- The last North American ski area still operating, Lookout Pass, closes for the season.
- Leitner-Poma is hiring installers for projects at Arapahoe Basin, Arizona Snowbowl, Aspen Snowmass, Breckenridge, Keystone and Okemo.
- A group of 150 former members buys the Hermitage Club and its five chairlifts for the bargain price of $8.06 million.
- Arapahoe Basin lays off 430 seasonal employees and cuts the hours of year round staff.
- Children of the man who died on a Vail chairlift earlier this season retain a Denver law firm for possible litigation.
- In addition to virtually all ski resorts worldwide, coronavirus shuts down urban gondolas including La Paz’s Mi Teleférico, Medellín’s Metrocable, Santo Domingo’s Teleférico and London’s Emirates Air Line.
- New owners take over Great Divide and will reevaluate proposed lift additions through a master planning process.
- The newest gondola operation in Australia becomes insolvent and enters administration, partly a result of COVID-19.
- SAM gathers leaders from Alterra, Boyne, Vail and more to talk about the crisis. A common theme: capital budgets being reexamined.
- A Vancouver developer thinks about a gondola as part of a hillside housing development near Cypress Mountain.
- Lift construction grinds to a halt in New Zealand but carries on in Alaska.
- Ski Inc. and Ski Inc. 2020 author Chris Diamond shares an optimistic view of the crisis under the assumption it won’t last into next winter.
Arthur’s Seat Eagle
Instagram Tuesday: Drone
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
Instagram Tuesday: Heights
News Roundup: Out of Commission
- Leitner-Poma, Georgetown University, ZGF Architects host urban gondola forum with speakers from the Portland Aerial Tram and Medellín Metrocable, among others.
- With one of three chairlifts out of commission, Big Tupper, NY is unlikely to open this winter.
- 14-year old boy falls from the Emerald Express at Whistler.
- Costa Rican officials and Doppelmayr Mexico sign letter of intent to build Central America’s first urban gondola.
- $15 million Arthurs Seat Eagle debuts in Australia.
- Brest Cable Car (shown above) shuts down after only two weeks of operation.
- Nakiska’s sole summit access lift has been down since November 27th.
- The latest D-Line chairlift installation Waidhofen is reportedly also the first in the world supplied with Doppelmayr Direct Drive (DDD.)
- Loon Mountain restores a 1966 Hall Skycruiser gondola with help from Lutsen.
- The Boston Globe Magazine explains how a non-skier in Fort Lauderdale came to run two of Vermont’s major ski resorts.
- Grand Canyon Escalade legislation heads to the second of four Navajo Nation committees on Tuesday.
- Granite Peak releases more details about its proposed lift and trail expansion.
News Roundup: Champagne
- Doppelmayr is reportedly working on a concept 3S gondola that can switch between being cable-driven and self-propelled along elevated guideways.
- The Mexican coastal town of Manzanillo plans to build a sightseeing gondola in 2017.
- Videos of child falling from a six-pack in New Zealand make the rounds.
- Transport for London wants to serve champagne to riders aboard the Emirates Air Line.
- Newly-named Arthur’s Seat Eagle unveils innovative gondola cabins with removable windows.
- Les Otten talks about what he hopes will become the largest ski resort in the Northeast.
- The Green Peak expansion is progressing rapidly at Waterville Valley.
- A new, longer Sunrise lift from Park City’s Canyons Village will likely be built next summer.
- The Rio Grande National Forest seeks public comments on the Meadow lift at Wolf Creek, also likely to go in next summer.
- A progress report from Suicide Six where Leitner-Poma is building a new quad chair.
- More than 32,000 people submitted comments to the Navajo Nation last week regarding the proposed Grand Canyon Escalade.
- Sweetwater Gondola is on schedule at JHMR.
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