- Les Otten remains “cautiously optimistic” The Balsams redevelopment will break ground this year.
- Big Snow looks to expand chairlift-served indoor skiing to more locations.
- Mountain Creek inches closer to replacing the Vernon Triple with a six or eight place detachable.
- With visitation up, Powderhorn would like to swap out the West End double in the “near future.”
- Indy Pass reaches 100 resorts with the additions of BigRock Mountain, Marquette Mountain, Mount Kato, Nub’s Nob and Treetops Resort.
- Arizona Snowbowl’s new master plan goes on hold while the Forest Service works to reach an agreement with indigenous groups.
- Amusement conglomerate Herschend Family Entertainment elects to stop operating the Stone Mountain tramway six years before its contract expires, citing “protests and division” at the Confederate monument. The sole bidder for a new operating contract with the State of Georgia will take over in August.
- A draft action letter outlines why the local planning commission prevented lift projects from moving forward at Park City Mountain.
- The same commission approves construction of Deer Valley’s Burns Express, which will be the nation’s shortest detachable at 999 feet.
- Alta, Sandy and Salt Lake County mayors rally against a Little Cottonwood Gondola.
- Panorama delays summer lift operations at least a week due to a gearbox issue on the Mile 1 Express.
- Steamboat shows off Greenhorn Ranch and gondola mid-station construction progress.
- Whitefish starts a blog dedicated to Snow Ghost Express construction updates.
- The Palm Springs Tramway closes for multiple days due to technical problems.
Arizona Snowbowl
News Roundup: Uniting Legends
- Palisades Tahoe posts more details on its Gondola and Red Dog projects. The gondola will include 96 cabins and a name will be released later this summer.
- The Telluride-Mountain Village gondola is likely to be replaced with a brand new system.
- Steamboat’s newest high speed quad will be called Greenhorn Ranch Express.
- Stowe to sell chairs from the Mountain Triple today; its replacement will be called Sunrise.
- Mount Snow is also selling chairs now from Sunbrook and Tumbleweed.
- Northstar too.
- Keystone’s new six pack will be called Bergman Express.
- Utah smashes its all time skier day record with 5.8 million visits.
- New Hampshire skier visits drop 3 percent.
- Looking for a rewarding job in the mountains? Leitner-Poma is still hiring installation team members to build lifts across North America.
- For the first time in years, the Blackcomb Glacier is open for summer skiing.
- Arizona Snowbowl temporarily closes due to regional wildfires.
- Toggenburg goes back on the market with a list price of $2.9 million.
- Sterling Vineyards releases renderings of its new gondola cabins.
- The family of a woman killed when a chairlift malfunctioned reaches a confidential settlement with Granby Ranch.
News Roundup: Epic Lift Update
- Leitner-Poma expects US lift sales to reach $300 million in 2022.
- The lift-served real estate development called Flat Iron at Big Sky moves forward.
- PyxisAI goes live with its artificial intelligence lift monitoring software on Winter Park’s Prospector Express and Gemini Express.
- The latest from Moosehead Lake, formerly Big Squaw.
- Mt. Hood Meadows provides an update on its six pack ambitions.
- Deer Valley reveals what broke on the Carpenter Express last week.
- Arizona Snowbowl posts an explainer on rime ice and detachable lifts.
- A minor gondola collision makes the news in Whistler.
- The Disney Skyliner’s longest section will close for scheduled maintenance next month.
- Magic Mountain finally gets the Red Chair open; within hours an empty chair hits a tower and falls off.
- 18,000 people sign a petition asking Vail Resorts to improve operations at Stevens Pass.
- The first ski runs at Valemount Glacier will be logged in January.
News Roundup: Turning to ‘22
- The new lift at Great Bear Ski Valley is eight weeks ahead of schedule with chairs on the line.
- Another lockdown hits Australian resorts, this time Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales.
- New Zealand shuts down all ski resorts as part of a nationwide freeze.
- A man dies after a fall from the sky ride at Utah’s Lagoon amusement park.
- Cape Smokey expects Canada’s first new gondola since 2018 to open next week.
- Sunlight solicits a new trail map painted by Kevin Mastin.
- Brazil’s government will study the feasibility of restarting the world’s largest abandoned urban gondola.
- A gondola system is being considered for Tijuana, Mexico.
- The Arizona Gondola re-enters service after 18 days of lightning-related downtime.
- Doppelmayr will build Latin America’s first gondola with air conditioning.
- An extended interview with Poma Chairman Jean Souchal covers Covid recovery, urban growth and why Americans call surface lifts of all brands Pomas.
- Despite offering $10 million, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania receives no bids for reopening Denton Hill.
- California and Nevada resorts report an almost 22 percent increase in skier visits during the Covid season of 2020-21.
- Washington, DC budgets $10 million to purchase property needed for a possible future Georgetown-Rosslyn Gondola.
- Steamboat confirms the first section of the Wild Blue Gondola project is a go for next summer.
- The Boat will also retire the Priest Creek double and sell its chairs.
- Ontario’s Beaver Valley Ski Club plans to replace the Avalanche double in 2022.
- Time to vote! Choices for renaming Squaw Valley’s Squaw Creek triple are Eagle Eye, Highline, Resort, Snow King, Storm Rider and Valley View.
- Welch Village updates guests on the Cannon Valley Quad project.
News Roundup: Firm Orders
- Mexico’s Grupo Vidanta will build a second SkyDream gondola system, this time at Vidanta Riviera Maya.
- Sundance auctions chairs from the former Arrowhead triple.
- The team at Craigleith, Ontario wins the inaugural Ski Area Management/Leitner-Poma Rise Up Challenge.
- Four Japanese resorts sign on to the Indy Pass.
- Arizona Snowbowl’s new gondola has been down for two weeks and the ski area moves its entire summer operation to a different base area and the Grand Canyon Express.
- Beaver Creek’s two new quads will be named McCoy Park Express and Reunion.
- The sale price for Blue Mountain, PA is revealed as $31.9 million.
- MND reports annual results with ropeway sales up 32 percent and a firm order backlog of €91.7 million.
- A group continues to push for a West Seattle gondola as a planned rail project gets delayed.
- Squaw Alpine and Leitner-Poma make great progress on the base to base gondola, though they aren’t publicly committing to a completion timeline.
- Citing staffing and fire danger, Mt. Shasta ends its summer season early.
- After missing a year, Searchmont plans to reopen this season with two new triple chairs.
- Manitoba’s Holiday Mountain announces it won’t open in 2021-22.
- Vail Resorts unveils a succession plan with CEO Rob Katz moving to an Executive Chairperson role and Chief Marketing Officer Kirsten Lynch becoming CEO November 1.
- Icy Strait Point and Norwegian Cruise Line cut the ribbon on the Transporter gondola with another 8 passenger system set to open later this summer.
- Jay Peak’s former President and CEO will plead guilty to a single charge of providing false statements and other charges are expected to be dropped.
- Keystone posts a big update on the Peru Express replacement project.
- Aspen Snowmass introduces a new brand and logo which is already on some gondola cabins.
- Snowbasin’s Middle Bowl replacement project gets off to the races.




News Roundup: Preferred Alternatives
- Colorado reports an estimated 12 million skier visits, slightly below the recent average.
- Yellowstone Club founder Tim Blixseth will seek millions in damages from the State of Montana related to the Club’s bankruptcy a decade ago.
- Indy Pass signs Eagle Point, Utah and Sundown Mountain, Iowa.
- Arizona Snowbowl pauses summer operations due to fire danger.
- Alterra looks to build a village surrounding Mammoth’s Main Lodge, which would include two pulse gondolas and two new chairlifts.
- Vail Resorts indefinitely postpones summer ops at Attitash and Wildcat, citing maintenance on three different lifts.
- A citizen group forms to advocate for the Pandora’s expansion on Aspen Mountain.
- The Utah Department of Transportation selects enhanced bus service and a gondola with La Caille base station as the two preferred alternatives for Little Cottonwood Canyon.
News Roundup: Chairless
- Wildcat plans to replace the chairs on the Wildcat Express.
- Jay Peak and Burke Mountain could receive more than $9 million under a proposed settlement with the law firm of former owner Ariel Quiros.
- Here’s another chance to own a classic double chair.
- Mayflower Mountain Resort secures up to $260 million in bond financing.
- Catamount’s second new lift this year will replace the last SLI in the Northeast.
- The United States tallies 59 million skier visits in 2020-21, 5th most in history.
- Aspen Snowmass had a tough season with traffic 20 percent below average.
- Digging into the unsolved Sea to Sky Gondola crimes.
- Two Disney Skyliner cars bump into each other, causing some down time.
- Vail Resorts reports strong earnings, continues to look at strategic acquisition opportunities and will be aggressive at reinvesting across its resorts post-pandemic.
- Arizona Snowbowl converts the Arizona Gondola combination lift into a pure gondola for the summer.
- The bike park at Purgatory will open many weeks late due to an unspecified problem with the Purgatory Village Express.
- Doppelmayr releases a 30 page urban brochure.
- France may provide the financing for a six station, 180 cabin urban gondola in the Filipino capital of Manila.
Arizona Snowbowl Unveils New Master Plan
As if a new Telemix, six pack and two quads weren’t enough, Arizona Snowbowl plans to keep improving. The Forest Service recently accepted the resort’s new Master Development Plan, which outlines projects envisioned to be completed over the next 15 years. It includes not only more chairlifts but also new snowmaking, parking, lodges and summer activities. The upgrade plan would modestly raise the lift/trail network’s comfortable carrying capacity from 3,870 to 4,500 skiers per day. 252 acres of new terrain would be cleared, all located within the existing permit area.
Aspen, the oldest lift on the mountain dating back to the 1960s, would be removed and replaced by a fixed grip quad servicing a few acres of new terrain. This project was previously approved but not yet implemented as other replacements took priority. Aspen 2.0 would more than double uphill capacity of the previous lift and improve the beginner experience. Two conveyor additions have also been approved but not yet implemented.
A second new fixed grip quad chair called Fort Valley Glades would service low intermediate and novice terrain out of a new base area. This would help alleviate congestion surrounding the existing Agassiz and Hart Prairie lodges. This lift would span approximately 2,550 feet with a capacity of 1,500 skiers per hour, unloading near the top of the current Sunset triple.
A fixed grip quad with the working name Hart Prairie II would add even more beginner and intermediate terrain at Snowbowl. This lift would serve 665 vertical feet along the northern edge of the current Special Use Permit boundary.
Other lift-related projects include the replacement of Sunset with updated equipment and final capacity upgrades of both the Arizona Gondola and Grand Canyon Express to 2,400 guests per hour. The Humphreys Peak quad may also be upgraded from 1,000 to 1,500 skiers per hour through the addition of chairs.
There’s good reason to continue investing. Arizona Snowbowl’s attendance has increased an average of 12 percent annually since 2012, in large part thanks to the addition of snowmaking. Snowbowl now sees more guests on peak days than it previously welcomed some seasons reliant on natural snow.
It’s important to remember acceptance of a master plan by the Forest Service does not constitute approval of individual projects. However, the document gives us a good idea of where Mountain Capital Partners would like to take Arizona Snowbowl in the years to come.
News Roundup: Key Weekend
- Looking back as Blackcomb turns 40.
- As Chair 1 reopens, 49 Degrees North provides a thorough update regarding what happened last weekend and the steps it’s taking to avoid future issues.
- Liftopia’s assets are acquired by a European firm.
- Arizona Snowbowl quietly opens the Arizona Gondola.
- More on the Eiger Express: Not only does it feature the first automated cargo loading on a passenger ropeway, but also a VIP cabin with boarding from a dedicated lounge (cost: $13,500 per year.)
- This interview with Hermitage Club manager Bill Benneyan includes tons of historical facts about Haystack and also Mountain Creek. The Club opens tomorrow for the first time in two and a half years.
- Mission Ridge works hard to complete the lift it brought over from Europe but cannot estimate a completion date.
- Residents seek to stop construction of Wasatch Peaks Ranch, a 3,000 acre private ski resort near Snowbasin.
- Leitner-Poma of America introduces Freedom Control, a wireless remote control for lifts.
- Public comments are being solicited for Big White’s new master plan, which includes a staggering amount of new terrain.
- Ski Magazine ranks top lift systems in the East.
- California effectively shuts down lodging in some ski regions.
- The new Broadway quad will carry its first passengers this weekend at Sun Valley.
- Zermatt and Doppelmayr prepare to launch the first unstaffed lift in Switzerland, a 10 passenger gondola.
- French ski resorts sue the government over closures.
- Holiday Valley pursues a tax break for its $4 million Yodeler Express project.
- A lawsuit seeking class action status alleges lift operators and other employees at Vail Resorts were not paid for use of personal equipment and time spent getting to and from work stations.
- Timberline Mountain relaunches tomorrow with both new chairlifts in operation.
- British Columbia’s Zincton Mountain Village releases new maps of its proposed layout.
- Les Otten courts environmental, social and governance investors as he tries to revive the northernmost ski area in New Hampshire.
- When asked about acquisitions on last night’s earnings call, Rob Katz said Vail is focused on positioning the company to be able to make the most of whatever opportunities may come over the next 12 months.
- Vail is forced to cancel some guest reservations and black out employee skiing in Colorado this weekend due to limited snow and terrain.
News Roundup: New Names
- A new ownership group takes over Brundage Mountain Resort.
- Commuters in the Vancouver region overwhelmingly support a Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- The Sea to Sky Gondola team and partners splice together multiple haul rope sections to run cabins off the line, completing cleanup.
- The Ropeway Center at Colorado School of Mines presents a new video series.
- Doppelmayr will build the Yodeler detachable quad at Holiday Valley.
- The Forest Service says yes to two future chairlifts at Lee Canyon.
- Ditto for Sunlight’s East Ridge project.
- With its high speed quad nearing completion, Saddleback is poised to reopen in mid-December.
- Windham Mountain renames the Wheelchair lift Baker in honor of a former ski patroller.
- Arizona Snowbowl publishes a new trail map painted by Kevin Mastin.
- Big Sky’s new map shows Madison is now called Jayhawk.
- The Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region will spend six figures to study gondola transit.
- Without an operator, the only lift in Oklahoma faces an uncertain future.