Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: 2020 and Beyond
- A dozen years after closing, North Carolina’s Hawksnest lists two Hall doubles for sale.
- As it attempts to lower its tax bill, Jay Peak reveals it received several non-binding offers ranging from $38 million to $70 million.
- Burke Mountain argues it’s worth only $11.2 million, citing seven figure losses each of the last three years.
- Wachusett will sell four different sessions this winter rather than day and night tickets.
- Garibaldi at Squamish now plans to break ground in 2023 and spin lifts circa 2027.
- For the second time in a year, the tram in Juneau, Alaska has a new name: Goldbelt Tram.
- An American visitor caught riding the Banff Gondola faces a CA$750,000 fine.
- Not good: a paraglider gets tangled up in a chair.
- Sugarloaf reiterates its commitment to West Mountain, which will include a lengthy detachable lift.
- Holimont plans to eventually move Chipmunk, replace Sunset and build a new lift on WestMont Ridge.
- Maine’s closed Eaton Mountain becomes a non-profit and will aggressively seek funding for a new chairlift.
- Park City won’t be seeing gondola transit any time soon.
- Nitehawk’s only chairlift will remain out of service for the entire 2020-21 season following last spring’s landslide.
- Elk Mountain has not been sold.
- North America’s 2019-20 ski season will come to an end August 30th.
- Sunday River plans to build the Merrill Hill lift in 2022.
- Quebec-based Samson Industries, which built more than 100 ski lifts, calls it quits after 160 years.
- What was supposed to be New Zealand’s first 10 passenger Doppelmayr gondola will sit in shipping containers until tourism recovers.
- Big Sky and Doppelmayr get to work on Swift Current 6 (shown below.)
Nordic Valley to Debut Six Passenger Lift
The once sleepy ski area in Eden, Utah will grow dramatically this winter with the addition of a high speed lift and new terrain. Leitner-Poma of America will supply the yet-to-be-named six place chair, which will move 2,500 skiers per hour and service approximately 50 acres of terrain the first season. When completed, the expansion will more than triple skiable terrain with 300 new acres. “The pioneers who started Nordic Valley dreamed of sharing this amazing terrain,” said Brandon Fessler, Nordic Valley general manager. “Our team has worked hard to realize that dream, and we cannot wait to share it with our guests, our friends and our neighbors this winter.” The lift will rise 1,400 vertical feet in just 4.2 minutes with a slope length of 4,213 feet. It will become the first six passenger lift built by Leitner-Poma in Utah.
Fast-growing Mountain Capital Partners took over operations of Nordic Valley in 2018. This expansion project will be located entirely on private property, though more lifts could eventually be added on Forest Service land at higher elevation.
MCP is also partnering with Leitner-Poma to add a base-to-summit Telemix at Arizona Snowbowl this summer. The two projects combine to form the largest lift investment in North American skiing for the 2020/21 season. While some resort groups have paused expansion capital due to the pandemic, Mountain Capital Partners and select others continue to forge ahead.
Nordic Valley expects to open the new six passenger lift early this winter, increasing its vertical drop by 65 percent.
Two New Detachables Coming to Holiday Valley Resort
Western New York’s Holiday Valley will build high speed lifts each of the next two years on the heels of $2.9 million worth of investments in 2020. Next summer, a realigned high speed quad will replace the Yodeler fixed grip quad and the mountain’s first six place chairlift will follow in 2022. The second project will replace the Mardi Gras Xpress, a key out-of-base workhorse constructed in 1996.
Holiday Valley is privately owned by a small group of shareholders. “We have a long range plan and are able to continue moving forward on resort projects,” noted General Manager Dennis Eshbaugh in a statement. “We are thinking positive about the future and we hope that by continuing to invest in this community, it will help stimulate the economy and instill confidence in others to follow suit.”
No manufacturer was announced for the new lifts. Holiday Valley currently operates a high capacity fleet of eleven quads from the Doppelmayr and CTEC families.
Instagram Tuesday: Big Projects
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Lake Louise Set to Open West Bowl
Work is underway to add 480 acres of new high alpine, advanced terrain at Lake Louise for next winter. West Bowl will be accessed by a Doppelmayr fixed grip quad replacing the old Summit Platter. This expansion will feature natural, side country-style terrain with gladed trees. The only groomed portion will be a new ski-out trail to the front side of the mountain.
The new Summit quad will be Lake Louise’s first Doppelmayr chairlift. It will run in a new alignment from Top of the World to Mt. Whitehorn. That means a lap will in West Bowl will require three lift rides: Glacier Express or Grizzly Express, Top of the World and Summit. Eventually, a new Upper Juniper lift will eliminate the need for West Bowl skiers to transit the base area and ride three lifts.
Lake Louise plans to replace and make more lift additions in future years as part of its new Long Range Plan in partnership with Parks Canada.
News Roundup: Transitions
- Both Mountain Capital Partners and the owners of Silverton Mountain are interested in turning Colorado’s Kendall Mountain into larger resort with more lifts.
- Ariel Quiros pleads guilty to three felonies related to his ownership of Burke Mountain and Jay Peak.
- Separately, an employee is accused of embezzling more than $125,000 from Jay.
- Sunlight pauses financial planning for the new East Ridge lift, which remains under Forest Service review.
- Another lost ski area gets on the road to reopening: Paul Bunyan near Lakewood, Wisconsin.
- There’s more trouble at Spirit Mountain as two top executives resign.
- Arctic Valley secures a new 20 year lease to operate in the mountains above Anchorage.
- The home of Big Snow remains in big financial trouble.
- One year since the Sea to Sky Gondola haul rope was brazenly cut, the culprit(s) still have not been caught.
- Aspen Skiing Company makes tough cuts to benefits and compensation for year round employees.
- It turns out Soldier Mountain sold to a new owner just one day before last week’s fire.
- You’ve heard of a chair sale but how about a T sale?
- Titans of industry Win Smith and Bill Jensen end their runs atop Sugarbush and Telluride, respectively.
- Glenwood Caverns temporarily closes to conduct fire mitigation.
Instagram Tuesday: Natural World
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Wildfire Hits Soldier Mountain
Instead of celebrating the grand opening of its new bike park this weekend, Idaho’s Soldier Mountain is assessing damage from a wildland fire which tore through the area. An August 5th lightning strike ignited the Phillips Fire, which has burned 1,600 acres as of this morning with only 5 percent containment. “We are heartbroken to inform you that the Phillips Fire passed directly through the heart of our beautiful mountain,” the ski area posted on its social media accounts this afternoon. “The lodge and lifts are still intact, but the bridge that gives access to the resort was destroyed. Since the fire is still an active threat, we will have to wait to further assess the extent of the damage.”
Soldier Mountain operates within the Sawtooth National Forest near Fairfield, not far from the more widely-known Sun Valley Resort. The mountain operates two 1970s Stadeli doubles in addition to a carpet lift and cat skiing operation. Soldier has been for sale since early last year.
News Roundup: Investments
- A trial gets underway to decide whether a moving chairlift worsened the spread of a wildfire in New Zealand.
- BC’s hard-hit ski industry lobbies for government assistance.
- All five ski resorts located in Victoria, Australia are now closed thanks to Covid-19, including two operated by Vail Resorts.
- Here’s the latest update from Sun Valley’s Cold Springs expansion project.
- And another one from Arapahoe Basin’s summer of new lifts.
- The Hermitage Club gets back to basics as it looks to save money and focus on skiing.
- Liftopia stays out of bankruptcy for now.
- Hilltop Ski Area seeks a used chairlift for its beginner slope.
- After numerous employees test positive for Covid-19, the world’s largest gondola system shuts down again.
- MND Group secures $45 million in new financing from the French government and a private investment firm.
- Jackson Hole announces plans to operate its aerial tram this winter, which has been closed since March 14th.
- Fitsimmons Express, the major access lift for the Whistler Mountain Bike Park, suffers multiple days of downtime.
Lift Blog 