s lower terminal is apparently standing, but the hillside it ascends burned with unknown damage at the top station.  Boyne Resorts Senior VP of Marketing Julie Ard told the Petoskey News-Review, “At this time, we are focused on the well-being of our valued Gatlinburg Sky Lift staff.”  The Sky Lift employs 26 people.  Ard went on to note, “video posted today by state officials gives us confidence that our street-level building is intact, but status of the lift’s upper terminal and surrounding structures is unknown.”  Boyne has continuously operated the Sky Lift since 1954.  A Riblet double replaced the original Heron version in 1991.

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Doppelmayr Revenues Reach $880 Million in 2015/16

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2015/16 was the second best year in Doppelmayr’s history, the company reported yesterday. Sales increased 5 percent over last year, reaching €834 million ($880.3 million.) Global headcount also rose by 127 employees to 2,673, half of which work in Austria.  Net income was €80 million.

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The largest market for Doppelmayr in 2015 continued to be Austria, followed by Switzerland, France and Italy.  Latin America now accounts for 16 percent of the global total, higher than North America.  Southeast Asia, namely Vietnam, is a key emerging market for the company.  By the end of next year, Doppelmayr will have completed the world’s longest mono-cable gondola, the longest 3S, the largest aerial tramway and built the tallest towers in the rapidly-developing nation.

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The United States and Canada fell to 5th among Doppelmayr’s largest markets in 2015/16.

Winter resorts accounted for 82 of Doppelmayr’s 103 projects last year.  That means about 20 percent fell into the tourism, material transport and urban transportation categories. 103 is actually a ten year low in terms of number of projects, but those realized in 2015/16 tended to be large.  Some highlights from last fiscal year include:

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