Good question and yes, two high speed quads were once planned at Silver Mountain. However, JELD-WEN ran into some financial trouble during the recession and sold the resort for only $5 million to a local Seattle business man. No word if he wants to continue the master plan or not. For those who don’t know, JELD-WEN was at one time the world’s biggest door and window manufacturer and owned several large real-estate developments.
Silver Mountain’s owner also owns 49° North. The mountains have combined for a total of zero new lift installations during the past 30 years, although they have had three total lift relocations during that time period. In particular, I think Silver Mountain has so much potential being only an hour away from Spokane, closer than every mountain except Mt. Spokane. Additionally, the Bike Park and Water Park diversify their revenue stream significantly compared to most ski resorts.
49° North opened a new high speed quad with three new runs last winter. Silver Mtn. still unchanged, although they replaced the magic carpet with a covered one two seasons ago (didn’t get the cover installed until last season).
One of the lifts should be detachable… maybe something relocated? And the little Riblet could be cut in half and have a HSQ start at the mid and the rest stay where it is with a few upgrades-there are too many towers!
Umm… unless you’re an engineer, how do you know there are too many towers? That lift has run for decades as is, and hasn’t had any issues that I’m aware of (and the industry grapevine does work well, so I would have heard). In addition, Riblets of that vintage had a few more towers than modern lifts as they only had 4-sheave assemblies rather than 6- or 8-rockers.
Back in the early 2000s, in the middle of the JELD-WEN years, there was a plan for a second portal to the east of the Gondola Village, with a HSQ or gondola landing at (I think…) the bottom of Chair 2. There also would have been additional terrain and a second village.
Not sure if they ever owned any of the necessary property or acquired any of the necessary approvals.
Actually this seems to be a 2012 proposal for a casino and separate village area on the flank of one of the foothills the gondola passes over. I’m certainly interested in their “negotiations” to add a midstation to the gondola on that foothill.
Having lived and skied and Northern Idaho since the early 2000’s, Its funny…
All of the Spokane/eastern OR/Northern Idaho have what I call “Riblet Culture.” Many of these areas rose with the company, and there was a large regional push for skiing expansion. By about the 1980’s, this culture cooled off. Skiing remained much more a middle class sport to Spokane, just like it was in the 80’s nationally. vs the wealthier draw around most western ski hubs. Skiing is really not as big a deal in the region as you might assume given the access, reliable semi-fluffy snowfall, large central airport, etc. It has a similar concentration of ski areas as interior BC or the Cascades, but has always been overlooked as a destination. Blue collar Spokane sees skiing as an alternative weekend activity, not a sport worthy of having destinations, and this translates to it’s ski areas. This means basic lodges, slow low capacity lifts to deal with non existent crowds, low ticket prices, and typically no on mtn village or resort. (Schweitzer has been the exception to this regional norm since the 1960s.)
While Silver came about after the main regional push, it had a similar design mentality. Throw up the lifts, run them into the ground, and charge low prices to earn a small but reliable profit.
Silver has had 4ish expansion “discussions”, 2 serious, 1 viable. The true 2nd base area has always been a bit out there. This would mean new roads, probably another gondola, and quite a bit of construction at low elevation…. Silver’s one natural local advantage. A better plan is 1-2 new HSQ’s down the north face of the ridge that the current gondola crests, accessing a new summit about a mile to the east. Then replacing 2 or 4 as well. And that’s the whole problem. The “Riblet Mentality” means you have a bunch of aging lifts at once while needing to expand to compete with destinations. And having a mountain with the infrastructure and trail coverage to only ever charge mid-rate ticket and pass prices.
Schweitzer can drop in new lifts to idealized locations and expand because it’s always been built for the future. For Silver to do anything flashy… They need to deal with a big chunk of coin and a whole lot of USFS and EPA superfund approval.
Lookout Pass has recently done a better job evolving and playing the cards they were dealt for steady improvement.
I’d wager raising the capital to replace the existing gondola has to be on Silver Mtn mind more than any resort expansions. The gondola is the last VH series Von Roll in North America and it’s a rapidly obsolete model type in Europe too, soon support will become difficult if not impossible; unfortunately for them it has to work for the resort to exist.
Oh yeah. It’s quickly becoming unavoidable. Could have been solved long ago by committing to the old jackass base area and rebuilding it/replacing 4, the pie-in-the-sky north ridge base & lift expansion, or realizing about a decade ago they had an aging gondola that would need an expensive replacement and beginning capex planning for the expenditure then… or finding investors who could.
And still, replacing the Gondola means you just have re-established reliable access to your other aging slow lifts and same terrain and same non ski in/ski out base area. I don’t see new revenue, or lessened costs that might allow for any of it to make sense.
If I was an investor, I’d rather see them double down on some spending and flashy local appeal with a chair 2 high speed replacement to go with a new gondi. Or a gondola mid station with skiing access about 2/3 of the way up, which would also instantly enhance the bike park and mean beginners could ride it.
Better to spend $40mil and eventually see a profit instead of 25-30 and be in a similar position.
To this day Silver greatly annoys me as the mtn with best snowfall, northern aspects, and overall potential in the inland Northwest… But they’ve been missing the capital for so long, no one knows it. Kinda wish a Boyne or MCP got their hands on it.
Chair 4 had a ~100ft uncontrolled rollback a few years ago due to sheer maintenance neglect/laziness. Was never reported officially, but I witnessed it.
What proof do you have that it was a result of maintenance neglect/laziness? Not trying to be argumentative but would like to know your reason for citing that. I’m glad no one was hurt.
Yeah, unless you worked in their maintenance department or were a state inspector you cannot say what caused it. In addition, a 100′ uncontrolled rollback, as you call it, would have made the industry grapevine at a minimum and possibly led to a service bulletin from various state boards. I don’t recall hearing anything like this.
Don’t doubt that. Been stuck on that lift multiple times for 30min or more. It’s a shit show. If they replace that with at least a 3pk somewhat modern and a small 2pk to top of Wardner….game on. Also, lift from bottom of chair 3 to top of Kellogg would help. But then everything would get skied out so fast…the whole point of Silver is untouched skiing all day.
Miss living up there.
Lift Blog 
What was the last year Von Roll built lifts? The fixed grip lifts here appear to have Hall grips.
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VonRoll bought Hall in 1982, and used Hall designs in North America until they were bought by Doppelmayr in 1996.
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Why does this ski area have no high speed lifts except the gondola?
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I don’t think they make enough money to afford detachable lifts. It’s a low budget operation
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Good question and yes, two high speed quads were once planned at Silver Mountain. However, JELD-WEN ran into some financial trouble during the recession and sold the resort for only $5 million to a local Seattle business man. No word if he wants to continue the master plan or not. For those who don’t know, JELD-WEN was at one time the world’s biggest door and window manufacturer and owned several large real-estate developments.
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Because detaches are bougie affectations.
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https://www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news/least-1-dead-others-rescued-after-avalanche-idaho-ski-area-n1112226
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Silver Mountain’s owner also owns 49° North. The mountains have combined for a total of zero new lift installations during the past 30 years, although they have had three total lift relocations during that time period. In particular, I think Silver Mountain has so much potential being only an hour away from Spokane, closer than every mountain except Mt. Spokane. Additionally, the Bike Park and Water Park diversify their revenue stream significantly compared to most ski resorts.
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49° North opened a new high speed quad with three new runs last winter. Silver Mtn. still unchanged, although they replaced the magic carpet with a covered one two seasons ago (didn’t get the cover installed until last season).
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Really hope they can install some detactables soon, these current lifts haven’t been replaced in so long. Still a great and unique hill.
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One of the lifts should be detachable… maybe something relocated? And the little Riblet could be cut in half and have a HSQ start at the mid and the rest stay where it is with a few upgrades-there are too many towers!
LikeLike
Umm… unless you’re an engineer, how do you know there are too many towers? That lift has run for decades as is, and hasn’t had any issues that I’m aware of (and the industry grapevine does work well, so I would have heard). In addition, Riblets of that vintage had a few more towers than modern lifts as they only had 4-sheave assemblies rather than 6- or 8-rockers.
LikeLike
Back in the early 2000s, in the middle of the JELD-WEN years, there was a plan for a second portal to the east of the Gondola Village, with a HSQ or gondola landing at (I think…) the bottom of Chair 2. There also would have been additional terrain and a second village.
Not sure if they ever owned any of the necessary property or acquired any of the necessary approvals.
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I found some more information about the initial plans here:
Click to access document.pdf
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Actually this seems to be a 2012 proposal for a casino and separate village area on the flank of one of the foothills the gondola passes over. I’m certainly interested in their “negotiations” to add a midstation to the gondola on that foothill.
LikeLike
Having lived and skied and Northern Idaho since the early 2000’s, Its funny…
All of the Spokane/eastern OR/Northern Idaho have what I call “Riblet Culture.” Many of these areas rose with the company, and there was a large regional push for skiing expansion. By about the 1980’s, this culture cooled off. Skiing remained much more a middle class sport to Spokane, just like it was in the 80’s nationally. vs the wealthier draw around most western ski hubs. Skiing is really not as big a deal in the region as you might assume given the access, reliable semi-fluffy snowfall, large central airport, etc. It has a similar concentration of ski areas as interior BC or the Cascades, but has always been overlooked as a destination. Blue collar Spokane sees skiing as an alternative weekend activity, not a sport worthy of having destinations, and this translates to it’s ski areas. This means basic lodges, slow low capacity lifts to deal with non existent crowds, low ticket prices, and typically no on mtn village or resort. (Schweitzer has been the exception to this regional norm since the 1960s.)
While Silver came about after the main regional push, it had a similar design mentality. Throw up the lifts, run them into the ground, and charge low prices to earn a small but reliable profit.
Silver has had 4ish expansion “discussions”, 2 serious, 1 viable. The true 2nd base area has always been a bit out there. This would mean new roads, probably another gondola, and quite a bit of construction at low elevation…. Silver’s one natural local advantage. A better plan is 1-2 new HSQ’s down the north face of the ridge that the current gondola crests, accessing a new summit about a mile to the east. Then replacing 2 or 4 as well. And that’s the whole problem. The “Riblet Mentality” means you have a bunch of aging lifts at once while needing to expand to compete with destinations. And having a mountain with the infrastructure and trail coverage to only ever charge mid-rate ticket and pass prices.
Schweitzer can drop in new lifts to idealized locations and expand because it’s always been built for the future. For Silver to do anything flashy… They need to deal with a big chunk of coin and a whole lot of USFS and EPA superfund approval.
Lookout Pass has recently done a better job evolving and playing the cards they were dealt for steady improvement.
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I’d wager raising the capital to replace the existing gondola has to be on Silver Mtn mind more than any resort expansions. The gondola is the last VH series Von Roll in North America and it’s a rapidly obsolete model type in Europe too, soon support will become difficult if not impossible; unfortunately for them it has to work for the resort to exist.
LikeLike
Oh yeah. It’s quickly becoming unavoidable. Could have been solved long ago by committing to the old jackass base area and rebuilding it/replacing 4, the pie-in-the-sky north ridge base & lift expansion, or realizing about a decade ago they had an aging gondola that would need an expensive replacement and beginning capex planning for the expenditure then… or finding investors who could.
And still, replacing the Gondola means you just have re-established reliable access to your other aging slow lifts and same terrain and same non ski in/ski out base area. I don’t see new revenue, or lessened costs that might allow for any of it to make sense.
If I was an investor, I’d rather see them double down on some spending and flashy local appeal with a chair 2 high speed replacement to go with a new gondi. Or a gondola mid station with skiing access about 2/3 of the way up, which would also instantly enhance the bike park and mean beginners could ride it.
Better to spend $40mil and eventually see a profit instead of 25-30 and be in a similar position.
To this day Silver greatly annoys me as the mtn with best snowfall, northern aspects, and overall potential in the inland Northwest… But they’ve been missing the capital for so long, no one knows it. Kinda wish a Boyne or MCP got their hands on it.
LikeLike
Chair 4 had a ~100ft uncontrolled rollback a few years ago due to sheer maintenance neglect/laziness. Was never reported officially, but I witnessed it.
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What proof do you have that it was a result of maintenance neglect/laziness? Not trying to be argumentative but would like to know your reason for citing that. I’m glad no one was hurt.
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Yeah, unless you worked in their maintenance department or were a state inspector you cannot say what caused it. In addition, a 100′ uncontrolled rollback, as you call it, would have made the industry grapevine at a minimum and possibly led to a service bulletin from various state boards. I don’t recall hearing anything like this.
LikeLike
Don’t doubt that. Been stuck on that lift multiple times for 30min or more. It’s a shit show. If they replace that with at least a 3pk somewhat modern and a small 2pk to top of Wardner….game on. Also, lift from bottom of chair 3 to top of Kellogg would help. But then everything would get skied out so fast…the whole point of Silver is untouched skiing all day.
Miss living up there.
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I think that renovations to the gondola cars and lodge is a good start along with a new chair 2 or 4. Also bringing in investor to make that possible.
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