- West Virginia State Parks delays opening of the new Pipestem gondola to spring 2025.
- A tower crane working to build the Grands Montets 3S in Chamonix collapses due to wind and ice.
- Keystone installs solar panels on the Bergman Express to power ancillary functions such as lights.
- Perfect North transforms the Red Chair into an LED light show for the holidays with individual chairs lit by batteries.
- ORDA plans to build not one but two people mover chairlifts at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
- Hunter names its new quad chair Otis.
- Planning documents show the alignment and D-Line equipment for a planned gondola at Stagecoach, Colorado.
- More ink on the unfortunate closure of Homewood this season.
- The world’s shortest T-Bar to be built with only 5 Ts.
- A criminal trial begins regarding the deadly gondola collapse in Turkey last spring.
- Garaventa installs a robotic cargo loading system on the world’s steepest aerial tramway.
- Kendall Mountain, Colorado suspends pass sales due to lift maintenance.
- Killington’s CEO talks about future lifts beyond Superstar; how the sale to locals went down.
- Park City weighs possible routes for a transit gondola from Old Town to Deer Valley.
- Mt. Waterman, California sells to a new owner promising private powder days.
- Powder Mountain won’t sell any lift tickets on weekends in February.
- Sun Peaks’ new trail map shows the West Bowl expansion.
- Indy Pass to announce new resorts next week.
Kendall Mountain
News Roundup: More Than a Mechanic
- More huge lift openings this weekend: Creekside Gondola at Whistler Blackcomb, Disciples 8 at Boyne Mountain, Jordan 8 at Sunday River, Sunrise at Stowe, Wild Blue and Greenhorn Ranch Express at Steamboat and maybe Game Creek at Vail.
- Wildwood at Sundance will hopefully spin again Saturday after opening then closing due to a motor failure.
- Palisades Tahoe expects to reopen the Base to Base Gondola early next week as one continuous lift. Red Dog is delayed until January.
- The Colorado Sun looks at lift supply chain challenges.
- Cascade Mountain issues a letter to guests about delays with its lift project.
- Closed Mont-Sainte-Anne offers passholders a Stoneham season pass, a full refund, or a 15% refund and pass for once the mountain reopens.
- Jackson Hole’s owner wants to replace Sublette next.
- Mt. Shasta looks for creative solutions to uphill ingress to and egress from the new Gray Butte lift.
- Locals weigh the future of Silverton’s Kendall Mountain Ski Area.
- A child falls 20 feet from a lift at Brian Head.
- As snow and ice cripple Portland, the city’s Aerial Tram ramps up with 24 hour operations.
- Breckenridge reopens the Peak 8 SuperConnect after yesterday’s incident. Updated statement from the resort copied below.
Breckenridge Ski Resort confirms at approximately 10:35 a.m. on Thursday, Dec. 22, a chair dislodged from the haul rope of the Peak 8 SuperConnect as it was reaching the top terminal. One guest was on the chair at the time and fell approximately 13 feet. Ski patrol responded immediately. No injuries were reported and the guest declined further care.
The Peak 8 SuperConnect was closed for the remainder of the day on Thursday. The resort’s lift maintenance team was on site at the time of the incident and worked with the Colorado Tramway Safety Board to report the incident.
At the time of this event, the resort was following all standard operating procedures. The wind direction was predominantly favorable for operation of the Peak 8 SuperConnect when it opened for the day at 10 a.m., however an abnormal wind gust across the top terminal, in addition to the chair coming into contact with components of the upper terminal, created the circumstances of this event.
Since the event, the resort’s lift maintenance team has conducted a thorough inspection of the Peak 8 SuperConnect and consulted with the Colorado Tramway Safety Board. The lift resumed operations at approximately 12:30 p.m. on Friday, Dec. 23.
News Roundup: Any Day Now
- British Columbia’s Troll Resort proposes an expansion serviced by a 2,600 foot T-Bar.
- Loon Mountain is selling a 1985 CTEC triple chair.
- White Pass’ former Doppelmayr platter is up for sale again.
- The Forest Service accepts Tamarack’s expansion proposal, which now moves to an environmental review.
- UDOT will announce soon whether it will pursue a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
- Kendall Mountain rope evacuates its only chairlift.
- Vail Resorts reports improving financial results with skier visits up 11.7% from last year and +2.8% from pre-Covid 2019/20.
- Vail will invest an extra $175 million in employees next year including implementing a $20 per hour minimum wage ($21 for maintenance technicians.)
- A child is uninjured after falling from the only chairlift in the Yukon Territory.
- Juneau moves ahead with its used gondola purchase.
- Keystone shows off a map of the Bergman Bowl expansion.
- The owner of Big Squaw appeals millions of dollars in fines.
- A dispute over whether to expand Gunstock Mountain gets very nasty.
- A new gondola has revitalized an entire community in Eastern Canada.
- Bill Jensen talks about the transformation of Sundance and teases a soon-to-be-announced terrain expansion.
- The lift line is cut for Mayflower’s first lift adjacent to Deer Valley.
News Roundup: Transitions
- Both Mountain Capital Partners and the owners of Silverton Mountain are interested in turning Colorado’s Kendall Mountain into larger resort with more lifts.
- Ariel Quiros pleads guilty to three felonies related to his ownership of Burke Mountain and Jay Peak.
- Separately, an employee is accused of embezzling more than $125,000 from Jay.
- Sunlight pauses financial planning for the new East Ridge lift, which remains under Forest Service review.
- Another lost ski area gets on the road to reopening: Paul Bunyan near Lakewood, Wisconsin.
- There’s more trouble at Spirit Mountain as two top executives resign.
- Arctic Valley secures a new 20 year lease to operate in the mountains above Anchorage.
- The home of Big Snow remains in big financial trouble.
- One year since the Sea to Sky Gondola haul rope was brazenly cut, the culprit(s) still have not been caught.
- Aspen Skiing Company makes tough cuts to benefits and compensation for year round employees.
- It turns out Soldier Mountain sold to a new owner just one day before last week’s fire.
- You’ve heard of a chair sale but how about a T sale?
- Titans of industry Win Smith and Bill Jensen end their runs atop Sugarbush and Telluride, respectively.
- Glenwood Caverns temporarily closes to conduct fire mitigation.
Silverton Considers Growing Kendall Mountain
Silverton, Colorado – population 650 – is home to two ski areas with a grand total of two double chairlifts. The smaller of the two at just 16 acres, owned and operated by the town, is Kendall Mountain. Silverton recently commissioned SE Group to study possibilities for additional ski terrain and year round recreation. The viability assessment, released last month, is very intriguing.
Kendall Mountain Recreation Area’s current lift, installed in 2006, is a 1972 Poma double with a 1990 return terminal. The lift has a design capacity of 800 people per hour (pph), but currently operates at 760 pph. It rises only 263 vertical feet on a mountain that stretches some 3,500 feet above the top terminal. The setup reminds me of Whitetooth before Kicking Horse or Powder Springs pre-Revelstoke Mountain Resort. Both were modest community ski areas at the bases of large mountains transformed into destinations by private developers. Silverton isn’t currently considering anything on the scale of the new British Columbia resorts but the project could eventually yield Colorado’s third largest vertical drop in a place known for epic snowfall.
As part of its public outreach, the town held multiple community meetings to gain feedback over the past year. Top priorities residents came up with at a first brainstorming session were expanded lifts and terrain. SE Group identified excellent ski terrain on the central part of the mountain with a large quantity of terrain suitable for ability levels from novice up to advanced. Importantly, the mountain’s high elevation would provide desirable snow conditions without the need for snowmaking.
SE Group also notes there is potential for Silverton to rise in popularity as a ski destination, benefiting both Silverton Mountain and Kendall Mountain as well as nearby Purgatory Resort. The study concludes that “expanded skiing infrastructure on Kendall Mountain would benefit the existing Silverton Mountain Ski Area by providing a complimentary experience that would draw additional visitors to the area during the winter season.” Silverton currently offers guided lift and helicopter skiing for experts only.
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