Bretton Woods – Lift Blog

News Roundup: Interviews

November 8, 2019Peter Landsman11 Comments

The 117 year old Poconos hotel which just announced plans to build a chairlift burned down last Friday.
Yellowstone Club adds Silver Tip, its 18th major lift, giving YC the 13th highest lift count in the nation!
More awesome podcasts: Jeremy Davis of the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, Rob Katz on snowmaking across Vail Resorts, Geoff Hathaway on rebuilding Magic Mountain and the staff of Eldora on what it takes to open weeks ahead of normal.
Two new quads and a lift shortening are all now reflected on the Stevens Pass trail map.
Vandals slash upholstered seats on an Austrian gondola, cause $28,000 in damage.
Okemo receives a 24 month extension to its permit for building a beginner fixed grip quad at Jackson Gore.
Loveland gains approval to replace Lift 6 with either a fixed grip triple or detachable quad in 2021.
New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu tours the gorgeous new summit lodge and gondola at Bretton Woods.
Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory joins Bloomberg TV and Yahoo Finance to chat about opportunities he sees in the ski business.
The head of MND Group says financial struggles are history as the company ramps up to deliver $200 million worth of orders for lifts, Gazex and snowmaking.
The Forest Service plans to approve two new fixed grip quad lifts at Lee Canyon.
Big Sky looks for 30 more chairs for Six Shooter.
A Wyoming ranch with snow cat skiing considers adding lift service.
Chris Diamond’s new book, Ski Inc. 2020, was released last week and is a must read for those who follow North American skiing.
Simon Fraser University includes a 3S gondola as a core component of its new campus master plan.

News Roundup: Answers

September 27, 2019Peter Landsman13 Comments

Stevens Pass nears completion of its largest lift investment ever.
Bretton Woods prepares to open New Hampshire’s first eight passenger gondola as soon as October.
A nonprofit hopes a T-Bar will be the right lift for historically troubled Ascutney Mountain.
The 17 former Peak resorts are now Vail resorts.
Vail season pass sales are up double digit percentages from last year and the company expects to earn between $778 and $818 million in fiscal year 2020 with a net income of $293 to $353 million.
Mt. Bachelor launches an all-new James Niehues-painted trail map with some surprise new lift names: Alpenglow, Early Riser and Little Pine.
The Berry family and Arctaris Impact Investors issue dueling letters on why the Saddleback sale fell through.
Here’s another construction update from Alaska’s brand new ski area.
The Forest Service approves Mammoth Mountain’s Chair 16 replacement project.
Stakeholders seek an extension as the Hermitage Club bankruptcy works its way through the courts.
The ski resort portion of American Dream now won’t open until December 5th.
Doppelmayr is out with a new issue of Wir Magazine which profiles Ramcharger 8 and Whistler Blackcomb’s three newest additions.
Vail concludes that undetected ground movement caused July’s tower separation and evacuation of the Eagle Bahn Gondola.

News Roundup: Win-Win

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019Peter Landsman25 Comments

A bill introduced in Congress would allow National Forests to use some of the fees collected from ski resorts to be used to expedite permitting for improvement projects.
Poma will break ground on its first urban 3S in July.
Lookout Pass intends to buy a second Skytrac quad for the Eagle Peak Expansion and relocate Chair 1.
In addition to its Lake replacement project, Owl’s Head decides to also remove the Panorama double without a direct replacement.
Breckenridge proposes building an infill chairlift on Peak 7 to improve skier circulation.
Local electeds vote in support of an urban gondola to Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus.
Retired Riblet double chairs bring in $146,000 for nonprofit organizations surrounding Schweitzer Mountain Resort.
Towers supporting the world’s first eight passenger monocable gondola are history.
This video shows how the Disney Skyliner’s innovative loading works. Every 9th gondola goes to a second turnaround, stopping about 50 seconds for unloading and another 1:10 for loading before rejoining the moving line. Pretty slick!
The Hermitage Club files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing more than 200 creditors. A company called Restructured Opportunity Investors could lend the club up to $1.75 million for restructuring if approved by a bankruptcy court.
Berkshire Bank wants the Hermitage receiver to stay on the job while a different bankruptcy court considers whether to initiate a Chapter 7 liquidation, which at least 187 club members now support.
At Smugglers’ Notch, hundreds of trout take a spin up Sterling to their new home in Vermont’s highest pond.
A Dutch-American joint venture proposes building an indoor snow park on a Northern Virginia landfill serviced by a two stage gondola.
It sure looks like the Skyline Express is moving as part of the Brooks/Daisy replacement project at Stevens Pass.
The haul rope is up on the Bretton Woods Skyway.
Construction is well underway on Jackson Hole’s 10th chairlift.

News Roundup: New Gondolas

May 10, 2019Peter Landsman28 Comments

It looks like Snowbird has joined the Powdr family of adventure lifestyle brands.
A batch of green gondolas arrives at Bretton Woods as towers go vertical.
Another group of new Omega cabins is uncovered in Florida.
Little Switzerland and The Rock Snowpark are upgrading chairs on multiple lifts and selling the old ones.
The Lake Placid gondola cabins will be white and black.
Top leadership positions at Doppelmayr will be filled by two longtime executives this fall.
With no operations planned for this summer, Hermitage Club receiver Alan Tantleff updates the government on the status of the ski resort’s properties.
Crested Butte receives approval for the Teocalli replacement project and plans to remove Twister as well.
Killington says it’s considering upgrades for Superstar Express, Ramshead Express and Outpost at Pico next.
Despite being partly flooded, the Grafton, Illinois gondola is on track to open later this spring.
Tanzania might build a gondola on 19,341-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro.
Peak Resorts reports double digit growth of season pass sales.
West Mountain’s Thiokol is for sale along with some Poma lifts that were once planned to replace it.

News Roundup: 3S

April 26, 2019Peter Landsman4 Comments

An affiliate of Silver Mountain buys 49 Degrees North.
A citizen group wants the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board to regulate lift operations more broadly than the current mechanical focus.
Bogus Basin will auction a bunch of Riblet triple chairs beginning Sunday.
The Disney Skyliner is not a normal gondola and will be evacuated as such in an emergency.
Steamboat already has a gondola construction update.
So does Bretton Woods.
A guy accused of ducking ropes around a chairlift terminal at Killington is charged with disorderly conduct.
Whistler Blackcomb will open some of the same lifts for both skiers and mountain bikers for the first time this spring.
The Forest Service gives its blessing to the Eldora Jolly Jug expansion and high speed lift.
Doppelmayr USA is on Facebook.
Vail Resorts reports a fantastic season with skier visits, lift ticket revenue, retail, ski school and dining all up between 6.2 and 9.3 percent through April 21st.
The Los Angeles Dodger Stadium 3S is headed to environmental review.
Poma’s 3S project in China is going to have an insane 5,775 people per hour capacity.
CWA teases its soon-to-debut 3S cabin.

News Roundup: A Long Time Coming

March 22, 2019March 23, 2019Peter Landsman19 Comments

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: Worth the Wait

December 6, 2018December 6, 2018Peter Landsman4 Comments

Copper Mountain becomes the fifth US ski resort to offer a combination chair/gondola lift with American Eagle 2.0.
Supply chain delays and five feet of snow push back delivery of the Bretton Woods gondola to an unknown future date.
Les Otten is still working behind the scenes to line up financing for The Balsams rebuild.
New owners close on Tamarack and reiterate their plan to resurrect Wildwood in time for next season.
Vail Resorts won’t spin Crested Butte’s last remaining Riblet this season.
Spout Springs plans to open this winter for the first time in three years.
A metal panel falls 130 feet from the Portland Aerial Tram and hits a pedestrian.
Is the Geogetown-Rosslyn Gondola idea a bold solution or vanity infrastructure?

News Roundup: Not Cheap

September 21, 2018Peter Landsman3 Comments

Above: lots more Ramcharger 8 parts arrive in Big Sky.
Schweitzer weighs alignment options and manufacturers for two new backside lifts scheduled for construction in 2019.
The only aerial tramway in Texas closes after nearly six decades. “Replacement of the Wyler Aerial Tramway is estimated to cost millions of dollars. Texas Parks and Wildlife Department does not have the financial resources to execute a capital construction project of this size at this time.”
Disney gives an Orlando TV station a rare official peak into Skyliner construction.
Following last week’s mishap, the operator of the Zugspitze Cable Car orders a new 120 passenger cabin, hanger and carriage.
Beaver Creek’s big McCoy Park expansion should be official in November and is planned to open in late 2020.
The Lewis & Clark bubble high-speed quad at Big Sky will finally see some action in 2021 when a $400 million Montage hotel opens at its base.
Ascutney Outdoors is on track to install a T-Bar this fall, anchoring a scaled down version of what was once a five chairlift area.
LST builds a T-Bar atop a waste-to-energy plant in Copenhagen for residents to ski on year round.
Vail looks to Asia for growth.
Michael Doppelmayr is profiled for his 60th birthday. Some interesting facts: his company’s gross margin was 12.1 percent last year and his father Artur vehemently opposed Doppelmayr’s merger with Garaventa.
New York’s high court clears the way for Belleayre to expand into the former Highmount Ski Center.
Bretton Woods and Doppelmayr make great progress on New Hampshire’s first 8 passenger gondola.
The leaders of North and South Korea ride a pulse gondola during their three day summit.
The State of New Hampshire will hold a public meeting about transferring the Mt. Sunapee lease to Vail Resorts on September 26th.
As it tries to secure a $30 million loan to open this winter, the Hermitage Club lawsuits keep coming.
Two major lifts are getting closer to reality at Copper Mountain.

News Roundup: Bahn

August 24, 2018August 25, 2018Peter Landsman18 Comments

Bretton Woods’ upcoming gondola gets a great name: Presidential Bahn.
Copper updates the public on its big new American Eagle and American Flyer lifts.
For the third time in six years, Soldier Mountain, Idaho hits the market. “The current owners have experienced the typical start up challenges that come with operating a ski area that has been under capitalized, under managed and under marketed for many years,” writes Mike Krongel of Mirus Resort Advisors.
The BC Supreme Court orders the province to reconsider its 2015 decision to pull Jumbo Glacier Resort’s construction permit over lack of progress.
Mont Cascades scores a $1.2 million grant from the Government of Quebec to help build the resort’s longest chairlift yet.
The criminal case of a former employee who may or may not have been stuck on a Gore Mountain chairlift overnight last winter heads to trial.
Snow King’s possible gondola gains two new alignment options. GM Ryan Stanley tells the Jackson Hole community “After struggling for so many years to keep the lifts spinning, it is sad to see the negativity associated with proposed improvements to the mountain.”
The 380 acre Cold Springs Canyon expansion and detachable quad are officially a go for next summer at Sun Valley.
Doppelmayr nears commissioning of a very cool gondola with spherical cabins, loopy towers and whimsical stations in Moscow.
Stratton says goodbye to the SMS Poma, leaving just seven detachable surface lifts in the country by my count.
36 days before opening, go inside the eye-catching Matterhorn 3S gondola by Leitner Ropeways.
Thanks to Everett and Will for these shots of Big Sky’s trailblazing Ramcharger 8 project.

News Roundup: More Cabins

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018Peter Landsman7 Comments

A live streaming webcam shows New Hampshire’s largest and fastest gondola going in at Bretton Woods. Some tidbits on the lift from the New Hampshire Tramway Board: line speed will be 6 m/s with 36 cabins and a design capacity of 2,600 using 62 cabins. SkyTrans is taking the retired B double and the gondola’s load test is slated for December 20th.
Sunrise Park Resort abruptly ends all summer operations.
In Europe, some pulse gondolas are on the way out.
As it works to finalize its lease of Mt. Sunapee, Vail Resorts assures New Hampshire residents the company is in for the long haul and doesn’t plan any real estate development at the state-owned mountain.
A stack up of at least nine cabins on the White urban gondola line in La Paz last Monday is deemed the result of human error. No passengers were on the lift at the time.

Loveland receives more than 3,000 name suggestions for its upcoming detachable quad and will unveil a winner early next week.
One of the longest gondolas in Mexico, opened seven months ago in Torreon, has already carried more than 325,000 passengers and will soon get nine additional cabins from Sigma.
Go inside Poma’s newest French factory.
Arapahoe Basin and Leitner-Poma commence pouring concrete and digging tower locations for the Beavers lift.
As Winter Park continues testing digital chairlift advertising, sister resort Steamboat goes old school with bar mounted trail map ads.
The widow of Loveland mechanic Adam Lee, who died underneath a carpet lift last winter, goes on CBS This Morning to talk about his workers compensation claim being reduced due to a positive marijuana test.
Magic Mountain submits a permit application/profile for the Black Line Quad and hopes to commence construction next month.
Copper’s all-new trail map is amazing…

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