Arizona Snowbowl

News Roundup: Doppelmayr Garaventa 2015

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  • Doppelmayr wins a €9.4 million contract for a detachable gondola in Bogota, Colombia.  The 10-passenger, two mile system will carry 2,600 passengers per hour.
  • The US Forest Service accepts Crested Butte’s new master plan for review.  It includes replacing the North Face lift as well as two new lifts in Teocalli Bowl.
  • Rick Spear, the president of Leitner-Poma, thinks an aerial tram from Staten Island to Manhattan is (not surprisingly) a good idea.
  • Arizona Snowbowl’s new lift announcement gets lots of press.
  • Italy’s Leitner and Aguido are merging.  Leitner built a couple dozen lifts in the US and Canada before their joint venture with Poma began in 2002.  Aguido built the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway in New Hampshire.
  • Sugarloaf decides it doesn’t have the money to upgrade its oldest lift to acceptable safety standards so it will be removed without a replacement.  Bucksaw was built in 1969.  After it is removed there will be 23 Stadeli lifts remaining in operation, four of which are older than Bucksaw.
  • Construction on The Balsams has been delayed again.  I’ll believe the hype when lift towers start going in.
  • Rumor on Skilifts.org is SkyTrac will complete the abandoned, half-constructed Stagecoach lift on the Moonlight Basin side of Big Sky.  I believe this Doppelmayr double came from the defunct Fortress Mountain in Alberta.

    The Stagecoach lift was partially completed before Moonlight Basin went bankrupt in 2009.
    The Stagecoach lift was partially completed before Moonlight Basin went bankrupt in 2009.

Arizona Snowbowl to Build First New Lift in 30 Years

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James Coleman, the new owner of Arizona Snowbowl and three other resorts in the Southwest has gone lift shopping again.  Snowbowl’s new Humphreys Peak Quad will be built by SkyTrac in Salt Lake City and open for the 2015-16 season.  Coleman already bought two lifts from Leitner-Poma this year – a beginner quad for Sipapu and detachable quad for Purgatory to replace the Legends triple.  Humphreys Peak will be the first new lift at Arizona Snowbowl since CTEC built the Agassiz triple back in 1986.

Flyer for Arizona Snowbowl's 2015 Improvements including a new quad chairlift and snowmaking upgrades.
Flyer for Arizona Snowbowl’s 2015 improvements including a new quad chairlift and snowmaking upgrades.

Snowbowl’s new lift will be located between the Hart Prarie and Agassiz lifts, serving intermediate terrain.  It will be 3,060 feet long and rise 780 vertical feet with a very low hourly capacity of 1,000 skiers per hour.  SkyTrac has committed to complete the project by December despite the late start.  This is SkyTrac’s second complete lift project this summer after Pomerelle, Idaho announced a new triple chair last week.

Snowbowl's master plan includes replacing and realigning several lifts.
Snowbowl’s master plan includes replacing and realigning several lifts.

Arizona Snowbowl also announced today planning for the new Grand Canyon Express which will be the resort’s first high speed lift and serve 90% of its skiable terrain.  Although a timeline was not announced, I would not be surprised to see the project happen next summer.  Arizona Snowbowl’s master plan also includes replacing and realigning the Aspen and Hart Prarie lifts which are both Riblet doubles.  It seems James Coleman has no shortage of money to spend on capital improvements.