- Several rope evacs this week – Heavenly, Mt. Baker, Snoqualmie and Maple Ski Ridge, New York.
- Sadly also two fatal falls from lifts at Cypress Mountain, BC and Ski Apache, New Mexico.
- A death at Timberline Mountain, West Virginia last week is also revealed as a chairlift fall.
- Levi, Finland signs on to the Indy Pass.
- Facing a large insurance payment in a few weeks, Camp 10, Wisconsin could close without community support.
- An update on the soon-to-open new T-Bar at Waterville Valley.
- A Doppelmayr gondola is proposed in Lookout Mountain, Georgia.
- Doppelmayr could also build a sightseeing gondola in Butte, Montana.
- Leitner-Poma is expected to supply the first lift for the Trails at Mena in Arkansas this summer.
- Doppelmayr and Leitner split an order for urban gondolas in Queenstown, New Zealand.
- Cannon Mountain continues structural analysis on the recently-retired aerial tram with a May target to solicit bids from manufacturers for replacement reusing tower and terminal structures (starts at 18:00.)
- A new map shows where the Showcase quad will run on Blackcomb Mountain.
- The brand new urban gondola in Paris is already carrying 12,500 riders per day, 14 percent more than forecast, and a second line is under consideration.
- During the Telluride strike, an entity controlled by local elected officials proposed buying a majority stake in Telski.
- Chris Cushing of SE Group discusses designing 100 new trails and 10 new lifts at Deer Valley.
- The North chair to reopen soon at Snow Ridge, NY after a year closed due to tornado damage.
- A look into the world of restoring gondola cabins instead of replacing them or an entire lift.
- Early season visits to Vail Resorts North American mountains declined 20 percent through January 4th compared to a year earlier.
- Update: An empty chair detached from Shedhorn 4 at Big Sky today. I’m told a grip did not attach properly leaving the bottom teminal. The empty chair ended up in the pit. Statement from Big Sky Resort: “Around 2:45pm today on Shedhorn 4 lift, a grip failed to reattach to the haul rope while exiting the bottom terminal. The chair was unoccupied at the time, and the lift’s automatic safety system immediately stopped operation. The team acted quickly to offload all remaining guests from the lift. Shedhorn 4 will remain closed while we thoroughly inspect every grip before reopening. We appreciate your patience as safety remains our top priority.“
Cannon Mountain
News Roundup: Conical Towers
- Hickory, New York closes.
- Steel erection begins for the only lift in Arkansas.
- Cannon’s new map shows no more tram.
- Steel and aluminum tariffs increase the cost of certain maintenance projects on the Telluride-Mountain Village gondola by 50 percent.
- Vail CEO Rob Katz reiterates his company’s desire to build new Eagle and Silverlode lifts at Park City.
- A wildlife reserve in Kentucky plans a three station sightseeing gondola.
- Sir Sam’s, Ontario retires the Red Rocket and Eagle View doubles.
- The Los Angeles City Council votes 12-1 to oppose a Dodger Stadium gondola.
- MND hires a Director of Ropeways for North America.
- Snowland, Utah eyes building a T-Bar or J-Bar next summer with $1.46 million in state grant money.
- Unionized patrollers at Breckenridge and Eldora ink new contracts; negotiations continue at Telluride and Whitefish.
- A rider falls from the Montezuma Express at Keystone.
- Whitecap Mountains, Wisconsin could go to foreclosure auction on December 2nd.
- Enjoy these Argo progress photos from reader Munier S.
News Roundup: Last Tram
- Bretton Woods’ new map shows where the new BEQII goes.
- The new Bryce Resort map shows a backside expansion.
- Lutsen gets a new trail map by VistaMap.
- Deer Valley mountain operations leadership joins Doppelmayr on the Ski Utah podcast to preview the East Village expansion.
- Mont Gleason, Quebec plans to replace the Laurent-Lemaire quad soon.
- Anakeesta to replace its fixed-grip chondola with a detachable.
- The State of Texas to hold a press conference next week announcing the next steps in the Wyler Aerial Tram replacement project.
- It’s the final weekend for the Cannon Tramway with the last trip at 4:45 pm Sunday.
- Red Lodge Mountain details several modifications made to its Triple Chair over the summer due to a fatal deropement last spring.
- Ikon adds nine mountains in Japan, South Korea and China.
- Holiday Mountain offers up classic Poma double chairs.
- Whaleback, New Hampshire expects to lose $300,000 this winter without its chairlift; seeks to raise $210,000 by December 1st to open.
- Powder Mountain installs artwork on several lifts including a neon piece on the Paradise Express, flagpole on Timberline and colorful canopy on a conveyor.
- MND wins a tender to build an energy-neutral aerial tramway on the island of Réunion in the Indian Ocean.
News Roundup: Bonus Mountains
- Snow Partners and Mountain Collective form an alliance, offering discounts on each other’s multi-mountain products for passholders.
- Snow Triple Play adds Kissing Bridge, NY to its partner lineup.
- Ikon Pass signs three more mountains to the two day bonus tier: Grouse Mountain & SilverStar in BC and Ski Butternut in Massachusetts (full Ikon only, subject to blackout dates.)
- The Black Mountain Community Corporation completes land acqusition and seeks initial accredited investors.
- Investors in Burke Mountain’s EB-5 projects will get only 36 percent of their principal back as part of the mountain’s sale.
- Cannon Mountain partners with SCJ Alliance to perform structural analysis on the soon-to-close aerial tramway and determine what components could be re-used on a new tram.
- A jury finds the Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park and a drop ride manufacturer liable for $205 million after a child’s death; the gondola-accessed park says “the size of the total jury verdict award puts the existence of Glenwood Caverns at serious risk.”
- Camelback removes two chairlifts from its trail map: Marc Antony and Cleopatra.
- Amid removal rumors, I asked Hunter Mountain about D-Lift and the Highlands Poma. GM Trent Poole shared the following:
“We’re in the process of removing the D-Lift. Thanks to last year’s Epic Lift Upgrade – the new Broadway Express – our updated lift infrastructure provides faster, more efficient access than what D-Lift provided, and similar terrain can be accessed at Hunter North via the Northern Express. At this point, the lift is both redundant and outdated, and the time and resources needed to revive this lift are better focused where guests will see a positive impact to their experience on mountain, like our snowmaking upgrades.
The Highlands Poma is something our team has discussed as part of long-term planning. We’re always exploring ways to enhance the guest experience, and that lift remains part of the broader conversation. For now, our focus is on showcasing the significant upgrades we’ve already delivered—Broadway Express, Otis, and automated snowmaking additions—along with maximizing the terrain available on Hunter North, West, and East. It’s also worth noting that Hunter is the only ski resort in New York to feature three high-speed six-passenger lifts: Northern Express, Katskill Flyer, and Broadway Express. For now, we’re confident in the strength and efficiency of our current lift system.”
- A lift and parking expansion pops up the Forest Service system for Lost Trail, Montana.
- White Pass to sell and auction Riblet double chairs.
- A mechanic is killed after becoming entangled in terminal machinery in Switzerland.
- Grand Junction’s newspaper catches up with a busy Leitner-Poma.
- The first urban gondola in the Paris region to open December 13th.
- More than 5.4 million people rode Mexico City’s Cablebús Line 3 in the first year of operation.
- Vermont’s Brattleboro Ski Hill seeks donations to continue offering $5 lift tickets to the community and upgrade controls on its 1964 T-Bar.
- Eaglecrest begins gondola road construction and issues an RFP for a general contractor:
News Roundup: In the South
- Timberline begins the NEPA process for a gondola from Government Camp to Timberline Lodge, requiring less than one acre of new permit area.
- West Virginia opens the first of two Doppelmayr gondolas in State Parks.
- A paraglider survives being caught in a moving gondola in Switzerland.
- Leitner’s apple ropeway opens in Italy.
- A funicular railway crashes in Portugal, killing 16 people, with the investigation focused on the wire rope.
- Leitner-Poma and Skytrac’s parent company invests in HKD Snowmakers; will consolidate DemacLenko and HKD in North America.
- A gondola to Disneyland is floated in Anaheim with unproven technology called Whoosh.
- The last day for Cannon Mountain’s tram will be October 26th; it’ll continue running for administrative purposes.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire reports its highest skier visits ever but also growing pains with noise complaints from neighbors.
- The Okanagan Gondola previews the view from the top of the upcoming sightseeing lift.
- Killington’s former Sunrise lodge and base of the Northeast Passage triple are for sale.
- Homewood commences gondola construction.
- Here’s what happens to a glacier-pinned lift when the glacier recedes.
- Powder Mountain walks back its map showing DMI being installed for 2026-27.
Cannon Mountain to Retire, Eventually Replace Aerial Tram
This fall is your last chance to ride the iconic Cannon Mountain Aerial Tram in its current form. The state-owned New Hampshire mountain announced this morning the conclusion of public operations with planning underway for a new system to be constructed in the coming years. The current tram opened in 1980, making it 45 years old with more than nine million passengers carried. It was built by Italian manufacturer Agudio and replaced an American Steel & Wire tram that served the summit from 1938 to 1981. “She’s aged gracefully, but like all legends, she deserves a dignified retirement,” said Jace Wirth, General Manager of Cannon Mountain and Franconia Notch State Park. “It’s time to begin writing the next chapter.”
Planning is underway for a third-generation tram but there’s no set timeline for reopening. In 2022, the state considered building a much cheaper gondola, but public feedback revealed a strong desire to continue Cannon’s tram legacy. The following year, the state put out an RFP for modernization of the current tram with a projected budget of $18 million. Leitner-Poma was the only bidder and came in $11 million over that amount. The project was put on hold while state leaders sought more funding.
Cannon’s original American Steel & Wire tram carried 27 riders per car, the current “ketchup and mustard” cars hold up to 80 and the next version may carry even more. “With $27.2 million secured through New Hampshire House Bill 25, along with additional capital resources anticipated, a structural analysis—pending Governor and Executive Council approval—will soon begin to confirm the renovation strategy for existing towers, terminals, and foundations,” Cannon wrote today. “This analysis will also help refine design requirements and load considerations for the next-generation tram system.” While $27 million is a great start, it’s nowhere near enough to build a completely new system at current prices. Skiers and sightseers will likely be without a base-to-summit lift for a number of years while the new tram is designed and built. In the meantime, the summit can still be accessed by a series of chairlifts in the winter.
A specific date for the tram’s final laps will be announced in the coming weeks.
News Roundup: Windstorm
- Killington’s Superstar lift replacement will cancel the 2025 Killington World Cup; chairs from Superstar will move to Golden Express at Pico.
- An unseated passenger is successfully caught in a deceleration net at Killington.
- Powderhorn plans a detachable replacement for West End.
- Gunstock loses its summit chairlift for much of the holiday week due to gearbox failure.
- Silver Mountain, Idaho rope evacuates Chair 4 due to a power outage and evacuation engine failure (now back open).
- A falling tree in high wind causes a three tower deropement on the Belleaye Express at Belleayre, New York (scheduled to reopen some time tomorrow).
- The same storm leads to a deropement and rope evacuation at Pats Peak, New Hampshire (back open).
- And the roof blows off Stratton’s gondola top terminal (also back open).
- Following three recent incidents in the state, New Hampshire clarifies how its tramway oversight works.
- Brattleboro Ski Hill in Vermont closes due to an electric motor issue.
- Arkansas adopts the ANSI standard in advance of its first chairlift installation.
- Pioneer at Park City still hasn’t run this season but may soon.
- Cannon’s tramway is still on track for $19 million in upgrades.
- Sugarloaf confirms plans to install Big Sky’s former Six Shooter to replace Timberline, a two year project.
- Stevens Pass rope evacuates the new Kehr’s quad at night.
- Echo Mountain, Colorado also has a night rope evac.
- Timberline closes the Molly’s detachable quad due to damage to a tower from a snow cat.
- Tenney Mountain, New Hampshire loses its main lift due to a mechanical issue.
- Hersheypark, Pennsylvania retires its chairlift ride.
News Roundup: Change at the Top
- An avalanche hits the top of Swift Current 6 pre-opening, resulting in the rope evacuation of seven staff members and damaging several chairs.
- An empty chair falls from Mt. Bohemia’s Riblet double.
- Diamond Peak provides a primer on how lifts are de-iced of rime.
- A guest is injured falling from the new Coach chair at Bogus Basin, Idaho.
- Ditto for a lift at Mt. Holly, Michigan.
- Telluride-area residents seek to have the new gondola election results thrown out.
- British Columbia sues the operator of closed Tabor Mountain, seeks a new operator.
- New Hampshire provides an investigation update on the Attitash chair detachment, Flying Bear to remain closed.
- Wolf Creek forges on independently – selling reasonable walk up tickets, partnering with only one other mountain and building lifts in house.
- Cannon Mountain rope evacuates the Peabody Express due to a bolt failure.
- Pacific Group Resorts transitions from an operating lease to controlling owner of Powderhorn.
- Leitner-Poma is selected to build a new chairlift at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota.
- Middlebury Snowbowl opens Bailey Falls for the first time in two years.
- Whistler Blackcomb nears reopening the Glacier Express after a two week repair.
- Katharina Schmitz to depart as CEO of Doppelmayr USA, be succeeded by current VP, Operations Keith Johns.
News Roundup: Vote
- Alta seeks Forest Service approval to realign Supreme.
- Brighton looks to replace the Milly Express and shorten Explorer.
- Indy Pass adds a slew of mountains including Loveland, Colorado; Bear Creek, Pennsylvania; Bear Valley, California; Bousquet, Massachusetts; Bruce Mound and Christie Mountain, Wisconsin; Camp Fortune, Massif du Sud and Mont Rigaud, Quebec; Cazenovia and Hunt Hollow, New York; Lost Valley, Maine; and Mt. Holiday and Norway Mountain, Michigan.
- Norway Mountain is on track to reopen this season after many years.
- After the only bid to replace the Cannon Mountain tramway came in millions more than expected, the State of New Hampshire investigates whether it can reuse existing towers.
- Pleasant Mountain to auction retired chairs next week.
- One non-essential lift was damaged by the wildfire at Mountain High.
- Canada’s Competition Bureau to probe whether the Arizona company behind the Jasper SkyTram and Banff Gondola unfairly competes with ski area sightseeing gondolas.
- Voters in Casper, Wyoming will be asked whether to fund a new chairlift at Hogadon.
- A real estate developer and Doppelmayr break ground on a new access lift at Tremblant.
- Local co-op organizers estimate Mt. Bachelor will sell for $180-200 million.
- Sponsored jobs: Lift Electrical Technicial Level 3 at Copper Mountain and Ski Lift Service Millwright at Doppelmayr Canada.
News Roundup: Trams
- New Hampshire seeks $15 million more on top of $18 million already appropriated for Cannon Mountain tram upgrades.
- Cannon Mountain’s new General Manager says the publicly-owned ski area has a critical need for infrastructure updates beyond the tram.
- America’s next all-new aerial tramway will likely be built in Texas.
- Killington’s large new village development includes a real estate access chairlift.
- Pats Peak looks to replace the Hurricane triple.
- Mont Sutton plans to replace three aging chairlifts with one carpet load quad partially financed by the Province of Quebec.
- Le Relais, Quebec sells to new, local owners.
- Mt. Waterman goes on the market.
- Bogus Basin to auction chairs from two decommissioned lifts.
- Ober Mountain has chairs for sale for $200.
- White Pass proposes replacing Chair 4 with a fixed grip quad.
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