Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: The Stache
- Two riders who claim they were injured in a Riblet clip ejection incident in 2020 sue Red Lodge Mountain.
- Red Lodge names its new detachable lift Stache Express in honor of longtime General Manager Jeff Schmidt.
- Texas Parks & Wildlife has raised most of the $36 million needed to build a new Wyler Aerial Tramway in El Paso.
- Doppelmayr works with a Utah adaptive organization to make D-Line chairs more accommodating to sit skiers.
- A judge upholds Park City’s decision to block Eagle and Silverlode replacement projects at Park City Mountain.
- Park City continues to look at gondolas as possible public transportation.
- Deer Valley applies for its first lift construction permit for eastward expansion.
- Lutsen Mountains new trail map shows the new Raptor Express.
- Sundance seeks information on chairlift vandals (update: caught).
- Alterra appoints Mammoth and Steamboat leaders to new regional positions overseeing multiple resorts.
- The world’s largest urban gondola network in Bolivia plans more expansion as it nears 500 million rides.
- County commissioners allow the nonprofit seeking to reopen Cuchara to resume work.
Homewood Plans D-Line Gondola
Lake Tahoe’s Homewood Mountain Resort has abandoned plans for a private club in favor of remaining open to the public alongside selling club memberships. Homewood hopes this hybrid model will pave the way for installation of a new gondola, which was postponed this summer due to public outcry over privatization. The new gondola is the second recent lift project for JMA Ventures, which just yesterday celebrated the completion of the new Stache Express at its resort in Red Lodge, Montana.
Under a new draft agreement sent to the Tahoe Regional Planning Authority (TRPA), Homewood will remain open to the public in both winter and summer via season passes and daily lift tickets. This should allow the TRPA to approve gondola construction under an existing 2011 master plan. In a statement, TRPA said it is “reviewing the information and is in consultation with Homewood Mountain Resort to understand how the earlier proposal to change the character of the resort’s operation is being revised. This information will help the agency determine if the resort will be required to amend the larger resort master plan. A determination on that will be made before action is taken on the gondola project or any other project application at the resort.”
The gondola, which was already ordered and partially delivered to Homewood, will be built by Doppelmayr and run from the North Lodge to mid-mountain, replacing the Madden triple. The gondola will feature eight place Omega V cabins and become the third D-Line lift in California. The gondola will rise approximately 1,000 vertical feet, making Homewood’s entire 1,840 foot vertical drop accessible via detachable lifts for the first time. Homewood plans to build a new mid-mountain facility at the top of the gondola, which will be open to the public alongside club members. Pending approval, the new lift could open as soon as the 2024-25 ski season.
Instagram Tuesday: Building in the Snow
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: City to Mountain
- Leitner-Poma assures the public that recent stopping and swinging on the Roosevelt Island Tram pose no safety issue.
- Doppelmayr secures a five year maintenance and operations contract for the Sterling Vineyards gondola.
- Attendants and mechanics working for Doppelmayr at the Portland Aerial Tram may unionize.
- Garaventa completes the first Auro autonomous operation aerial tramway in Zermatt.
- A gondola in Raleigh, North Carolina?
- Officials release a 360 degree preview of the proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- Belleayre’s new quad will be called Overlook.
- Snow Valley shortens Chair 2 into a beginner lift with the drive terminal from old Chair 1.
- In Quebec, new owners of Mont Grand-Fonds plan a six seat detachable.
- No link but Mammoth tells me Chair 1 will be replaced in 2024.
- Sun Valley plans to replace Seattle Ridge with a six place detachable in ’24. Christmas is next but no timeline yet for that project.
- A judge will decide whether Park City Mountain’s Eagle and Silverlode upgrade projects can proceed in the future.
- Homewood bails on going private, potentially allowing the delivered Madden Gondola to be installed next summer.
- County officials order the nonprofit attempting to reopen Cuchara to stop work, citing safety concerns.
Ski Santa Fe to Build High Speed Quad
A detachable chairlift will join Ski Santa Fe, New Mexico’s lift fleet for the first time next year. The Forest Service recently completed analysis of the new lift, which will replace the 1988 Santa Fe Super Chief fixed grip quad. “The project is needed to upgrade declining infrastructure, ensuring efficient operations and improved user satisfaction,” the Forest Service wrote in an October 13th decision. Ride time will improve from 10 minutes to just over four minutes.
The new lift will be called Santa Fe Express and be built by Leitner-Poma, the manufacturer for most of Ski Santa Fe’s existing chairlifts. The high speed quad will run just over 4,000 linear feet and serve 865 vertical feet of beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain.
Construction will begin in April 2024 and is expected to be completed in time for the 2024-25 ski season.
Instagram Tuesday: Flying Squirrel
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Gondola Gallery
- Troll, British Columbia secures a million dollar grant to double ski terrain with a new T-Bar next year.
- Snowbasin may not host events for a second Utah Olympics but Deer Valley and Park City are on board.
- Baltimore explores building a harbor crossing gondola.
- Big Sky’s stunning new tram will open December 19th.
- Vail Resorts debuts gondola cabin artwork by diverse artists at Park City and Stowe with Whistler Blackcomb up next.
- Vail brings lift mechanics from Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio to help finish the Mountaineer at Attitash.
- A rigging mishap sets back reopening of Chair 4 at Cuchara.
- Sugar Bowl replaces two damaged towers on the Crow’s Peak triple.
- Sierra at Tahoe modifies lift towers due to wind load changes from Caldor Fire tree removal.
- Discovery, Montana completes a solar power facility adjacent to the Anaconda triple capable of providing 65 to 70 percent of the lift’s energy needs.
California Mountain Resorts Company Acquires Bear Valley
Canadian-Israeli investment firm Skyline has sold Bear Valley, its last remaining ski resort holding. The buyer is Invision Capital-backed California Mountain Resorts Company, the group behind Mountain High, Dodge Ridge and China Peak. CMRC CEO Karl Kapuscinski and President Tim Cohee have been pursuing Bear Valley for some time because it adds to a compelling group of California resorts up and down the Sierra Nevada range. Bear Valley will immediately join the multi-mountain Cali Pass but not the Indy Pass, which other CMRC mountains participate in. Tim Schimke, whose grandfather helped develop Bear Valley, will remain General Manager.
Located in the central Sierra, Bear Valley spans 1,680 acres with a 1,900 foot vertical drop. The mountain’s seven chairlifts range in age and capacity from 1967 Riblet doubles to the Mokelumne Express, a 2017 Leitner-Poma six pack. California Mountain Resorts Company has been actively consolidating and upgrading lifts at Dodge Ridge and China Peak and will likely undertake similar efforts at Bear Valley. Perhaps the biggest capital opportunity lies on the backside of the mountain, where a long-envisioned detachable lift could connect Bear Valley Village with the mountain’s summit. This area is currently skiable but with no return lift service. A shuttle bus runs skiers back up the mountain but costs extra on top of a lift ticket.
CMRC already unveiled a new logo for Bear Valley and indicated more improvements are coming. “The journey ahead is riddled with challenges, but I am optimistic, noted CMRC president Tim Cohee in a press release. “With the dedication of our team and Tim’s unparalleled leadership, we are poised to meet and surpass these challenges. Our goal remains steadfast: to revive and amplify the Bear Valley legacy for one and all.”
Instagram Tuesday: Hero’s
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
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