Hermitage Club – Lift Blog

News Roundup: Affirmation

August 9, 2019August 9, 2019Peter Landsman10 Comments

White Pass and Mission Ridge join the Powder Alliance as SilverStar and Stevens Pass exit.
Soldier Mountain’s owners aren’t having much luck finding a buyer.
An appeals court affirms the Jumbo Glacier Resort project can’t proceed without a new permit.
Red Mountain is posting construction updates on the Topping Creek expansion every Tuesday.
KSL Resorts becomes the new operator of Camelback.
New runs are cut on Vail Mountain with lift installation to commence shortly.
Snow King modifies its master plan to shift a proposed gondola and eliminate the existing Cougar lift.
A worker dies while performing overnight maintenance on the La Paz urban gondola system.
Hermitage Club stakeholders consider what might happen at the next bankruptcy court hearing, scheduled for August 23rd.
Europe’s 15th 3S gondola system launches November 30th.
Big White to add new, larger capacity cabins to Lara’s Gondola.
Bittersweet in Michigan is significantly lengthening its Hawthorn triple.

News Roundup: Docs

August 2, 2019Peter Landsman15 Comments

A former employee plans to reopen Crystal Mountain, BC in December with one of three lifts in operation.
The Hermitage Club bankruptcy is now a Chapter 7 liquidation and the current receiver will be relieved of his duties.
Grafton inches closer to opening the midwest’s only chondola.
The Forest Service approves Mt. Bachelor’s upcoming lift project.
The USFS also releases the Environmental Assessment for Arizona Snowbowl’s proposed Telemix, which would also include cabin parking.
The Skyliner officially goes on Walt Disney World’s park map.
Here’s the alignment for the proposed new lift on Breckenridge’s Peak 7.
The number of U.S. ski resorts that operated last season jumped by four from 2017/18 to 476. New York still leads the pack with 51 areas followed by Colorado and Michigan.
Arapahoe Basin becomes Ikon Pass destination number 40.

News Roundup: Companies

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019Peter Landsman5 Comments

All of a sudden, the Aspen Lift One project finds itself in jeopardy.
The City of Branson ends its exclusive agreement with a would-be gondola developer after years of false starts.
Two companies bid to replace the Barrows double at Howelsen Hill in 2020 or 2021.
Disney Skyliner attendants will start at $12 an hour.
Competing resorts comment on the New Hampshire Vail acquisitions as Attitash touts major lift maintenance investments.
A jury decides Wachusett Mountain should pay $3.3 million to the family of a child who was injured in a 30 foot fall from the Polar Express in 2015.
The Placer County Board of Supervisors unanimously approves the California Express gondola project.
Utah Olympic Park breaks ground on the first phase of its major expansion with a second new lift to follow in two to five years.
A study concludes Teton Pass, Montana would need to attract 15,000 visitors annually to reopen as a viable resort.
Big changes are coming to the EB-5 visa program, which some ski areas have used to pay for big ticket improvements in the past.
Timberline’s owners hire an investment bank to sell the ski area.
Berkshire Bank and others slam the latest Hermitage restructuring plan.
TransLink gets serious about building a 3S in metro Vancouver.

News Roundup: Norway

July 19, 2019July 20, 2019Peter Landsman10 Comments

Actaris Impact Fund still wants to buy Saddleback but no deal has been reached after more than a year.
The Banff-Norquay gondola project faces stiff headwinds from Parks Canada.
The latest podcast from Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz highlights how the company takes over operations at newly-acquired resorts.
A judge rejects the Hermitage Club’s proposed restructuring plan as members look to reopen under new management.
In other Hermitage news, a Florida bank seeks to repossess 46 snow guns.
Here is the complete incident narrative from the February SeaWorld gondola deropement.
Lift construction gets underway at Skeetawk, America’s first all-new ski area since Cherry Peak in 2015.
Village construction resumes at Tamarack with Wildwood Express installation to follow this fall.
A helicopter delivers most of the new Steamboat gondola towers.
Last week’s gondola incident at Vail was not a result of tampering or sabotage.
Medellín’s sixth urban gondola, Line P, is on track to open in December.
After 1,231 days as Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area, the Badger Pass name returns thanks to a $12 million settlement between the National Park Service and two competing concession companies.
I spoke too soon on Eaglecrest possibly building Alaska’s first gondola. Icy Strait Point on Chichagof Island is planning a gondola project to open as soon as next summer.
The haul rope is spliced for a rare fixed grip chondola in Illinois.
Mi Teleférico in La Paz broke its own daily record again on Monday with 583,841 riders, more than average weekday ridership for Boston’s three subway lines combined.
Municipally-owned Great Bear resorts to private fundraising in hopes of replacing its Borvig chairlift.
Placer County leaders will vote Tuesday on the Squaw-Alpine gondola.
Simon Fraser University steps up its Burnaby Mountain gondola marketing.
The Los Angeles Griffith Park gondola study is underway.
Eagle’s Rest 2.0 nears completion at Jackson Hole.

News Roundup: High Impact

July 12, 2019Peter Landsman5 Comments

Mission Ridge’s replacement of the Liberator Express with a bubble chair from Europe is pushed back to 2020.
Dagmar in Ontario plans to replace its Rendezvous triple with a quad as soon as next summer.
The scheduled foreclosure auction of Granite Gorge is cancelled.
Ghost Town in the Sky, a shuttered chairlift-accessed amusement park in North Carolina, goes back up for sale.
The Indy Pass now includes more North American resorts than both the Ikon and Epic passes.
Boyne Resorts announces a $60 million private debt offering with proceeds to be used for organic growth including “high-impact initiatives” over the next two to three years.
Alpine Media raises $2 million more to install digital screens on more chairlifts.
Mont Orignal plans a second lift as backup for the world’s first detachable six pack.
A Doppelmayr gondola which was delivered to Parral, Mexico in 2016 but never installed may finally get put together.
Despite rumors to the contrary, Disney says there is no Skyliner opening date yet.
The State of California concludes 25-40 mph winds likely caused a grip and communications line to become entangled on the Bayside Skyride at SeaWorld in February.
The United States Department of Justice argues the Hermitage Club’s reorganization plan is being illegally marketed to creditors and members.
Millennium Partners may have abandoned its Boston Seaport Gondola idea.
A chairlift at the Ohio State Fair will sport all new carriers this year due to concerns about the condition of the originals.
Leitner’s fourth 3S system goes into operation in Voss, Norway.

News Roundup: Privatization

July 5, 2019July 5, 2019Peter Landsman12 Comments

America’s only indoor ski lifts debut October 25th in New Jersey.
The Forest Service and Vail Resorts react negatively to the idea of a $5.2 million chairlift from Eagle-Vail to Beaver Creek Mountain.
A deropement turns into a 10 hour ordeal for passengers on a gondola in Pakistan.
The City of Steamboat considers a deal with Alterra to operate Howelsen Hill.
Snow King’s proposed expansion may get another alternative before a 2020 decision.
Timberline, West Virginia seeks permission to sell off snowmaking equipment and the CEO is charged with a felony for allegedly providing resort employees paychecks that never cleared.
Manning Park seeks a name for its first quad chair.
The Salesforce gondola is carrying passengers!
Vail ropes down 74 employees from a broken Eagle Bahn Gondola, which remains closed three days later.
Berkshire Bank wants the Hermitage to be liquidated.
Steamboat’s new gondola towers are multiplying.
A Stevens Pass employee snaps some awesome shots of the resort’s ongoing lift projects.
James Niehues is at work on an all new trail map for Wolf Creek.

News Roundup: Auction

June 21, 2019June 21, 2019Peter Landsman7 Comments

Sun Peaks applies for a permit to replace Crystal with a Doppelmayr fixed grip quad in a new alignment. The mountain is also getting its fifth James Niehues trail map.
Ski Santa Fe and Sugar Mountain are getting new Niehues maps as well.
Windham’s retired Wonderama triple is up for grabs.
Granite Gorge, New Hampshire is listed for sale at a public auction July 8th but the ski area says it won’t happen.

Granite Gorge Official Public Statement:

There will be no auction of the property as the bank loan terms are being satisfied.

Granite Gorge is looking forward to a great 2019-2020 season, our 17th consecutive season of providing safe, fun ski/tube/ride!

— Granite Gorge (@granitegorge) June 21, 2019

Hermitage Club President Harper Sibley resigns, citing an “unworkable” reopening plan. The bankruptcy case will proceed in a Vermont court.
85 year old Willy Garaventa recalls how the Squaw Valley tram project propelled his family’s company to eventually become the world leader in aerial tramways.
A Montana community considers a co-op model for its shuttered ski area.
Timberline, West Virginia’s owner may liquidate the ski assets.
Bretton Woods’ gondola cabins are now hanging.
Because 27 lifts isn’t enough, Big Sky is working on two more in Moonlight Basin and on Flatiron Mountain.

News Roundup: Stay Tuned

June 14, 2019Peter Landsman5 Comments

Vermont sees its best season in four with 4.2 million skier visits.
San Francisco’s Salesforce Transit Center will reopen July 1st and its mini tramway is undergoing testing.
The Hermitage website is back with a reorganization plan posted.
Berkshire Bank calls the Hermitage plan “not feasible” and members are stuck in the middle crowdfunding legal representation.
Leitner-Poma expects 2020 to be as busy as 2018 was after a slightly quieter 2019.
The Disney Skyliner evacuation boat gets a permanent home.
Eaglecrest eyes building a $30+ million adventure park including a gondola replacement for Ptarmigan.
MND Group’s LST division is working on another detachable lift.
Before the Skyliner opens, take a look back at Walt Disney’s original vision for a gondola-connected resort.
Stevens Pass is indeed moving the Skyline Express to make way for two new lifts and is considering even more lift projects in the future.
U.S. ski areas paid record rent to the Forest Service and Bureau of Land Management last year.
Arizona Snowbowl is working on a master plan update which will include two new lift projects.

News Roundup: Tallying

June 7, 2019Peter Landsman12 Comments

Just in time for summer, the Sea to Sky Gondola welcomes ten more cabins to the line, increasing capacity by 50 percent.
The Idaho Springs, Colorado city council may vote Monday on rezoning for a proposed 17 tower, 27 cabin gondola lift.
Hermitage Club founder Jim Barnes explains his reorganization plan but for now, a receiver remains in place.
Snowshoe is purportedly planning to replace Powder Monkey with a fixed grip quad next summer.
Although it doesn’t build lifts in the United States, Bartholet has built some very slick machines lately.
The Indy Pass grows to 28 resorts.
A rocket from Syria damages a ski lift at Israel’s Mt. Hermon, where a Leitner gondola is also currently under construction.
Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz launches a podcast with a great first episode about the Park City acquisition.
The City of Steamboat is still weighing options for bringing in a private operator and/or replacing Barrows at Howelsen Hill.
California Express notches another approval but litigation could be coming.
Vail Resorts reports a great quarter: skier visits up 14.3 percent and lift revenue up 16.4 percent with season pass sales for next year trending up 9 percent and 13 percent in units and dollars. “We are still absolutely aggressive on looking for additional resorts that we think add to our network and make the experience that we provide our guests better,” says Rob Katz on the quarterly conference call.
Quebec tallied 4.6 million skier visits last winter, a ten year high for a province with three new chairlifts already under construction for next year.
New Hampshire resorts logged 100,000 more skier days than 2017-18.
Colorado is king with 13.1 million estimated skier visits, a new record.
This was supposed to be the summer the town of Grafton, Illinois celebrated a new gondola. Instead, 2019 will be remembered for the flooding that has thrown a wrench in its construction.
Teo II is approved but has no timeline for construction yet.

News Roundup: Win-Win

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019Peter Landsman25 Comments

A bill introduced in Congress would allow National Forests to use some of the fees collected from ski resorts to be used to expedite permitting for improvement projects.
Poma will break ground on its first urban 3S in July.
Lookout Pass intends to buy a second Skytrac quad for the Eagle Peak Expansion and relocate Chair 1.
In addition to its Lake replacement project, Owl’s Head decides to also remove the Panorama double without a direct replacement.
Breckenridge proposes building an infill chairlift on Peak 7 to improve skier circulation.
Local electeds vote in support of an urban gondola to Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus.
Retired Riblet double chairs bring in $146,000 for nonprofit organizations surrounding Schweitzer Mountain Resort.
Towers supporting the world’s first eight passenger monocable gondola are history.
This video shows how the Disney Skyliner’s innovative loading works. Every 9th gondola goes to a second turnaround, stopping about 50 seconds for unloading and another 1:10 for loading before rejoining the moving line. Pretty slick!
The Hermitage Club files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing more than 200 creditors. A company called Restructured Opportunity Investors could lend the club up to $1.75 million for restructuring if approved by a bankruptcy court.
Berkshire Bank wants the Hermitage receiver to stay on the job while a different bankruptcy court considers whether to initiate a Chapter 7 liquidation, which at least 187 club members now support.
At Smugglers’ Notch, hundreds of trout take a spin up Sterling to their new home in Vermont’s highest pond.
A Dutch-American joint venture proposes building an indoor snow park on a Northern Virginia landfill serviced by a two stage gondola.
It sure looks like the Skyline Express is moving as part of the Brooks/Daisy replacement project at Stevens Pass.
The haul rope is up on the Bretton Woods Skyway.
Construction is well underway on Jackson Hole’s 10th chairlift.

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