The Highlands, Michigan to Replace Interconnect Chair

Peter Landsman17 Comments

The Highlands at Harbor Springs will forge ahead with another lift replacement project this summer, retiring the Interconnect Riblet triple for a faster Doppelmayr version. The new fixed grip triple will feature a height adjustable loading conveyor, RFID gates and safety bars, all of which the current triple lacks. The Alpenstar machine will move 33 percent faster and improve access to North Peak terrain. The move comes hot on the heels of this season’s debut of Camelot 6, the first bubble detachable in the Midwest and fastest chairlift in Michigan.

When the new Interconnect lift is complete, The Highlands will have replaced four aging Riblet chairlifts with new technology over just two seasons. “We are eager to upgrade our Interconnect lift with a new Doppelmayr fixed-grip design to enhance the experience for guests next winter season,” said Mike Chumbler, president and general manager of The Highlands. “With improved speed, efficiency, modern conveniences, and safety features, we are confident that this addition will help build on the overall skiing and riding adventures at The Highlands.”

For the second year in a row, Boyne Resorts has announced more new lifts at more mountains than any other North American operator. Boyne plans at least six lift projects this summer at its resorts in Maine, Michigan, Montana and Washington.

News Roundup: D’oh!

Peter Landsman6 Comments

Pleasant Mountain to Build Detachable Summit Lift

Peter Landsman11 Comments

For the first time in its 86 year history, Maine’s Pleasant Mountain will feature a high speed lift next season. The new Summit Express will run 1,220 vertical feet from the base of the mountain to the top in just 4.5 minutes. The detachable quad will contain some new parts from Doppelmayr along with many refurbished components from the former Jordan Bowl Express at Sunday River. Like with the new Bucksaw Express at Sugarloaf, Pleasant Mountain is working with Doppelmayr to make the lift look and feel like a completely new machine. The existing Summit Triple, which was down for a period this season with mechanical issues, will be removed.

“We’re taking our guest experience to new heights with a faster, more efficient detachable quad from Doppelmayr,” the resort said, noting the new lift will carry 2,400 skiers per hour at 1,000 feet per minute. “We can’t wait to introduce Pleasant Mountain guests to the new lift experience.”

The Summit Express is the fifth new lift project announced by Boyne Resorts for the 24-25 season. Big Sky and The Summit at Snoqualmie also plan to debut new lifts for next winter.

Lost Valley Adding Third Chairlift

Peter LandsmanLeave a comment

It won’t be brand new but Maine’s Lost Valley plans to add a third chairlift this summer on the Coyote trail. The 1976 Hall double comes by way of Mt. Southington, Connecticut, where it operated as the Northstar double until last season. Prior to that the classic Hall carried skiers at Craigmeur, New Jersey for 22 seasons.

At Lost Valley, the double chair will follow roughly the same alignment as the mountain’s former T-Bar. Lost Valley also operates two other Hall doubles. “This third lift install project will also include adding lighting and snowmaking to that side of Lost Valley to allow weeknight access,” the mountain said. “We plan to add some park feature to that side of the hill as well and it will also provide additional skiing and riding terrain, intermediate and advanced learning and more race capabilities.” Construction on the new lift is set to begin this summer.

News Roundup: Free Gondola

Peter Landsman5 Comments

Mudflow Shutters Marble Mountain, Newfoundland

Peter LandsmanLeave a comment

The largest ski resort in Atlantic Canada shut down Sunday and will remain closed through Thursday following a severe storm with heavy rainfall. Marble Mountain’s main base-to-summit high speed quad, the Lightning Express, was buried in multiple feet of mud and debris, rendering it inoperable.

Thankfully, the Leitner-Poma detachable was not damaged and cleanup work is progressing well. Approximately 550 tons of mud has been removed so far and work will continue over the next two days. “We’re incredibly proud of the progress we’ve made thanks to the dedication of our operations team and the invaluable support from JCL Construction, who have been instrumental in the removal process,” the mountain said on Facebook.

The Lightning Express has a bit of a wild history with natural disasters. In August 2014, lightning struck the top terminal, setting it ablaze to the point that the lift’s haul rope snapped. Leitner-Poma spent all fall and the following winter rebuilding the lift with new terminals, chairs, grips and haul rope. The old lift was refurbished and now operates as the Flat Top Flyer at Powderhorn, Colorado.

Marble Mountain plans to reopen with top to bottom skiing on Friday.

Deropement Leads to Lift Evacuation at Brian Head, Utah

Peter Landsman16 Comments
Photo credit: Simon Balazs

Skiers and snowboarders had to be roped down from the Giant Steps Express at Brian Head yesterday following a tower deropement. The incident occurred on the heavy side of tower 1, immediately adjacent to the bottom station. Witnesses reported the lift was nearly full and the rope evacuation lasted a number of hours. “At approximately 12:05 pm the Giant Steps Express chairlift experienced a mechanical issue that resulted in a lift evacuation,” the resort said in a statement. “Mountain operations teams quickly responded and safely evacuated all guests without incident or injury in less than 2 hours.”

Photo credit: Zack S.

Giant Steps is a Doppelmayr CTEC high speed quad manufactured in 2005. The UNI-GS series detachable originally operated at Tamarack Resort in Idaho before being installed at Brian Head in 2014. The incident is the third deropement leading to a rope evacuation in the last four days. On Thursday, the Aurora Quad at Sunday River de-roped near the bottom terminal and 200 plus riders were roped off. Then on Saturday, a deropement caused chairs to fall from the North Chair at Snow Ridge, New York, leading to another evacuation. All three lifts remain closed today.

Deropement Causes Chair Pileup at Snow Ridge, New York

Peter Landsman10 Comments
Photo credit: Bob Bennett

Snow Ridge has had a tough year. An EF-3 tornado tore through the small Upstate New York mountain last August, damaging all four of the mountain’s lifts. A number of other ski areas, volunteers and resort staff joined forces to put the mountain back together all fall. North Chair, the final lift to reopen, just returned to service last Saturday. Unfortunately today the lift deroped on both sides of tower 6, causing two chairs to fall to the ground and four additional chairs to stack up on the light side of the tower. Thankfully none of the impacted chairs were occupied and no one was hurt. According to a post by Bob Bennett on Ski the Northeast Facebook Group, the mountain had just opened for the day and only one person had to be rope evacuated. The incident follows just two days after a significant deropement at Sunday River, Maine required 200+ skiers to be rope evacuated. No one was injured in that mishap either.

North is very old and contains parts from multiple defunct manufacturers, primarily Hall. According to New York Ski Blog, the double chair was just inspected and cleared by the State of New York to operate on February 16th. It was not immediately clear why safety systems designed to stop a lift after a deropement failed to do so for at least four chair lengths this morning.