- The Hermitage Club’s new detachable quad to cost $6.25 million and include a chair parking facility.
- Oregon ski areas celebrate passage of an outdoor recreation liability reform bill.
- Castle Mountain rope evacuates the new Stagecoach Express.
- An investigation into the fatal Swiss gondola crash this week focuses on weather and operational factors, not a design issue. The lift was being unloaded at the time and the cabin involved likely hit a tower.
- A tree falls on the BreckConnect Gondola at Breckenridge.
- Red Lodge Mountain’s owner and an insurance company argue over coverage related to a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a man who died on a lift last season in high winds.
- Wind blows the roof off the Silver Fir Express at Snoqualmie, shuttering it until further notice.
- Alberta opens public consultation for the proposed Silvertip Gondola in Canmore.
- Aspen skiers struggle to ride the new T-Bar atop Snowmass.
- Holiday Mountain, New York to install new Partek chairs on Roman Candle this fall.
- A child is unharmed after falling from a lift and being caught at Pats Peak, New Hampshire (video)
- Oz Trails Bike Park to open June 12th.
- Sun Valley confirms construction of two new detachables this summer.
- Lee Canyon to construct the final lift from its master plan this summer, manufacturer TBA.
- Hogadon, Wyoming likely to construct a new chairlift next summer.
- Craigleith, Ontario addresses downtime on the Funnel chair.
- Last day riders of Killington’s Snowdon triple tomorrow will be entered to win a chair.
- Little Switzerland, Wisconsin give skiers the opportunity to own a Riblet chair.
- In an interview with the Vail newspaper, Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz makes the case mega passes have kept crowds stable or even reduced crowding.
- Vail also releases an insightful investor presentation outlining shifting priorities.
Lee Canyon
News Roundup: First Day of Fall
- A court finds zoning allowing Wasatch Peaks Ranch to continue as a private ski resort can be put to a public referendum. Three chairlifts already operate there with a fourth under construction.
- The Tennessee State Fair will build a chairlift next year.
- Gore Mountain’s new trail map shows the location of the new Bear Cub Quad.
- Lee Canyon recovers well from a hurricane-fueled flood this summer.
- A snowboarder who fell from Whistler Mountain’s Emerald Express sues Whistler Blackcomb.
- Echo Mountain sells to an investor with a bunch of non-ski businesses.
- Lifts are being removed at Marshall Mountain after 20 years idle.
Following Storm, Lee Canyon Closes for the Season
Remnants of Hurricane Hilary dumped nearly 10 inches of rain on Nevada’s Mt. Charleston last weekend, causing major infrastructure damage to Lee Canyon. “In light of the limited initial assessment, it is with a heavy heart that we announce the end of our summer mountain operations,” the ski area announced this afternoon. “We understand the anticipation and excitement surrounding this season, and we will be reaching out to our mountain biking day pass and season pass holders with information as soon as possible due to this unforeseen closure. Trails, chairlifts, and essential facilities that encompass our summer offerings have borne the brunt of this unexpected occurrence,” the statement continued.
Photos posted to social media showed lift terminals buried up to haul rope level and tower footers undercut. As soon as road access is restored, crews will begin working to repair the ski area for the winter season. Adding to the work load, Skytrac is currently part way finished with the mountain’s new Ponderosa Quad, which is still expected to open this winter.
News Roundup: Ponderosa
- Garaventa commences building the first TRI-Line tricable gondola in Switzerland.
- The Kemmerer family sells Jackson Hole to a local investor group.
- Lee Canyon’s expansion lift to be called Ponderosa.
- Lutsen backs away from proposed expansion to consult with local tribes.
- More chair sales: White Pass, Washington and Lutsen, Minnesota.
- A new trail map shows the rebirth of lost terrain at Holiday Mountain, New York.
- Park City shows renderings of the proposed Sunrise Gondola.
- I took a break from skiing at Mammoth last week to snap some pictures of the Canyon Express project.
Expansion Under Construction at Lee Canyon
Just three months after Mountain Capital Partners purchased Lee Canyon, Skytrac is already working to build a new lift to the east of existing terrain. The fixed grip quad, shown as Chair 5 on the above map, will service three new beginner trails with a capacity of 1,800 skiers per hour. The chairlift will span approximately 1,400 feet with a 310 foot vertical rise. The Forest Service approved the project last year when the resort was still owned by Powdr.
The project has not been formally announced but Skytrac posted photos on Instagram yesterday of its ninth and final line survey of the year at an unnamed mountain that looks a whole lot like Lee Canyon. Aerial imagery from the Sentinel satellite network taken this morning confirms the scope of work at Lee Canyon, the only ski resort in the Las Vegas region.
In addition to Chair 5, Lee Canyon also has Forest Service approval to build two new conveyors and a westward expansion with another fixed grip quad in the coming years.
News Roundup: Sold Out
- Mexico City and Leitner inaugurate a new urban gondola line with 283 cabins and 7 stations.
- Leitner-Poma looks to hire a Sales Manager specifically for urban ropeways in North America.
- Leitner, Poma and Bartholet parent company HTI reports a record €1.3 billion in revenue for fiscal 2022.
- A skier dies after falling through a gondola cabin window in France.
- With its gondola back in operation, Mont-Sainte-Anne eyes a $100 million renewal with bids already received for two lift replacement projects.
- Doppelmayr revitalizes a 110 year old cable car over Niagara Falls.
- The Indy Pass suspends sales due to capacity limitations at partner resorts.
- Eagle Point teases multiple lift upgrades including a new connector chair.
- Powdr sells Lee Canyon to Mountain Capital Partners.
- Taos confirms Leitner-Poma will build new chairlifts on both sides the mountain this summer.
News Roundup: New Names
- A new ownership group takes over Brundage Mountain Resort.
- Commuters in the Vancouver region overwhelmingly support a Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- The Sea to Sky Gondola team and partners splice together multiple haul rope sections to run cabins off the line, completing cleanup.
- The Ropeway Center at Colorado School of Mines presents a new video series.
- Doppelmayr will build the Yodeler detachable quad at Holiday Valley.
- The Forest Service says yes to two future chairlifts at Lee Canyon.
- Ditto for Sunlight’s East Ridge project.
- With its high speed quad nearing completion, Saddleback is poised to reopen in mid-December.
- Windham Mountain renames the Wheelchair lift Baker in honor of a former ski patroller.
- Arizona Snowbowl publishes a new trail map painted by Kevin Mastin.
- Big Sky’s new map shows Madison is now called Jayhawk.
- The Tampa Bay-St. Petersburg-Clearwater region will spend six figures to study gondola transit.
- Without an operator, the only lift in Oklahoma faces an uncertain future.
News Roundup: Interviews
- The 117 year old Poconos hotel which just announced plans to build a chairlift burned down last Friday.
- Yellowstone Club adds Silver Tip, its 18th major lift, giving YC the 13th highest lift count in the nation!
- More awesome podcasts: Jeremy Davis of the New England Lost Ski Areas Project, Rob Katz on snowmaking across Vail Resorts, Geoff Hathaway on rebuilding Magic Mountain and the staff of Eldora on what it takes to open weeks ahead of normal.
- Two new quads and a lift shortening are all now reflected on the Stevens Pass trail map.
- Vandals slash upholstered seats on an Austrian gondola, cause $28,000 in damage.
- Okemo receives a 24 month extension to its permit for building a beginner fixed grip quad at Jackson Gore.
- Loveland gains approval to replace Lift 6 with either a fixed grip triple or detachable quad in 2021.
- New Hampshire Governor Chris Sununu tours the gorgeous new summit lodge and gondola at Bretton Woods.
- Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory joins Bloomberg TV and Yahoo Finance to chat about opportunities he sees in the ski business.
- The head of MND Group says financial struggles are history as the company ramps up to deliver $200 million worth of orders for lifts, Gazex and snowmaking.
- The Forest Service plans to approve two new fixed grip quad lifts at Lee Canyon.
- Big Sky looks for 30 more chairs for Six Shooter.
- A Wyoming ranch with snow cat skiing considers adding lift service.
- Chris Diamond’s new book, Ski Inc. 2020, was released last week and is a must read for those who follow North American skiing.
- Simon Fraser University includes a 3S gondola as a core component of its new campus master plan.
Lee Canyon Inches Closer to New Lifts
Well over two million people in the Las Vegas region have just one ski resort within day trip reach, a unique situation among western US metros. The mountain is Lee Canyon, which operates three fixed-grip chairlifts on 785 acres flanking Charleston Peak. On Wednesday, the Forest Service published a 219 page Draft Environmental Impact Statement for a major expansion and upgrade plan developed by longtime owner Powdr Co. Two alternatives would each add a pair of fixed grip quads and two new carpets lifts while a no action option would see the resort remain within the operating footprint it has since 1967.
Goals of the expansion are to update and renovate ski area infrastructure, balance lift and trail capacity, meet growing demand from Las Vegas and the surrounding area and expand year-round recreational opportunities. The proposed Chair 5 pod would become the next step up from the Rabbit Peak bunny hill, providing beginners and low intermediate skiers the opportunity to transition to a chairlift and ski a variety of longer green runs. Chair 5 would be an 1,800 person-per-hour fixed-grip quad chairlift with a loading conveyor. The lift would be 1,400 feet long, with a vertical rise of 310 feet. It would be a top drive lift with approximately 7 towers. In order to access the Chair 5 bottom terminal, a new 500 foot conveyor, Lift 6, would be installed from near the bottom terminal of Chair 3 to near the bottom terminal of Chair 5.
Similar to the existing Chair 2, Chair 8 would be a step up in difficulty from Chair 5, accessing mostly intermediate runs with some easier and some more difficult terrain within that category. It would be a fixed-grip quad chairlift with a capacity of 1,800 pph, 2,200 feet long, with a vertical rise of 650 feet. It would be a bottom drive lift with approximately 16 towers. With alternative 2, the lift would be shortened to load higher up. Other proposed improvements in both alternatives are new biking and hiking trails, a new skier services building, another parking lot, expanded snowmaking, a zip tour and mountain coaster.
News Roundup: A Million
- Foundation work is starting for Disney gondolas.
- Partek will build a fixed-grip quad at Mt. Peter, NY this summer.
- East River Skyway proposal expanded to five phases with more possible stations.
- Belleayre bid documents suggest December 2017 completion and a name for gondola: Catskill Thunder. Funding was approved Monday though I’m told a manufacturer has not yet been awarded the contract.
- NY State Fair gondola is also funded, separate from a chairlift to be built there by SkyTrans Manufacturing this summer.
- Lee Canyon seeks approval to build two new quad chairs in new places.
- Work to resume on Poma gondola in Zacatecas, Mexico with commissioning scheduled for September.
- Gould Academy may build a T-Bar up Monday Mourning at Sunday River.
- Intrawest stock hits record high amid acquisition rumblings.
- A Yan detachable still operates with original grips in Spain.
- Quebec announces $70 million in subsidies to support infrastructure investments at ski resorts in the province, including lift upgrades.
- SEC filing shows exactly how much CNL Lifestyle Properties paid for each of the 16 ski resorts it owns. The most valuable was Northstar at $80.1 million with Loon Mountain selling for just $15.5 million. The Gatlinburg Sky Lift operation went for a whopping $19.9 million!
- Bridger Bowl to sell chairs from Virginia City if buyer falls through.
- Interalpin, the every-other-year mountain technology nerd fest is April 26-28.
- If rent payments to the federal government are any indication, Colorado is booming.
- Flying demo tent gets hung up on Stowe gondola.
- Staff at Barcelona’s urban gondola will strike.
- In addition to completing the Green Lift, Magic Mountain will install a new motor and drive for the Black Lift and return capacity to three per chair.
- Lift Blog reaches 1,000 Instagram followers, 700 Facebook fans and 1,000,000 page views. Thank you to everyone who has supported me with this project over the last two years.
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