- June Mountain closes for two days due to issues with againg J1.
- Loveland proposes replacing Lift 7 with a quad.
- Indy Pass plans more resort additions through the spring and fall.
- One of them is Tenney Mountain, which also looks to build a high speed quad.
- Tenney’s Hornet double needs a gearbox rebuild, will be closed until mid-March.
- Skeetawk, Alaska seeks state funding to develop electrical infrastructure for a future Lift 2.
- Burke Mountain’s receiver says a sale may be near.
- The proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola in metro Vancouver would include significant transit oriented development.
- Mt. Seymour, BC removes the Brockton chair from service for an unknown amount of time.
- Manning Park, BC closes the similar Blue Chair for inspections due to the incident at Mt. Seymour.
- Marble Mountain, Newfoundland hits the market.
- Chair 8 at Bear Mountain suffers a grip slip incident with passengers.
- Rezoning paves the way for more development at Powder Mountain.
- Leitner to build a seven station gondola in Iraq.
- Poley Mountain, New Brunswick works to repair its triple chair.
- Bretton Woods applies to build a new lift, Attitash seeks to reduce capacity on the closed Flying Bear.
- Solitude completes a mid-winter bullwheel bearing replacement on Sunrise.
- The first terminal and towers go up for the winter build Saluda Skyride in South Carolina.
- Mt. Crescent, Iowa rebrands as Crescent Hill.
- An inside look at operating the largest lift fleet in the country.
- And one of the smaller ones.
- Mineral Basin at Snowbird to be closed for a week-ish due to a machanical issue.
Mont Grand-Fonds
News Roundup: Windstorm
- Killington’s Superstar lift replacement will cancel the 2025 Killington World Cup; chairs from Superstar will move to Golden Express at Pico.
- An unseated passenger is successfully caught in a deceleration net at Killington.
- Powderhorn plans a detachable replacement for West End.
- Gunstock loses its summit chairlift for much of the holiday week due to gearbox failure.
- Silver Mountain, Idaho rope evacuates Chair 4 due to a power outage and evacuation engine failure (now back open).
- A falling tree in high wind causes a three tower deropement on the Belleaye Express at Belleayre, New York (scheduled to reopen some time tomorrow).
- The same storm leads to a deropement and rope evacuation at Pats Peak, New Hampshire (back open).
- And the roof blows off Stratton’s gondola top terminal (also back open).
- Following three recent incidents in the state, New Hampshire clarifies how its tramway oversight works.
- Brattleboro Ski Hill in Vermont closes due to an electric motor issue.
- Arkansas adopts the ANSI standard in advance of its first chairlift installation.
- Pioneer at Park City still hasn’t run this season but may soon.
- Cannon’s tramway is still on track for $19 million in upgrades.
- Sugarloaf confirms plans to install Big Sky’s former Six Shooter to replace Timberline, a two year project.
- Stevens Pass rope evacuates the new Kehr’s quad at night.
- Echo Mountain, Colorado also has a night rope evac.
- Timberline closes the Molly’s detachable quad due to damage to a tower from a snow cat.
- Tenney Mountain, New Hampshire loses its main lift due to a mechanical issue.
- Hersheypark, Pennsylvania retires its chairlift ride.
News Roundup: Auxiliary
- Mt. Ashland reopens on the tree-damaged Ariel double, opens one of the first all-electric chairlifts in the country.
- Sugarbush explains what’s going on with five lifts that have either gone down or not opened yet this season.
- California OSHA tells me it won’t investigate the lift incident that hospitalized five people at Heavenly because most of the Comet Express is in Nevada, including where the collision occurred.
- Whitefish is without Chair 2 while a systems modernization is completed.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire seeks to raise $5 million to form a co-op.
- Winter Park reopens The Gondola just 48 hours after last week’s tower crack.
- Construction begins on a third Mexicable line in Greater Mexico City with 10 stations and 278 cabins at a cost of $149 million.
- A tower collapses on a fair chairlift in Mexico during operations.
- The Chondola at Telluride is rope evacuated.
- Alpental’s new Internationale chair opened today but was offloaded on auxiliary shortly thereafter due to a mechanical issue. “Our lift maintenance team is working with Doppelmayr and plans to complete full diagnostics and testing in the morning, with the goal of reopening the lift tomorrow once we are 100% satisfied we’ve eliminated all potential issues,” says The Summit.
News Roundup: Topridge
- Gore Mountain plans to replace the Topridge triple with a fixed quad next summer.
- ORDA would relocate Topridge to Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
- Grouse Mountan will hold an art contest to wrap new gondola cabins.
- Another art contest to decorate retired gondolas in Park City.
- Cascade Skyline Gondola proponents argue the competing Bridal Veil Mountain Resort project in BC shouldn’t be built due to spotted owls.
- A young Canadian racer suffers severe injuries in Switzerland allegedly due to a malfunctioning T-Bar.
- A lift maintenance worker is killed in Italy after being hit by a carrier.
- A study concludes that only 9 percent of chairlift riders use safety bars in the Midwest compared with 80 percent in the Northeast.
- A French resort highlights how used chairlift projects generate significantly lower carbon emissions than new.
- A number of Aspen executives to retire amid sale rumors.
- In Canada, Lake Louise’s new six pack will be named Pipestone Express; Mont Grand-Fonds’ will be named Lynx Express.
- I joined the Low Pressure Podcast to talk about lifts.
News Roundup: Bonus Project
- Ski Santa Fe proposes a second chairlift project for this summer, replacing Easy Street #4 with the old Santa Fe Super Chief #1.
- The Balsams extends a deadline to complete phase one construction, may refurbish existing lift infrastructure.
- Dave Scanlan, the general manager behind installing a 35 year old used pulse gondola from Austria, is ousted from his post leading Eaglecrest, Alaska.
- MND’s prototype detachable nears completion in France.
- Big Sky’s old Six Shooter is spotted at Sugarloaf.
- The capital of the Dominican Republic to build a third urban gondola line.
- Deer Valley may pour concrete for more Expanded Excellence lifts this summer to get a jump on next year.
- Cochran’s, Vermont secures a grant to design and engineer a used T-Bar.
- Mont Grand-Fonds says its upcoming Doppelmayr six pack will be the first of its kind in Quebec.
- Jackson Hole’s new Sublette will feature Leitner comfort chairs.
- Snowmass to auction Coney Glade chairs.
- Mount St. Louis Moonstone also lists Poma quad chairs for sale.
- Work begins on the Aspen Meadows project adjacent to Brian Head.
- Quebec records six million skier visits, a decline of 10 percent from last year’s record.
News Roundup: City to Mountain
- Leitner-Poma assures the public that recent stopping and swinging on the Roosevelt Island Tram pose no safety issue.
- Doppelmayr secures a five year maintenance and operations contract for the Sterling Vineyards gondola.
- Attendants and mechanics working for Doppelmayr at the Portland Aerial Tram may unionize.
- Garaventa completes the first Auro autonomous operation aerial tramway in Zermatt.
- A gondola in Raleigh, North Carolina?
- Officials release a 360 degree preview of the proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- Belleayre’s new quad will be called Overlook.
- Snow Valley shortens Chair 2 into a beginner lift with the drive terminal from old Chair 1.
- In Quebec, new owners of Mont Grand-Fonds plan a six seat detachable.
- No link but Mammoth tells me Chair 1 will be replaced in 2024.
- Sun Valley plans to replace Seattle Ridge with a six place detachable in ’24. Christmas is next but no timeline yet for that project.
- A judge will decide whether Park City Mountain’s Eagle and Silverlode upgrade projects can proceed in the future.
- Homewood bails on going private, potentially allowing the delivered Madden Gondola to be installed next summer.
- County officials order the nonprofit attempting to reopen Cuchara to stop work, citing safety concerns.
News Roundup: Mineral Basin
- Snowbird proposes replacing both Mineral Basin and Gadzoom with six packs; Brighton plans a six passenger chondola in a new alignment.
- In Quebec, Mont Grand-Fonds plans a new lift for next year.
- Indy Pass adds 20 new North American downhill resorts including Big White, Montana Snowbowl and Shames Mountain.
- SilverStar buys 21 more cabins for the Summit Express Gondola.
- More Omega cabins show up at Homewood for the postponed Madden Gondola.
- Skytrac will build Mt. Ashland’s next new lift.
- Rabbit Hill, Alberta sells to new owners.
- Vail Resorts reportedly shops for another Swiss resort.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire won’t open this season.
- Sugarbush confirms new Heaven’s Gate for 2024.
- Alterra buys Mike Wiegele Heli Skiing.
- Snowriver’s new map shows several new and removed lifts.
- An Austrian ski resort says its 15 passenger pulse gondola was sold to a ski resort in Canada.
- Smugglers’ Notch will continue studying a gondola connection with Stowe.
- Buck Hill and Red Lodge announce public chair sales.
