Despite competition from the Ikon and Epic passes, Peak Resorts reports sales of its Peak Passes are up 14 percent year over year through 4/30.
HTI, the parent company of Leitner, Poma, Aguido, MiniMetro, Prinoth and more reports it built 75 ropeways in 2017 and exceeded $1 billion in revenue.
The Hermitage Club opposes its primary lender’s motion to appoint a receiver and says it has found a financial firm willing to loan $26 million in restructuring capital. A key court hearing is scheduled for one week from today.
A gondola is being looked at for Idaho Springs, Colorado along I-70.
SE Group and the White River National Forest test an interactive storyboard as a public engagement tool for Beaver Creek’s McCoy Park Expansion. Comments are due May 29th and a decision is expected in September.
The Forest Service proposes quickly approving the replacement of Arizona Snowbowl’s Agassiz triple with a 6,100 foot combination lift utilizing gondola cabins between every three or four chairs. Capacity would be only 1,200 passengers per hour.
Magic Mountain commits to finishing the Green lift and weighs the future of its nearby Pohlig-Hall-Yan contraption.
Green Lift work begins today as lift contractor picks up and begins to assemble sheave trains for lift towers #makebettermagic#basetomidmlift
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.
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.
Snow King’s gondola and terrain expansion public process moves along at a glacial pace.
Mountain Capital Partners, the company behind Arizona Snowbowl, Hesperus Pajarito, Purgatory and Sipapu, will operate Nordic Valley and add it to the Power Pass.
Doppelmayr breaks ground for its eleventh cable-propelled automated people mover, set to open in 2021.
Spokane’s paper traces the history of three lifts that have graced Riverfront Park, including a new gondola.
The Forest Service seeks feedback on Arizona Snowbowl’s chondola proposal.
An ice storm apparently causes a track rope to jump out of a saddle at Jay Peak, closing the tram and nearby lifts indefinitely.
As legal wrangling continues, nothing seems out of the ordinary this week at the Hermitage Club except for notices on the clubhouse doors.
Crystal Mountain owner John Kircher revives the idea of a second gondola to Campbell Basin, which would be around 7,800′ long and closely follow the one time path of an SLI double chair.
Vermont shuts down the Hermitage Club for a third time as morelawsuits are filed against the business and its founder. One by a food service company argues, “The dire financial circumstances facing the defendants compel the plaintiff to press forward with alacrity…the collectible assets of the defendants appear to be dwindling.”
The New York City Economic Development Corporation is again studying a gondola to connect Lower Manhattan with a redeveloped Governors Island.
With 2,400 cabins headed out the door this year alone, CWA is expanding its production capabilities in Switzerland. Photos from the factory floor show new cabins bound for Montana, Hawaii and more.
Park City’s NPR station reports a chair slid into another chair on the Jupiter lift in January, resulting in an injury, three day closure and now litigation.
Approval of Woodward Park City is upheld, paving the way for construction of a fixed-grip quad.
The Forest Service tentatively approves Purgatory’s proposed Gelande high-speed lift.
A real estate development now under construction includes money for reopening New York’s Big Tupper with up to five lifts.
New owners at Owl’s Head, Quebec may spend up to $150 million on new lifts and other improvements. The mountain currently includes three 1980s-era detachables including the world’s first high-speed quad from Breckenridge.
Lift construction season is here! Thanks to Carleton G. for these photos of Waterville Valley’s new LST T-Bar.
The latest Doppelmayr Wir highlights Yellowstone Club’s expansion and more.
The Gondola Project updates us on the Leitner-Poma tram project at San Francisco’s Salesforce Tower transit center.
Aspen Skiing Co. eyes opening the Pandora quad chairlift on Aspen Mountain in 2020.
Majella Group CEO Sebastian Monsour tells the Bangor Daily News his Australian company is still working to close on the purchase of Saddleback Mountain while a former employee is suing for unpaid wages.
In advance of its new gondola, Silver Star’s 1970 Mueller is listed for sale on SAM.
CWA launches a slick new website and refreshed logo.
Val Neigette, Quebec will close for good on April 1st and its 1990 Doppelmayr quad is on the market.
An editorial in the Park Record floats the cool idea of a gondola from offsite parking at Kimball Junction to Park City’s Sun Peak zone with a possible mid-station at Utah Olympic Park.
A former employee of the Hermitage Club sent this picture to the local newspaper showing a notice from the state and letter from management.
Notices posted on buildings at America’s second largest private ski resort are clear. “Please take notice that Hermitage Club LLC failed to post the bond required by the Vermont Commissioner of Taxes…and may not conduct any business at this location.” News of the closure comes less than a month after a Massachusetts bank filed a $16.6 million foreclosure complaint related to three separate loans allegedly now in default.
The Hermitage Club features one of only five bubble chairlifts with heated seats in the United States. It opened just over two years ago.
Vermont Public Radio reports The Hermitage owes the State of Vermont more than $1 million in rooms, sales and meals taxes. The two parties had been operating under a payment plan that allowed the ski resort to open on weekends this winter. A $112,000 payment wired to the state on Friday was enough to keep the lifts spinning until Sunday. A note to members posted at the club yesterday says, “We are working diligently to secure the funds to allow us to open for this coming weekend and will keep you posted.” The local newspaper references some employees who said they were escorted from the property by police. I can only imagine the frustration they must feel losing their jobs after months of uncertainty.
Opened in 2011 on the site of the defunct Haystack Mountain ski area, the Hermitage Club currently owns a 2015 Doppelmayr bubble high-speed six place lift, two recent Skytrac quads, a 1985 Poma triple and a 1987 CTEC triple. As I wrote a few weeks ago, lots of legal maneuvering likely lies ahead and many of these lifts could find new homes in the event of a liquidation.
The Barnstormer lift lies at the center of a ski area and real estate development facing an uncertain future in Vermont.
Berkshire Bank of Massachusetts initiated foreclosure proceedings on the Hermitage Club and related properties last Friday, claiming three loans worth $17 million are in default with $16.3 million in principal still outstanding. The private club, located next to and once part of Mt. Snow, is open and spinning lifts this weekend but it’s not clear how long that will continue. While the marketing department feverishly posts pictures of fresh snow and smiling children on social media, what happens next will probably be decided in a court room. No one knows the eventual outcome but recent ski resort foreclosures and bankruptcies offer some insights.
Berkshire Bank seeks to foreclose on the Hermitage Club, saying the private ski area owes $16.6 million on $17.1 million in loans taken out between 2014 and 2017.
Hunter Mountain apologizes to season pass holders and explains in detail why two of its lifts went down for much of Presidents’ Week.
HeliOps profiles Brian Jorgenson of Timberline Helicopters, who explains why even at $1.50 per second, the UH-60 Black Hawk has become the gold standard for western ski lift missions.
The largest urban gondola system in North America will open this May in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
Boston’s proposed Seaport gondola has a new route.
A conference center in Wisconsin called Forest Springs plans to expand its ski area with a new chairlift.
Silver Star’s new gondola is on track for a rare July opening with the top terminal and all foundations complete.
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