- Timberline Lodge, unsure whether its ordered new lift can be built this summer, holds off on removing Pucci.
- In Serbia, the world’s longest multi-stage gondola gets set to open next month (29,088′ slope length!)
- Another postponement: the Goldenhorn surface lift at Aspen Highlands, now scheduled to be built next year.
- Carvatech, an independent manufacturer of gondola and tramway cabins, launches a cool new website.
- Mexico’s Grupo Vidanta updates customers on COVID-19 and includes awesome footage of its future gondola system.
- As tax revenues fall, a new chairlift for Great Bear may be one of the first items to go from the City of Sioux Falls’ 2021 budget.
- Jon Schaefer, the first US ski area owner to close due to the coronavirus and creator of Goggles for Docs, turns his attention to getting resort employees back to work.
- Aspen Skiing Company delays updating plans for the Pandora’s expansion due to COVID-19.
- The new owner of Teton Pass calls reopening a success.
- A Vail lift operator may not have been paying attention leading up to a man’s death on the Skyline Express in February.
- Citing favorable financing conditions, Zermatt Bergbahnen AG commits to spending $62 million on lifts over the next two years, including a D-Line gondola and the Alpine Crossing 3S.
Aspen Highlands
News Roundup: Seven Meters
- Val Saint-Côme, Quebec looks to build its first six place detachable lift.
- The opening of the first lift at Skeetawk is pushed back to midwinter due to delays with SkyTrans’ other project in Illinois.
- Maine’s Eaton Mountain will not operate this season.
- Leitner and Kitzbühel partner to build Austria’s fastest monocable ropeway which will travel 7 m/s at a cost of $30 million.
- Mt. St. Louis Moonstone’s new six pack will be named Josl Huter Express in memory of the mountain’s founder.
- Aspen Highlands’ Goldenhorn surface lift is on track to be built next summer.
- Just 75 days after the Sea to Sky Gondola haul rope was severed, a new one arrives in Squamish.
- Another great podcast episode features the owners of Plattekill Mountain discussing competition from the State of New York, Vail’s purchase of a competitor and the decision not to join the Indy Pass.
- The Forest Service says yes to Breckenridge’s Peak 7 Infill high speed quad project.
News Roundup: A Long Time Coming
- Above: groomers and mechanics deploy a new strategy to keep the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram flying above this winter’s huge snowpack.
- Despite planning to open this winter for the first time in three years, Spout Springs now says it won’t happen.
- A Boston private equity firm is reportedly interested in spending $25-30 million to reopen Maine’s third largest resort.
- We’ll have to wait awhile longer to ski year round in New Jersey
- Killington confirms North Ridge Quad is a go for this summer.
- This morning at 9:00 Pacific is a rare chance to score a classic Murray-Latta double chair.
- Mt. Mancelona in Michigan revives the world’s second oldest T-Bar but earns a cease and desist order from the state amid a host of financial problems.
- A revived Fortress Mountain would mimic Red Mountain and Whitewater but with a fleet of brand new lifts.
- Reader Christoph thinks he’s solved the mystery of where Mission Ridge’s new bubble lift is from: Brixen, Austria.
- County approval paves the way for Eldora to build the Jolly Jug expansion lift next year.
- Aspen Highlands’ Golden Horn platter is now a 2020 project.
- Mt. Hood Meadows says it’s announcing the most significant improvement of this century later today.
- There’s another new British Columbia resort idea floating around: Zincton Mountain Village.
- Shuttered two chair area Deer Mountain hits the market.
- On the other side of South Dakota, flooding damages the lone lift and ends the season at Great Bear.
- The Sea to Sky Gondola gets negative press for telling unprepared hikers to walk down from the summit after closing time.
- An ad in the New York State Contract Reporter suggests a new chairlift is coming to Belleayre this summer, though the resort tells me no decision has been made yet.
- We now know why Sun Valley pushed back the Cold Springs project to 2020: the alignment has changed for the high speed quad.
- Bretton Woods says its new gondola will open later this year. Reader Donovan Seabury sent me these pictures of its progress.
News Roundup: Back to Work
- The Forest Service tentatively approves two new chairlifts as part of the Atoma expansion at Mt. Rose.
- There are gondolas flying above Walt Disney World as of late.
- The Garibaldi at Squamish resort proposal is still alive in BC.
- Sitzmark, Washington and its 1961 Riblet double won’t open this season.
- Tamarack’s new Wildwood Express will likely reuse foundations from the repossessed UNI-GS version.
- Medellín inaugurates its fifth urban gondola by Poma, Line M.
- A nine year old boy is okay after falling 31 feet from the Thunderbowl lift at Aspen Highlands.
- Sun Valley postpones the Cold Springs Express project to 2020.
- Sunshine Polishing has a bunch of vintage gondola cabins for sale including many from Killington’s K-1 Express.
- Skytrac marks ten years in business with 37 complete lifts, eight new terminals and five relocations to date with more to come!
- Waterville Valley and LST Ropeways are trying to open the new High Country lift this week.
- A Hermitage reopening this winter is unlikely but the lifts are being taken care of by a skeleton crew of employees.
- The popular Portland Aerial Tram opens up a logo shop.
- Another Skyliner job is posted: Technical Manager.
- The Forest Service plans to green light Cooper’s Way Back expansion and construction of a 2,450′ surface lift.
- Ditto for Crested Butte’s two chairlift Teocalli II expansion and realignment of North Face.
- Mexico City announces its first Cablebús line will be the longest urban gondola in the world at nearly 31,000 feet. A full ride would take 46 minutes with 374 ten passenger cabins transporting up to 4,000 passengers per hour each way.
News Roundup: Working Together
- It’s not looking good for Mt. Timothy, BC.
- Two Aspen developers amend their plans to accommodate the new Lift 1 alignment.
- Horseshoe Resort commits to replacing Chair 6 with a quad in 2019.
- The Hermitage Club is still trying to ink a reopening deal with members and Oz Real Estate.
- Powdr breaks ground on Woodward Park City, set to debut with a fixed-grip quad in November 2019. No word yet on the manufacturer.
- The Forest Service green lights Aspen Highlands’ Goldenhorn platter project.
- Peak Resorts posts quarterly results: an $11.8 million net loss on $7 million in revenue as the company worked to build Hunter North and the Carinthia Lodge at Mt. Snow. SKIS had $10.1 million in cash on hand as of July 31st with $180.6 million in debt. CEO Tim Boyd says he’s still open to acquiring more mountains.
- Disney will build and maintain a boat and dock specifically for Skyliner gondola evacuation purposes.
- Hall double area Navarino Hills, Wisconsin closes for good.
- With rumors swirling about its future, Black Mountain, NH clarifies it will open this winter.
- Snow King’s gondola/expansion scoping is extended for the third time to October 4th.
- A cabin is spotted in one of the Disney World gondola stations.
- $51 million in new lifts are on track to spin for American Thanksgiving at Whistler Blackcomb. Thanks Jordan N. for these photos.
News Roundup: Following
- Mt. Hood Meadows, Skytrac and Timberline Helicopters fly Buttercup towers in just 45 minutes.
- Vail Resorts schedules annual meeting for Wednesday, December 6th, where multiple new lift projects are likely to be revealed.
- Aspen Skiing Company, the City of Aspen, private landowners and the public collaborate towards building a long-sought detachable Lift 1.
- Latest LST detach update: chairs are back at the factory being reworked and the Envers lift is expected to be up and running around Christmas.
- Revelstoke adds 24 new gondola cabins, Crystal Mountain gets five more.
- Navajo Nation leadership soundly rejects Grand Canyon Escalade gondola in 16-2 vote.
- SkiCo and the Aspen Valley Ski & Snowboard Club plan to build a platter surface lift on the skier’s right side of Golden Horn at Aspen Highlands next summer.
- There’s an unconfirmed rumor that the Cyclone at Sunrise Park, AZ won’t operate this winter. The 1983 Yan is North America’s longest triple chair at 7,982′ with 32 towers and 352 chairs. I’ve reached out to Sunrise for comment and will update if I hear anything.
- Montana Snowbowl’s TV Mountain expansion won’t open this season.
- After building three new lifts in a row, the Hermitage Club finds itself in a cash flow crunch.
News Roundup: Layoffs at Burke
- It’s never good when a ski resort sends out a press release assuring guests it will open next season. Q Burke Mountain Resort, with five lifts including two Leitner-Poma high speed quads, is laying off all but 20 of its employees and “looking carefully at cost-cutting and cost-containment measures.”
- Lookout Pass moves toward 91 acres of new terrain, two more fixed-grip lifts and a high-speed-quad replacement for its oldest lift.
- The father of 9-year old who fell from a chair after seven minutes of dangling sues Liberty Mountain Resort claiming inadequate staffing.
- The man who pushed another man off an Aspen Highlands chairlift in January will plead not guilty by reason of insanity.
- Mont Bellevue in Quebec will build a $1.5 million Doppelmayr quad chair this summer.
- Construction season is here and Caberfae Peaks already has its first delivery.
- Props to Alyeska lift maintenance for getting the Glacier Bowl Express back in action after last week’s fire.
News Roundup: Windy in Switzerland
- Owner of Echo Mountain files for bankruptcy but will keep operating the closest ski area to Denver.
- Saddleback, Maine won’t be open in time for February vacation week.
- Big Tupper, NY pulls the plug on this season entirely.
- Aspen Highlands looks to expand into Loge Bowl, with the possibility of eventually adding a lift.
- A quick-thinking 7 year-old hangs onto a dangling classmate for two minutes, long enough for resort staff to make a successful catch from a chair in Ontario. Canada requires nets to be out and ready whenever a lift is in operation for just this reason.
- Aspen Highlands chair pusher finally arrested and identified as a 31-year old local man with a history of mental illness. He’s charged with felony assault and misdemeanor reckless endangerment but will go to a treatment facility instead of jail. The investigation also reveals a 19-year old lift operator saw the 25-foot fall and hit an e-stop but didn’t report it.
- Gizmodo tackles urban gondolas, revealing La Paz carries 100,000 commuters a day on its 3 aerial lines.
News Roundup: Penkenbahn
- After several high-profile incidents, a good reminder from the NSAA that 86 percent of falls from chairlifts can be attributed to rider error.
- Lots of questions surround last week’s skier-pushes-snowboarder-off-lift story from Aspen Highlands. Police say even without an arrest made, the public is not in any danger.
- Bravo to Bristol Mountain for actually pressing charges against a freeloading teen for theft of services.
- Only at a tiny mountain in Maine would volunteer ski patrollers derail a double chair they are also responsible for inspecting.
- An Austrian man is in a coma after the harness he was wearing around his neck became entangled with a platter lift carrier. At least one lift operator may not have been at his or her assigned post.
- Mt. Rose Ski Tahoe is for sale.
- Fun Spot America near Orlando looks to add a gondola ride (thanks Jay T. for the tip.)
- Dignitaries break ground at Laurel Mountain in preparation for a November re-opening.
- A mix of public and private groups including Georgetown University are about to spend $250k to study a gondola linking Rosslyn, Virginia with Georgetown (one of Washington, D.C.’s highest-profile neighborhoods without a metro station.)
- The Balsams Wilderness won’t re-open in 2016 after all. A revised timeline has three new and two existing lifts spinning in late 2017.
- This is our 200th post!
News Roundup: Ice Heist
- Luckily Manning Park Resort was in on letting pro mountain bikers pretend to break into and operate one of their lifts.
- When chairs can’t spin because there’s no one to staff them.
- BMF opens its sightseeing aerial tramway in Puebla. Its 35-passenger cabins were manufactured in Austria by Carvatech.
- 12 year-old boy falls out of a chair at Wachusett, avoids serious injury.
- Snowboarder accuses skier of shoving him off Aspen Highlands’ Loge Peak lift mid-ride in a story that goes viral. Just one day later, the Pitkin County Sheriff’s Office thinks they’ve identified a suspect.
- Doppelmayr is building an 8-passenger gondola this spring at the Oakland Zoo to serve a $62 million expansion called California Trail. The lift will have 7 towers, 15 cabins and open in late 2017. The zoo will continue to operate its Safari Sky Ride triple chair that was built by SkyTrans.
- DCC (Doppelmayr Cable Car) wins a $24 million contract to build its 10th cable-propelled automated people mover in underground tunnels at Moscow’s Sheremetyevo Airport.
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