- A ranch in Hawaii scales down its proposed gondola in hopes of allaying community concerns. Even so a State Representative plans to introduce a bill to ban chairlifts and gondolas from ever being constructed in Hawaii.
- A lightning-caused fire burns the drive terminal of Camp 10, Wisconsin’s Red T-Bar.
- Mountain High revives the Discovery lift damaged in a 2024 wildfire.
- Alterra introduces Reserve add-on passes with line cutting privileges and other perks at Big Bear, Blue Mountain, Crystal Mountain, Solitude, Sugarbush and Tremblant.
- Thousands of Crystal skiers aren’t happy about the Reserve Pass.
- Steamboat takes another step toward a detachable base area transit gondola.
- Hermon Mountain, Maine will close after this season if a buyer can’t be found.
- Hickory, New York leaves Indy Pass.
- Skytrac commissions its on-site wind turbine.
- Waterville Valley shares a wild picture of bubble chairs during a fall winds and a T-Bar construction update.
- Deer Valley unveils its 25-26 trail map depicting eight new lifts.
Mountain High
News Roundup: Vote
- Alta seeks Forest Service approval to realign Supreme.
- Brighton looks to replace the Milly Express and shorten Explorer.
- Indy Pass adds a slew of mountains including Loveland, Colorado; Bear Creek, Pennsylvania; Bear Valley, California; Bousquet, Massachusetts; Bruce Mound and Christie Mountain, Wisconsin; Camp Fortune, Massif du Sud and Mont Rigaud, Quebec; Cazenovia and Hunt Hollow, New York; Lost Valley, Maine; and Mt. Holiday and Norway Mountain, Michigan.
- Norway Mountain is on track to reopen this season after many years.
- After the only bid to replace the Cannon Mountain tramway came in millions more than expected, the State of New Hampshire investigates whether it can reuse existing towers.
- Pleasant Mountain to auction retired chairs next week.
- One non-essential lift was damaged by the wildfire at Mountain High.
- Canada’s Competition Bureau to probe whether the Arizona company behind the Jasper SkyTram and Banff Gondola unfairly competes with ski area sightseeing gondolas.
- Voters in Casper, Wyoming will be asked whether to fund a new chairlift at Hogadon.
- A real estate developer and Doppelmayr break ground on a new access lift at Tremblant.
- Local co-op organizers estimate Mt. Bachelor will sell for $180-200 million.
- Sponsored jobs: Lift Electrical Technicial Level 3 at Copper Mountain and Ski Lift Service Millwright at Doppelmayr Canada.
News Roundup: Fire Recovery
- The developer that sought to rebuild Big Moose Mountain, Maine, pulls out of the project.
- Trails are cut for the No Name expansion at Monarch Mountain.
- Closed Woodbury Ski Area in Connecticut will become a private home.
- Hunter Mountain to auction chairs from the retired E-Lift.
- Holiday Mountain also will sell chairs next week.
- The Summit at Snoqualmie too.
- The fire-impacted Jasper SkyTram won’t reopen this year but plans to fly in 2025.
- Mountain High plans to open this winter but wildfire damage assessment continues.
- Doppelmayr reports a double digit sales increase.
- A Jackson Hole Sublette update:
Fire Reaches Mountain High; Resorts Threatened Across the West
The Bridge Fire made a run through Southern California’s Mountain High Resort this afternoon, inflicting unknown damage. The resort’s own webcams showed extreme fire activity with flames surrounding both fixed grip and detachable lift terminals. An online fire map showed nearly the entire resort potentially impacted. The resort posted that San Bernardino County Fire was on the scene and to stay tuned for updates.
Unfortunately Mountain High is not alone being threatened by wildfire. Snow Valley and Mt. Baldy in Southern California; Mt. Rose and Sky Tavern in Nevada and Tamarack, Idaho all face evacuation orders this evening due to wildfires. Mt. Baldy is under a mandatory evacuation order due to the same fire that impacted Mountain High.
Snow Valley, part of Alterra’s three mountain Big Bear Mountain Resort complex, is being threatened by the 28,000 acre Line Fire. Snowmaking guns could be seen dampening lift terminals this afternoon.
Further north near Lake Tahoe, the 5,600 acre Davis Fire reached near Mt. Rose and could also impact nearby community ski hill Sky Tavern. Sprinklers could be seen spraying Mt. Rose base areas before webcams were turned off.
In Idaho, Tamarack Resort shut down operations until further notice due to a “Set” evacuation status, one level below “Go.”
News Roundup: Time Lapse
- Quebec skier visits rise to 6.3 million, second highest in the last 10 years.
- Colorado posts its best season on record with approximately 14 million skier visits.
- Skier visits were higher than the two previous seasons in Vermont.
- Former Jay Peak head Bill Stenger sits down for an interview to share his side of the story before reporting to prison.
- Granite Gorge sells at auction to local investors who plan to reopen.
- Montana Snowbowl’s new triple chair will be extremely steep (6th steepest chairlift in the country by my count.)
- Aspen Mountain begins Pandora’s construction.
- Le Massif joins the Mountain Collective Pass.
- Lost Trail signs on to the Powder Alliance.
- The landlord for Big Snow American Dream remains in deep financial trouble.
- Park City planning commissioners delay deciding on the Silverlode and Eagle lift replacement projects until at least June 15th, leaving a very narrow window for construction if approved.
- The Cascade Skyline Gondola proposal enjoys wide community support compared to a competing ski resort concept.
- Developers of the Big Moose Mountain project present their case to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission.
- Big White will replace 16 cabins on Lara’s Gondola this summer.
- Dodge Ridge and Mountain High owner Karl Kapuscinski would like to add new high speed lifts at both resorts in the next few years.
- The State of West Virginia plans two eight passenger gondolas to replace older systems at Hawks Nest and Pipestem state parks.
Mountain High Owners Purchase Dodge Ridge
Invision Capital and Karl Kapuscinski of Southern California’s Mountain High Resort today announced their acquisition of Dodge Ridge, a mid-sized area located between Lake Tahoe and Yosemite National Park. Longtime Dodge Ridge owners Frank and Sally Helm are retiring after 45 years at the helm. Kapuscinski, who brings more than 30 years of resort management experience at Mountain High, Stevens Pass, Spirit Mountain and others, will become President and CEO of both resorts. Dodge Ridge General Manager Jenni Smith will remain in her role reporting to Kapuscinski.
Dodge Ridge operates a fleet of eight chairlifts four surface lifts on 862 acres of the Stanislaus National Forest. The new ownership group may be better equipped to upgrade aging lifts, some of which date back to the 1960s and ’70s. Dodge Ridge remains among the 15 largest US resorts without a detachable.
“Dodge Ridge is one of those extraordinary skiing and riding experiences that comes with a lot of passion and a lot of history coupled with a great mountain vibe that’s really warm and friendly,” said Karl and Audrey Kapuscinski in a statement. “We think it’s critical to maintain the very core of the resort and its personality and identity, and that’s going to be our goal from day one. We are extremely proud that Sally and Frank chose us as the new owners of Dodge Ridge and please stay tuned as we look forward to future announcements and developments.”
Dodge Ridge will join the Powder Alliance, a global reciprocal program of which Mountain High is a founding member. Other partners in the alliance include Oregon’s Timberline Lodge and Loveland Ski Area in Colorado.
News Roundup: Dire
- Hemlock Mountain, BC re-brands as Sasquatch Mountain and eyes a high-speed quad to replace Skyline.
- Vail Resorts’ fiscal 2017 net income rose 40.6 percent and skier visits 20.1 percent over 2016 with Epic Pass pass sales trending 17 percent higher for 2017-18.
- Och-Ziff sells Mountain High back to previous ownership group.
- Frost Fire, ND won’t open this winter, citing the “dire” condition of its triple chairlift. The nonprofit mountain estimates $1.35 million is needed to buy a replacement. The statement makes no mention of the mountain’s other lift, a double chair with Poma components.
- Sugarloaf’s five year plan would turn the SuperQuad into a SuperSix in 2019, move the CTEC Stealth to Timberline and add a T-Bar to Brackett Basin in 2021.
- Kevin Mastin paints a new trail map for Whiteface.
- Belleayre’s gondola will feature a new rack design for snowboards and skis of different sizes.
- Steamboat Resort won’t operate Howelsen Hill.
- Resorts grapple with whether service dogs should ride chairlifts.
- Allen Peak Tram’s new tower is in at Snowbasin.
- Doppelmayr’s latest Wir magazine features Oakland’s new gondola and more.
News Roundup: Fire Season
- The North Resort at Mountain High narrowly escapes one of California’s many wildfires burning out of control.
- Leitner-Poma is about to start 3 1/2 months of construction at Sipapu, New Mexico.
- Next season will not happen at Saddleback, Maine unless the resort can secure $3 million for a new quad lift in the next two weeks. Or so they say.
- In central New Hampshire, Waterville Valley continues clearing for the Green Peak expansion while Tenney Mountain prepares to reopen after a decade being closed.
- Sugarloaf launches their lift safety website that appears it took an intern half an hour to make.
- Leitner gets into the surfing business with DirectDrive.
- Poma’s 2014 Reference Book is now online. Better late than never!
- Snow King Mountain’s very wealthy investors announce phase 2 expansion with a base-to-summit gondola and major skiing expansion.
Lift Blog 
