Leitner-Poma

Arizona’s First Six-Pack Takes Shape at Arizona Snowbowl

Peter Landsman1 Comment
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The new Grand Canyon Express at Arizona Snowbowl is more than a mile long with over 1,500 feet of elevation gain.

Just over a year ago, Arizona Snowbowl near Flagstaff hadn’t seen a new lift in 30 years. Now under the ownership of James Coleman, the resort is undergoing a renaissance with two new lifts in the last two years, new snowmaking coverage and expanded terrain.  Last fall, Skytrac installed a new quad chair on the lower mountain named Humphrey’s Peak, a nod to Arizona’s highest mountain.  This winter, Snowbowl will add the largest new chairlift in the country called the Grand Canyon Express.  Built by Leitner-Poma, the six-pack is nearly complete and staff couldn’t be more excited about their mountain’s first detachable lift serving popular intermediate terrain with a six minute ride.

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The first six-place lift in the state is large by any measure, not just gauge but also length (5,801 feet) with an impressive vertical of 1,546 feet.  The line will have 61 chairs initially, moving up to 1,800 skiers per hour at 1,000 feet per minute.  Arizona Snowbowl will be able to add 54 more chairs to reach 3,400 pph in the future.  The new lift serves all of the terrain formerly accessible from the Sunset triple chair, which may eventually be removed.  The Grand Canyon Express also accesses 90 percent of the acreage off Agassiz, Snowbowl’s workhorse lift that takes 13 minutes to ride.

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40 New Lifts: Construction Extends Gains in 2016

Peter Landsman2 Comments
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Steamboat’s new Elkhead Express is one of 40 new lifts debuting in North America for 2016-17.

With work wrapping up on 36 new and four used lifts across North America, 2016 will go down as the best year for lift construction since the Great Recession.  With Skytrac now a member of the Leitner-Poma Group, the big two manufacturers each supplied exactly the same number of lifts in North America – 17 – with one each for LST and Partek (although Skytrac provided controls for and installed the LST lift.)  Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma also had their best years individually since 2008 and Skytrac its second best in history with five complete lifts and a retrofit terminal for Keystone.  These numbers include four gondolas manufactured in Europe by Leitner and Poma installed in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.  If only lifts built by Leitner-Poma of America in Grand Junction are counted, Leitner-Poma had its third best year since 2008 with eight new lifts.  I call it a tie.

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While everyone knows the East had a horrible season last year, the Pacific states actually showed the softest demand for new lifts in 2016.  Alaska, Washington, Oregon and California have steadily declined for more than a decade and just three new lifts went in there, the lowest number since at least 2004.  The Mountain region saw 12 installations, virtually the same as last year and the second most since 2008.  The Rockies also built the biggest lifts in the country – six-packs at Arizona Snowbowl & Big Sky, high speed quads at Steamboat & Vail and a two-stage gondola at Jackson Hole. The Midwest more than doubled last year’s count, achieving its second best year since 2004 with seven new lifts while the East was well below its ten-year average with six new lifts constructed in 2016.  The big shocker: Wisconsin built more new lifts in 2016 than any other state or province with three new Doppelmayr quads at Wilmot Mountain, two Leitner-Poma quads at Cascade Mountain and a Skytrac quad at Christmas Mountain Village.

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Canada finished right about average with eight new lifts, all built in the eastern provinces of Ontario and Quebec. Horseshoe Resort and Le Relais both added their first six-place detachables, which are sure to be well-received.  Look for Western Canada to rebound next year after struggling since the recession.  Perhaps most interesting is the four gondolas built for public transportation and tourism in Mexico and the Dominican Republic.  I expect growth in Mexico and the Caribbean to continue as the urban ropeway revolution spreads north from South America (and hopefully to the United States!)

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Vail Nears Completion of New Sun Up Express

Peter Landsman5 Comments
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Brian Jorgenson of Timberline Helicopters flies a tower head for the new Sun Up Express lift on the backside of Vail Mountain.  Brian and his team have flown lift parts at Arizona Snowbowl, Big Sky, Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Steamboat, Sundance and Vail so far this summer.

With construction underway on a new lift for the ninth time in ten years, Vail Mountain will have only three fixed-grip chairlifts this winter. Adding to what is already the largest detachable lift fleet in the world outside of Europe, Vail and Leitner-Poma are now building the mountain’s 19th high-speed lift in the famous Back Bowls to replace the Sun Up #17 triple.  This is a major milestone for a mountain that in 1984 operated a whopping 19 fixed-grip chairlifts.   Following on the heels of two new six-packs from Doppelmayr USA in 2013 and 2015, Vail switched back to Leitner-Poma for its newest high speed quad, which will be designated Lift #9.  With its production facility down I-70 in Grand Junction, Leitner-Poma also supplied Vail’s Gondola One in 2012 and seven high speed quads in a row before that. Vail regulars will note that number 9 used to belong to the Minnie’s lift from 1972 until it was removed without being replaced in 2008.

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Tire banks for the return terminal of the new Sun Up lift await their new home in Vail’s Back Bowls.

The Sun Up Express will achieve 65 percent higher capacity than the 1992 triple version it replaces, which was actually one of the original lifts Doppelmayr built at Beaver Creek in 1980.  Fun fact: B.C.’s Centennial was originally two separate triple chairs.  What became Sun Up at Vail was the upper lift called Horseshoe.  The triple chair is now history and will probably find a third home somewhere in the Vail Resorts empire or beyond.

Sun Up Express’ uphill capacity will be 2,400 skiers per hour which should help alleviate crowding on lifts 5 and 9.  The Back Bowls and Blue Sky Basin will now have a combined seven high speed quads.  Lift 9 will feature 82 quad chairs and 14 towers, most of which were set last week by helicopter.  The lift will have a vertical rise of 1,115 feet and will be 3,865 feet long with a 670 HP AC top drive located near Two Elk Lodge.  Sun Up Express will be Vail’s third lift with the new LPA (Leitner Poma Automatic) grips and terminals.

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Leitner-Poma Wins Staten Island Gondola Design Competition

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The Staten Island Economic Development Corporation selected this design by Leitner-Poma to move forward as part of a proposed connection to Manhattan.

New York City’s iconic Roosevelt Island Tramway could soon be joined by a gondola linking Staten Island to Bayonne, New Jersey serving commuters and tourists alike. Staten Island has all the ingredients for a successful urban gondola: a dense (and growing) population, a geographic barrier surmountable by cable, and connections to other transit modes at both ends.  This week, the Staten Island Economic Development Corporation (SIEDC) crowned Leitner-Poma of America the winner of a design competition it launched in January to promote a ropeway solution.  A jury of engineers, architects and business leaders selected Leitner-Poma’s 10-passenger gondola proposal that would cross the Kill Van Kull tidal strait to New Jersey.

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In its request for proposals, the nonprofit development corporation floated four possible alignments for a gondola to serve Staten Island.

According to the development group’s request for proposals, subway-less Staten Islanders suffer from some of the longest commutes in the country, averaging 90 minutes to Manhattan by ferry.  A new rail tunnel under New York Harbor is estimated to cost $400 million per mile and would not be completed for a generation, if ever. Despite mobility challenges, $1 billion of redevelopment is currently underway in this suburban borough.  The SIEDC’s competition encompassed 4-6 possible routes, the most ambitious of which would connect Staten Island’s northeast tip with Battery Park in Manhattan over five miles of water.

Leitner-Poma recognized the technical and political challenges of 10,000-foot spans skirting the Statue of Liberty over New York Harbor and instead settled on a shorter connection to New Jersey and its rail network.  Other entrants chose routes from Staten Island to Brooklyn, where the East River Skyway is separately proposed to connect to Manhattan.

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County Schedules October Auction of Tamarack High Speed Quads

Peter Landsman10 Comments

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The Tamarack Express is a 2004 Leitner-Poma detachable quad 8,061′ long x 1,839′ vertical.
Valley County, Idaho has seized Tamarack’s two remaining high speed chairlifts and plans to auction them on October 17th over nonpayment of taxes.  Tamarack Resort owes the county $4.7 million in back taxes and the auction is for assets on which hundreds of thousands of dollars are more than three years past due.  The auction includes 24 lots that will be sold to the highest bidder including two Leitner-Poma high speed quads that are located on state land.  Other items include a zip line, mid-mountain lodge and assets related the Osprey Meadows golf course.

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The Summit Express is a 2004 Leitner-Poma high speed quad 3,694′ long x 996′ vertical.
Tamarack built six Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr CTEC lifts in 2004 and 2005 before filing for bankruptcy in 2008.  Bank of America re-possessed two Doppelmayr lifts in 2011 after Tamarack missed numerous lease payments.  The Tamarack Municipal Association purchased the Buttercup quad from the bank for $400,000 but determined it could not afford to buy and maintain the Wildwood Express detachable quad.  Bank of America Leasing wanted more than $2 million for that lift and instead sold it to Brian Head where it debuted as the Giant Steps Express in 2014.

Remains of Tamarack's Wildwood Express.
Highlander Ski Lift Services of McCall removed the Wildwood Express in 2012 with fewer than 2,000 hours on it.  Bank of America later sold it to Brian Head.
Now Tamarack’s last two major lifts are facing a similar fate.  The Tamarack Homeowners’ Association and owner New Tamarack Acquisitions Corporation say they are working with the county to avoid the sales and open the ski resort seven days a week this winter.  General Manager Brad Larsen told KTVB, “I don’t think the owner’s association is going to let [the auction] happen. They’re going to work with the county to make sure that we’ve got all the assets to operate.”  A Doppelmayr CTEC beginner chairlift named Discovery and Leitner-Poma platter called Rock Creek don’t appear to be on the auction block.

The sale is scheduled for Monday, October 17th at 1:00 pm with no reserves for the items.  The two lifts cost nearly $6 million new from Leitner-Poma in 2004.

News Roundup: Commonwealth

Peter Landsman2 Comments

Leitner-Poma MiniMetro Debuts at Miami International Airport

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A new Leitner-Poma/Sigma MiniMetro train car transports flyers at Miami International Airport. Photo credit: Leitner-Poma
A new Leitner-Poma/Sigma MiniMetro train car transports flyers at Miami International Airport. Photo credit: Leitner-Poma

Aerial lifts are far from the only transport applications where cable-propelled systems make a lot of sense.  Earlier this month, Leitner-Poma celebrated the opening of its newest MiniMetro train at Miami International Airport.  It’s the first phase of a system that will carry up to 30 million passengers annually to the Concourse E Satellite using less energy and with lower costs than a traditional automated people mover.   Leitner-Poma of America President Rick Spear said of the opening, “we are very pleased with the new MiniMetro train at MIA.  We have demonstrated our ability to be a competitive alternative to existing self-propelled technology both on price and performance, and in particular on the yearly operating and maintenance costs.”  Many of the train’s components were manufactured at Leitner-Poma’s Grand Junction facility that also builds ski lifts for North America, Australia and New Zealand.

The new train at Concourse E replaces one built in 1980 by Bombardier.  The Leitner-Poma project is the fourth people mover at Miami International Airport and the first to be cable-driven instead of having propulsion in each car. Mitsubishi Heavy Industries constructed the MIA Mover & Skytrain and also bid on the Concourse E replacement project.  Miami-Dade County awarded Leitner-Poma the $87 million contract in 2014, which includes 15 years of operation and maintenance.  “The Leitner-Poma team has delivered a train that is aesthetically appealing and has a very smooth ride.  The south lane is open and is being well received by our passengers,” said Eddie Chinea, Miami-Dade Aviation Department APM/Transport Systems Chair and Assistant Project Director.

Photo credit: Leitner-Poma
Photo credit: Leitner-Poma

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New England Gets a Lift: Suicide Six to Build New Quad Chair

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Vermont’s Woodstock Inn & Resort unveiled plans Thursday for a new quad chairlift at its Suicide Six Ski Area.  Normally this wouldn’t be a big deal, but it marks the first (and possibly only) major lift project in the Northeast United States for 2016.  Over the last ten seasons, Northeastern ski resorts have built an average of ten new lifts each year, testament to this year’s huge departure from normal in the wake of a rough winter.

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Suicide Six is replacing the longer of its two chairlifts.

The new Lift #1 will replace a 1975 Borvig double and be built by Leitner-Poma of America.  The Laurance S. Rockefeller Fund will foot the bill for the $1.5 million project.  The Rockefeller Family’s RockResorts once owned Suicide Six and the Woodstock Inn and spun them off as the nonprofit Woodstock Foundation in the 1980s.  Vail Resorts bought RockResorts in 2001.

The 2000′ Borvig double chair being replaced closed in February after the ski area found tower cracks following the Timberline, WV crossarm failure.  Although the two lifts’ towers were of different design, the State of Vermont ordered inspections of all Borvig-brand lifts.  The new quad will be Suicide Six’s first new lift since Poma built the 1,600′ chairlift way back in 1978.  The mountain first opened for skiing in 1936 and currently has two double chairs, a J-Bar and 24 trails.

Woodstock President and General Manager Gary Thulander said in a news release, “We recognized the need to upgrade this chairlift as part of the long-term support of the regional ski community including local schools, season pass holders, the Woodstock Ski Runners program, and visiting skiers.  Increased chair capacity means a dramatic upgrade to the overall experience of the mountain by all levels of skiers, racers and snowboarders.” Removal of the old chair is already underway.

Out with the old. Photo credit: Green Mountain Control Systems.
Out with the old Borvig. Photo credit: Green Mountain Control Systems.

This is Leitner-Poma’s eighth new lift project for 2016, up from seven last year.  With this news from Suicide Six and other recent announcements, the total new lift count for North America stands at 39, up 11 percent from last summer’s 35.

News Roundup: Six-Packs

Peter Landsman6 Comments
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Into the air at Caberfae Peaks, Michigan. Thanks to Lawrence W. for the photo.

Five Challenges Facing Chicago’s Skyline

Peter Landsman2 Comments

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Chicago doesn’t have an iconic tourist attraction.  There’s no giant Ferris wheel, no observation tower, no famous bridge.  Entrepreneurs Lou Raizin and Laurence Geller want to change that with a gondola.  Over the past four years, the men studied more than fifty signature attractions in cities around the globe and came up with the Skyline as an iconic attraction for the Windy City.  As presented to the City Club of Chicago on May 3rd, the plan includes a gondola from Navy Pier with multiple stops along the Chicago Riverfront. David Marks, the architect behind the London Eye, collaborated on the innovative design with New York-based Davis Brody Bond.  Marks also designed the British Airways i360 observation tower with a passenger capsule built by Poma and Sigma.  The Skyline project would likely bring together the same team from the Eye and i360 with engineering firm Jacobs Inc. and ropeway technology from Leitner-Poma.

Mr. Raizin and Mr. Geller say they’ve spent millions designing and studying the Skyline, which will cost an estimated $250 million raised from private investors.  The premise is sound but the proposal comes with significant challenges.

1. What is it?

“This is not your typical aerial gondola,” Mr. Geller told the City Club.  The system would transport 3,000 visitors per hour at 800 feet a minute.  That’s pretty standard for a monocable gondola.  The challenge is architects want big, beautiful cabins while also keeping a “light footprint” for the system.  Renderings show approximately 25-passenger cabins with only one haul rope and no grips.  To date, the largest monocable gondolas in the world carry 15 passengers, not 25.  Larger cabins require track ropes, bigger terminals and complex towers with saddles.

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