Mission Ridge – Lift Blog

News Roundup: Superstar

September 19, 2025Peter Landsman22 Comments

The death toll rises to three in last week’s Mt. Elbrus deropement with the CEO and head technician detained by the Russian government.
Dramatic video emerges from last month’s failure of another Russian single chair not far away.
49° North to replace its beginner chairlift with a Doppelmayr quad next year.
In an interview, Garaventa’s CEO discusses US tariffs on Switzerland, competition with HTI and more.
Indy Pass adds Donner Ski Ranch, California; Magic Mountain, Idaho; Montage Mountain, Pennsylvania (returning after a brief hiatus) and Leavenworth Ski Hill, Washington plus mountains in Austria and Turkey.
Ecosign releases a book highlighting 50 years of mountain planning.
Crystal Mountain’s summit webcam captures a slight mishap during installation of Rainier Express’ top terminal (all is well, it’s now assembled.)
Welch Village to sell Hall double chairs next week.
Spirit Mountain asks the public to vote on 13 possible names for its new chairlift.
Chelan County releases its draft environmental impact statement for the proposed Mission Ridge expansion.
Construction is well underway on Arkansas’ only chairlift.
Stagecoach Mountain Ranch moves toward approval outside Steamboat.
Hesperus, Colorado to remain closed this season.
Sommet Saint-Sauveur adds a loading conveyor to the Sommet Express.
The chairlift at Whaleback, New Hampshire may miss this season.
Enjoy a few construction photos from Killington (both the Superstar replacement and Skyeship cabin upgrade.)

News Roundup: Independence Day

July 4, 2025Peter Landsman27 Comments

The owner of Cape Smokey, Nova Scotia to acquire Ski Martock, also in Nova Scotia.
Titcomb Mountain, Maine seeks final funding to replace its second T-Bar.
Keystone proposes replacing A51 with a detachable quad.
Yet another excellent Deer Valley construction update.
Mantis Ropeway Technologies to install Assistance software on five lifts in Austria to detect misloads using AI.
The BC Okanagan Gondola project hits a snag related to water.
Mission Ridge, Washington launches an expansion website.
Mountain Capital Partners to buy a majority stake in four more Chilean mountains.
Sun Valley proposes more Bald Mountain lift upgrades.
Four Seasons, New York looks to be liquidating its ski operations.
A storm causes an aerial tramway to derope in Dornbirn, Austria. Even the rescue ropeway de-roped, requiring the use of a helicopter to save 19 passengers and a dog.
Skeetawk, Alaska completes preliminary geotechnical work for a proposed upper mountain lift.
Big Moose Mountain, Maine performs similar work with the goal of returning lift service to the summit.

News Roundup: Riverbanks

March 21, 2025March 21, 2025Peter Landsman11 Comments

19 deluxe cabins arrive stateside for South Carolina’s only gondola.
Ragged Mountain goes on the market.
Leitner-Poma posts an ad hiring lift installers for a project at Crystal Mountain, Washington.
A widow sues Breckenridge following her husband’s fatal fall from the Zendo chair, alleging “an unreasonable amount of snow and ice accumulation.”
Purgatory acknowleges belt tightening on the mountain as it renegotiates long term debt.
The Forest Service shows two Mission Ridge expansion proposals as canceled.
The Forest Service releases a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Grand Targhee’s proposed expansion including three pared down alternatives.
Big Sky raises $150,000 for charity selling Explorer chairs.
An idea to connect two Seattle neighborhoods by gondola resurfaces.
Leitner teases a “New Era of Ropeways” coming at Interalpin.
Relations sour between the Town of Mountain Village and Telluride Ski Resort owner Chuck Horning with the Town Manager giving a lengthy speech about problems at the resort.
Skeetawk, Alaska’s only chairlift shuts down for a multi-week repair.
Stowe’s FourRunner quad has been out of service all week.
Vail reopens Riva Bahn after a two week gearbox rebuild.
Kicking Horse’s gondola remains closed indefinitely; the resort will transport gear up to Stairway to Heaven free of charge but guests still have to walk there.
Vail Resorts presents its strategic vision to investors.

News Roundup: Valentine’s Edition

February 14, 2025February 15, 2025Peter Landsman12 Comments

Vail Resorts reaches an agreement with Crested Butte lift mechanics, averting a strike.
A window falls from a cabin on Stowe’s Mansfield Gondola during operations.
Mission Ridge acknowledges three different chairs have detached this season from Chair 4, a 1971 Riblet double (all empty and no injuries).
Waterville Valley completes a midseason splice on the High Country T-Bar.
A new owner looks to reopen Crystal Mountain, BC via crowdfunding.
Winter Park’s High Lonesome Express is back after a four week maintenance closure.
Still no Slide Brook Express at Sugarbush but hopefully soon.
The Glade Triple at Catamount will miss the rest of the season.
Badger Pass, California won’t open this season.
Ditto for Cedar Pass, also in California.
Park City gets serious about a gondola connecting Main Street to Deer Valley.
President Trump imposes 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports with potential impacts on lift manufacturers.
The US Forest Service, landlord to 124 ski areas, lays off 3,400 employees.
A bipartisan group of Senators sponsor a bill that would direct the Forest Service retain some of the fees resorts pay to the federal government for ski purposes, such as processing resort improvement projects.
The gondola in Moab, Utah which sat for 25 years without ever opening, is finally being removed.
Solitude demystifies lift maintenance for customers.

News Roundup: Looking Ahead

March 17, 2023Peter Landsman6 Comments

Mission Ridge proposes constructing a fifth chairlift in Bowl Four.
Powder King, BC goes up for sale with an asking price of $8.25 million.
Poley Mountain rope evacuates its triple chair.
Sommet Olympia’s new lift coming next winter to be named Apollo.
Steamboat’s forthcoming high speed quad will be called Mahogany Ridge.
Leaders of Deer Valley, Park City and Ski Utah will host a community forum on Monday.
Searchmont completes its fleet renewal with all lifts open for the first time in three years.
The groundbreaking Matterhorn Alpine Crossing 3S linking Switzerland and Italy will open July 1st.

News Roundup: Chair Sale Season

March 3, 2023March 5, 2023Peter Landsman22 Comments

Jackson Hole takes initial steps toward adding Rock Springs and Green River canyons to its permit area, eyes new Sublette and Lower Sublette lifts.
A California winery’s new D-Line gondola marches toward opening.
Keystone confirms Bergman Bowl construction is a go to resume this summer and Rad Smith will paint an all-new Keystone trail map.
Schweitzer’s upcoming detachable quad will be called Creekside Express.
Utah Olympic Park christens its new high speed quad called Game Changer.
Mission Ridge loses a lawsuit seeking $6 million from the county it operates in over an expansion dispute.
MND wins a $106 million contract to supply equipment for a new ski resort in Uzbekistan including an 80 passenger aerial tramway, 10 passenger gondola, two chairlifts, six conveyor lifts, a mountain coaster, zip lines and avalanche safety systems.
Attitash will auction chairs from the outgoing Summit Triple. Snowriver too.
Software provider Entabeni Systems acquires Indy Pass, will cap sales next year and issue direct-to-lift cards.
Mountain Division President James O’Donnell and Whistler Blackcomb COO Geoff Buchheister both leave Vail Resorts effective today. Buchheister is named CEO of Aspen and Bill Rock will become the new Mountain Division President at Vail.
Crabbe Mountain explains recent lift down time.
Paradise at Powder Mountain closes indefinitely due to a maintenance issue.

News Roundup: Maine & More

March 11, 2022Peter Landsman41 Comments

COO Al Henceroth breaks down the numbers behind Arapahoe Basin’s quest to maintain a quality experience through capacity management.
Solitude intends to replace the aging Eagle Express within the next few years.
An Indiana public broadcaster devotes five minutes to comparing bare bones operations at Vail-owned Paoli Peaks with Perfect North Slopes, which operated more lifts more hours per day over a much longer season.
A broken sheave on the high speed quad at Marble Mountain leads to a 220+ skier rope evacuation; the lift may remain down for some time.
Park City shows off the new alignment for the upcoming Eagle Express.
Telluride appears destined to spend lots of money on its gondola, either as a major refurbishment or total replacement.
A child is unhurt after falling from a Sugarloaf high speed quad.
Eight months after a rooftop fire, Big Snow American Dream eyes a Memorial Day reopening.
Moosehead Lake developers say the cost of a detachable six pack increased a million dollars in six months and financing remains an issue.
The Seattle Times profiles a successful season turnaround at Stevens Pass.
BigRock Mountain raises $1.2 million toward the purchase of a Doppelmayr quad chair.
In Utah tram board news, Alta has sold the Sunnyside detachable triple to an unidentified mountain; Wasatch Peaks plans to build a third lift.
Mission Ridge posts a bit of a wild wind video.
Sierra-at-Tahoe will spin two chairlifts one weekend in April as it continues Caldor Fire recovery.

News Roundup: Letters from the Top

January 21, 2022Peter Landsman13 Comments

Vail removes the East and West doubles from the Attitash trail map, replacing them with the Progression Quad to be built this summer.
Vail sends resources from California and Colorado to help open lifts at Stevens Pass.
The Wall Street Journal interviews Kirsten Lynch about Vail’s challenging start to the season.
Vail Resorts expects to save millions of kilowatt hours of electricity annually by installing heat controls on 40 Vail Mountain and Beaver Creek lifts.
Doppelmayr will build Stowe’s Mountain six passenger lift at a cost of $5.2 million.
Pine Knob says it will be without Chair 1 for a few weeks due to a mechanical issue.
Berkshire East and Catamount owner Jon Schaefer apologizes for project delays including two used lifts which have yet to open.
Mission Ridge continues to criticize the approval process for its long-sought expansion.
A man falls from the new Peru Express at Keystone.
Bighorn Sheep concerns may quash Grand Targhee’s expansion dreams.
Mt. Rose retires the Lakeview triple early due to “maintenance items that can’t be rectified.”
Jay Peak updates guests on a Bonaventure quad gearbox issue.
The only MND lift in the western United States has been down since last weekend.
The latest bold plan from Les Otten would see skiing return to The Balsams in late 2023.
A letter to Loon Mountain passholders acknowledges challenges with the new Kancamagus 8 lift.
A quad chairlift is rope evacuated by firefighters at Earl Bales Park, Ontario.
Timberline President Jeff Kohnstamm says a Government Camp gondola is still a number of years out but would include a mid-station, direct drive and 10 passenger cabins.

News Roundup: Forecasting Demand

November 19, 2021Peter Landsman15 Comments

Washington’s Mission Ridge buys Blacktail Mountain, Montana.
Bousquet intends to replace the Blue chair with a quad in the next two to three years.
A gondola is proposed to cross between Kansas and Missouri.
Bromont adds loading conveyors to two fixed quads; Sun Peaks upgrades Crystal with one too.
Rusty Gregory says Ikon Pass sales are growing at a faster rate than any previous selling season.
Vail Resorts will limit ticket sales during holidays, introduce lift line wait time forecasts and devote extra staff to managing lift mazes.
Catamount touts more than $15 million offseason upgrades including two new chairlifts.
Whitefish Mountain Resort posts updated trail maps showing Chair 8’s new alignment.
Next year’s new lift at Whitefish will be called the Snow Ghost Express.
Justin Sibley becomes CEO of Powdr.
Jackson Hole’s five year roadmap includes detachable replacements for Thunder and Sublette plus a potential a Lower Faces lift.
Gallix, the Quebec ski area where lift was damaged by flooding, says repairs will cost over CA$2 million. The bottom station of the chairlift has been disassembled and a new rope ordered.
Poma and the Government of Brazil reach an agreement to reactivate Rio’s longest urban gondola after 5 years.
The Telluride Daily Planet explains the gondola evacuation process for one of the more complex systems in the country.
Manning Park says the atmospheric river which caused flooding across southern British Columbia damaged its alpine ski area.
Big Sky’s Swift Current will open Thursday with Swifty 6 packs of local beer to celebrate.
Aspen Mountain is finally approved to add a lift in Pandora’s.
Connecticut’s Woodbury Ski Area is sold with the new owner intending to reopen it.

News Roundup: Government Proceedings

September 17, 2021Peter Landsman11 Comments

Mission Ridge sues Chelan County over the permitting process for a proposed three lift expansion.
The Forest Service approves Winter Park’s Pioneer Express replacement project.
It will take awhile for the Utah Department of Transportation to wade through 13,000 Little Cottonwood public comments, the most the agency has ever received for a project.
The town of Tupper Lake, New York considers leasing Big Tupper for human powered recreation.
Indy Pass founder Doug Fish expects to quadruple redemptions from 96,000 last winter to 400,000 this season.
New trail maps start to appear showing new lifts: Snowbasin and Welch Village this week.
The first towers go vertical for the Olympic Valley-Alpine Meadows Gondola at Palisades Tahoe.
Sierra at Tahoe provides a fire recovery update.
The rest of Australia’s resorts are cleared to reopen, though some have already called it a season.
The towns of Telluride and Mountain Village are evaluating three options for the aging gondola: gradual incremental upgrades, a major overhaul or total replacement with a decision targeted for next fall.
Some Banff leaders still support a gondola to Mt. Norquay despite Parks Canada opposition.
A far left group targets Poma in France. Unhappy about the company supplying a ropeway to a nuclear waste storage project, the group claims it removed bolts from Poma lifts in the Alps.
Trollhaugen says supply chain delays are impacting installation of a new Partek chairlift, though it still should be completed for this season.
London’s Emirates Air Line gondola will be renamed in 2022 as Transport for London seeks a new naming rights partner.
On the always great Storm Skiing Podcast, Taos CEO David Norden talks timing and lift types for the many upgrades in the resort’s new master plan.
The Purgatory Express is closed due to technical problems yet again.
Whiteface details summer updates to Cloudsplitter, Face Lift and Freeway in addition to the new Bear quad.

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