- According to the New York State contracting website, the Gore Mountain Sunway, High Peaks, Hudson and Whiteface Bear Den lift replacement projects that went out to bid last fall are all on hold. Two bids were received for the Olympic Jumping Complex gondola in Lake Placid but no builder has been selected as of January 18th.
- A chair falls off a 1993 Yan detachable quad in Spain, closing an entire ski resort indefinitely.
- Lift service returns to Killington’s South Ridge for the first time in a decade as of yesterday.
- Bartholet completes its first 10 passenger gondola lift in Norway.
- Les Otten lobbies for a new bill that would permit public financing for The Balsams redevelopment.
- The proposed gondola in Idaho Springs, Colorado would be modeled after the Sea to Sky Gondola, which now carries more than 400,000 riders a year in British Culumbia. The 1.2 mile Colorado version would rise 1,100 feet above Interstate 70.
- The largest lost ski resort in Canada, Fortress Mountain, could reopen with a mix of new and refurbished lifts in 2020.
- Sun Valley and Snowbasin ditch the Mountain Collective Pass for a partnership with Vail Resorts and the Epic Pass starting next winter.
- The Laconia Daily Sun explains how Highland Mountain Bike Park finds success on the grounds of a long lost New Hampshire ski area.
- The former longtime operator of Timberline Four Seasons Resort is indicted, accused of illegally prescribing pain drugs. The ski area suffered a major lift accident in 2016 and has operated only sporadically this winter.
Gore Mountain
News Roundup: Only in Utah
- Australia’s Financial Review reports Vail Resorts will acquire Falls Creek and Mt. Hotham from Merlin Entertainments for about $85 million USD.
- With its purchase of Deer Valley, Alterra Mountain Company now owns about half the land under Park City’s Jupiter chair.
- Gore Mountain evacuates the Northwoods Gondola by rope.
- Salt Lake City is selected to bid for another Winter Olympics.
- Telluride CEO Bill Jensen joins CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the economics behind the Epic and Ikon passes.
- The top shack of Anthony Lakes’ only chairlift blows over just before planned opening day.
- The Adventure Group of Whistler proposes building a 9,000′ gondola on Oahu. Hawaii is one of only five U.S. states currently without an aerial lift.
- Mt. Spokane grows by 279 acres with seven new runs and a Skytrac named Northwood.
- Europe’s new highest ropeway is also the pinnacle of industrial design.
- The Hunter North expansion and shiny Northern Express six place chairlift launch Christmas Eve.
- Days before the second DirectDrive detachable is set to open at Copper, Jon Mauch of Leitner-Poma answers questions about the new lifts.
- In France, La Plagne announces an indefinite closure of the first French-manufactured LST detachable due to technical problems.
- Cherry Peak is set to open a third chairlift this season after three years of construction.
- Shuttered Mt. Timothy, BC is purchased by investors who plan to reopen it.
- Vail Resorts-operated Mt. Sunapee is approved to expand into West Bowl.
- The Zugspitze Cable Car reopens today with a new cabin exactly 100 days after this accident.
- Bromont inaugurates North America’s eighth combination chair/gondola lift, L’Express du Village, Sunday morning.
- Check out these photos of the Snowbowl Express build and sweet new color scheme at Stratton.
News Roundup: Adding More
- The Forest Service tentatively approves Vail’s Golden Peak T-Bar project.
- US Representative from New York Patrick Maloney dreams up a gondola across the Hudson.
- Red Mountain seeks approval to build the Topping Creek lift.
- Apple Mountain, Michigan is no longer a ski area.
- The first rope evac of the season goes to Super Bee at Copper.
- Gore Mountain solicits bids to replace Sunway and High Peaks with fixed grip quads. That brings the Olympic Regional Development Authority to five potential lift projects for 2019!
- The Aspen City Council considers Aspen Mountain’s Telemix project again.
- The Jackson Town Council rejects Snow King Mountain’s proposed gondola alignment.
- Doppelmayr apologizes for a delay completing the new Blackcomb Gondola. The new Catskinner and Emerald Express lifts open Thursday and the gondola will be finished by December 14th.
- Calgary voters say no to hosting the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
- The world’s largest urban gondola network now transports 250,000 passengers every weekday with the most popular line doing a million passengers every 19 days.
- Alterra’s Ikon Pass now includes three resorts in New Zealand; Vail adds Les 3 Vallées, France and Skirama Dolomiti in Italy to the Epic Pass.
- Following a lift failure and other struggles, the owners of Timberline, West Virginia seek to recapitalize and restructure the business.
- Remember Gudauri, the Georgian ski resort which made global headlines last winter? It’s fixing the quad that rolled back and adding six more lifts.
- The Hermitage Club receiver will retain a single lift mechanic to maintain five chairlifts in mothballed status over the winter.
- The longest Skytrac to date is ready for winter in Washington State.
- Killington puts new Sigma cabins on the K-1 Gondola a few at a time.
- The Ramcharger 8 haul rope is spliced and chairs are in place at the summit of Andesite Mountain.
- Ski Blandford is officially back in business minus one chairlift.
New York State Goes Lift Shopping
Only a handful of ski mountains in the United States are government owned and operated. The largest public ski outfit by far is New York’s Olympic Regional Development Authority, which runs Belleayre, Gore Mountain, Whiteface and the Olympic Ski Jumping Complex at Lake Placid. All but one of these properties are likely to see new lifts in 2019. Because the mountains are funded in part by taxpayers, potential lift projects are subject to competitive procurement. Over the last month, the Authority has opened requests for proposals for a new high speed quad at Gore Mountain, a quad chair at Whiteface and a surprise gondola at the ski jump.
Back on September 17th, ORDA opened bidding for a chairlift replacement project at Gore Mountain. “Gore Mountain Ski Resort will be replacing their existing triple chair lift with a high speed detachable quad chair lift,” notes the New York State Contract Reporter. “This would be a turnkey project where the winning bidder would provide all materials, labor and equipment to build and install the lift.” This is almost certainly the approved upgrade of Hudson, a 2010 Partek build. Bids were due last Tuesday and the term is 12 months. Leitner-Poma of America built the last three detachable lifts at Gore, so I’d argue it is their contract to lose.
Next up is an RFP for a new Bear Den quad at Whiteface, the largest ski mountain in the east by vertical. The current Riblet triple in the Bear Den base area will become one of many late model Riblet lifts to be replaced recently. I assume this one will be fixed grip but the contract reporter website does not specify. Bids are due on Monday, November 26th. Doppelmayr would seem to have the edge at Whiteface, having built the mountain’s three newest lifts.
News Roundup: Decisions, Decisions
- With approvals inked, Steamboat considers whether to build a second gondola or the Pioneer Ridge expansion first.
- The Kohlmaisbahn in Saalbach, Austria becomes the first gondola spotted with Omega V cabins.
- The Hermitage may miss Christmas.
- Catch a glimpse of the new Winter Park gondola cabins. Killington too!
- The eight urban gondolas in La Paz transported a 318,532 riders last Wednesday – a crazy new single day record.
- Thanks to community support, Antelope Butte is poised to reopen with two chairlifts.
- After having its summer camp shut down by the state of New Hampshire, Granite Gorge likely won’t open for downhill skiing this winter.
- The ex-Gore Mountain employee who claimed he was left on a lift overnight last winter is convicted of making a false statement to police and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
- Mont Gleason, Quebec will build a fixed grip quad with loading carpet next summer.
- The Iron Mountain Tramway in Glenwood Springs is carrying its final riders next Sunday as Leitner-Poma mobilizes to build an improved gondola this winter.
- Thanks to Jared Emerson for taking me around the newest North American lift by LST Ropeways at Waterville Valley. She’s a beauty!
News Roundup: Bahn
- Bretton Woods’ upcoming gondola gets a great name: Presidential Bahn.
- Copper updates the public on its big new American Eagle and American Flyer lifts.
- For the third time in six years, Soldier Mountain, Idaho hits the market. “The current owners have experienced the typical start up challenges that come with operating a ski area that has been under capitalized, under managed and under marketed for many years,” writes Mike Krongel of Mirus Resort Advisors.
- The BC Supreme Court orders the province to reconsider its 2015 decision to pull Jumbo Glacier Resort’s construction permit over lack of progress.
- Mont Cascades scores a $1.2 million grant from the Government of Quebec to help build the resort’s longest chairlift yet.
- The criminal case of a former employee who may or may not have been stuck on a Gore Mountain chairlift overnight last winter heads to trial.
- Snow King’s possible gondola gains two new alignment options. GM Ryan Stanley tells the Jackson Hole community “After struggling for so many years to keep the lifts spinning, it is sad to see the negativity associated with proposed improvements to the mountain.”
- The 380 acre Cold Springs Canyon expansion and detachable quad are officially a go for next summer at Sun Valley.
- Doppelmayr nears commissioning of a very cool gondola with spherical cabins, loopy towers and whimsical stations in Moscow.
- Stratton says goodbye to the SMS Poma, leaving just seven detachable surface lifts in the country by my count.
- 36 days before opening, go inside the eye-catching Matterhorn 3S gondola by Leitner Ropeways.
- Thanks to Everett and Will for these shots of Big Sky’s trailblazing Ramcharger 8 project.
News Roundup: Possible
- Vail Resorts net income rises 41.5% over last year’s third quarter with Epic season pass sales up 12 percent in units and 19 percent in dollars through May 29th.
- The new Lift One will likely be put to Aspen voters in a winter 2019 special election rather than the November general election.
- The Western Idaho State Fair plans to debut a chairlift for the first time in August – apparently a used Riblet of unknown origin.
- An urban gondola proposal in Ogden, Utah is back.
- A great writeup about Heron’s early days answers why Aspen Skiing Company switched from Colorado’s homegrown lift company to Riblet.
- Now’s your chance to enter to win one of Arapahoe Basin’s retired Norway chairs.
- Squaw Valley Alpine Meadows and the Sierra Club sign an agreement for the resort to abandon California Express Alternative 2 in exchange for the group withholding legal action against alternatives 3 and 4.
- The Seattle suburb of Kirkland looks to a possible aerial lift to connect its city center with an upcoming bus rapid transit station.
- Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz and Whistler Blackcomb COO Pete Sonntag do a wide ranging interview with the local newspaper after a challenging year and a half.
- Tower 6 of Howelsen Hill’s chairlift is on the move for at least the third time as city leaders grapple with whether to fix it.
- Beartooth Basin, the only summer ski resort in the United States, opens for the season as everyone else closes. An experiment is also underway to run the lifts with biodiesel.
- The Olympic Regional Development Authority proposes a new chairlift for its Lake Placid ski jumping venue.
- Another Borvig surface lift bites the dust in favor of carpets.
- Berkshire Bank says the Hermitage Club no longer has the right to restructure and argues receivership should proceed. One Hermitage property is scheduled to be auctioned on June 25th.
- A decision not to create an opportunity zone in Rangeley, Maine becomes yet another reason Saddleback is going nowhere fast.
- The man accused of lying about spending a night on a Gore Mountain chairlift says he is innocent and may sue the State of New York.
News Roundup: Connected
- See for yourself is how Aspen parks its gondolas for the offseason.
- The supremely-talented James Niehues is painting an all-new map of Copper Mountain to debut next winter along with two new lifts.
- This month’s Poma Link spotlights good stuff from Europe…a new brand platform, details on Diamond Evo cabins and new sheave liners coming in 2019.
- The Leitner Ropeways 2017 annual report is packed full of photographs and drawings for 32 new lifts the company completed last year.
- The world’s tallest tubular lift tower goes up in La Paz at 194 feet!
- A man who said he was stuck on a Gore Mountain chairlift the night of April Fool’s Day is charged with making false statements.
- Two hackers say they were able to access the Doppelmayr Connect control system for an Austrian gondola in March, raising cyber security concerns. Doppelmayr says the issue has been fixed and no riders were ever at risk.
- The first Skyliner station is going up in Florida and it’s a monster that appears to have two separate turnarounds. A sea of lift parts is also on site at Disney’s Hollywood Studios.
- Leitner unveils cabins clad with Swarovski crystals for the new Matterhorn 3S.
- Berkshire Bank pays propane, electric and tax bills to keep the heat on and prevent a tax sale as it asks a judge to allow a receiver to take over operations at the Hermitage Club.
- Doppelmayr names a new managing director set to take over later this year.
- LST combines wireless operator controls, 3D cameras, RFID tags and LED lighting to encourage safety bar usage and increase loading safety.
- The Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management approve Sun Valley’s Cold Springs Canyon project.
- Big Sky teases an updated rendering of Ramcharger 8 and the first photo from the factory.
- I’ll end this week’s roundup with some interesting thoughts on recent ski resort sales and valuations from Mike Krongel.
News Roundup: Capital
- There will be no construction at Valemount Glacier this year after all.
- Catamount (the New York/Massachusetts one, not Colorado) seeks new investors or an outright buyer.
- Following another best ever season, Whitefish Mountain Resort eyes improving lift service from the base lodge and in Hellroaring Basin, which might mean replacing lifts 4 and 8.
- Blackcomb’s Catskinner triple will soon be available for sale.
- Ski Areas of New York will again offer a series of lift maintenance training classes across the state.
- French regulators propose $800,000 in fines against MND Group and its CEO for allegedly misleading investors and deleting emails, which the company denies.
- Amid the turmoil, MND subsidiary LST Ropeways inks an order to install its second detachable chairlift worth $5.4 million in Avoriaz, France.
- As Crested Butte departs the Powder Alliance, Marmot Basin, Castle Mountain, Sugar Bowl and Loveland join up.
- Red Mountain is searching for a used Doppelmayr T-Bar.
- Loveland confirms Leitner-Poma will build its much anticipated first high-speed quad.
- The Trump Administration’s proposed tariffs target goods from China including “teleferics, chair lifts, ski draglines; and traction mechanisms for funiculars.” Outside contacted both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma for comment with interesting results.
- More contractors and employees say the Hermitage Club didn’t fully pay them and the Town of Wilmington may hold a tax sale in June.
- A man claims he was left to spend a cold night on one of Gore Mountain’s chairlifts and wasn’t found until the next morning, April Fool’s Day.
- A bullwheel bearing issue on Nob Hill at Sugar Bowl throws a major wrench in the end of the season.
- Bretton Woods’ new gondola is on track to break ground in June or July, which would make 11 new gondolas for 2018 in North America – the most ever.
- Approaching two years post-Olympics, both urban gondolas in Rio remain abandoned.
- Bloomberg is out with a not-so-complimentary article about the Whistler Blackcomb-Vail transition.
- Doppelmayr wins contracts to build nine Beijing 2022 Olympic lifts including five gondolas and two bubble six place chairs.
- A gondola once the symbol of an Olympics destroyed by war returns to Sarajevo thanks to Leitner Ropeways and a $3.5 million donation from an American.
- The Oakland Athletics consider building a gondola to their new stadium.
- Nine different mountains in Sweden will spin T-Bars for mountain bikers this summer.
- If approved, Vail’s new Golden Peak lift will likely be a T-Bar.
- Owl’s Head retires its Green lift and will give the chairs away to season pass buyers.
- I started this blog three years ago this week as an off season project. It now sees 215,000 page views each month from 40,000+ unique visitors. Thanks to everyone who has helped to make Lift Blog a success!
Gore & Whiteface Propose Ten New Lifts
Whiteface is the largest resort in the East by vertical and played host to the 1980 Olympic Downhill. The New York State-owned Olympic Regional Development Authority continues to operate Whiteface along with nearby Gore Mountain and Belleayre in the Catskills. This week, Governor Andrew Cuomo proposed an impressive $62.5 million for capital improvements at ORDA facilities for 2018-19. While the budget proposal is not yet law and does not identify specific items, it is likely to fund projects from Whiteface and Gore‘s management plans which, probably not coincidentally, were updated this month to include up to ten new lifts.
The biggest project in Whiteface’s future is the replacement of the Freeway double (a 1978 Hall) in a completely new and much longer alignment. A new high-speed quad would start at in the base area and cross over the Little Whiteface double-double, topping out on the Upper Mackenzie trail. Two new trails would be cut from the top, making this lift ideal for intermediate skiers and riders. A second project would replace the 1984 VonRoll double named Bear with a fixed-grip quad. An offload opportunity would be included near the current top terminal and the new lift would continue to the Mid-station lodge area parallel with the Face Lift detachable quad.
Significant improvements are planned for the Bear Den beginner complex. A relocated Riblet double-turned-triple currently services this zone and would be replaced with a fixed-grip quad. “The new quad and magic carpet at Bear Den will serve the extensive trail work we are planning in that area,” Whiteface General Manager Aaron Kellett tells NY Ski Blog. “We want to extend the lift top terminal higher to create better flow in and out of the area.” Last year, Whiteface proposed a new lift from Bear Den all the way to the Mid-station but that plan has morphed into a conceptual transfer lift between the two base areas. A second transfer lift (think gondola, pulse gondola or cabriolet) could link the main parking lot to the base lodge.
