• A decision on the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola isn’t announced yet but some are already calling for an audit and threatening a lawsuit.
• Telluride celebrates 25 years of public transport by gondola.
• Catamount now plans to finish its two relocated chairlift projects over the summer.
• An impressive six station, 150 cabin urban gondola opens in Israel.
• Granby Ranch teases a new lift between its East and West mountains.
• The Forest Service green lights Purgatory’s Ice Creek expansion, through construction won’t happen right away.
• Whitefish will give the public one last chance to ride Chair 4/Great Northern tomorrow; Bigfoot T-Bar will be closed for the rest of the season due to maintenance.
• Epic Pass prices rise modestly, tiers and blackout dates remain the same.
• In a presentation to investors, Vail Resorts says it will continue to focus on advance commitment products, high return capital investments and network expansion.
• Vail says data-based adjustments to select lifts achieved an average capacity increase of 10 percent, equivalent to adding five high speed quads to its network without investing any capital. The program will expand to more lifts for 2022-23.
• Some Juneau leaders have second thoughts about bringing over a used gondola from Austria.
• Mt. Snow’s Sunbrook quad may live on at another Vail resort.
• A lawsuit seeks to stop the proposed Los Angeles Dodger Stadium-Union Station gondola.
• Following last week’s Bartholet-HTI news, MND says its agreement with Bartholet runs through December 2023 and that MND “aims to be a major and self-sufficient industrial ropeway mobility player.” The company plans to deliver around 32 non-detachable chairlifts and surface lifts this year in addition to Bartholet alliance projects.
• An Associated Press investigation uses an Iowa county’s purchase of Mt. Crescent Ski Area as an example of wasteful pandemic relief spending.
• Connonsburg, Michigan may become the latest private ski area to transition to public ownership.
• A permit extension request reveals why the Palisades Base to Base gondola wasn’t completed last summer.

“The 2021 construction season was particularly challenging due to a number of unusual circumstances. The pandemic resulted in labor shortages for not only the lift construction crews and building teams, but also with the supply chain companies delivering key materials. Helicopter usage was a key component for construction, as they were required for activities including tree removal, setting of lift towers and pouring the foundations at the KT mid-station. Helicopter availability was greatly affected by one of the worst wildfire seasons in California history, and once helicopters were available, their operations were shut down as they could not safely fly in the smoky conditions. The fires also resulted in periods when the crews had to be sent home due to unhealthy air quality. For these reasons, construction could not be completed within the six-to-eight-month time frame anticipated in the EIS.”