Several Doppelmayr construction employees escaped injury in Big Sky today when a crossarm fell from a helicopter and crashed to the ground. The Boeing CH-47 Chinook and its crew, working to assemble towers for Madison 8, were also unharmed. “During construction of the Madison 8 chairlift, a cross arm assembly fell during installation due to a rigging failure,” said a Big Sky Resort spokesperson in a statement. “Fortunately, there were no injuries, and the flight teams were able to resume operations shortly after the incident.” The helicopter is owned and operated by PJ Helicopters of California.
It was not immediately clear whether the mishap would delay opening of Madison 8, set to become the longest eight seat chairlift in the world this winter. Doppelmayr typically manufactures crossarms for its largest D-Line chairlifts in Austria and ships them to the United States via ocean container. “The resort is working with our partners at Doppelmayr to mitigate any construction delays, and both organizations are optimistic that the impacts are minimal,” said Big Sky’s statement.
The sale of Killington and Pico to local investors has closed and today the group announced their initial tranche of capital investments. Over the next 12 to 16 months, Killington plans to spend roughly $30 million to build a Superstar Express six pack, add 1,000 HKD low energy new snow guns and replace all 116 SkyeshipGondola cabins. Skyeship’s cabin storage facility will also be replaced in the near future. The current Superstar lift is the oldest detachable chairlift in New England, dating back to 1987 (tied with two other lifts at Killington/Pico and the Grand Summit Express at Mount Snow.)
The news comes just over a month since Powdr announced the sale of Killington and listing of three other resorts. “Over the next 10 years, our goal is to reinvest all the profits the mountain creates,” said Michael Ferri, one of two lead investors in Killington Independence Group, LLC, comprised of 16 total investors. “[Profits] will stay here in Vermont, they will stay here at Pico and they will stay here at Killington,” said Ferri.
A new Sigma Diamond cabin installed on the K-1 gondola, the same model Skyeship will receive.
Surprisingly after 37 straight lifts from other manufacturers, Killington selected Doppelmayr to construct the new Superstar Six. Unlike Killington’s Snowdon Six, the new lift will not feature bubbles. “There are a number of factors, but this lift is a relatively short ride which makes having bubbles on the lift less impactful, especially considering the added complexity of needing a storage barn for overnight storage of bubble chairs,” said Killington. Superstar has one of the longest winter operating schedules in the country, spinning for World Cup ski racing in November all the way until the end of the season in May or June. “The Superstar lift replacement will affect spring skiing this season and potentially the 2025 Stifel Killington Cup, noted Killington President and CEO Mike Solimano. “We do plan to make more snow in North Ridge to extend the season in the Canyon this year and are working with the lift manufacturer to finalize the construction plan for the lift before making the call on the Killington Cup,” he continued.
Skyeship Gondola, set to receive new cabins and a new maintenance facility.
Leitner-Poma will supply new cabins for Skyeship, the same Diamond model the K-1 Gondola received in 2018. “Many of our current operational challenges with [Skyeship] can be attributed to the older cabins,” noted Killington. “The challenges are exasperated by not being able to store the cabins in a heated building causing door opening and closing mechanisms to become frozen overnight.” All of these improvements are slated for the next two years with more expected to follow over the next decade.
Vail Resorts reports annual skier visits down 9.5 percent, net income down 14 percent, EBITDA down 1 percent and season pass sales down 3 percent in units but up 3 percent in dollars. The company announced no new 2025 lift projects and will lay off 14 percent of corporate staff along with limited operational staff.
Hundreds of workers are racing to finish the initial phase of Deer Valley’s Expanded Excellence addition, scheduled to open in December. Garrett Lang, Deer Valley’s Director of Mountain Operations and Mike Walker, Senior Construction Manager, kindly gave me a personal tour of the megaproject yesterday.
Top drive terminal for the Keetley Express, set to open this winter.
This winter will be a 316 acre preview of what will be a much larger expansion totaling 2,900 acres over two years. Winter 2024-25 will launch the mountain’s first six pack – a bubble – and two quad chairs rising from the new East Village. Additional lifts are in varying states of completion, including a monster 10 passenger gondola set to open in 2025-26. Simultaneously, a Grand Hyatt hotel, 500 new day skier parking spaces, miles of snowmaking pipe, electrical infrastructure and temporary skier services are also coming together.
Those driving by on U.S. Route 40 probably won’t grasp the full scale of the expansion, which encompasses 2,850 vertical feet and 110 new trails by 2025-26. Several new lifts will be among the longest at Deer Valley. While 500 paved parking spots will open this season, 700 more are being reserved for lift construction laydown. Workers from both Doppelmayr and Highlander Ski Lift Services & Construction are piecing together the lifts, which are being manufactured in Austria, Canada and the United States.
Rocky Mountain Power built an entire new substation to service the vast snowmaking system and burgeoning village. A brand new mid-mountain maintenance facility will support lift, snowmaking and vehicle maintenance needs. Employee housing is also included in the project.
Grand Hyatt Deer Valley, the first of several hotels set to anchor the East Village.
The main attraction this season will be Keetley Express, a D-Line sixer loading steps from the Hyatt. Keetley is the name of the town once buzzing nearby but overtaken by the Jordanelle Reservoir in the 1990s. Like all Deer Valley lifts, Keetley Express will sport a thoroughly green livery with white accents. The flagship will feature gray bubbles and European-made seats. From the top of Keetley Express, skiers will gain access to Deer Valley’s existing footprint via either Mayflower or Sultan Express.
Map showing this winter’s preview lineup, center in yellow.
Directly adjacent to Keetley is Hoodoo Express, a UNI-G high speed quad (the word Hoodoo means a column or pinnacle of weathered rock; all the expansion’s trail and lift names were chosen from a pool of 500 historic mining claims in the vicinity.) Hoodoo will parallel Keetley but stop after only a handful of towers, creating an ideal beginner area above the East Village. Because of its proximity to Keetley Express, the bottom terminal will be modeled to look like a D-Line.
Galena Express lift line and completed foundations.
Finally a quad named Aurora will load in a drainage near the East Village and return skiers to the Hyatt zone. Aurora is the only fixed grip lift in the entire expansion and will feature a loading conveyor. Three carpet lifts are also planned for beginners.
Several other lifts are well on their way to reality. Near the top of Keetley Express, foundations are also complete for Galena Express, a UNI-G high speed quad set to open next winter. The East Village Gondola, made up of seperable upper and lower segments, is coming along with foundations being formed. Two major lifts have yet to start construction: the upper mountain Pinyon Express bubble and the giant Revelator Express six pack on Park Peak. These two systems will service a vast network of high elevation trails miles above the East Village. The final two lifts set to open next year are Neptune Express and Pioche Express, detachable quads primarily serving lower elevation real estate.
2025-26 footprint.
The East Village and planned terrain expansion are just part of Deer Valley’s ambitious roadmap. Later phases may include lifts on both South Peak and Hail Peak. Simultaneously, Alterra Mountain Company aims to redevelop the Snow Park base, including the replacement of Silver Lake Express with a gondola and Carpenter Express with a six seat detachable. A third new gondola is being eyed to connect Silver Lake Village to Park Peak, where the gondola from East Village lands. Both gondolas landing on Park Peak will share an underground cabin parking and maintenance facility. Deer Valley also plans to begin replacing aging existing lifts such as Northside Express and Wasatch Express in the coming years.
One of hundreds of new HKD stick guns, supplemented with TechnoAlpin fan guns.
Although no specific grand opening date has been announced, we are likely only around 90 days out from what’s sure to be a celebration and huge milestone for Deer Valley.
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