Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Grants
- The Eccles Family donates $5 million to support Utah Olympic Park’s mountain expansion.
- In Florida, the public is asked to weigh in on a possible Clearwater Beach gondola.
- The Edmonton Prairie Sky Gondola proposal is voted down.
- Edmonton gondola proponents look to build in Red Deer, Alberta instead.
- A new gondola idea emerges in San Diego.
- BigRock Mountain wins $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to build a Doppelmayr quad chair in 2024.
- The Tulsa Skyride secures a historic status recommendation but still may be torn down.
- All three Disney Skyliner lines will shut down for a week of maintenance in January.
- Energy shortages related to the Ukraine War may close or slow down lifts in the Alps this winter.
- Crotched Mountain will sell chairs from the West Double next week.
- A local planning board advances Sugarloaf’s West Mountain expansion project.
Instagram Tuesday: Shasta
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Alterra, Boyne, Powdr and Vail
- Sunday River explains why Jordan 8 came before Barker replacement.
- Brighton proposes swapping Crest Express for a six place D-Line.
- Snowbird looks to replace Wilbere.
- This document details Snowbird’s temporary one car tram operation.
- A hearing to consider the sale of Jay Peak is scheduled for August 26th.
- Eaglecrest and Mt. Spokane join the Freedom Pass alliance.
- Flash flood cleanup closes the Palm Springs Tram for the week.
- A power outage leaves guests waiting hours at the top of the Sandia Peak Tram.
- Eleven ski areas in the White River National Forest paid a record $24 million in profit sharing to the Forest Service last year.
- Steamboat and Doppelmayr fly towers for the Wild Blue Gondola.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers display a Sigma 3S gondola cabin which could provide future stadium transport.
- Mt. Shasta releases a preliminary map of the Grey Butte expansion.
- Bartholet begins construction of the first Ropetaxi with cabins that will move individually based on passenger demand and destination.
- The restoration plan approved for Keystone’s Bergman Bowl requires annual monitoring through 2033.
- Boston Mills/Brandywine will auction double and quad chairs next week.
Instagram Tuesday: Rising Above
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: Early August
- A Forest Service report details what Keystone did wrong in Bergman Bowl, the lift will not not be completed this season.
- One Gunstock Area Commissioner resigns, another is removed from office and another appointed. Staff reopened the resort yesterday.
- Forbes interviews Doppelmayr Managing Director Thomas Pichler.
- NSAA launches a lift service bulletin database for members.
- In Argentina, a mechanic dies after his legs become caught in chairlift machinery.
- Apex Mountain Resort is evacuated due to a nearby wildfire.
- Ex Jay Peak owner Ariel Quiros reports to prison.
- Sommet Gabriel’s new Doppelmayr quad will be called La Laurentienne.
- The new triple at Dodge Ridge will be Triple Nugget.
- ORDA awards a $3.2 million contract to Skytrac for construction of the Bear Cub Quad at Gore Mountain.
- Snoqualmie and Doppelmayr conduct a heli mission to scope upcoming International triple construction.
- Vail Resorts completes its acquisition of a majority stake in Swiss ski resort Andermatt-Sedrun.
- Alta opts not to remove Albion until next year.
- Here are some pictures of an Epic Lift Upgrade project on track at Vail Mountain (thanks to reader Mark.)
Instagram Tuesday: Eight Wide
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Sun Valley Plans New Warm Springs Lifts
The Sun Valley Company and US Forest Service are soliciting public comments on an ambitious plan to redesign lift service on the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain. First, a new Challenger six place chairlift is proposed to replace the aging Challenger and Greyhawk detachable quads. Challenger is no ordinary chairlift – it services more vertical than any other chair in North America – 3,142 vertical feet in nine minutes. Greyhawk runs parallel to Challenger for its first 1,488 feet of vertical. Both Lift Engineering-turned-Doppelmayr detachables date back to 1988. The wider gauge Challenger would feature a mid-unloading station at the top of the Upper Greyhawk and move 2,400 skiers per hour.
The project also includes a new Flying Squirrel/Lift A detachable quad. The original Flying Squirrel opened in 1972 and operated until February 1st, 2014, when it was destroyed by a drive terminal fire. The lift was removed the following offseason but never replaced. The A quad would follow a modified alignment, loading at the base of Warm Springs and terminating near the top of Picabo’s Street and Flying Squirrel. It would move up to 1,800 skiers per hour and provide key redundancy out of the base area. The Flying Squirrel run would be extended downhill to the bottom of Warm Springs and the new lift’s load point. New snowmaking would also be included.
If approved, both new lifts would be constructed in 2023 and open for the 2023-24 ski season. A manufacturer has not been announced. Sun Valley currently operates an all Doppelmayr fleet but the resort’s parent company recently partnered with Leitner-Poma for a new six passenger lift at Snowbasin.
Update: Both lifts will be built by Doppelmayr.
Pacific Group Resorts Bids $58 Million for Jay Peak
The Jay Peak Receiver today filed a motion to enter a sale agreement with Pacific Group Resorts, Inc., a Park City-based operator of five North American ski areas. Importantly, the proposed sale process allows for bids from other companies in excess of PGRI’s $58 million offer. “The time has come for the Receiver to sell the Jay Peak Resort,” wrote Akerman LLP, the law firm appointed to oversee Jay Peak and related assets after the Securities and Exchange Commission uncovered widespread fraud. “When the Receiver took over the Jay Peak Resort in April 2016, it was on the verge of collapse having little money and making very little profit,” receiver Michael Goldberg wrote. “Now, after more than six years, the Jay Peak Resort is significantly more profitable and hundreds of jobs have been saved. The Receiver attributes this success to his top notch management team and the dedicated employees who work tirelessly to make Jay Peak one of the greatest ski resorts in the country,” The Asset Purchase Agreement does not include Burke Mountain assets, which are currently part of the same receivership.
It’s not clear how long the sale process will take but under the agreement potential bidders would have 30 days from the time the District Court approves bid procedures to submit offers. If qualified bidder(s) beyond Pacific Group emerge, a private auction would take place shortly after the bid deadline. Should another buyer prevail, Pacific Group would be paid a breakup fee of $1.25 million plus expenses from the sale proceeds. “Other parties have expressed interest in purchasing the Jay Peak Resort over the past few years, however, only Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. has been willing to submit a binding bid,” notes the motion. “The Receiver is hopeful that perhaps another bidder will surface at the auction.”
No matter who ends up with Jay Peak, the sale will certainly have season pass implications. Pacific Group Resorts currently operates Mt. Washington Alpine Resort on Vancouver Island, Powderhorn Resort in Colorado, Wisp Resort in Maryland, Wintergreen Resort in Virginia and Ragged Mountain Resort in New Hampshire. None of those mountains currently participate in the Epic, Ikon or Indy multi-mountain passes. Jay Peak on the other hand is the single largest Indy Pass resort by redemptions.
After news of the potential deal surfaced, Pacific Group Vice President and Chief Marketing Officer Christian Knapp tweeted “The possibility of Pacific Group Resorts, Inc. purchasing Jay Peak Resort is extremely exciting and would be an incredible fit for our company, but by no means is it a done deal. Filing the APA is one more step in an extraordinarily long process that started more than 3 years ago.”
News Roundup: Gunstock & More
- Indy Pass signs its largest partner yet by skier visits: Mt. Hood Meadows.
- Former Indy Pass resort Marmot Basin joins the Mountain Collective.
- Some 300 people show up to what was intended to be an executive session of the Gunstock Area Commission to discuss legal, financial and employment matters. Two commissioners end up walking out. Another meeting is scheduled for today.
- Resigned Gunstock Area Commissioner and former Stowe CEO Gary Kiedaisch attempts to un-resign.
- A New Hampshire State Representative alleges former Gunstock General Manager Tom Day improperly donated $500 in public money to Governor Sununu’s 2020 re-election campaign.
- Organizers of a music festival set to take place at Gunstock next weekend threaten legal action if the Panorama high speed quad doesn’t run as contracted.
- Deer Valley and Mayflower work toward an operating agreement.
- Eaglecrest General Manager Dave Scanlan goes on the radio to talk about the gondola project.
- Skytrac is still hiring folks to build ski lifts, particularly at Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania.
- Smugglers’ Notch gives a rundown of all the work that goes into servicing a bullwheel.
- Sierra at Tahoe completes haul rope replacements on two more lifts.
- A bolt tightening contractor is hit by a tram carriage and seriously injured at Jackson Hole.
- Skytrac begins building on Eagle Peak at Lookout Pass.
- Greek Peak starts construction of a new Chair 3.
- Utah Olympic Park’s big expansion won’t be open to public skiing with limited exceptions.
- The first D-Line in California is approved, will feature unique angle stations.
- Closed Connecticut ski area Woodbury goes back up for sale.
- The company seeking to build a gondola in Edmonton, Alberta would pay $1.1 million a year to lease city right of way.
- A woman found dead under Anakeesta’s chondola last night is believed to have fallen from the lift, which remains closed today.
- Two men are killed while working to build a Doppelmayr gondola in France.
- Below is the July 8th Notice of Noncompliance the Forest Service sent Keystone regarding unauthorized road construction in Bergman Bowl. Since the letter is three weeks old, Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams sent an update on where things stand.
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