Deer Valley has unveiled the names for three chairlifts that will open this winter in phase one of the Expanded Excellence expansion. The three inaugural lifts, being constructed by Doppelmayr, include a high speed six pack with bubbles, a detachable quad and a fixed grip quad. Skiers will gain access to 300 acres and 20 trails this season via a temporary gateway with 500 parking spaces, a rental shop and ticketing services. “In just a couple of months, we are looking forward to welcoming our guests to experience the beginning of Deer Valley’s Expanded Excellence vision,” said Todd Bennett, President & COO of Deer Valley Resort.
The flagship D-Line Keetley Express will load near the new Grand Hyatt Deer Valley and lift skiers to Keetley Point. This lift will feature Deer Valley’s first-ever bubble comfort chairs and provide access to the existing Sultan Express lift. Next door, the shorter Hoodoo Express quad will service beginner terrain above the East Village. This lift will be a UNI-G detachable designed to look like the D-Line next door. The third new lift for this season, called Aurora, will provide a short return route back to the East Village. This Alpenstar quad will feature a loading conveyor to maximize efficiency. Keetley Express is expected to open in December with Hoodoo Express and Aurora to follow shortly thereafter.
Concrete work is also underway for six additional lifts set to open for the 2025-26 season. These include a two stage, 10 passenger gondola and five detachable chairlifts. The final four lifts in the expansion will open in future seasons with the exact timeline yet to be determined. When the expansion is complete, Deer Valley will have added 3,700 acres of skiable terrain and 135 new ski runs, making it one of the largest resorts in North America.
Over the weekend the State of West Virginia broke ground on an $8 million gondola project at Hawks Nest State Park. Doppelmayr will build the fixed grip system, which will carry visitors down 465 vertical feet to the New River and be fully ADA accessible. The top drive, bottom tension design will feature three six passenger cabins in a pulse configuration. A fourth carrier will accommodate kayaks and other outdoor recreation equipment. The new gondola replaces a 1970 Hall jig-back which closed in 2021 due to safety concerns. “A whole lot of people who love Hawks Nest State Park have been waiting for the tram project,” said West Virginia Governor Jim Justice at the groundbreaking. “Hundreds of thousands of folks have created memories here on the tram over the last 50 years, and I’m excited for the next hundred thousand visitors to the park to be able to do just the same.”
This is the second gondola construction project underway in the Mountain State. A $12.4 million gondola is set to open at Pipestem State Park this fall. The Hawks Nest gondola is expected to follow in late spring 2025, completing the replacement of two iconic ropeways. Governor Justice said he expects to be among the first to ride each new gondola with his Bulldog named Babydog.
Today Doppelmayr announced a major expansion of its longtime facility in Salt Lake City, Utah. The project will nearly double the size of the US headquarters to include 120,000 square feet of indoor production and warehouse space, 68,000 square feet of covered outdoor space and 40,000 square feet of office and training space. The expansion will be constructed directly east of an existing building, which originally served as CTEC’s headquarters near the Salt Lake City International Airport. “As ski resorts across the USA continue to invest in state-of-the-art infrastructure to enhance guest experience, including new ropeways, the facility expansion positions Doppelmayr USA to better meet the growing demands of the thriving North American ropeway market,” the company said in a release.
Doppelmayr currently produces tower components, control systems, electrical cabinets, operator houses and fixed grip terminals for projects across North America in Salt Lake. “The current facility has served us well for over 20 years, but we are bursting at the seams,” said Doppelmayr USA President Katharina Schmitz. “The new facility will be a state-of-the art manufacturing facility where we will continue to design and produce the highest quality ropeway systems in North America. We are excited to expand our production capabilities and our workforce and continue Doppelmayr’s legacy of building ropeways in Salt Lake City,” she noted. The Doppelmayr Group operates one other North American production site in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec and also produces components for the North American market in Wolfurt, Austria.
This news comes less than two weeks after Doppelmayr’s main competitor HTI opened a new 130,000 square foot facility to support both Skytrac and Leitner-Poma in Tooele, Utah. The Utah ski industry is booming with new lift projects underway or planned at Deer Valley Resort, Park City Mountain, Powder Mountain, Snowbird, Sundance Resort and Wasatch Peaks Ranch. The state reported a record 7.1 million skier visits in 2022-23 and expects to host the Olympic Winter Games for the second time in 2034.
Architecture and engineering designs for Doppelmayr’s new Salt Lake facility are currently being developed. Construction is anticipated to start in early 2025, with the target to be producing out of the new facility by mid-2026.
Doppelmayr’s latest customer magazine focuses on North America overtaking Europe as the company’s largest market and achieving more than 50 percent market share in our highly competitive region.
A prototype MND Orizon detachable is under construction at the factory and expected to be operational in early summer for testing. The first customer installation may be in Uzbekistan.
Plans show four major lifts at the planned Stagecoach Mountain Ranch near Steamboat.
Legoland New York’s new gondola appears mostly complete with the first Diamond EVO cabins in North America.
Quebec Ski Resorts Company says if it acquired the lease to Mont-Sainte-Anne, it would install a 10 passenger Doppelmayr gondola in 2025 and two detachable chairlifts in 2026. Resorts of the Canadian Rockies insists the mountain is not for sale.
Quebec Mountain Resorts Company, owner of Mont Grand-Fonds and Mont Lac-Vert, offers to buy Mont-Sainte-Anne and Stoneham from Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, says it would invest tens of millions in new lifts and snowmaking.
Vail Resorts reports skier visits were down 7.8 percent this season but revenue was up. Same story for 24-25 season pass sales with units pacing down but revenue up.
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