Lake Louise’s Richardson’s Ridge expansion to open early spring 2026, eventually will include a surface lift from Temple Lodge.
Doppelmayr reports a 13 percent increase in revenue for fiscal 2024-25, completing 93 ropeways in 25 countries. Approximately 24 percent of €1.2 billion in turnover came from the US and Canada.
US ski resorts report their second best season ever with 61.5 million visits.
Colorado releases a detailed report on Winter Park’s gondola tower evener beam failure last December. Leitner-Poma will retrofit or replace similar beams on existing lifts and modify the beam’s design for future installations.
The Kicking Horse gondola hanger failure remains under investigation but the resort will replace all hangers and not operate the gondola until mid-summer at the earliest.
Kicking Horse closes for the season without its gondola; any compensation for passholders affected by five weeks of gondola closure to be determined at a later date.
Relations sour between the Town of Mountain Village and Telluride Ski Resort owner Chuck Horning with the Town Manager giving a lengthy speech about problems at the resort.
Skeetawk, Alaska’s only chairlift shuts down for a multi-week repair.
Kicking Horse’s gondola remains closed indefinitely; the resort will transport gear up to Stairway to Heaven free of charge but guests still have to walk there.
Leitner-Poma posts jobs for ski lift installers at Bretton Woods, Loveland, OZ Trails Bike Park, Powder Mountain, Snowmass, Snowbasin, Taos and Wasatch Peaks Ranch.
New York State wins its case against a ski resort owner for buying Toggenburg to close it and reduce competition.
Snowbasin to sell chairs from the Becker lift for charity.
Vail Resorts reports solid results with season-to-date skier visits down 2.5%, lift ticket revenue up 4.1%, ski school revenue up 3.0%, dining revenue 3.1% and retail/rental revenue down 2.9%. Net income for the quarter ended January 31st increased 11.9%.
Tenney Mountain, New Hampshire still plans to reopen the Hornet some time this winter following a gearbox issue.
Attitash reopens the Flying Bear five weeks after a chair fell from the line. Draft minutes from the New Hampshire Passenger Tramway Safety Board suggest multiple damaged carriers were found and Attitash was approved to reduce capacity from 82 to 64 carriers. Update Monday 3/17: Vail PR sent me this statement, emphasis theirs: “During our inspection process, we made the decision to reinspect all our chairs and grips, haul rope, sheaves, terminals, and more. Following our inspection, we are taking the opportunity to replace parts on some chairs unrelated to the incident as a part of routine upgrades. These chairs will remain temporarily out of service until the parts arrive. This was a decision made by the resort, that the Passenger Tramway Safety Board unanimously approved at the March 3rd board meeting. We have been given permission to run the lift between the manufacturer’s minimum and maximum design specifications.”
The gondola at Kicking Horse, British Columbia suffered a serious incident this morning when a hanger snapped, causing a cabin with eight riders to fall to the ground. Thankfully the fully loaded carrier had just departed the bottom station and was approximately one meter off the ground. There were no serious injuries among affected passengers. Crews worked for hours to evacuate guests from the rest of the lift by rope and helicopter. It was a powder day with 23 centimeters falling in the previous 24 hours and the lift was reportedly quite full at the time of the incident.
“At 9:20 am, an incident occurred involving a cabin at the base terminal of Golden Eagle Express gondola,” a statement from the resort read. “Our patrol team and first responders were rapidly dispatched on scene,” the statement continued. “Our trained maintenance team will be working to unload the passengers as per standard operating procedures. A full inspection has been initiated to determinate and analyze root causes. Teams from the manufacturer and relevant authorities have been called in to further assist. No lifts will be open to the public today, the resort will be closed for the remainder of the day. Please note Golden Eagle Express gondola will remain closed until further notice. An update will be provided later today with regards to regular operations.”
Photo credit: Justin Baun
The Golden Eagle Express was constructed by Leitner-Poma in 2000 and is a workhorse, operating daily in both winter and summer as well as nights. It’s one of the longest and tallest gondolas in North America with 55 cabins carrying skiers more than 3,500 vertical feet. Without the gondola, approximately 70 percent of the mountain cannot be accessed.
Technical Safety BC oversees passenger ropeways in the province and will conduct an inspection and investigation before the lift can be re-opened.
Update 8:00 pm: Kicking Horse reported all guests were safely evacuated from the lift by rope and helicopter by late in the day. “Our sincere apologies go out to every one of our guests who have had to go through this experience today, and we thank them all for their patience and understanding” said Richard Oszust, Area Manager. Kicking Horse will reopen the lower mountain tomorrow, serviced by the Catamount and Pioneer chairlifts. The gondola and upper mountain will remain closed until further notice.
Environmentalists use balloons to demonstrate their opposition to gondola cabins and towers in Little Cottonwood Canyon. The last chance to comment on the gondola proposal is September 3rd.
All remaining resorts in Australia and New Zealand close due to Covid and operators are devastated.
Highlander Lift Services & Construction is hiring team members to help build the first two lifts at Utah’s Wasatch Peaks Ranch.
Michigan’s Alpine Valley is under new ownership, widely rumored to be Wisconsin Resorts Inc., though I have been unable to independently confirm that.
Holiday Valley makes progress on its self-installation of a new Doppelmayr detachable.
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