- Blue Mountain and Camelback, Pennsylvania join the Ikon Pass.
- Willamette Pass converts its backside chairlift from diesel to electric.
- California’s newest gondola opens October 29th.
- Big Sky’s new trail map shows the new tram route.
- New Hampshire lost ski area Mt. Whittier goes up for sale.
- Vail Resorts resurrects plans for a new six pack at Perisher.
- Silverton Mountain is sold to new owners from Aspen.
- Revelstoke adds more chairs to The Ripper.
- Eaglecrest hopes to open its used pulse gondola in fall 2025.
- Doppelmayr wins a contract to build a six station, 94 cabin urban gondola in Uruapan, Mexico.
- Mt. Ashland plans to build a new chairlift in long lost terrain with $2.5 million from Lithia Motors.
Eaglecrest
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: Interconnect
- Eaglecrest secures a $10 million investment to install a used pulse gondola.
- Ex-Netflix CEO Reed Hastings acquires a minority stake in Powder Mountain, looks to fund lift improvements.
- Whistler Blackcomb will auction quad chairs from Big Red and Fitzsimmons.
- The Forest Service lists a new proposal by Alterra to connect Big Bear and Snow Summit with two new lifts.
- Vail Resorts reports successful season results with skier visits up 6.1 percent with ski school, dining and retail/rental revenue all up as well.
- Doppelmayr’s 2023 yearbook is out. Poma’s too.
News Roundup: Viral Videos
- Sunshine Village seeks to replace Angel Express by 2024, manufacturer TBD.
- Bromont’s outgoing Versant des Épinettes quad will get a second life at Mont Rigaud.
- Mont-Sainte-Anne reopens without its gondola. The FIS postpones a February World Cup event there.
- Whitefish won’t operate Bad Rock this winter.
- A child falls from a lift at Whitetail.
- A Park City guest is charged with assault for a mid-ride fight on the Saddleback Express.
- A snowboarder falling down a T-Bar line sends four other riders to the hospital in Europe.
- Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania will open the Main Street Express tomorrow.
- Utah Olympic Park and Doppelmayr near the finish line on the West Peak expansion.
- Ditto for Leitner-Poma and Vail on the Sun Down Express.
- Chairs go on Sunnyside at Alta.
- Boyne Resorts looks looks to hire an internal Lift Construction Director.
- The proposed Los Angeles gondola scores a courtroom victory.
- The operator of the Goldbelt Tram agrees to fund $10 million of the Eaglecrest Gondola.
- Granite Peak celebrates expansion approval.
- Mountain Capital Partners acquires a majority stake in Valle Nevado, Chile.
- Silverton Mountain seeks approval for two more chairlifts (pages 63-67).
- Vail Resorts announces a big new lift for Perisher, Australia.
News Roundup: Back in Action
- Mt. Shasta unveils a new map showing the expansion onto Gray Butte.
- HTI Group celebrates 80 new ropeways installed this winter across its Leitner, Poma, Bartholet and Skytrac brands.
- Completion of the Lenawee Express at Arapahoe Basin is now expected in mid-December.
- Indy Pass adds Peek’n Peak, New York and Tussey Mountain, Pennsylvania.
- Doppelmayr shares energy saving operational tips with customers in Europe.
- Waterville Valley and MND postpone the load test of Tecumseh Express by a week due to delayed electrical components.
- Loon Mountain expects to open the delayed Seven Brothers some time in December.
- Sunday River plans a December 17th grand opening for Jordan 8.
- The operator of the Goldbelt Tram may invest $10 million in Eaglecrest’s pulse gondola project.
- Sterling Vineyards previews the first Omega V cabins coming to California.
- Kimberley spins the Northstar Express for the first time in nearly a year, hopes to open by the third week in December.
- The Village of Taos Ski Valley declines to sell a parcel needed for a base to base gondola, wants an easement instead.
News Roundup: Game Creek
- Indy Pass adds Calabogie Peaks and Loch Lomond, Ontario; Arctic Valley, Alaska and Mt. Crescent, Iowa plus more allied resorts.
- In Tennessee, Skyland Ranch will open November 11th with a brand new combination chairlift/gondola.
- Windham Mountain acquires 450 acres, hires SE Group to craft a master plan for Eastward expansion.
- Rusty Gregory, Stephen Kircher and Mike Kaplan talk recession, climate change and resilience at a virtual event.
- Montana Snowbowl’s new Skytrac will be called Transporter.
- Snowriver introduces a website and logo.
- Breckenridge will sell 85 double chairs from Rip’s Ride for charity.
- All systems are go for Kimberley’s Northstar Express to reopen this season.
- Cannon Mountain warns a big increase in energy costs will lead to higher prices this winter.
- Ober Gatlinburg becomes Ober Mountain with a new owner, new President and capital investments to come.
- Blue Mountain’s trail map shows the location of the the new Main Street Express.
- The Highlands closes Heather Express for the season early due to mechanical problems.
- Doppelmayr plans to build Mexico City’s new six-station gondola line in just 15 months.
- Season four of the Ski Utah podcast debuts with an episode all about the Snowbird Tram’s modernization.
- Eaglecrest chooses an alignment for its used gondola.
- Thanks to reader Mark for these great photos of projects nearing completion on Vail Mountain.
News Roundup: Changing Hands
- Vancouver’s transit authority begins the station design process for the Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- Three Park City residents who own Pacific Group Resorts expect to close on Jay Peak next month.
- Burke Mountain may also soon be sold.
- Arapahoe Basin creates a podcast episode all about Lenawee Express construction.
- A Basin also explains why a big drop in skier visits is a good thing.
- Energy prices where many of the world’s lifts are operated and manufactured could spike eight fold this winter.
- Eaglecrest’s new gondola arrives in Alaska.
- Sugar Bowl joins the Mountain Collective.
- Hunter Mountain will sell chairs from the Z Lift next week.
- A thousand page report outlines negligence and poor management leading to deaths of 14 people on an Italian tramway last year.
- Dry Hill, New York gets new owners.
- The top station building for a 125 passenger aerial tramway partially burns in Switzerland.
- The Forest Service seeks public comments on Copper Mountain’s proposed Timberline six pack.
- The General Manager of Whitecap Mountains, Wisconsin assumes full ownership.
- A new neighborhood adjacent to Mayflower Mountain Resort will feature its own chairlift.
- Mt. Bachelor’s new Skyliner six pack will be D-Line.
- Loveland and Lookout Pass fly lift towers into place.
- British Columbia determines a volunteer ski patroller injured in a chairlift de-ropement is eligible for worker’s compensation.
- Leitner wins a four station urban gondola contract in Colombia.
- Here are some official and unofficial updates on the Palisades Tahoe Base-to-Base Gondola.
- Also an update on Thunder from Jackson Hole:
News Roundup: Alterra, Boyne, Powdr and Vail
- Sunday River explains why Jordan 8 came before Barker replacement.
- Brighton proposes swapping Crest Express for a six place D-Line.
- Snowbird looks to replace Wilbere.
- This document details Snowbird’s temporary one car tram operation.
- A hearing to consider the sale of Jay Peak is scheduled for August 26th.
- Eaglecrest and Mt. Spokane join the Freedom Pass alliance.
- Flash flood cleanup closes the Palm Springs Tram for the week.
- A power outage leaves guests waiting hours at the top of the Sandia Peak Tram.
- Eleven ski areas in the White River National Forest paid a record $24 million in profit sharing to the Forest Service last year.
- Steamboat and Doppelmayr fly towers for the Wild Blue Gondola.
- The Los Angeles Dodgers display a Sigma 3S gondola cabin which could provide future stadium transport.
- Mt. Shasta releases a preliminary map of the Grey Butte expansion.
- Bartholet begins construction of the first Ropetaxi with cabins that will move individually based on passenger demand and destination.
- The restoration plan approved for Keystone’s Bergman Bowl requires annual monitoring through 2033.
- Boston Mills/Brandywine will auction double and quad chairs next week.
News Roundup: Gunstock & More
- Indy Pass signs its largest partner yet by skier visits: Mt. Hood Meadows.
- Former Indy Pass resort Marmot Basin joins the Mountain Collective.
- Some 300 people show up to what was intended to be an executive session of the Gunstock Area Commission to discuss legal, financial and employment matters. Two commissioners end up walking out. Another meeting is scheduled for today.
- Resigned Gunstock Area Commissioner and former Stowe CEO Gary Kiedaisch attempts to un-resign.
- A New Hampshire State Representative alleges former Gunstock General Manager Tom Day improperly donated $500 in public money to Governor Sununu’s 2020 re-election campaign.
- Organizers of a music festival set to take place at Gunstock next weekend threaten legal action if the Panorama high speed quad doesn’t run as contracted.
- Deer Valley and Mayflower work toward an operating agreement.
- Eaglecrest General Manager Dave Scanlan goes on the radio to talk about the gondola project.
- Skytrac is still hiring folks to build ski lifts, particularly at Jack Frost and Big Boulder in Pennsylvania.
- Smugglers’ Notch gives a rundown of all the work that goes into servicing a bullwheel.
- Sierra at Tahoe completes haul rope replacements on two more lifts.
- A bolt tightening contractor is hit by a tram carriage and seriously injured at Jackson Hole.
- Skytrac begins building on Eagle Peak at Lookout Pass.
- Greek Peak starts construction of a new Chair 3.
- Utah Olympic Park’s big expansion won’t be open to public skiing with limited exceptions.
- The first D-Line in California is approved, will feature unique angle stations.
- Closed Connecticut ski area Woodbury goes back up for sale.
- The company seeking to build a gondola in Edmonton, Alberta would pay $1.1 million a year to lease city right of way.
- A woman found dead under Anakeesta’s chondola last night is believed to have fallen from the lift, which remains closed today.
- Two men are killed while working to build a Doppelmayr gondola in France.
- Below is the July 8th Notice of Noncompliance the Forest Service sent Keystone regarding unauthorized road construction in Bergman Bowl. Since the letter is three weeks old, Forest Supervisor Scott Fitzwilliams sent an update on where things stand.
News Roundup: Contract Awards
- Indy Pass adds Meadowlark, Wyoming and Black Mountain of Maine, teases a big West Coast addition coming next week.
- The Boston Globe visits Gunstock, finds employees refusing to work without managers, a locksmith changing locks and politicians advocating for the resort to be leased to a private operator.
- New England Ski Journal gets former Gunstock GM Tom Day’s side of the story.
- A local architecture firm wins the contract to design and engineer the Eaglecrest Gondola relocation.
- The Maine Land Use Planning Commission wants more information before voting on the Moosehead Lake ski area rebuild.
- Dozens of ski areas reach out to help Plattekill Mountain following last week’s fire with Snowbasin offering a used drive system.
- One lift becomes fully operational at long-closed Cuchara.
- Busch Gardens Tampa Bay delays reopening its VonRoll gondola, citing the scope of work and delays in supplies.
- ORDA seeks public comment on a proposed Lift 7 replacement and gondola maintenance facility at Belleayre.
- ORDA also awards an $11.2 million contract to Doppelmayr for the Bear Den detachable quad at Whiteface.
- Pennsylvania’s first D-Line goes above ground at Camelback. Thanks to Ben Ta for the photos.
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