- Mountain Capital Partners may enter the Midwest with a deal to operate Spirit Mountain, Minnesota. Under the proposal, MCP would lease the mountain for a minimum of 20 years beginning in October.
- Vail raises Epic Pass prices approximately 3.5 percent, offers a discount to young adults 30 and under.
- Alterra raises Ikon prices roughly 5 percent, adds Tamarack, Idaho and Devil’s Head, Wisconsin to its bonus mountain tier while removing SilverStar, BC.
- Granite Peak, Wisconsin; Lutsen Mountains, Minnesota and Snowriver, Michigan switch from Indy Pass to Ikon Pass.
- Snowmass returns and Arapahoe Basin will go unlimited on the Ikon Base Pass.
- The Wall Street Journal visits Telluride owner Chuck Horning, who says he’s “never selling.”
- The BBC profiles lift operations at Whistler Blackcomb.
- The LA Times visits independent Mt. Baldy, surrounded by Alterra in Southern California.
- SAM digs into how a small Wisconsin ski area went from closed to buying two brand new Skytrac lifts.
- Snowbird will replace Chickadee this spring.
- Pomerelle, Idaho’s General Manager buys the mountain with his wife.
- Shanty Creek, Michigan also sells to new owners.
- The cost of used gondola installation at Eaglecrest balloons from under $9 million to as much as $37 million. A report finds the gondola would make the ski area profitble on an operating basis and canceling the project would cost taxpayers $10.9 million.
- In Iowa, a government-owned ski area fundraises for a brand new chairlift.
- Revelstoke’s Stoke chair to be out of service at least three days for gearbox repair.
- Stagecoach Mountain Ranch inches toward approval near Steamboat.
- The top operator house on Chair 1 at Titus Mountain, New York burns down, rendering the lift inoperable.
Little Switzerland
News Roundup: Wild Europe Weather
- In a real estate sales presentation, Red Mountain leaders say expansion lifts on Mt. Kirkup and White Wolf Ridge are a higher priority than replacing existing lifts.
- Sasquatch Mountain, BC provides an update on the Green Chair, which hasn’t spun all season.
- An avalanche strikes a closed detachable lift in France.
- Another French avalanche takes out a tower and hits a terminal.
- Rime ice topples a lift tower in Spain.
- A double chair rolls back during operation in China (likely a lift from BHMRI, not a western manufacturer.)
- Also in Asia, a viral video shows a gondola cabin dragging through deep snow.
- Bluewood, Washington upgrades Triple Nickel with Partek carriers, will sell old Borvig ones.
- Anakeesta offers up chairs from its former Chondola but not the gondola cabins.
- The 13 year-old critically injured in an unloading incident at Ski Vorlage, Quebec last week died four days later, her family says. Quebec’s ropeway regulator inspected the lift post-accident and identified several unspecified corrective actions, now completed.
- A five year old is hospitalized after falling from Sunday River’s Jordan Mountain double.
- Groundbreaking could come soon for the Aspen development that includes a new Lift 1A.
- Skytrac to construct both new lifts at Little Switzerland, Wisconsin.
- Five people board a quad chair on the Sourdough Express at Vail, one later jumps off after the lift stops (unclear if they were directed to do so by Vail Resorts staff.)
- Wisp temporarily closes two lifts for separate repairs.
- Tye Mill at Stevens Pass goes out of service.
- Also two lifts at Pico.
- Stratton’s gondola to remain closed into next week due to a maintenance issue.
- Sundance Express at Sun Peaks to be closed this weekend for maintenance.
- Castle Mountain, Alberta temporarily closes the new Stagecoach Express to swap a motor.
- At Marquette Mountain, Michigan, a misload bends apart a Riblet chair (quickly replaced without incident.)
- The Supreme Court strikes down some of President Trump’s import tariffs but not Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs most affecting lift manufacturers. In response to the decision, the President orders a 10 percent global tariff to last 150 days (USMCA compliant goods and items already subjected to Section 232 tariffs are exempted).
News Roundup: Interior BC
- Powdr sells SilverStar, BC to Pacific Group Resorts.
- Excavation begins for the Okanagan Gondola in interior BC.
- A study finds the proposed Zincton project in BC could disrupt grizzly and wolverine corridors.
- Little Switzerland, Wisconsin plans to replace the up-and-over 1-2 lift with two quads in 2026.
- Fall Line Construction’s new website showcases several cool lift projects from the past few years.
- Mad River Glen may acquire 1,100 acres of surrounding land.
- Telluride and its unionized ski patrol remain far apart with a strike possible.
- Compagnie des Montagnes de Ski du Quebec (CMSQ) would like to own ten ski areas in five years.
- Nearly a year since the province of Quebec and Resorts of the Canadian Rockies announced a CA$50 million joint investment at Mont-Sainte-Anne, the deal still hasn’t been signed.
- The Canadian Ski Museum highlights community ski area history in every province.
News Roundup: New Gondolas
- It looks like Snowbird has joined the Powdr family of adventure lifestyle brands.
- A batch of green gondolas arrives at Bretton Woods as towers go vertical.
- Another group of new Omega cabins is uncovered in Florida.
- Little Switzerland and The Rock Snowpark are upgrading chairs on multiple lifts and selling the old ones.
- The Lake Placid gondola cabins will be white and black.
- Top leadership positions at Doppelmayr will be filled by two longtime executives this fall.
- With no operations planned for this summer, Hermitage Club receiver Alan Tantleff updates the government on the status of the ski resort’s properties.
- Crested Butte receives approval for the Teocalli replacement project and plans to remove Twister as well.
- Killington says it’s considering upgrades for Superstar Express, Ramshead Express and Outpost at Pico next.
- Despite being partly flooded, the Grafton, Illinois gondola is on track to open later this spring.
- Tanzania might build a gondola on 19,341-foot Mt. Kilimanjaro.
- Peak Resorts reports double digit growth of season pass sales.
- West Mountain’s Thiokol is for sale along with some Poma lifts that were once planned to replace it.
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