Construction on Jackson Hole’s second gondola is ramping up as the last of the snow melts. The new Sweetwater Gondola will run from the base of the Teewinot high speed quad to the Casper Restaurant with a mid-station unload, boosting out-of-base capacity and providing an improved experience for beginner skiers. As the photos below show, the project is off to a solid start with awesome weather in the last few weeks after a very wet spring.
The State of Vermont Passenger Tramway Division sent a letter Tuesday to Jay Peak Resort, ordering its aerial tramway shut down until significant upgrades are completed. Jay Peak agreed last fall to make critical repairs to the tram with more upgrades to be completed this spring by Doppelmayr/Garaventa. The State says Jay Peak has not completed these upgrades in advance of the summer season, hence the formal Order for Corrective Action sent this week. The Jay Peak Aerial Tramway was built by VonRoll in 1966 and received new 60-passenger cabins in 2000.
On April 14, the Securities and Exchange Commission seized control of the resort from its owners, alleging a $200 million fraud scheme. Florida attorney Michael Goldberg was placed in charge by a federal court and tasked with sorting out Jay Peak’s finances so the resort can be sold. Jay reportedly lost $6.2 million last winter and Mr. Goldberg is looking for cost savings. When asked about the upgrades needed to the tram a few weeks ago, Goldberg told the Burlington Free Press, “It kind of sucks that has to happen now.” He also questioned Doppelmayr’s assessment of the tram, stating at a press conference, “we’re not even sure we have to fix the tram. The company that tells us we have to fix it is also the one that will get the contract.”
The Summit at Snoqualmie sits just 45 minutes from downtown Seattle, the 4th fastest-growing major city in America. With 20 lifts spread across four ski areas, the resort hosts nearly 700,000 skier visits in a good snow year, placing it among the top 15 most-visited resorts nationwide (in a bad snow year, it barely opens.) Three of The Summit’s areas – Summit East, Summit Central and Summit West are connected by ski trails while Alpental stands alone on the opposite side of I-90.
The Pacific Northwest region (Alaska, Washington, Oregon) saw a stunning increase of 142 percent in skier visits last year, more than double the two million visits from the year before. That fact, coupled with an aging lift system means The Summit is primed for major upgrades. The resort still has four Riblets dating from the 1960s and seven from the 1970s.
The Summit at Snoqualmie Master Plan approved in 2008 authorizes replacement of 11 lifts and construction of nine new ones with just six lifts remaining in their current state. The first of these projects have already completed, including all new lifts at Summit East/Hyak and the replacement of Silver Fir with a Leitner-Poma high speed quad. That leaves eleven lift projects planned for the next decade or two at Summit Central, Summit West and Alpental.
Chicago doesn’t have an iconic tourist attraction. There’s no giant Ferris wheel, no observation tower, no famous bridge. Entrepreneurs Lou Raizin and Laurence Geller want to change that with a gondola. Over the past four years, the men studied more than fifty signature attractions in cities around the globe and came up with the Skyline as an iconic attraction for the Windy City. As presented to the City Club of Chicago on May 3rd, the plan includes a gondola from Navy Pier with multiple stops along the Chicago Riverfront. David Marks, the architect behind the London Eye, collaborated on the innovative design with New York-based Davis Brody Bond. Marks also designed the British Airways i360 observation tower with a passenger capsule built by Poma and Sigma. The Skyline project would likely bring together the same team from the Eye and i360 with engineering firm Jacobs Inc. and ropeway technology from Leitner-Poma.
Mr. Raizin and Mr. Geller say they’ve spent millions designing and studying the Skyline, which will cost an estimated $250 million raised from private investors. The premise is sound but the proposal comes with significant challenges.
“This is not your typical aerial gondola,” Mr. Geller told the City Club. The system would transport 3,000 visitors per hour at 800 feet a minute. That’s pretty standard for a monocable gondola. The challenge is architects want big, beautiful cabins while also keeping a “light footprint” for the system. Renderings show approximately 25-passenger cabins with only one haul rope and no grips. To date, the largest monocable gondolas in the world carry 15 passengers, not 25. Larger cabins require track ropes, bigger terminals and complex towers with saddles.
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