Doppelmayr

Loon Mountain Announces Pulse Gondola

Peter Landsman12 Comments

New Hampshire’s Loon Mountain has made it official: a pulse gondola will join the lift fleet in 2025. The connector lift will cross the Pemigewasset River, linking RiverWalk at Loon Mountain in the town of Lincoln to Escape Route parking lot B, the Timbertown Quad and future South Peak Village. Doppelmayr USA will build the 1,300 foot machine, which will become the first pulse gondola in New England. Pulse gondolas are fixed grip lifts with pods of cabins that slow down for loading and unloading. Loon’s pulse will be configured four groupings of three cabins each. The 12 Omega IV cabin will hold up to eight riders and include floor-to-ceiling windows for views of the White Mountains.

With the South Peak expansion, Loon Mountain has nearly doubled the size of its lift fleet over the past 18 years. “Innovation and access are areas we continue to focus on,” said Brian Norton, Loon’s president and general manager. “This lift has been long dreamt of—dating back to the late ‘80s—and would not be possible without collaboration with RiverWalk and South Peak resorts,” Norton noted.

Construction on the gondola is expected to begin in spring 2025 and the lift will open for the 2025-26 winter season. Hours of operation and whether the gondola will be free or paid will be determined closer to opening.

Shedhorn at Big Sky Evacuated Following Chair Collision

Peter Landsman59 Comments
Photo credit: retailarbitrage via Reddit

Big Sky Resort conducted a rope evacuation today after two chairs collided on the Shedhorn high speed quad. A witness wrote on Reddit that one loaded chair slid back into another loaded chair just uphill of the bottom station. Big Sky declined to specify the nature of the mechanical problem but said in a statement, “This morning, Shedhorn lift experienced a mechanical issue at approximately 11:40am. Lift maintenance, along with ski patrol, responded immediately and determined that a rope evacuation would be the quickest resolution to clear guests from the chairlift.”

Today was a powder day in Big Sky with 14 inches of new snow and it took until just after 2:00 pm to clear all riders from the lift. Some guests resorted to hiking out of the Shedhorn area due to its remote location. Because of the patrol resources needed for the lift evacuation, the Lone Peak Tram was also closed for a time.

Shedhorn is a 1991 Doppelmayr detachable quad with DS104 grips. The lift opened in its current location in 2018 as a relocation from the Andesite side of the resort. In its statement, Big Sky thanked lift staff and patrollers for their efforts today and noted “Lift maintenance is working to resolve the mechanical issue and intends to reopen the Shedhorn lift as soon as possible.”

Photo credit: retailarbitrage via Reddit

Deer Valley East Village to Open Next Season with Bubble Six Pack

Peter Landsman9 Comments

Both destination and day skiers will gain a new option to access Deer Valley Resort next winter with the addition of a Doppelmayr bubble chairlift. The yet-to-be-named six pack will connect the Grand Hyatt Deer Valley in the new East Village to a knob above the existing Sultan Express and Mayflower lifts. The 5,800 foot long bubble lift will service both the slopeside hotel and 500 new day skier parking spaces at opening. After riding 1,240 vertical feet on the D-Line bubble chair, guests can access the rest of Deer Valley via Sultan without needing to park at Snow Park Village.

Known for now as Lift 3, the Doppelmayr six place will be the first of nine lifts to open as part of Expanded Excellence phase one. This bubble chair is distinct from Lift 7, another bubble six place under consideration by the Park City Planning Commission tomorrow evening. Lift 3 and perhaps a couple small access lifts will be completed by December 2024 with Lift 7 with the rest of the 2,900 acre phase one expansion opening for the 2025-26 season.

Deer Valley Plans Park Peak Bubble Chair

Peter Landsman12 Comments

The Park City Planning Commission is set to consider one of the first lift projects in Deer Valley’s Expanded Excellence expansion next week. The new Lift 7 would become not only become Deer Valley’s first six pack but also its first bubble chair and first D-Line lift. Though relatively short, Lift 7 will form a key link between existing terrain on Bald and Flagstaff mountains and Park Peak, the summit of Expanded Excellence terrain. In the below map, Lift 7 is the uppermost red alignment surrounded by green runs. It will be accessed from existing Ontario and Trump ski runs and carry 3,000 skiers per hour. Guests will unload near the top of the future East Village gondola and Lift 6 six pack on Park Peak.

The project currently under review includes 4.62 miles of beginner ski runs that will be among the highest elevation trails at Deer Valley, topping out at 9,285 feet. Lift 7 will include 58 bubble chairs both for guest comfort and wind protection. The top drive, bottom tension machine will ascend 624 vertical feet in just 3.5 minutes at 1,000 feet per minute. Half the chairs can be parked in the bottom terminal with the rest in an adjacent 8,500 square foot storage facility. Deer Valley proposes to install 10 lift towers ranging in height from 19 to 53 feet.

Lift 7 is one of ten lifts set to be built over the next two summers as part of Expanded Excellence, set to open in winter 2025/26. If approved, Lift 7 and perhaps other lifts could open as early as next winter. Alterra typically announces specific capital plans for all its resorts in March but has not yet done so for 2024 (the only reason we know these details about Lift 7 is because it falls within the purview of the Park City municipal Planning Commission. The rest of the expansion is outside Park City boundaries in Wasatch County.) The Grand Hyatt Deer Valley is slated to open next season and in order to be ski in, ski out, the out-of-base Lift 3 would need to be constructed this summer to connect to Sultan Express. That project would likely also be a Doppelmayr bubble six place. Other real estate access chairlifts may be constructed this summer as well. I have reached out to Deer Valley for more information on 2024 lift plans and will update if I hear back.

News Roundup: Stagecoach Resurrection

Peter Landsman12 Comments

New Gondola Coming to West Virginia’s Pipestem State Park

Peter Landsman3 Comments

Construction is ramping up on a new six passenger gondola in West Virginia. The State announced this week the Doppelmayr pulse system is expected to be complete this fall. The lift replaces a four passenger Mueller gondola which operated from 1970 until 2023. The new lift will be fully ADA accessible and carry riders 1,100 vertical feet down into the Bluestone River Gorge. The lift will serve a wide variety of visitors from sightseers to overnight lodging guests, anglers and boaters. To accomplish this, the gondola will feature four pulses of three cabins each along with a freight carrier for bicycles and kayaks.

“Pipestem Resort has always been one of the most popular state parks in West Virginia and this new tramway is going to help us accommodate visitors and continue to offer a world-class experience,” said West Virginia Division of Natural Resources Director Brett McMillion. “As a former superintendent at Pipestem, I want to thank Governor Justice for his continued support of our state parks over these last seven years and guaranteeing that they will be enjoyed by West Virginians and visitors alike for years to come.”

Crews will soon fly out nine old Mueller lattice towers and set new tubular towers for the system. Each station will also require new loading platforms to be constructed.

Doppelmayr has a longstanding construction base in West Virginia and is also scheduled to construct a new gondola at Hawks Nest State Park in 2024-25.

News Roundup: Above & Beyond

Peter Landsman28 Comments

The Highlands, Michigan to Replace Interconnect Chair

Peter Landsman17 Comments

The Highlands at Harbor Springs will forge ahead with another lift replacement project this summer, retiring the Interconnect Riblet triple for a faster Doppelmayr version. The new fixed grip triple will feature a height adjustable loading conveyor, RFID gates and safety bars, all of which the current triple lacks. The Alpenstar machine will move 33 percent faster and improve access to North Peak terrain. The move comes hot on the heels of this season’s debut of Camelot 6, the first bubble detachable in the Midwest and fastest chairlift in Michigan.

When the new Interconnect lift is complete, The Highlands will have replaced four aging Riblet chairlifts with new technology over just two seasons. “We are eager to upgrade our Interconnect lift with a new Doppelmayr fixed-grip design to enhance the experience for guests next winter season,” said Mike Chumbler, president and general manager of The Highlands. “With improved speed, efficiency, modern conveniences, and safety features, we are confident that this addition will help build on the overall skiing and riding adventures at The Highlands.”

For the second year in a row, Boyne Resorts has announced more new lifts at more mountains than any other North American operator. Boyne plans at least six lift projects this summer at its resorts in Maine, Michigan, Montana and Washington.

Pleasant Mountain to Build Detachable Summit Lift

Peter Landsman11 Comments

For the first time in its 86 year history, Maine’s Pleasant Mountain will feature a high speed lift next season. The new Summit Express will run 1,220 vertical feet from the base of the mountain to the top in just 4.5 minutes. The detachable quad will contain some new parts from Doppelmayr along with many refurbished components from the former Jordan Bowl Express at Sunday River. Like with the new Bucksaw Express at Sugarloaf, Pleasant Mountain is working with Doppelmayr to make the lift look and feel like a completely new machine. The existing Summit Triple, which was down for a period this season with mechanical issues, will be removed.

“We’re taking our guest experience to new heights with a faster, more efficient detachable quad from Doppelmayr,” the resort said, noting the new lift will carry 2,400 skiers per hour at 1,000 feet per minute. “We can’t wait to introduce Pleasant Mountain guests to the new lift experience.”

The Summit Express is the fifth new lift project announced by Boyne Resorts for the 24-25 season. Big Sky and The Summit at Snoqualmie also plan to debut new lifts for next winter.

Deropement Leads to Lift Evacuation at Brian Head, Utah

Peter Landsman16 Comments
Photo credit: Simon Balazs

Skiers and snowboarders had to be roped down from the Giant Steps Express at Brian Head yesterday following a tower deropement. The incident occurred on the heavy side of tower 1, immediately adjacent to the bottom station. Witnesses reported the lift was nearly full and the rope evacuation lasted a number of hours. “At approximately 12:05 pm the Giant Steps Express chairlift experienced a mechanical issue that resulted in a lift evacuation,” the resort said in a statement. “Mountain operations teams quickly responded and safely evacuated all guests without incident or injury in less than 2 hours.”

Photo credit: Zack S.

Giant Steps is a Doppelmayr CTEC high speed quad manufactured in 2005. The UNI-GS series detachable originally operated at Tamarack Resort in Idaho before being installed at Brian Head in 2014. The incident is the third deropement leading to a rope evacuation in the last four days. On Thursday, the Aurora Quad at Sunday River de-roped near the bottom terminal and 200 plus riders were roped off. Then on Saturday, a deropement caused chairs to fall from the North Chair at Snow Ridge, New York, leading to another evacuation. All three lifts remain closed today.