- A video shows the Kicking Horse incident was exacerbated by running the damaged hanger to a tower, causing the lift to de-rope. The gondola will be closed at least a week and likely longer; the resort will allow guests to hike or skin to Stairway to Heaven.
- The snowboarder who died after falling from Red Lodge Mountain’s Triple Chair on Monday is identified as 37 year old Jeffrey Zinne of Billings in an incident described as a “malfunction.”
- A child was airlifted to Denver after falling 35 feet from the Purgatory Village Express the same day as the Kicking Horse and Red Lodge incidents.
- 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.
- Loup Loup, Washington ends its season early due to a required motor repair.
- Vail’s Riva Bahn Express has been closed all week due to a gearbox issue requiring a rebuild.
- 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.
- Another lawsuit is filed against the Little Cottonwood gondola proposal.
- 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.”
- Ober Mountain, Tennessee opens the new Sky Village Express.
- Whistler Blackcomb completes a mid-season rope inspection and splice due to a broken haul rope strand on the Emerald 6 Express.
- WB also pulls the plug on summer skiing due to glacial recession and its impact on lift access.
- A community co-op effort was unable to submit a bid for Mt. Bachelor.
- Vista Ridge, Alberta closes both its chairlifts indefinitely to conduct a review following several evacuations.
- Alpental will close two weeks early so crews can work to build the new Chair 2 over snow in a roadless area.
- Ditto for Explorer at Big Sky as it’s replaced with a gondola.
- After running on diesel generators for a decade, the Sea to Sky Gondola‘s upper terminal is connected to grid power for the first time.
- Whaleback, New Hampshire says it needs to raise $250,000 to fund off season maintenance and chairlift repairs.
- Titcomb Mountain looks to retire and replace T-Bar 2.
- Powder Mountain to build a private, homeowner only Leitner-Poma detachable quad this summer.
- Snowbird’s Mineral Basin reopening is further delayed due to “unforseen additional issues“.
- The Forest Service approves Alta to replace Supreme with a new lift and no eight degree bend.
- Pending approval of its members, Bryce Resort plans to install a third Skytrac on the backside of the mountain this summer.
Kicking Horse
Gondola Falls From Kicking Horse’s Golden Eagle Express
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.”
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.
News Roundup: Last Chance
- Massanutten takes down its Borvig J-Bar.
- Breckenridge posts a Freedom SuperChair progress report along with a new trail map.
- The Atlantic Gondola carries its first passengers in Nova Scotia.
- Kicking Horse shows how it feeds a captive grizzly bear by throwing food from the Golden Eagle Express.
- Heavenly ends summer operations early due to smoke and fire danger.
- The Caldor Fire threatens both Sierra at Tahoe and Kirkwood.
- Alta Sierra narrowly escapes being burned by a different fire.
- 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.
- A new lawsuit alleges the State of Vermont knew about and failed to protect investors from the fraud at Burke Mountain.
- County planners recommend rejection of the Pandora’s expansion proposal on Aspen Mountain.
- Parks Canada again says no to a Banff-Norquay gondola.
- The Forest Service seeks public comments on Whitefish Mountain Resort’s Chair 4 replacement project.
News Roundup: Viral
- The Mountain Collective adds four awesome resorts for 2020-21: Chamonix, Grand Targhee, Panorama and Sugarloaf.
- Kicking Horse celebrates 20 years of operation on the site of the former Whitetooth Ski Area.
- Sun Valley’s Cold Springs double is about to end a 50 year run but will live on at a resort in California.
- Arizona Snowbowl’s Agassiz reopens for one last hurrah after being down since January 18th with a gear issue.
- Hundreds of ski resorts in Austria, Italy and Switzerland are forced to close for the season due to coronavirus.
- Berkshire East, Catamount, Middlebury Snow Bowl and Mt. Abram become the first US ski resorts to shut down due to the virus.
- Belleayre, Gore, Whiteface and the Lake Placid Olympic Complex close gondolas for the season for the same reason. Snowbird’s tram is shut down until further notice. Aspen Snowmass will no longer load unrelated parties in the same gondola cabins.
- Indiana Beach, one of only four venues with an aerial lift in the Hoosier State, closes permanently.
- The two year old LST Ropeways detachable in France shuts down indefinitely again. Instead of the LST design, MND America will offer Bartholet detachables in the United States.
- Vail Resorts reports financial results: skier visits are down 5.3 percent percent this season through March 1st but lift revenue is up 0.8 percent. On a conference call, CEO Rob Katz addresses coronavirus, lift lines at Vail and possible future acquisitions.
- Timberline Mountain promises to make multiple big announcements at a media event Tuesday. All three existing lifts are in poor condition and being dismantled.
- Arctaris Impact Fund doesn’t expect to realize a profit on its Saddleback investment until it sells the resort in 7-10 years.
- An enterprising family is building the first Australian-designed and manufactured chairlift in 30 years for private use only.
- Alterra Mountain Company CEO Rusty Gregory will deliver a keynote address on Monday in Park City covering the rise of Alterra, industry consolidation and multi-resort pass products.
- For the second time in three weeks, a sudden stop on the Mont-Sainte-Anne gondola elicits an emergency response and the lift is once again closed indefinitely.
News Roundup: 2019
- Valemount Glacier Destinations says it’s in talks with both Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr for construction of phase one lifts in 2018-19.
- SE Group to present nine alignment options for a new Lift 1A on Aspen Mountain.
- La Paz breaks ground on its 17th and 18th gondolas, set to open in 2019.
- The Saddleback sale still hasn’t closed and an update suggests a shift in focus from building new lifts to reopening with a limited number of existing ones.
- Here’s a great rundown of Sigma’s new Symphony 10 gondola cabin, which complements the Diamond series.
- In surprise announcement, Teton Pass says it won’t open this winter. This awesome but remote Montana resort has a 1973 SLI double and a number of used chairlifts in the parking lot for possible expansion.
- New Zealand’s longest chairlift will reopen December 5th, nine months after a wildfire burned chairs and ruined the haul rope.
- Forest Service releases draft draft Environmental Assessment for Alta’s Baldy tram, Flora lift and Wildcat/Sunnyside replacement projects. Final public comment is now open.
- World’s largest gold producer proposes building a ski resort with up to 18 lifts on a former mine site near Hope, BC.
- The Economist looks at why Latin American countries build so many urban gondolas.
- The Grand Canyon Escalade bill goes before the Navajo Nation Council on Tuesday and needs a two-thirds majority to pass.
- Squaw Alpine names 13,000-foot interconnect gondola California Express, plans 2019 opening.
Instagram Tuesday: Fireworks
Kicking Horse Gondola Evacuated by Helicopter
A transformer failed yesterday afternoon at Kicking Horse Mountain Resort, knocking two lifts out of service. Crews restarted the Catamount quad on auxiliary but the Golden Eagle Express Gondola sustained damage to its safety systems such that it could not operate. With nightfall approaching, some of the gondola’s 75 passengers were plucked out of cabins by helicopter at sunset, making for some pretty spectacular GoPro footage. The rest were roped down by ground teams over about five hours. The 8-passenger, 11,188′ Golden Eagle Express was built by Poma in 2000 and rises more than 3,500 vertical feet. The gondola remained closed today but the mountain hopes to have it back in business tomorrow.
Kicking Horse posted the following statement on Facebook this morning:
“Further to an electrical issue, the Golden Eagle Express Gondola was manually evacuated yesterday evening. With everyone safe, warm and fed, we apologize to each of you involved for the inconvenience. We are thankful that everyone is safe and credit to the talented team of professionals; Kicking Horse Mountain Resort teams, Golden and District Search and Rescue & Canadian Ski Patrol. We are hopeful that the Gondola will be spinning later today, though currently is still on standby. We are offering skiing and snowboarding via the Catamount Chair & Pioneer Chair. Stay tuned for further updates.”
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