- Crystal Mountain reopens after being closed nearly a week. Mudslides along its access road cost the resort more than $1 million in business.
- Dave McCoy, the visionary founder of Mammoth Mountain, dies at 104.
- Great job Elk Mountain staff for this rescue of a dangling young skier.
- You can also watch a heroic Mt. Hood Meadows employee remove seven inches of ice from Vista Express towers this week.
- The Sea to Sky Gondola finally reopens, six months after a crime which cost nearly $4 million dollars in damage and lost revenue.
- Chair 5 at Greek Peak breaks down and gets rope evacuated.
- Highland Mountain Bike Park will add 40 chairs to its chairlift, increasing uphill capacity by 50 percent.
- Vail Mountain COO Beth Howard explains the circumstances behind last weekend’s epic lift lines.
- The Balsams may be closed but Les Otten opens the doors for himself and four others to cast first in the nation presidential votes.
- Swiss manufacturer Bartholet launches a fresh website.
- The Little Mountain that Could is a short film by L.L.Bean exploring the rebirth of Whaleback as a nonprofit.
- Locals frustrated with Whistler Blackcomb operations and staffing petition Vail Resorts to do better.
- One of those involved in the Stoos chair accident succumbs to his injuries. Two others have been released from the hospital.
- Stevens Pass reopens Seventh Heaven 11 days after this incident.
- A man dies in a terrible accident involving the Skyline Express at Vail. A preliminary investigation suggests he slipped through a chair’s seat, was caught by his jacket and asphyxiated.
- Former Vail Resorts mountain division head Chris Jarnot becomes a consultant for the upcoming Mayflower Mountain Resort in Park City.
- Sunday River President Dana Bullen talks about the Merrill Hill expansion, future lift projects and which lifts are staying put.
- Al Henceroth confirms the Pallavicini double will be replaced by a Leitner-Poma double this summer.
- Utah Business magazine makes the case for One Wasatch.
Greek Peak
News Roundup: Switching Sides
- Gould Academy sells the naming rights to its T-Bar at Sunday River to Alera Group, an employee benefits firm.
- Ski Bluewood’s former platter lift can be yours for $19,000.
- To celebrate new carpool and transit initiatives, Crystal Mountain debuts a green gondola cabin.
- Does the public have the right to know what individual ski resorts pay the federal government for use of public lands? Vail Resorts and the National Ski Areas Association argue no.
- The New York Times visits Woodward Park City in its first week of operation.
- Sun Valley and Snowbasin prepare for their first peak period after switching from Mountain Collective to Epic.
- The Saddleback deal won’t close on Monday as scheduled but hopefully sometime in January.
- A religious group wants to relaunch the long-abandoned Moab Scenic Tram.
- The Meier family assumes full ownership of Greek Peak and Toggenburg Mountain in New York.
- Colorado Ski Country USA launches a chairlift safety video series.
- The latest Wir Magazine highlights Bromont’s big combination lift, the history of Doppelmayr in Canada and new scale models from Jägerndorfer.
News Roundup: Must Read
- A planning document shows Big White has applied to build two lifts east of Black Forest Express called Backcountry and Backcountry Connector.
- Snow King Mountain’s expansion officially enters the National Environmental Policy Act pipeline. Proposed lifts are a 1,500 pph gondola with cabin storage, a 3,015′ backside fixed-grip quad, one 679′ T-Bar or platter and two new carpets.
- The iconic Volkswagen funitel marks 15 years of operation, having delivered over three million vehicles from factory to test track.
- A proposed urban gondola in Loveland, Colorado would be built by Leitner-Poma with up to five stations.
- Arapahoe Basin drops its new trail map showing the big Beavers expansion.
- An avalanche takes out the last tower of a Doppelmayr six-pack in New Zealand.
- Skytrac is hiring for project foreman and general construction positions.
- Denver Post alum Jason Blevins, now writing for the Colorado Sun, traces the remarkable ski industry journey of the Mueller family from Vermont to Colorado. Insights from his must read piece: Tim and Diane Mueller took out a second mortgage on their home to buy Okemo, invested in Catamount before it failed, nearly bought Steamboat and once bid to operate Winter Park.
- Windham’s retired F lift heads to Greek Peak to upgrade lifts 3 and 5.
- The New Mexico State Fair will sport a new skyride-style chairlift beginning next month.
- Alterra Mountain Company hires an Executive Vice President/Chief Financial Officer from Wall Street and looks to name a Vice President of Planning and Resort Development.
- Enjoy the most detailed glimpse yet of the world’s longest lift.
- The name game continues: Wolf Creek’s newest high speed quad is now Charity.
- One of the world’s oldest high speed quads is going away in favor of a six pack.
- I’m in New Mexico this weekend checking out as many lifts as I can. First stop: Taos, where this yet-to-be-named Leitner-Poma detachable quad is the fourth new lift in five years!
