- White Pass and Mission Ridge join the Powder Alliance as SilverStar and Stevens Pass exit.
- Soldier Mountain’s owners aren’t having much luck finding a buyer.
- An appeals court affirms the Jumbo Glacier Resort project can’t proceed without a new permit.
- Red Mountain is posting construction updates on the Topping Creek expansion every Tuesday.
- KSL Resorts becomes the new operator of Camelback.
- New runs are cut on Vail Mountain with lift installation to commence shortly.
- Snow King modifies its master plan to shift a proposed gondola and eliminate the existing Cougar lift.
- A worker dies while performing overnight maintenance on the La Paz urban gondola system.
- Hermitage Club stakeholders consider what might happen at the next bankruptcy court hearing, scheduled for August 23rd.
- Europe’s 15th 3S gondola system launches November 30th.
- Big White to add new, larger capacity cabins to Lara’s Gondola.
- Bittersweet in Michigan is significantly lengthening its Hawthorn triple.
Mi Teleferico
News Roundup: Norway
- Arctaris Impact Fund still wants to buy Saddleback but no deal has been reached after more than a year.
- The Banff-Norquay gondola project faces stiff headwinds from Parks Canada.
- The latest podcast from Vail Resorts CEO Rob Katz highlights how the company takes over operations at newly-acquired resorts.
- A judge rejects the Hermitage Club’s proposed restructuring plan as members look to reopen under new management.
- In other Hermitage news, a New Jersey bank seeks to repossess 46 snow guns.
- Here is the complete incident narrative from the February SeaWorld gondola deropement.
- Lift construction gets underway at Skeetawk, America’s first all-new ski area since Cherry Peak in 2015.
- Village construction resumes at Tamarack with Wildwood Express installation to follow this fall.
- A helicopter delivers most of the new Steamboat gondola towers.
- Last week’s gondola incident at Vail was not a result of tampering or sabotage.
- Medellín’s sixth urban gondola, Line P, is on track to open in December.
- After 1,231 days as Yosemite Ski & Snowboard Area, the Badger Pass name returns thanks to a $12 million settlement between the National Park Service and two competing concession companies.
- I spoke too soon on Eaglecrest possibly building Alaska’s first gondola. Icy Strait Point on Chichagof Island is planning a gondola project to open as soon as next summer.
- The haul rope is spliced for a rare fixed grip chondola in Illinois.
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Mi Teleférico in La Paz broke its own daily record again on Monday with 583,841 riders, more than average weekday ridership for Boston’s three subway lines combined.
- Municipally-owned Great Bear resorts to private fundraising in hopes of replacing its Borvig chairlift.
- Placer County leaders will vote Tuesday on the Squaw-Alpine gondola.
- Simon Fraser University steps up its Burnaby Mountain gondola marketing.
- The Los Angeles Griffith Park gondola study is underway.
- Eagle’s Rest 2.0 nears completion at Jackson Hole.
News Roundup: Atria
- Poma’s largest single lift contract ever is worth more than $110 million for a six station, 100 cabin 3S system in China.
- Whitecap Mountains still wants to build its first new lift since 1991 but doesn’t yet have funding.
- A 70 year old woman is okay after falling from Whistler’s new Emerald 6 Express last Saturday.
- Doppelmayr will introduce two new products at Interalpin: a new 3S cabin called Atria and something called Smart Ropeway.
- Mi Teleférico crosses the 200,000,000 passenger mark and is on track to transport more than 40 million by gondola this year.
- A feasibility study will look at whether Teton Pass could reopen as private company, nonprofit or co-op.
- West Mountain confirms a Partek quad will replace its last classic chairlift.
- Casper, Wyoming is unlikely to put six figures towards a Hogadon quad chairlift after all.
- The Glenwood Gondola reopens today with all 44 cabins.
- The Hermitage Club founder’s wife files for bankruptcy and lists $8.5 million in debt related to the closed ski resort.
- Mount St. Louis Moonstone’s Louis Express is up for sale.
- Arapahoe Basin is in talks with the Mountain Collective and others about possibly joining a multi-resort pass on a limited basis.
- A judge will consider whether to place Timberline Resort into receivership next Thursday.
News Roundup: Slow Boat
- After years of gondola negotiations with the Town of Jackson, a frustrated Snow King Mountain presses pause while it waits for the U.S. Forest Service to weigh in.
- Doppelmayr completes the final link in the world’s largest gondola chain. The stats: 10 lines, 21 miles, 34 stations and 1,324 cabins carrying 300,000 daily passengers.
- Crested Butte’s longest lift goes down for more than four days due to communication line damage.
- The announced sale of Montana’s Great Divide won’t happen.
- Peak Resorts posts a solid financial quarter with organic growth in revenue and earnings.
- The Whistler paper highlights what happens when the big Blackcomb Gondola goes down.
- SkyTrans Manufacturing says it’s not to blame for the Ohio State Fair’s delay in replacing potentially corroded chairs on its skyride. As a result of the chairlift situation, Ohio will require all ride operators to forward manufacturer directives to state inspectors going forward.
- After tons of hard work by its lift mechanics and contractors, Attitash concedes it won’t be able to fix Summit‘s gearbox this season. “We’ve heard your calls for a new lift to replace the Summit Triple, and while we appreciate all your feedback, this is not a project our parent company, Peak Resorts, is looking to do in the near future,” says GM John Lowell.
- Leaders of Alta, Aspen Snowmass, Big Sky and Jackson Hole all pen letters addressing the chorus of Ikon Pass crowding criticism.
- The Glenwood Caverns gondola takes flight tomorrow with 17 Sigma cabins. 27 more are on a delayed boat from France and will be put on line when they arrive.
News Roundup: Urban Momentum
- Plans for a 3S gondola servicing Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles move ahead.
- A new gondola system ridership record is set: 406,459 passengers in a single day.
- Killington joins the bubble club with Snowdon Six Express.
- Fatzer says it has donated more than 180 miles of wire rope leftover from ropeways to build 600 bridges in developing countries.
- Ramcharger 8 flies tomorrow at Big Sky Resort.
- Accidents knock two gondolas out of commission at the same Austrian ski resort in the span of a week. One due to a fire and the other a pileup of cabins. The latter one is already back in service.
- Doppelmayr USA taps former New York State Olympic Regional Development Authority head Ted Blazer to lead the company’s urban ropeway push.
- Copper Mountain hopes to have the new American Flyer bubble lift operational by Christmas.
- There might be some news regarding the shuttered Hermitage Club early next week.
- Big White’s Powder 2.0 opens today.
- So does the big Blackcomb Gondola.
- More than 150 guests are evacuated from the Blue chairlift at Mt. Hood Meadows after multiple systems fail.
- Peak Resorts releases quarterly financial results including strong season pass sales figures.
- Timerline Four Seasons Resort keeps pushing back its opening day, now scheduled for December 21st. Yesterday its managing partner was arrested and charged with failing to remit hotel taxes.
- Work carriers are spotted traversing Walt Disney World.
News Roundup: Adding More
- The Forest Service tentatively approves Vail’s Golden Peak T-Bar project.
- US Representative from New York Patrick Maloney dreams up a gondola across the Hudson.
- Red Mountain seeks approval to build the Topping Creek lift.
- Apple Mountain, Michigan is no longer a ski area.
- The first rope evac of the season goes to Super Bee at Copper.
- Gore Mountain solicits bids to replace Sunway and High Peaks with fixed grip quads. That brings the Olympic Regional Development Authority to five potential lift projects for 2019!
- The Aspen City Council considers Aspen Mountain’s Telemix project again.
- The Jackson Town Council rejects Snow King Mountain’s proposed gondola alignment.
- Doppelmayr apologizes for a delay completing the new Blackcomb Gondola. The new Catskinner and Emerald Express lifts open Thursday and the gondola will be finished by December 14th.
- Calgary voters say no to hosting the 2026 Olympic Winter Games.
- The world’s largest urban gondola network now transports 250,000 passengers every weekday with the most popular line doing a million passengers every 19 days.
- Alterra’s Ikon Pass now includes three resorts in New Zealand; Vail adds Les 3 Vallées, France and Skirama Dolomiti in Italy to the Epic Pass.
- Following a lift failure and other struggles, the owners of Timberline, West Virginia seek to recapitalize and restructure the business.
- Remember Gudauri, the Georgian ski resort which made global headlines last winter? It’s fixing the quad that rolled back and adding six more lifts.
- The Hermitage Club receiver will retain a single lift mechanic to maintain five chairlifts in mothballed status over the winter.
- The longest Skytrac to date is ready for winter in Washington State.
- Killington puts new Sigma cabins on the K-1 Gondola a few at a time.
- The Ramcharger 8 haul rope is spliced and chairs are in place at the summit of Andesite Mountain.
- Ski Blandford is officially back in business minus one chairlift.
News Roundup: Decisions, Decisions
- With approvals inked, Steamboat considers whether to build a second gondola or the Pioneer Ridge expansion first.
- The Kohlmaisbahn in Saalbach, Austria becomes the first gondola spotted with Omega V cabins.
- The Hermitage may miss Christmas.
- Catch a glimpse of the new Winter Park gondola cabins. Killington too!
- The eight urban gondolas in La Paz transported a 318,532 riders last Wednesday – a crazy new single day record.
- Thanks to community support, Antelope Butte is poised to reopen with two chairlifts.
- After having its summer camp shut down by the state of New Hampshire, Granite Gorge likely won’t open for downhill skiing this winter.
- The ex-Gore Mountain employee who claimed he was left on a lift overnight last winter is convicted of making a false statement to police and ordered to pay a $1,000 fine.
- Mont Gleason, Quebec will build a fixed grip quad with loading carpet next summer.
- The Iron Mountain Tramway in Glenwood Springs is carrying its final riders next Sunday as Leitner-Poma mobilizes to build an improved gondola this winter.
- Thanks to Jared Emerson for taking me around the newest North American lift by LST Ropeways at Waterville Valley. She’s a beauty!
News Roundup: Next Generation
- The above $52 million masterpiece and highest-ever 3S opens for business in the shadow of the Matterhorn.
- The Leitner-Poma Group’s sixth tricable gondola is set to carry commuters between three stations in Toulouse, France from 2020 and will cost $94.5 million to build.
- Alterra closes on its purchase of Crystal Mountain.
- A lift operator and his employer, Killingon/Pico, are sued following a loading mishap.
- An eighth urban gondola line opens in La Paz and carries 72,740 riders on its first day.
- CWA teases Omega V, the next evolution of the world’s best selling gondola cabin. While we wait to see what it looks like, check out hundreds of CWA designs from the past 75 years.
- The Palm Springs Tram gets a new 13,500′ x 45 mm upper haul rope from Fatzer. Thanks Kirk D. for the photos.
- Horseshoe Resort’s retired 1989 Doppelmayr detachable quad hits the used market.
- Whistler Blackcomb’s 2018-19 trail map shows what $52 million worth of new lifts looks like.
- Read up on Sun Peaks’ new Orient quad here.
- Lone Mountain Land Company eyes two more lifts on the Spanish Peaks side of Big Sky Resort and nine in Moonlight Basin.
- Revelstoke’s newspaper looks into rumors of a gondola project on Mt. Begbie.
- The City of Los Angeles will study two Hollywood gondola ideas.
- Another Disney Skyliner station is nearly finished with tons of windows.
- Windham names its new lift Westside Six. I stopped by last week to check out the progress.
News Roundup: Not Cool
- Beaver Creek relocates an entire Birds of Prey Express tower, foundation and all, eight inches due to ground movement.
- Someone made off with a chair from Aspen’s Bell Mountain lift. After a public plea from SkiCo, it returns within hours.
- Franklin County, Maine wants an electric utility to contribute $100,000 to support Saddleback redevelopment as part of a mitigation package for a $950 million power line project.
- Cockaigne, NY will open this winter for the first time in seven following an investment of $6.2 million, demonstrating it takes a boatload of cash to reopen a lapsed ski resort.
- The always awesome French lift website Remontées Mécaniques reports on two remarkable new lifts in Asia: the Fansipan Legend 3S and Wynn Palace Skycab.
- Two late additions to the 2018 new lift roster: Boreal, California and Vallée du Parc, Quebec, which are both adding Doppelmayr fixed quads this fall.
- La Paz subway in the sky gondolas number 15 and 16 open September 26th.
- An intriguing podcast claims more Disney Skyliner lines are envisioned to Disney Springs, Blizzard Beach, Animal Kingdom Lodge, All Star Resort and Coronado Springs.
- Anyone recognize this skyride at the New Mexico State Fair? It had to come from somewhere.
- Pre-Vail Whistler Blackcomb COO and father of Peak 2 Peak Dave Brownlie is tapped to lead the next chapter at Revelstoke.
News Roundup: More Cabins
- A live streaming webcam shows New Hampshire’s largest and fastest gondola going in at Bretton Woods. Some tidbits on the lift from the New Hampshire Tramway Board: line speed will be 6 m/s with 36 cabins and a design capacity of 2,600 using 62 cabins. SkyTrans is taking the retired B double and the gondola’s load test is slated for December 20th.
- Sunrise Park Resort abruptly ends all summer operations.
- In Europe, some pulse gondolas are on the way out.
- As it works to finalize its lease of Mt. Sunapee, Vail Resorts assures New Hampshire residents the company is in for the long haul and doesn’t plan any real estate development at the state-owned mountain.
- A stack up of at least nine cabins on the White urban gondola line in La Paz last Monday is deemed the result of human error. No passengers were on the lift at the time.
- Loveland receives more than 3,000 name suggestions for its upcoming detachable quad and will unveil a winner early next week.
- One of the longest gondolas in Mexico, opened seven months ago in Torreon, has already carried more than 325,000 passengers and will soon get nine additional cabins from Sigma.
- Go inside Poma’s newest French factory.
- Arapahoe Basin and Leitner-Poma commence pouring concrete and digging tower locations for the Beavers lift.
- As Winter Park continues testing digital chairlift advertising, sister resort Steamboat goes old school with bar mounted trail map ads.
- The widow of Loveland mechanic Adam Lee, who died underneath a carpet lift last winter, goes on CBS This Morning to talk about his workers compensation claim being reduced due to a positive marijuana test.
- Magic Mountain submits a permit application/profile for the Black Line Quad and hopes to commence construction next month.
- Copper’s all-new trail map is amazing…
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