- Aspen Mountain’s Lift One project inches closer to reality.
- Aspen Skiing Company reports skier visits declined 2.3 percent last season.
- Colorado as a whole reports its second best season ever, down five percent from last year’s record.
- New Hampshire was down four percent.
- Vail Resorts reports a 5 percent increase in lift revenue but a 7.7 percent decline in visits with season pass unit sales down 5 percent for next season.
- Colorado’s Estes Park Tram reopens after an extended closure.
- Nordic Valley works to reactivate Apollo, which missed last season.
- Legoland New York’s new 10 passenger gondola to open June 24th.
- A Park City resident files an appeal of Deer Valley’s Lift 7 approval.
- Sun Peaks flies towers for the new West Bowl Express.
- Leitner’s 2023 annual report is out highlighting global projects.
Big Sky
News Roundup: Bonus Project
- Ski Santa Fe proposes a second chairlift project for this summer, replacing Easy Street #4 with the old Santa Fe Super Chief #1.
- The Balsams extends a deadline to complete phase one construction, may refurbish existing lift infrastructure.
- Dave Scanlan, the general manager behind installing a 35 year old used pulse gondola from Austria, is ousted from his post leading Eaglecrest, Alaska.
- MND’s prototype detachable nears completion in France.
- Big Sky’s old Six Shooter is spotted at Sugarloaf.
- The capital of the Dominican Republic to build a third urban gondola line.
- Deer Valley may pour concrete for more Expanded Excellence lifts this summer to get a jump on next year.
- Cochran’s, Vermont secures a grant to design and engineer a used T-Bar.
- Mont Grand-Fonds says its upcoming Doppelmayr six pack will be the first of its kind in Quebec.
- Jackson Hole’s new Sublette will feature Leitner comfort chairs.
- Snowmass to auction Coney Glade chairs.
- Mount St. Louis Moonstone also lists Poma quad chairs for sale.
- Work begins on the Aspen Meadows project adjacent to Brian Head.
- Quebec records six million skier visits, a decline of 10 percent from last year’s record.
News Roundup: Winter Park Learning Center
- The proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Resort in British Columbia signs a letter of intent for a Bartholet Ropetaxi gondola system.
- Another proposed BC ski resort project changes hands, must begin construction soon or face losing environmental approval.
- Community members look toward reopening lost Big Tupper, New York.
- MND’s majority shareholder seeks to take the company private.
- Construction of MND’s prototype Orizon detachable moves along in France.
- Highlander Lift Services and Wasatch Peaks Ranch settle a lawsuit in which both parties sought close to $1 million in damages over a difficult and late lift install.
- Ski Sundown will auction retired chairs.
- Whistler Blackcomb to sell Jersey Cream chairs for $600.
- A deep dive into private equity’s dominance in unincorporated Big Sky, Montana.
- Deer Valley’s proposed Lift 7 bubble remains in limbo.
- Alta prefers metered traffic lights over a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
- A Sun Valley property owner sues Sun Valley Resort over noise and visual impacts of the new Flying Squirrel lift, seeks its removal.
- Mountain Capital Partners acquires La Parva, Chile, its 12th ski resort.
- Mt. Ashland’s top lift replacement priorities are Ariel followed by Windsor.
- Mt. Ashland will also leave the Indy Pass.
- The Forest Service met today with objectors to Monarch Mountain’s proposed No Name expansion in hopes of resolution.
- Berkshire East to remove the Mountain Top triple.
- Beartooth Basin Summer Ski Area won’t open this year due to low snow.
- Winter Park seeks environmental approval to replace Gemini with a 10 seat gondola, upgrade Endeavour and Discovery to quads, remove Looking Glass and install the Copper Creek South six pack as proposed in the 2022 master plan.
Shedhorn at Big Sky Evacuated Following Chair Collision
Big Sky Resort conducted a rope evacuation today after two chairs collided on the Shedhorn high speed quad. A witness wrote on Reddit that one loaded chair slid back into another loaded chair just uphill of the bottom station. Big Sky declined to specify the nature of the mechanical problem but said in a statement, “This morning, Shedhorn lift experienced a mechanical issue at approximately 11:40am. Lift maintenance, along with ski patrol, responded immediately and determined that a rope evacuation would be the quickest resolution to clear guests from the chairlift.”
Today was a powder day in Big Sky with 14 inches of new snow and it took until just after 2:00 pm to clear all riders from the lift. Some guests resorted to hiking out of the Shedhorn area due to its remote location. Because of the patrol resources needed for the lift evacuation, the Lone Peak Tram was also closed for a time.
Shedhorn is a 1991 Doppelmayr detachable quad with DS104 grips. The lift opened in its current location in 2018 as a relocation from the Andesite side of the resort. In its statement, Big Sky thanked lift staff and patrollers for their efforts today and noted “Lift maintenance is working to resolve the mechanical issue and intends to reopen the Shedhorn lift as soon as possible.”
News Roundup: Free Gondola
- Indy Pass promises 200 resorts next season, Powder Mountain will no longer be one of them.
- Garaventa Chief Rigger Cédric Aellig talks about building America’s newest tram.
- Big Sky shows what Madison 8 chairs will look like.
- The Wall Street Journal tackles billionaires buying ski areas such as Taos, Powder Mountain and Windham.
- Speaking of billionaires, here’s a peak inside Wasatch Peaks Ranch.
- Bystanders make a very good catch of an unseated passenger on Blackcomb’s Crystal Ridge Express.
- A European cat driver climbs on the roof of his machine to help another unseated passenger.
- A profile of Stephen Kircher, lift visionary and President of Boyne Resorts.
- Snow Ridge owner Nick Mir explains why North Chair kept rolling after a deropement last week, says the lift won’t reopen until next season.
- Eaglecrest is approved to break ground on its pulse gondola project this summer.
- Skytrac shows off progress on its new factory, gears up to build 9+ complete lifts this summer.
- Steamboat works toward building an 8 or 10 passenger gondola from the Meadows area to the village.
- Sponsored: Skytrac is hiring parts and service technicians.
News Roundup: Too Expensive
- Bromont, Quebec joins the Mountain Collective, Arapahoe Basin will remain for 24-25.
- Steamboat’s Pony Express goes down, temporarily cutting off lift access to the new Mahogany Ridge Express as well.
- The main beginner chair goes down at Big Powderhorn.
- Arizona Snowbowl nears an agreement with tribes and land managers to resume development of the resort.
- New owners of Alyeska float a base area pulse gondola.
- Staff at Rabbit Hill, Alberta successfully catch a falling chairlift rider.
- Middlebury Snowbowl announces the Bailey Falls triple won’t operate this season due to “unprecedented challenges.”
- Powder Mountain will pause lift-served mountain biking this summer while it constructs four new chairlifts.
- Alta tests new, cushier chairs on Supreme to possibly alleviate the bumpiness of the bend.
- A day in the life of Beaver Creek Lift Maintenance.
- The beautiful new 3S between Switzerland and Italy proves unpopular at $250 per ride.
- A father who jumped from a Park City chair after his daughter fell from a lift sues Vail Resorts over their injuries.
- A number of British Columbia ski areas report a disastrous season so far.
- McCauley Mountain is set to acquire Gore Mountain’s outgoing Hudson triple.
- The Forest Service indicates it will approve Monarch Mountain’s proposed expansion into No Name Basin.
- Perfect North will hold a chair auction.
- The owner of the Chicago Cubs to acquire White Pine, Wyoming.
- Deer Valley is working with both major lift manufacturers on potential Expanded Excellence lifts.
- Big Sky plans to name the new Moonlight lift Madison 8, seeks wildlife photography for D-Line chair backs.
- Sunday River evacuates more than 200 riders from the Aurora Quad following a deropement yesterday.
- A 3S gondola proposal in Los Angeles notches another approval.
Big Sky to Build World’s Longest Eight Seat Chairlift
Big Sky will become the first US ski area to replace a six place chairlift with a larger machine next summer on the north flank of Lone Peak. Replacing Six Shooter, the new North Side 8 will be the longest eight place in the world and crown Big Sky as the only North American resort with two eight places and three bubble D-Lines. The latest-generation Doppelmayr lift will run at six meters per second, reducing ride time out of Madison base by 30 percent.
Big Sky Resort parent company Boyne Resorts is partnering with local real estate developer Lone Mountain Land Company to realize this ambitious project, which will feature 80 chairs and 29 towers along an approximately 8,700 foot alignment. The outgoing Six Shooter is only 20 years old but was designed for a different era when Moonlight Basin operated separately from neighboring Big Sky. The two ski areas merged in 2013 and Six Shooter quickly became a bottleneck. The Garaventa CTEC lift can only move 1,800 skiers per hour and suffers periodic down time in part due to a line curve necessitated by previous property boundaries. Now that Big Sky owns Moonlight Basin ski terrain, the new lift can run in a straight alignment and carry nearly twice as many riders. “Replacing Six Shooter has long been an ask of our guests,” said Troy Nedved, Big Sky Resort’s General Manager. “The lift replacement doubles the uphill capacity at one of our last remaining pinch points, and will enhance what is one of the resort’s coldest lift rides with bubbles and heated seats.”
Up to 2,745 skiers per hour will load the new lift about 40 feet uphill of the current Six Shooter drive station to create more queuing space. In addition to now-standard Big Sky features of blue bubbles, a loading conveyor and a four ring direct drive, North Side 8 will also feature automatic lowering/locking lap bars and the United States’ first Fatzer Performa-DT haul rope for a smoother ride. Chairs will be parked inside both terminals at night rather than a separate parking building, another first for Big Sky. Construction is set to begin this spring with opening planned for late 2024.
News of North Side 8 comes at an exciting time in Big Sky just days after the new Lone Peak Tram debuted as the latest component of the Big Sky 2025 capital push. “Big Sky Resort is at the forefront of transforming the North American ski experience by adding the most advanced and comfortable lift system to our mountain,” noted Nedved. “This lift replacement, our seventh in as many years, supports our long-standing reputation for having some of the shortest lift lines in the Rockies.” Big Sky also recently commenced construction of a two stage D-Line gondola running from the Mountain Village to the new tram. A second two stage D-Line gondola is planned to link the new One&Only Moonlight Basin to the Madison base area and North Side 8.
News Roundup: Winter Maintenance
- Indy Pass adds Hudson Bay Mountain, BC.
- Outside talks to Indy Pass founder Doug Fish and owner Erik Mogensen about the program’s rapid growth.
- The 14 day temporary restraining order halting construction at Wasatch Peaks Ranch becomes an indefinite preliminary injunction pending a decision by the Utah Supreme Court.
- The New York Olympic Regional Development Authority plans to spend $80 to $100 million on capital improvements each of the next four years.
- The Sandia Peak Tramway will close for two months for systems upgrades and maintenance.
- A detachable chair detachment injures two in Austria.
- Ricola sponsors a new karaoke experience aboard specially outfitted gondola cabins at a Swiss resort.
- Two more lawsuits are filed against UDOT over the Little Cottonwood gondola, one by the cities of Sale Lake and Sandy and another by Save Our Canyons.
- Whistler wins the race to open Canada’s first eight seat chairlift.
- Park City postpones the public hearing for the proposed Sunrise Gondola until January.
- Reddit rumors of the demise of Panoramic Express at Winter Park aren’t true.
- Nordic Valley acknowledges the Apollo double will be down indefinitely following the discovery of several issues.
- Doppelmayr is awarded contracts worth $950 million to build, operate and maintain an automated people mover at Newark Liberty International Airport.
News Roundup: Gondola Gallery
- Troll, British Columbia secures a million dollar grant to double ski terrain with a new T-Bar next year.
- Snowbasin may not host events for a second Utah Olympics but Deer Valley and Park City are on board.
- Baltimore explores building a harbor crossing gondola.
- Big Sky’s stunning new tram will open December 19th.
- Vail Resorts debuts gondola cabin artwork by diverse artists at Park City and Stowe with Whistler Blackcomb up next.
- Vail brings lift mechanics from Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio to help finish the Mountaineer at Attitash.
- A rigging mishap sets back reopening of Chair 4 at Cuchara.
- Sugar Bowl replaces two damaged towers on the Crow’s Peak triple.
- Sierra at Tahoe modifies lift towers due to wind load changes from Caldor Fire tree removal.
- Discovery, Montana completes a solar power facility adjacent to the Anaconda triple capable of providing 65 to 70 percent of the lift’s energy needs.
News Roundup: Baldy
- Blue Mountain and Camelback, Pennsylvania join the Ikon Pass.
- Willamette Pass converts its backside chairlift from diesel to electric.
- California’s newest gondola opens October 29th.
- Big Sky’s new trail map shows the new tram route.
- New Hampshire lost ski area Mt. Whittier goes up for sale.
- Vail Resorts resurrects plans for a new six pack at Perisher.
- Silverton Mountain is sold to new owners from Aspen.
- Revelstoke adds more chairs to The Ripper.
- Eaglecrest hopes to open its used pulse gondola in fall 2025.
- Doppelmayr wins a contract to build a six station, 94 cabin urban gondola in Uruapan, Mexico.
- Mt. Ashland plans to build a new chairlift in long lost terrain with $2.5 million from Lithia Motors.
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