- Mt. Shasta unveils a new map showing the expansion onto Gray Butte.
- HTI Group celebrates 80 new ropeways installed this winter across its Leitner, Poma, Bartholet and Skytrac brands.
- Completion of the Lenawee Express at Arapahoe Basin is now expected in mid-December.
- Indy Pass adds Peek’n Peak, New York and Tussey Mountain, Pennsylvania.
- Doppelmayr shares energy saving operational tips with customers in Europe.
- Waterville Valley and MND postpone the load test of Tecumseh Express by a week due to delayed electrical components.
- Loon Mountain expects to open the delayed Seven Brothers some time in December.
- Sunday River plans a December 17th grand opening for Jordan 8.
- The operator of the Goldbelt Tram may invest $10 million in Eaglecrest’s pulse gondola project.
- Sterling Vineyards previews the first Omega V cabins coming to California.
- Kimberley spins the Northstar Express for the first time in nearly a year, hopes to open by the third week in December.
- The Village of Taos Ski Valley declines to sell a parcel needed for a base to base gondola, wants an easement instead.
HTI Group
News Roundup: Best Ever
- The Bud Light Seltzer SkyView gondola at Hard Rock Stadium becomes the Heineken High Line for the Miami Grand Prix.
- A chairlift which rotates between two fairs in California and one in Arizona now also goes to Texas.
- Granite Gorge is scheduled to be sold at a foreclosure auction next month.
- A Swiss paper interviews Roland Bartholet about his company being acquired by HTI. The brand will remain separate from Leitner and Poma, will focus on new products and help the group compete with Doppelmayr Garaventa.
- Indy Pass signs six more resorts as affiliate partners; redemptions totaled 125,000 this season.
- Gore Mountain signs with Leitner-Poma for the North Creek Ski Bowl detachable.
- Doppelmayr proposes a $200 million urban gondola system in Auckland, New Zealand.
- Bottineau Winter Park fundraises for a new T-Bar.
- Friends of the Tulsa Skyride say the only lift in Oklahoma may be removed in the next few weeks.
- The United States sets an all-time skier visit record – 61 million – with 11 more ski areas operating than last season.
- NSAA says offseason capital improvements will also set a record this year at $728 million.
- A big urban 3S opens in France.
- Doppelmayr’s latest Bike Clip carriers will make their North American debut at Loon Mountain.
- Mt. Rose’s first high speed quad will be called the
Tahoe Express. Update: Lakeview Express - A tram breakdown makes the news in Palm Springs.
Bartholet Joins the HTI Group
The Italian-based giant which owns Leitner, Poma, Skytrac, Sigma, Prinoth and Demaclenko has added yet another ropeway brand to its stable. High Technology Industries (HTI) announced it acquired a majority stake in Bartholet Maschinenbau AG, a Swiss manufacturer of fixed grip and detachable ropeways. The controlling share was previously held by Chinese private equity firm Cedarlake Capital. The agreement once again shifts the global ropeway landscape, which has seen relentless consolidation in recent decades. Chairman and CEO Roland Bartholet and the Bartholet management team will remain in place and the brand will continue to be based in Flums, Switzerland. The company’s founding family will retain a minority stake.
It was just two years ago Bartholet partnered with a different European conglomerate, Mountain and Snow Development Group (MND) of France. MND began to develop its own detachable technology in the mid 2010s and debuted a prototype lift in 2017. That project experienced challenges and MND pivoted to utilizing Bartholet detachable designs from 2020.
MND’s ropeway division and Bartholet are set to debut their first North American detachable lift at Waterville Valley later this year. Much of that six place bubble chair has already been delivered stateside and some foundations are already complete. The Bartholet-HTI press release did not address the future of the MND partnership, though history suggests it will likely wind down. MND did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The now larger HTI Group remains privately held while MND trades publicly on the Euronext Growth exchange under the symbol ALMND.
News Roundup: Lots of Euros
- Caledon Ski Club is set to replace its Blue Mountain triple with a new Doppelmayr quad this summer.
- Showdown rope evacuates 87 riders from Payload on a busy Saturday.
- Lutsen ropes down 25 from the Caribou Express and has it back in action within hours.
- The New Hampshire Business Review profiles legendary resort developer Les Otten.
- The privately-held conglomerate behind Leitner Ropeways, Poma, Leitner-Poma of America and Skytrac announces the highest revenue in the company’s history for 2018: €1.02 billion. The group built approximately 100 ropeways around the world last year, up from 75 in 2017.
- The State of Washington is poised to grant $750,000 of public money to Mt. Spokane for the Northwood project.
- Edmonton is one step closer to building an urban gondola.
- The Nordic Valley expansion project is in limbo.
- Vail officially owns two more ski resorts.
- Palm Springs reopens its tramway after storms cause $4 million in damage and lost revenue.
- The Forest Service tentatively approves alternative 4 of the ambitious California Express gondola project.
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