The Oma’s Meadow zone at Sugar Mountain will sport a shiny Doppelmayr high speed quad next season. The upgrade from a double to quad will be Sugar Mountain’s fifth lift installation in seven years and ride time will improve from the current nine minutes to under three. The project caps off nearly $20 million in recent improvements. Last year Sugar Mountain and Doppelmayr partnered to install the Big Birch quad and the mountain’s two existing detachable lifts were built in 2015 and 2019. No other North Carolina ski resort operates even one detachable lift. “Not only is the speediness a welcome upgrade but the detachable feature of the chairs slowing upon entering the base and summit stations makes for an easy and gentle loading and unloading experience for all levels of skiers and riders,” said Sugar Mountain Resort owner Gunther Jochl.
The 2,225 foot long Oma’s express quad will carry 2,400 passengers per hour and increase the resort’s overall uphill capacity from 11,660 passengers per hour to 13,460.
Vail Resorts Executive Chairperson Rob Katz joins the Storm Skiing Podcast to talk about remarkable growth of the company and this season’s challenges.
Gore Mountain unveils a $30 million redevelopment plan for the North Creek Ski Bowl including replacing the Hudson triple with a longer detachable quad.
A Colorado county passes on partnering with Florida developers to reopen Cuchara.
Holiday Valley Resort in Western New York plans to debut its first six place chairlift in 2023. The Doppelmayr detachable will be built over two years and replace the Mardi Gras Xpress, pictured above. The new flagship will transport up to 3,000 riders per hour, increasing the resort’s total uphill capacity to 25,650 people hourly.
🚨 Exciting News 🚨 We are looking towards the future and are now planning construction a 6 passenger chairlift starting in the summer of 2022, with completion of the lift in September 2023. More info will be released as it becomes available. pic.twitter.com/yXON22N7FN
“The Holiday Valley lift system has been recognized by our guests as one of the best in the East,” said Holiday Valley President and General Manager Dennis Eshbaugh announcing the new lift. “The Yodeler Quad Express lift built in 2021 raised the bar. The Mardi Gras 6-pack will give skiers and snowboarders an exciting new experience, with quicker access to the top of the mountain.” The project will be completed in two stages, starting with foundations for 11 new lift towers in summer 2022. The balance of construction will be completed in 2023.
The one-of-a-kind gondola at a California winery will not run again, Sterling Vineyards has announced. The 1972 Hall installation, which travels in a triangle alignment, was closed in 2020 due to Covid and subsequently damaged by a wildfire. In its place, Sterling and Doppelmayr USA will partner to construct a detachable eight place gondola running in a similar historic alignment. “Over the past twelve months, our team has been working diligently to safely assess and stabilize the property and fully scope this major project,” the company wrote. “We are excited to share that we are now moving into reconstructing the winery in preparation of a re-opening in Spring 2023.”
“After careful assessment, it was determined that our beloved and historic Aerial Tram must be replaced,” the statement continued. “The Aerial Tram has been, and will continue to be, central to our visitor experience, as well as an iconic feature of the winery. We anticipate a full year of hard work ahead of us, to bring this special property back to you safely and beautifully.”
The new lift will be as modern as the old one was quaint, becoming the first D-Line lift in California and featuring Omega V cabins from CWA. The one way journey will remain similar with three stations and drive/tensioning systems located at the valley station. There will of course still be a glass of wine waiting for each rider at the first angle station. “We welcome you to join us behind the scenes as we give you sneak peeks through photos and videos of the site during construction and watch Sterling Vineyards literally rise from the ashes, regaining its historic splendor, and bouncing back to once again be one of the most visited sites in the Napa Valley.”
Despite the headlines, Vail Resorts’ skier visits are actually down from the last two seasons as of January 2nd. Ski school, dining and retail/rental revenue are all up from last year but still down significantly from pre-Covid 2019-20.
Atlantic Canada’s first gondola debuted in the Fall to rave reviews.
As clocks roll over to 2022, 42 new lifts stand tall across North America. Lift manufacturer and resort employees accomplished a lot – operating through the pandemic and adding 13 more lifts than the year before despite supply chain bottlenecks and record low unemployment. Nearly all pandemic-postponed projects from 2020 were completed thanks to skiers, mountain bikers and sightseers flocking outside this year.
Holiday Valley debuted its fourth detachable quad this season.
The 2021 lift class ranges from used T-Bars to the East’s first eight place chairlift and three new gondolas. Vail Resorts purchased the most new lifts of any single customer with seven projects across five mountains. Okemo moved a bubble detachable quad from Jackson Gore to the summit and added a six pack in its place. At Beaver Creek, a high alpine expansion will soon debut with two new quad chairs. Just as Vail’s construction projects entered the home stretch in September, the company shocked the industry and announced 19 new lifts would be built across its network in 2022. That number grew even further this month with the addition of two more projects in Pennsylvania as part of the Epic Lift Upgrade.
Okemo’s new Quantum Six, a partnership between Leitner-Poma and Vail Resorts.
Boyne Resorts moved forward with two signature Doppelmayr D-Line lifts at Loon Mountain and Big Sky Resort. Boyne also worked to open a new peak at Sunday River dubbed Merrill Hill, serviced by a Sunday River Red triple chair. Seeing how smoothly its pandemic-postponed projects went, Boyne went ahead and announced three 2022 lifts early for Boyne Mountain, Loon Mountain and Sunday River.
Merrill Hill at Sunday River awaits its inaugural season.
No new lifts debuted at Alterra mountains this year but the growing company’s pause won’t last long. Leitner-Poma completed the towers and terminal foundations for the Base-to-Base Gondola, which will be one of the most unique lifts in America when complete next year at Palisades Tahoe. The project includes four stations, three haul ropes, more than 30 towers and a cabin storage facility. Alterra also has grand plans for new lifts at Steamboat including North America’s longest gondola.
The existing Steamboat Gondola received a new bottom terminal in 2021 to make room for a second, longer gondola to be built nearby in 2022.
This year’s projects were dispersed all across the US and Canada with particular strength in the traditional Rocky Mountain and Northeast markets.
While large ski areas went big on lifts, small ski areas invested too. This new Skytrac belongs to the Steamboat town hill.
2021 saw a roughly even split between fixed and detachable lifts with both increasing from last year. Gondolas took a slight pandemic pause again but will be back in a big way next year with Palisades Tahoe, Steamboat, Whistler all planning large installations. No resorts built aerial tramways in 2021 but two new surface lifts debuted.
Loon Mountain’s new flagship eight place bubble, dubbed Kancamagus 8.
Fifteen years ago, around half of new lifts were for expansions while the other half replaced older ropeways. The share of replacement equipment has only grown, making up nearly three quarters of all projects this year. We said goodbye to many lifts from defunct manufacturers in 2021 with 12 Halls, 6 Borvigs and 3 Heron-Pomas being retired this year.
The detachable business split right down the middle with Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr each completing eight lifts. Things will get interesting next year when MND Ropeways completes its first US detachable at Waterville Valley in partnership with Swiss manufacturer Bartholet. The last time three firms competed in the detachable space Amazon only sold books.
The fixed grip side of the business also split roughly evenly with Skytrac edging out Doppelmayr. Skytrac fabricated eight complete lifts plus two retrofit Monarch drive terminals, the most projects ever in one year for the company. Doppelmayr’s Alpenstar model continued to be popular with seven installations.
Snow King Mountain transformed this summer with a new gondola, backside expansion and summit learning center.
We saw the ski industry recover faster from the pandemic than other segments of the travel and tourism world. Only two installations were at places other than ski areas in 2020 and 2021, both gondolas at the Icy Strait Pont cruise port in Southeast Alaska.
The percentage of lifts installed used remained low this year with just seven reinstallations. Most customers opted for brand new machines from four different manufacturers.
Doppelmayr won the total project count with 18 installations while the Leitner-Poma/Skytrac duo installed 16. Partek completed a new quad chair at Trollhaugen, Wisconsin after a on-off year with no projects in 2020.
The new Cannon Valley Quad at Minnesota’s Welch Village.
Projects in 2021 were incredibly diverse, from the tiniest platter at a new Club Med in Quebec to Big Sky’s Swift Current 6, the longest D-Line chairlift in the world. The below chart shows Leitner-Poma and Skytrac roughly split their business of large lifts and small lifts while Doppelmayr covered the entire gamut of Vertical Transport Feet per Hour under one roof.
The lift companies enjoyed a great year and so did Lift Blog. A record 617,000 people visited this website in 2021 and viewed 3.6 million pages. Next year I should finally finish visiting every US ski area, a milestone I’ve been chasing since I was four years old. There’s so much to look forward to in the lift world in 2022 and I hope you follow along as I do my best to cover it all. Happy New Year!
An interesting tidbit from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board: a suspected bullet damaged the haul rope of Game Creek Express at Vail, requiring a repair.
Steamboat considers a fourth gondola connecting the base area to town, Greenhorn Ranch will include a chairlift and eight passenger chairs are in play for future lift replacements.
Maine’s Bigrock Mountain fundraises to purchase a Doppelmayr quad.
The fourth chairlift at Utah Olympic Park will be its largest to date, spanning 3,300 feet and utilizing detachable technology. Utah Olympic Legacy Foundation Chief Operating Officer Calum Clark announced the exciting news at Park City Ski & Snowboard’s annual meeting Tuesday. Clark said a deposit has already been paid to Doppelmayr, noting lift manufacturers are already very busy and early contract signing secures a favorable spot in the 2022 production queue.
The Uni-G detachable will rise approximately 1,170 vertical feet and service two trails to start. The new West Peak terrain will feature state of the art snowmaking from SMI and LED lighting. Construction is slated to begin in the spring with completion targeted for December 2022.
Nova Scotia’s largest ski area will debut a second base-to summit quad chair late next year in partnership with Doppelmayr Canada. The mountain currently features a 1987 quad chair and a 1960s-era Poma T-Bar. “This is a game changer,” said Leslie Wilson, Ski Wentworth President and General Manager. “It’s been a long time coming, but the timing was right now to make a major investment and take Ski Wentworth to the next level, setting the stage for potential four season development.” The fixed grip quad will rise approximately 750 feet over a nearly 4,000 foot slope length.
A little-known fact is Ski Wentworth had two quads throughout the 1990s. One of them was later sold and moved to Morin Heights, Quebec. Therefore it’s particularly fitting that the ski area will once again feature two chairlifts. “Now is the time to continue to the next phase of Ski Wentworth’s development as the region moves towards the post-pandemic era,” said the resort. “As a result of a renewed focus on promoting local tourism to Nova Scotians and Maritimers, a burgeoning tourism shoulder season mountain biking, development of new tourism products and an increasing awareness of healthy, outdoor lifestyles, Ski Wentworth is primed for the future.”
Lift Blog 
