- Park City lift mechanics and electricians will vote whether to unionize early next week.
- Charges against four Marines are dropped after they pay more than $18,000 in restitution for allegedly causing a lift deropement at the San Diego Zoo.
- Alta modifies operations and offers passholders refunds due to the delayed Sunnyside lift project.
- Sierra at Tahoe will reopen December 3rd following 15 months of fire recovery efforts.
- A progress report on Copper Mountain’s Alpine terminal replacement project.
- Grand Targhee debuts a new VistaMap.
- Disciples 8 shows up on the Boyne Mountain trail map.
- Echo Mountain and Granby Ranch become the latest Colorado resorts to join the Indy Pass.
- Mammoth Mountain looks to replace the Panorama Gondola with a realigned 10 passenger version.
- Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch reflects on last season and details what the company is doing to make this season better.
- Northern Virginia Magazine profiles the successful rebirth of Timberline Mountain under the Perfect family.
- A new owner takes a majority stake in Massif du Sud, promising new investment.
- Resorts are still flying towers for new lifts including Red Dog at Palisades, Hidden Valley at Snoqualmie and La Laurentienne at Sommet Gabriel.
- Construction continues on two new lifts at Vail, with completion expected in December.
- Whistler Blackcomb and Doppelmayr expect the delayed Creekside Gondola haul rope to arrive today.
- Reflecting on the Lone Peak Tram as it enters its final season.
- Frost Fire, North Dakota won’t open this season.
- Closed Holiday Mountain, Manitoba plans to reopen under new ownership.
- Searchmont updates guests on numerous lift projects around the mountain.
- Redevelopment of Big Squaw is cancelled due to failed negotiations with the current owner and global financial conditions.
Big Sky
News Roundup: Alterra, Boyne, Powdr and Vail
- Sunday River explains why Jordan 8 came before Barker replacement.
- Brighton proposes swapping Crest Express for a six place D-Line.
- Snowbird looks to replace Wilbere.
- This document details Snowbird’s temporary one car tram operation.
- A hearing to consider the sale of Jay Peak is scheduled for August 26th.
- Eaglecrest and Mt. Spokane join the Freedom Pass alliance.
- Flash flood cleanup closes the Palm Springs Tram for the week.
- A power outage leaves guests waiting hours at the top of the Sandia Peak Tram.
- Eleven ski areas in the White River National Forest paid a record $24 million in profit sharing to the Forest Service last year.
- Steamboat and Doppelmayr fly towers for the Wild Blue Gondola.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers display a Sigma 3S gondola cabin which could provide future stadium transport.
- Mt. Shasta releases a preliminary map of the Grey Butte expansion.
- Bartholet begins construction of the first Ropetaxi with cabins that will move individually based on passenger demand and destination.
- The restoration plan approved for Keystone’s Bergman Bowl requires annual monitoring through 2033.
- Boston Mills/Brandywine will auction double and quad chairs next week.
News Roundup: Town Halls
- On an all-star podcast with Katharina Schmitz and Mark Bee, Stephen Kircher discusses more new lifts coming to Boyne Resorts and the two companies’ shared history.
- Leitner-Poma forecasts another busy year of building lifts in Grand Junction despite high material and shipping costs.
- 2022 will be the busiest year ever for Doppelmayr USA with 25 installations including 6 D-Line detachables.
- Mt. Rose launches a page dedicated to Lakeview Express updates.
- A €100 million 2S gondola project in France is cancelled due to rising costs.
- The Matterhorn Alpine Crossing 3S will open one year from now.
- Canadian and Quebec governments will spend CA$400,000 to modernize the world’s first six passenger chairlift.
- At a Palisades Tahoe town hall, leaders discuss on this summer’s $60 million capital infusion and Alterra’s plan to spend $150 million over the next 2-4 years.
- Solitude commits to replacing Eagle Express in 2023; will look at upgrading Link and adding a Moonbeam-Roundhouse-Powderhorn gondola after that.
- Following last weekend’s mishap, Doppelmayr and Snowbird now plan to reopen the tram in mid-July with one new cabin and one old cabin on the line but not carrying passengers.
- Big Sky and Garaventa break ground on America’s first new large tramway since 2008.
- As real estate sales begin, more detailed maps emerge from Mayflower Mountain Resort.
- Michigan considers returning a second chairlift to Porcupine Mountains State Park.
- The appeal pausing Park City’s lift projects will be heard next week.
News Roundup: Chances for Chairs
- Sipapu is threatened by New Mexico’s largest-ever wildfire.
- Other New Mexico ski areas postpone summer operations due to National Forest closures.
- Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania has 247 double chairs for sale.
- Ditto for Cascade Mountain, Wisconsin.
- Steamboat will auction chairs from Christie III along with retired gondola cabins next week.
- Heavenly’s rescheduled North Bowl chair sale will take place June 3-4.
- Aspen Snowmass forges the Silver Queen Gondola’s old haul rope into anniversary tokens.
- Snowbird provides a tram modernization project update.
- Park City won’t issue a building permit for Park City Mountain’s new lifts until at least June 8th, when an appeal will be heard. Vail Resorts tells me it still intends to complete the projects ahead of the 2022-23 season.
- Stowe also remains committed to replacing the Mountain triple this summer despite approval still pending.
- The Caribbean island of Dominica plans to build one of the world’s longest gondolas from a cruise port to a mountain lake.
- Tenney Mountain’s new owner plans to reopen next season.
- Beartooth Basin won’t open this year due to low snow.
- Kimberley and Leitner-Poma work to get the Northstar Express back operational 5 months after being idled by arson.
- The Sierra-at-Tahoe rebuild may include new lifts.
- New York’s Cockaigne won’t operate this summer and is listed for sale.
- Big Sky and Garaventa begin building Lone Peak Tram 2.0.
- Silver Mountain Lift Maintenance rescues a lost goat and gives him a gondola ride.
- Here come the terminals for Palisades Tahoe’s base to base gondola.
News Roundup: All Over
- The Disney Skyliner suffers a minor breakdown.
- Construction resumes on the first MND/Bartholet detachable in the Americas.
- Two are dead following a collision and multi-day helicopter evacuation of a sightseeing gondola in India.
- Park City needs more time to present its upcoming lift projects at a public hearing.
- Issues with multiple lifts spell the end of Marble Mountain’s season.
- I recently joined the Powder Hounds Ski Trivia Podcast to talk lifts.
- Sunlight purchases Arapahoe Basin’s Lenawee Mountain triple to replace Segundo; Primo will be next.
- The name for Grand Targhee’s new lift on Peaked Mountain will be Colter.
- Paris selects a cabin design for its upcoming urban gondola system.
- Juneau moves ahead with purchasing a used Austrian gondola.
- A construction update on SkyLand Ranch, Tennessee, which will include a SkyTrans combination lift.
- Vail Resorts bags summer operations at Attitash to focus on lift maintenance and construction.
- Sugarloaf details plans for two new lifts over the next two summers.
- Leitner-Poma of America launches a new website.
- Big Sky profiles the maintenance manager of one of America’s largest lift fleets.
- Sunshine Village posts fun facts about its chairlift system.
- Former Jay Peak head Bill Stenger is sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fraud scheme involving the mountain and a biomedical research facility.
- A publicly-funded study says a gondola would be the best option for sightseeing above Butte, Montana.
- Cuchara looks to reopen one chairlift this summer.
- A tram or gondola is considered for Half Moon Bay, California.
- One of the Roosevelt Island Tramway‘s stations will receive a $7 million renovation.
News Roundup: Mystery Solved
- Snow Flyer is the name for Bittersweet’s upcoming high speed quad.
- The Steamboat Gondola suffers an extended breakdown with hundreds aboard.
- Steamboat outlines the push to remove, relocate and build multiple lifts this summer.
- Sasquatch Mountain Resort moves ahead with mega expansion plans.
- Doppelmayr is hiring construction employees across the United States including in Colorado, Maine, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, Utah, Vermont and Washington.
- Snowbird officially retires its original tram cabins.
- The Utah Department of Transportation needs more time to decide between a gondola and enhanced bus service for Little Cottonwood Canyon.
- Attitash will auction 145 chairs from the East-West Double Double for charity.
- A gondola from the Montage to Andesite and more lifts at Moonlight are among the possibilities for future lifts at Big Sky.
- Seattle’s regional transit authority calls a West Seattle gondola “not feasible.”
- Gallix, Quebec and Doppelmayr begin rebuilding the quad lift damaged by a flood last year.
- Doppelmayr and the Government of Brazil inaugurate the first air conditioned gondola in the Americas.
- A new study pegs the economic impact of Sierra-at-Tahoe’s missed season at $43.5 million. The resort missed out on $24 million in revenue and will spend nearly $17 million rebuilding.
- Alta will spin Albion for one final send off on Tuesday.
Big Sky to Transform Base-to-Summit Lift Experience
The final chapter of Big Sky 2025 will be the largest yet, with a new gondola and tram connecting Big Sky Resort’s Mountain Village to Lone Peak. This multi-year project will cement Big Sky as a leader in lift technology among North American resorts.
Big Sky embarked on the 2025 initiative six years ago to enhance the mountain experience with a focus on lifts and dining. Boyne Resorts partnered with Doppelmayr to bring North America’s first eight place and fastest six place chairlifts to Big Sky in 2018 and 2021 and now the companies will build two more signature lifts leading up to 2025.
A new Explorer Gondola will load at the north end of the village and replace Big Sky’s last remaining original Heron-Poma lift which turns 50 next year. Together with Ramcharger 8 and Swift Current 6, three high capacity D-Line lifts will all load in the village. An intermediate gondola station will house a new ski school center and underground parking for cabins. This station will also include a direct drive powering both gondola haul ropes via a double-grooved bullwheel. Cabins will turn 22 degrees before ascending to a second new lodge near the top of Big Sky’s original Gondola One. Unlike Boyne Resorts’ five other D-Line lifts, the Explorer Gondola will feature squared glass enclosures, matching the style of the new tram stations and Bowl restaurant. The architecture alone will be unlike anything else in North American skiing.
Garaventa will build the reconfigured Lone Peak Tram, which will start at the new mid-mountain hub and operate year round. Large cabins will pass one tower before arriving at a glass-enclosed terminal at 11,166 feet. The new tram will be nearly twice as long as the current one but also faster and more capable.
“The new lift system from the base area to the summit of Lone Peak will revolutionize the way we access ‘America’s Matterhorn’ in both winter and summer,” said Big Sky Resort president and COO Taylor Middleton. “In creating this must-do experience accessible to all, we will offer the premier high-alpine experience on Montana’s highest scenic overlook.” Although tram cabins will be able to accommodate more passengers at once than the current 15 person tram, Big Sky plans to carefully manage throughput depending on conditions and season.
“We couldn’t think of a more significant and emblematic series of initiatives to close out the transformation we’re accomplishing with the Big Sky 2025 vision,” noted Stephen Kircher, CEO and president of Boyne Resorts. “Coupling a truly world-class tram experience with the most architecturally thoughtful on-mountain food and beverage and Mountain Sports facilities will set a new standard for mountain communities in North America. This innovative project will kick off an exciting new chapter in transforming the future of tourism in Big Sky and across southwest Montana, and sets the stage for planning Big Sky’s next steps.”
Construction will begin this summer although a project of this size will take multiple construction seasons to complete. The current Lone Peak Tram and Explorer lifts will remain in service throughout the process with the new tram set for completion in Fall 2023.
Gondola Coming to Moonlight Basin
Ultra-luxe hotel brand One&Only has announced plans to build its first United States property adjacent to Big Sky Resort. The development will include 73 hotel rooms, 19 villas and 62 private homes in the Lee’s Poole section of Moonlight Basin. A detachable gondola will link the One&Only ski lodge to the existing Madison base area on acreage owned by Lone Mountain Land Company. “One&Only Moonlight Basin will be connected by gondola to Big Sky’s world-class skiing with over 5,800 skiable acres, and will provide access to unparalleled mountain golf courses, and limitless outdoor opportunities,” said One&Only and Lone Mountain Land in a joint press release. “This new, secluded One&Only will showcase Montana’s mountains, unsurpassed scenery, and abundant wildlife, while providing every modern amenity, making the remote retreat a truly exclusive experience.”
The two-way gondola will span approximately 3,500 feet with a modest vertical rise of about 200 feet. Renderings suggest a Doppelmayr lift with Omega V cabins, though no supplier was specified.
Formed in 2014, Lone Mountain Land Company owns approximately 8,000 acres in Moonlight Basin as well as the Spanish Peaks development on the opposite side of Big Sky Resort. The Moonlight master plan includes up to seven additional lifts to the north and west of Lone Tree and Six Shooter.
Reservations for One&Only Moonlight Basin are expected to open in summer 2023 with the resort welcoming its first guests in 2024.
News Roundup: American Rescue Plan
- Moosehead Mountain’s redevelopment is pushed back to 2023 at the earliest.
- Deer Valley moves toward replacing the Silver Lake Express, possibly with a gondola.
- A proposed development adjacent to Big Sky Resort includes a pulse gondola and two platter lifts.
- Whiteface’s new quad is named Warhorse.
- Snow King’s new gondola opens tomorrow but not for skiing.
- The first pieces of Waterville Valley’s Bartholet/MND six pack arrive stateside.
- A new map shows where Caberfae Peaks’ East Peak triple will go.
- Attitash permanently closes the West Double Double to “prep for it being replaced.”
- Mountain Capital Partners unveils a concept plan for 19 new lifts across thousands of acres at Brian Head.
- The Forest Service green lights construction of Mt. Hood Meadows’ first six pack.
- Breckenridge celebrates 60 years of massive growth.
- Bartholet plans to build its first RopeTaxi with cabins departing on demand in 2022.
- Cannon will seek American Rescue Plan funds for tram overhaul/replacement, possibly as early as 2023.
- Blacktail Mountain joins the Indy Pass.
- A video shows a loaded lift roll back in Kyrgyzstan.
News Roundup: Black Friday Edition
- It’s official: Sun Peaks retires the West Bowl T-Bar with planning underway for future lift access.
- A chondola is proposed to replace Dreamcatcher at Grand Targhee Resort.
- Mount Snow’s 2022 detachables will cost a combined $11.8 million and be constructed by Doppelmayr.
- Walt Disney World reveals it studied nine different layouts with up to four different lines before it built the Disney Skyliner.
- Bousquet debuts an all-new trail map. Nordic Valley too.
- Doppelmayr faces supply chain delays at Sundance; another resort will loan used chairs for the Outlaw Express until new ones arrive in January.
- Catamount also cites supply chain delays and expects to open its two used chairlifts around Christmas and Martin Luther King weekends, respectively.
- Crotched Mountain renames Park lift to Rover.
- Belleayre changes Tomahawk to Lift 8.
- Utah’s Eagle Point eyes building a 5,500 foot connector lift.
- Sunrise Park will reopen its summit lodge this season and plans to reactivate the Cyclone triple next winter.
- Whistler Blackcomb’s replacement of the Creekside Gondola is now a 10 place rather than the originally announced eight.
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