- Ikon Pass adds five mountains in the Aosta Valley of Italy.
- One of those mountains – Cervino – announces a monster Leitner 3S with three stations and 4,700 feet of vertical.
- Indy Pass signs a flurry of new mountains, mostly small and remote outposts:
- Hilltop and Mt. Eyak, Alaska
- Little Ski Hill, Idaho
- Hyland Hills, Minnesota
- Cuchara, Colorado (lift not yet operable)
- Mt. LaCrosse and Sunburst, Wisconsin
- Buffalo Ski Club and Dry Hill, New York
- McIntyre, New Hampshire
- Hockley Valley, Ontario
- Mont Sutton, Owl’s Head, Mont Edouard, Mont Habitant, Vallée Bleue, Val d’Irene and Ski Vorlage, Quebec
- Marble Mountain and Smokey Mountain, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Others in Europe, Asia and South America
- Buck Hill, Minnesota; Swiss Valley, Michigan and Montage Mountain, Pennsylvania leave Indy Pass.
- Judges uphold the 2022 revocation of a permit for Park City Mountain’s Eagle and Silverlode lift replacements; Vail Resorts vows to submit new applications for both.
- In another blow for Vail, a jury awards $20 million to a teenager who fell after misloading the Paradise Express at Crested Butte.
- Matthew Prince floats the idea of a gondola from Old Town Park City to Solitude and Alta.
- Big Sky’s Lone Peak Tram top station enclosure to open this season with the name Kircliff.
- A flood damages lifts at Crystal Ridge, Wisconsin.
- A new Leitner-Poma gondola opens in South Carolina.
- Jackson Hole lobbies the Forest Service for a mountain resort specific management designation applying to JHMR, Snow King and White Pine plus 620 acres not currently in JHMR’s permit area but identified in an accepted master plan (full letter here).
- Doppelmayr raises a 7,800 lb. bullwheel into position at Alpental by hand.
- Spirit Mountain to name its new chairlift via a public vote.
Crested Butte
News Roundup: Moonlight West
- Moonlight West to launch in Big Sky with four lifts planned.
- Alterra all but cancels Main Lodge redevelopment at Mammoth, including gondola replacement and several base lifts.
- Here’s the latest official Deer Valley construction update and a look at how Deer Valley East was designed on a blank canvas.
- Doppelmayr goes vertical on its new Salt Lake factory.
- The President expands 50 percent steel and aluminum tariffs to more products.
- ORDA defends financial losses, citing increased revenue and visitor numberts.
- Indy Pass promises dozens of new resorts coming next week, introduces a $189 Learn to Turn pass with lessons and rentals.
- Long lost Utah ski area Snowland to reopen this season with rope tows, may add a T-Bar in 2027.
- Bigrock, Maine has Mueller double chairs for sale.
- Sandia Peak to sell rare Stadeli center pole chairs.
- Killington to auction gondola cabins from Skyeship starting Monday.
- Park City billionaire Matthew Prince suggests activist investors could break up Vail Resorts.
- Purgatory works on what it can in the parking lot while awaiting permission to build the Gelande lift.
- A Colorado unseated passenger lawsuit heads to trial.
- Ober Mountain rebrands its aerial tram as the The Gatlinburg Tram.
- I stopped by the Mighty Argo last week to check out progress on their new D-Line gondola.
News Roundup: Valentine’s Edition
- Vail Resorts reaches an agreement with Crested Butte lift mechanics, averting a strike.
- A window falls from a cabin on Stowe’s Mansfield Gondola during operations.
- Mission Ridge acknowledges three different chairs have detached this season from Chair 4, a 1971 Riblet double (all empty and no injuries).
- Waterville Valley completes a midseason splice on the High Country T-Bar.
- A new owner looks to reopen Crystal Mountain, BC via crowdfunding.
- Winter Park’s High Lonesome Express is back after a four week maintenance closure.
- Still no Slide Brook Express at Sugarbush but hopefully soon.
- The Glade Triple at Catamount will miss the rest of the season.
- Badger Pass, California won’t open this season.
- Ditto for Cedar Pass, also in California.
- Park City gets serious about a gondola connecting Main Street to Deer Valley.
- President Trump imposes 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports with potential impacts on lift manufacturers.
- The US Forest Service, landlord to 124 ski areas, lays off 3,400 employees.
- A bipartisan group of Senators sponsor a bill that would direct the Forest Service retain some of the fees resorts pay to the federal government for ski purposes, such as processing resort improvement projects.
- The gondola in Moab, Utah which sat for 25 years without ever opening, is finally being removed.
- Solitude demystifies lift maintenance for customers.
News Roundup: Short Films
- Homewood’s new gondola is finally approved.
- Eaglecrest receives a key gondola construction permit.
- The Wall Street Journal covers several challenges facing Vail Resorts.
- Unionized Crested Butte lift mechanics authorize a strike should they be unable to reach a contract agreement with Vail.
- Breckenridge lift staff stage a one day sick out in protest of employee housing conditions, closing several lifts on Wednesday.
- Pioneer at Park City hasn’t opened this season due to an offseason deropement still being repaired.
- Blackcomb’s Glacier Express to be closed a week or longer due to a possible gearbox issue.
- Mount Snow’s Challenger has been inoperative since January 13th.
- Mammut sponsors a short film exploring the transformation of Shames Mountain, British Columbia into a community co-op.
- British Columbia opens public consultation for the proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Resort.
- A gondola transit network in Oshawa, Ontario could cost CA$1.1 billion.
- Reed Hastings explains his sweeping changes at Powder Mountain including four new lifts in one summer and partial privatization.
- Chicopee, Ontario explains why its three new lifts aren’t spinning yet.
- Bristol Mountain partially rope evacuates the Comet Express.
- Ditto for the Mt. Hood Express at Mt. Hood Meadows.
- The Balsams extends approval for long-delayed redevelopment.
- Mont Farlagne, New Brunswick reopens its only chairlift after a month-long closure due to a bullwheel issue.
- Ischgl invites guests to help build a life size replica of a 3S gondola cabin with Lego bricks.
- The latest New Hampshire tram board minutes hint at a possible new lift for Bretton Woods.
- Mountain Village and Telluride begin planning their new gondola in earnest.
- Vermonters ask Why hasn’t Burke Mountain sold? as receivership fees surpass $12 million.
- Sugarbush gets all but one of its chairlifts going after a challenging start to the season.
- Several videos show the chaotic aftermath of the bullwheel detachment in Spain last week.
- Colorado releases the Winter Park gondola crack incident report, a full report of investigation remains in progress.
News Roundup: In Memoriam
- U.S. skier visits totaled 60.4 million this season, down from last year but fifth highest ever.
- The Colorado Supreme Court rules a liability waiver doesn’t protect Crested Butte from a chairlift fall claim.
- Huff Hills, North Dakota may pack up and move to a new location.
- Leitner-Poma parent company HTI reports a 13 percent revenue increase with strong sales in North America.
- Alterra-owned Schweitzer postpones the next phase of the Schweitzer Creek Village expansion.
- Castle Mountain plans to reinstall a 1988 detachable from Sunshine Village as soon as next summer.
- The municipality of Park City approves Deer Valley’s proposed Lift 7.
- Park City Mountain to begin construction shortly on the new Sunrise Gondola.
- A Maine developer will try again to revive Big Moose Mountain.
- A proposed lift-served bike park in Conifer, Colorado moves toward public hearings.
News Roundup: On the Horizon
- Mountain Capital Partners successfully brings back Sandia Peak Ski Area, opening for the first time in three seasons tomorrow.
- Doppelmayr plans a €200 million expansion in Wolfurt to support strong ropeway demand, particularly in North America.
- The Colorado Supreme Court will hear the case of a rider seriously injured falling from Crested Butte’s Paradise Express.
- A skier sues Sun Peaks for a chairlift unloading injury.
- The sale of Jackson Hole to a new ownership group closes.
- Mt. Hood Meadows eyes building a new Lift 15 pod in 2026 and replacing Heather Canyon in 2027.
- Lake Louise continues construction over winter on a UNI-G bubble six pack for next season.
- In China, an unseated passenger is successfully rescued after operators reverse a lift.
- Sugarbush’s new Heaven’s Gate quad will be a Doppelmayr Tristar with loading conveyor costing $3.2 million.
- Teton Pass Ski Area’s owner pens a letter explaining why he was forced to close after just four operating this season.
- Mammoth Mountain’s Broadway Express is expected to close April 1st for removal and replacement.
News Roundup: 7-3
- Sugarbush affirms plans to build both a detachable and fixed grip chairlift next summer.
- Jackson Hole applies to replace Sublette with a detachable quad.
- Alterra partners with Colorado Mountain College on an intensive four week lift maintenance training course at Steamboat.
- Breck’s new high speed quad will be named FIVE SuperChair.
- Whiteface’s will be called The Notch.
- Park City puts more old gondola cabins on sale, new Red Pine cabins debut.
- Crested Butte mechanics and electricians vote 7-3 to unionize.
- Aspen Skiing Company managing partner and Alterra part owner Jim Crown dies unexpectedly.
- Brundage loses its only summer lift until further notice due to a mechanical issue.
News Roundup: Big Numbers
- Vail Resorts declines to voluntarily recognize the Crested Butte lift maintenance/electrical union, triggering a National Labor Relations Board election process.
- Eaglecrest offers an updated pulse gondola construction timeline with opening targeted for summer 2025.
- Magic Mountain plans to finish the Black Line Quad this summer after four years of trying.
- Utah skier visits rose a whopping 22 percent this season to 7.1 million.
- Quebec reports its strongest season in 16 years with 6.6 million skier visits.
- A single round trip ride on Europe’s newest 3S gondola will cost a whopping $265.
- Big Sky posts more photos of its new tram cabins taking shape in Switzerland.
- Smugglers’ Notch adds a section to its website about the proposed Stowe connector gondola.
- Holiday Mountain, New York sells to a new owner with plans to revive lost ski terrain.
- Park City begins loading new Sigma cabins on the Red Pine Gondola.
News Roundup: Stop and Go
- Multiple companies take big losses removing the VonRoll skyride in Tulsa, Oklahoma.
- Snowbird will debut new rooftop tram balconies June 17th.
- Eight people are expected to be charged in the 2021 Italian tramway disaster that killed 14 people.
- Crested Butte lift mechanics file a petition with the National Labor Relations Board to hold a union election.
- British Columbia still hasn’t decided whether to permit a sightseeing gondola or competing ski resort proposal near Chilliwack.
- Poma publishes a new urban gondola highlight book.
- A group opposed to the privatization of Homewood says the Tahoe Regional Planning Agency has paused permitting for the project, set to include a new D-Line gondola.
- Critics want Taos’ base to base gondola proposal to go through more detailed environmental analysis than the Forest Service has planned.
- Utah leaders vote to include the Little Cottonwood Gondola in a regional transportation plan.
- Kelly Canyon plans multiple lift upgrades this summer.
News Roundup: Busy Busy
- Ski Wentworth in Nova Scotia names its new Quad Cobequid after the local mountain range.
- The Seattle Times profiles this year’s turnaround at Stevens Pass.
- The Merrill Hill expansion opens at Sunday River after two years of construction.
- Bear Valley’s Grizzly chair is closed due to a deropement and four chairs being ejected from the haul rope (note: the description in the Instagram post is not accurate but the resort comments below the post.)
- A child is hospitalized after falling from a lift at Ski Sundown.
- Storm damage forces more comm line replacements at Sierra at Tahoe.
- Tenney Mountain to open next weekend for the first time since 2020.
- Big Squaw goes back up for sale.
- The oldest lift in Colorado will cease operations unless a new owner comes along.
- The Forest Service approves Waterville Valley’s World Cup/Exhibition T-Bar, though no construction timeline has been set.
- Former Big Sky/Crystal Mountain General Manager and prolific lift builder John Kircher dies at 64.
- Whitewater returns Silver King to service after a bullwheel bearing replacement.
- Crystal Mountain and Leitner-Poma work to reopen the Crystal Clipper this weekend.
- Deer Valley to launch Burns Express this afternoon.
- Doppelmayr pulls the haul rope for the new quad at Belle Neige (note: this lift was contracted with a February completion date.)
- Doppelmayr and Telluride still aren’t sure when Plunge Express will open.
- A misload causes a chair to get tangled in a terminal at Wolf Creek.
- A deropement leads to a rope evacuation at Crested Butte.
- Similar story at Brimacombe, Ontario.
- Whitefish rope evacuates the brand new Snow Ghost Express, says it had safety concerns that Leitner-Poma engineers are working to address.
- Palisades re-splices and reopens the new Red Dog Express.
- I’m told Bridger at Nordic Valley will miss the entire season due to a planned haul rope replacement.
- Aspen’s Silver Queen Gondola goes down due to a gearbox issue.
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