Construction on Jackson Hole’s second gondola is ramping up as the last of the snow melts. The new Sweetwater Gondola will run from the base of the Teewinot high speed quad to the Casper Restaurant with a mid-station unload, boosting out-of-base capacity and providing an improved experience for beginner skiers. As the photos below show, the project is off to a solid start with awesome weather in the last few weeks after a very wet spring.
New lifts are coming to both sides of the Tetons this summer and that means three old lifts are coming down. At Grand Targhee, the Blackfoot double is being replaced with a Doppelmayr fixed-grip quad. All 20 towers have been removed along with the top terminal. Blackfoot had wooden ramps at both ends that will be burned down once all the steel is out of the way.
Boyne Resorts has firmed up an approximately $10 million deal with Doppelmayr USA to build a flagship detachable lift in The Bowl at Big Sky Resort and replace the damaged Challenger double with an all-new fixed-grip triple chair this summer, according to multiple sources. The resort announced back in February that two new lifts were coming but has yet to officially say much else. These will be the first new lifts built in Big Sky since Moonlight Basin, Spanish Peaks and the Yellowstone Club went bankrupt in 2008-10 and a sure sign that the region has bounced back.
The big story here is the six-pack replacement of the Lone Peak triple which will be just the sixth lift in North America to feature chairs with bubbles and heated seats. The others are at Park City, Sunshine Village, Okemo and the private Hermitage Club in Vermont. The new six pack’s alignment will be altered from the current lift for better traffic flow and the bottom station will feature 90-degree loading. The lift will be just over 3,000 feet long with a vertical rise of approximately 800 feet and ride time of just three minutes.
The new Challenger lift will be a bottom drive/bottom tension fixed-grip triple with loading carpet, capable of spinning up to 500 feet a minute for a 9.5 minute ride. The Challenger double chair that broke in February only ran 396 fpm. Challenger will most likely feature Doppelmayr’s Tristar drive/tension terminal and an expanded unloading area next to the summit of the Headwaters double.
Mt. Bachelor will open the long-awaited east side expansion served by a new high speed quad called Cloudchaser in time for Christmas. Powdr Corp. has signed a nearly $6 million contract with Doppelmayr to install the lift this summer. The project will add 635 acres of skiable terrain to Mt. Bachelor, making it the 5th largest ski area in the United States. This will be the first new terrain serviced by a new lift since the Northwest Express was added in 1996. With the addition of Cloudchaser, Mt. Bachelor will have eight detachable quad chairs serving more than 4,300 acres. The new lift will rise 1,448 vertical feet with a slope length of 6,576 feet and 21 towers.
Mt. Bachelor will host a Cloudchaser launch party on May 7th with free skiing and entertainment. “This is an exciting milestone for the entire team here at Mt. Bachelor and for you, our loyal pass holders,” interim General Manager John McCleod wrote in an email to season pass holders. “Powdr’s investment in this lift underscores a commitment to Mt. Bachelor and provides us a new way to enjoy our favorite mountain.”
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