Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Great Causes
- Alpine Ski Club, Ontario lists the Arrowhead Quad for sale with a replacement planned for 2024.
- Big Moose Mountain, Maine fundraises to revive trails abandoned since the summit double last ran in 2004.
- Snow Ridge, New York shares more photos of devastating tornado damage and fundraises for rebuilding. A volunteer cleanup day is scheduled for August 26th.
- Nonprofit Skiland, Alaska seeks donations to operate next season.
- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay teases a reopening of its gondola that has been closed since Covid.
- A power outage strands hundreds of guests overnight at the Banff Gondola.
- Seven Oaks leaves the Indy Pass.
Instagram Tuesday: Centennial
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Tornado Damages Lifts at Snow Ridge, NY
An large tornado damaged several lifts and other buildings at Snow Ridge Ski Resort late last night. The ski area, located in Turin, New York, posted this morning that all three of its chairlifts sustained damage from extreme wind and falling trees. Photos showed lift buildings overturned, safety bars blown off chairs and towers de-roped.
All of the lifts at Snow Ridge date back the 1950s through 1970s. The Little Mountain and North doubles appeared to sustain the most damage from the storm. “The Ridge got hit pretty hard by last evening’s tornado,” Snow Ridge wrote this morning on Facebook. “Everyone is safe, which is the most important thing but this damage really hurts. We are devastated but will rebuild,” the mountain wrote.
Update: The National Weather Service determined the tornado was an EF-3 with peak wind gusts estimated at 140 mph near Snow Ridge.
News Roundup: Ponderosa
- Garaventa commences building the first TRI-Line tricable gondola in Switzerland.
- The Kemmerer family sells Jackson Hole to a local investor group.
- Lee Canyon’s expansion lift to be called Ponderosa.
- Lutsen backs away from proposed expansion to consult with local tribes.
- More chair sales: White Pass, Washington and Lutsen, Minnesota.
- A new trail map shows the rebirth of lost terrain at Holiday Mountain, New York.
- Park City shows renderings of the proposed Sunrise Gondola.
- I took a break from skiing at Mammoth last week to snap some pictures of the Canyon Express project.
Instagram Tuesday: High Altitude Projects
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Ahead of Schedule
- Cockaigne Resort is listed for sale at $3.5 million.
- Steamboat releases renderings of a possible future detachable parking lot gondola.
- Steamboat also closes the Christie Peak Express until further notice due to ground movement.
- Sterling Vineyards plans to debut the first Omega V 8 passenger gondola cabins in the USA in October.
- A sightseeing gondola in Idaho Springs, Colorado moves toward reality.
- Windham Mountain promises further lift infrastructure upgrades as part of a new master plan.
- BigRock, Maine commits to building a new quad next year.
- Park City will host an open house regarding the future Sunrise Gondola next week.
- Brundage expects to sell Centennial‘s old chairs for a total of $135,000.
- Another chair sale in Quebec.
- Whistler’s 8 pack project is ahead of schedule and construction begins early on Blackcomb’s new lift.
Instagram Tuesday: Small, Medium, Large
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Repaired
- Really big trees fall on an Italian gondola.
- Whistler Blackcomb details construction to date for Fitzsimmons 8.
- I join the UK-based Ski Podcast to chat about my quest to visit every lift in North America.
- Bartholet begins constructing the first Ropetaxi gondola with a network concept.
- The proposed sightseeing gondola near Vernon, BC inches forward.
- Aspen Skiing Company’s resort, hospitality and retail arms reorganize as Aspen One with a new CEO.
- Aspen also gives a Pandora’s expansion update.
- Sunday River offers old Barker chairs for sale.
- A new ski area is proposed near Grand Rapids, Minnesota.
- Brundage’s key base-to-summit lift is repaired after 22 days of downtime.
Expansion Under Construction at Lee Canyon
Just three months after Mountain Capital Partners purchased Lee Canyon, Skytrac is already working to build a new lift to the east of existing terrain. The fixed grip quad, shown as Chair 5 on the above map, will service three new beginner trails with a capacity of 1,800 skiers per hour. The chairlift will span approximately 1,400 feet with a 310 foot vertical rise. The Forest Service approved the project last year when the resort was still owned by Powdr.
The project has not been formally announced but Skytrac posted photos on Instagram yesterday of its ninth and final line survey of the year at an unnamed mountain that looks a whole lot like Lee Canyon. Aerial imagery from the Sentinel satellite network taken this morning confirms the scope of work at Lee Canyon, the only ski resort in the Las Vegas region.
In addition to Chair 5, Lee Canyon also has Forest Service approval to build two new conveyors and a westward expansion with another fixed grip quad in the coming years.
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