- Mission Ridge is named its community’s Business of the Year for pressing forward with an ambitious lift replacement project using local labor during the pandemic.
- An auction gets underway for Howelsen Hill’s retiring double chairs.
- More than 28,000 non-union Vail Resorts employees will see end of season bonuses.
- Looking to cut costs, Six Flags axes one of its last three remaining VonRoll gondolas in Georgia.
- Silverton, Colorado weighs building a traditional ski resort to complement the non-traditional Silverton Mountain.
- Another child slips out of a chair but this time hangs on all the way to the top.
- Vail Resorts announces a better than expected 28.4 percent decrease in revenue for the quarter ended January 31st. Season to date through March 7th, skier visits are down 8.2 percent, lift revenue is down 8.9 percent, ski school revenue down 43.2 percent, dining revenue down 56.9 percent and retail/rental revenue down 31.6 percent.
- A report prepared by SE Group suggests $23 million worth of improvements to Spirit Mountain including a replacement Gandy lift. Under the plan, Double Jaw and Summit would be removed without replacement.
- Great Bear begins construction of its new Skytrac quad.
- A strategic plan for Arctic Valley includes T-Bar replacement.
- Blue Knob performs a night rope evacuation of the Route 66 double.
- The former owner of Showdown Montana floats developing a small ski area atop an EPA superfund site near Great Falls.
- The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram will shut down for maintenance all summer but two gondolas and a chairlift will spin instead.
- Leitner introduces an online ropeway configurator tool.
- A new lost Northeast ski area video series begins with an episode on Hogback Mountain.
- Virginia could become home to an even larger indoor ski area than New Jersey.
- Big Sky and Bridger Bowl skier visits trend lower than last year.
- Mt. Sunapee will auction chairs from the Duckling double to benefit the EpicPromise Foundation.
Blue Knob
News Roundup: T-Bar Rebirth
- Gould Academy is fundraising to put a T-Bar up Monday Mourning at Sunday River but hasn’t signed a contract yet, I’m told. The race training lift could become New England’s sixth new T-Bar in three years.
- Grouse Mountain sells to Chinese and Canadian investors, Blue Knob goes to a group of Pittsburgh skiers.
- Waterville Valley’s new High Country T-Bar would follow an all-new alignment starting lower and ending higher than the current double.
- LiftDigital safety bar displays to debut at Wachusett and on the Super Gauge Express at Winter Park.
- Homeowners and insurers may sue the Christchurch Adventure Park in New Zealand over its decision to keep a brand new Doppelmayr high-speed quad running during a wildfire in an effort to save the haul rope. A video allegedly shows burning chairs starting new fires along the 5,790-foot lift line. The haul rope was written off and the park remains closed five months later.
- LST’s first detachable finally opens to the public in France.
- Val Neigette, Quebec is closing and selling off equipment, including a 1990 Doppelmayr quad chair.
- Developer floats building a gondola across Interstate 25 in Loveland, Colorado.
- Aspen Snowmass COO David Perry leaves Skico to help launch new, still nameless company which will include Intrawest, KSL and Mammoth resorts.
- Sunshine Village and Parks Canada fight hard to prevent a wildfire from crossing into the ski area.
- Disney Skyliner’s first lift line is already cut.
- Steamboat gondola reopening delayed a third time for more testing with the CPTSB.
Lift Blog 