- Val Bialas, New York reopened today after nine years closed.
- The potential buyer for closed Sleeping Giant, Wyoming specializes in roadside attractions like the Royal Gorge gondola and may not reopen skiing.
- A woman is convicted of stealing nearly $5 million from Mighty Argo gondola investors.
- Glenwood Caverns, Colorado files for bankruptcy after a $120 million judgment resulting from a 2021 ride incident.
- The owner of land under parts of Park City’s Timberline and Iron Mountain Express files suit against Vail Resorts, alleging existing easements don’t allow lifts.
- Mt. Bohemia, Michigan has a land lease issue as well.
- A lawsuit proceeds against Bittersweet, Michigan from a volunteer ski patroller who fell 20 feet from a lift after attempting to load a toboggan.
- A skier dies at Welch Village, Minnesota after hitting lift tower.
- A 13 year old is critically injured in a tragic unloading entanglement at Vorlage, Quebec; the mountain remains closed until further notice.
- Bromont rope evacuates Versant du Midi.
- A guest falls from Copper Mountain’s American Flyer.
- A new master plan for Mt. Timothy, BC targets reactivation of the Mad Platter, replacement of the triple with a quad, relocation of the T-Bar and a new platter.
- SilverStar, BC renames the Powder Gulch Express to Putnam Express and Alpine Meadows to Attridge.
- British Columbia releases 268 pages of documents related to the hanger arm failure on Kicking Horse’s gondola last season. The Incident Investigation Report says an undetected crack likely developed over several seasons as a result of both manufacturing and operational factors.
- Cannon expects its tram replacement project to cost between $25 and 33 million.
- Loch Lomond, Ontario’s North chair goes down for maintenance.
Mt. Timothy
News Roundup: Les Otten
- Leitner-Poma places the only bid to modernize the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tram for $29 million, 60 percent more than the state’s $18 million estimate.
- A gondola is considered to connect Dawson City to a neighboring town across the Yukon River.
- This week’s viral video shows a skier inadvertently dragging a net up a chairlift in Poland.
- Val Saint-Côme retires the T-Bar that had a fatal accident last winter.
- Hatley Pointe, North Carolina won’t open this winter.
- Neither will Mt. Timothy, BC.
- Mt. Itasca, Minnesota says it needs to raise $100,000 to continue operating.
- Titus Mountain pays tribute to ski patroller Rick Finch, who is believed to have died when his backpack became entangled with a chair.
- Les Otten, designer of Sunday River and The Canyons, talks about his dream for 23 lifts at The Balsams, building America’s longest chairlift, the Killington-Pico interconnect and more.
- The Busch Gardens gondola in Tampa is set to reopen this weekend after four years closed.
- New York State seeks to force a sale of Toggenburg Mountain to an operator who will reopen it.
- Sugarbush addresses recent lift downtime.
- Whitefish’s President explains recent challenges with the Snow Ghost Express both in writing and video form.
- A guest allegedly spent the night stuck on the Heavenly gondola last night.
News Roundup: Skier Days
- After missing last season, Mt. Timothy gears up to reopen under new ownership.
- Tariffs on imported Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum are history as of last weekend.
- The “Balsams Bill” becomes law in New Hampshire.
- Creditors seek an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy of the Hermitage Club.
- Jackson Hole wants to increase clearance under the aerial tramway for big snow years.
- The first indoor chairlift in America should finally open this fall in New Jersey.
- Utah crushes its previous skier visit record, hosting more than five million skiers for the first time in history.
- Jay Peak and Burke Mountain’s former owner and ex-CEO are indicted by a federal grand jury on 14 counts.
- As of April 30th, 26 potential Jay Peak buyers had signed non-disclosure agreements. The resort says revenue was up 4 percent this season, skier visits increased 3.5 percent and room nights shot up 11 percent.
- Burke Mountain is still losing money but revenue increased by 26 percent this season, skier visits were up 20 percent and room nights 47 percent.
- With the Forest Service’s blessing, Ski Cooper embarks on adding 71 acres and a Leitner-Poma T-Bar for next season.
- The Poma-built urban cable car in the Dominican Republic capital transported over four million passengers in its first year.
- Mexico City’s transportation authority rejects all three Cablebus bids from Leitner, Bartholet and Doppelmayr.
- A Loveland, Colorado developer still wants to build a gondola as part of an amusement complex.
- The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority selects Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build a new people mover over Doppelmayr.
- Still no opening date for the Disney Skyliner but gondola merchandise has arrived.
- In a few years, you may be able to ride twin tramways between Russia and China with immigration and customs facilities at each end.
News Roundup: Only in Utah
- Australia’s Financial Review reports Vail Resorts will acquire Falls Creek and Mt. Hotham from Merlin Entertainments for about $85 million USD.
- With its purchase of Deer Valley, Alterra Mountain Company now owns about half the land under Park City’s Jupiter chair.
- Gore Mountain evacuates the Northwoods Gondola by rope.
- Salt Lake City is selected to bid for another Winter Olympics.
- Telluride CEO Bill Jensen joins CNBC’s Squawk Box to discuss the economics behind the Epic and Ikon passes.
- The top shack of Anthony Lakes’ only chairlift blows over just before planned opening day.
- The Adventure Group of Whistler proposes building a 9,000′ gondola on Oahu. Hawaii is one of only five U.S. states currently without an aerial lift.
- Mt. Spokane grows by 279 acres with seven new runs and a Skytrac named Northwood.
- Europe’s new highest ropeway is also the pinnacle of industrial design.
- The Hunter North expansion and shiny Northern Express six place chairlift launch Christmas Eve.
- Days before the second DirectDrive detachable is set to open at Copper, Jon Mauch of Leitner-Poma answers questions about the new lifts.
- In France, La Plagne announces an indefinite closure of the first French-manufactured LST detachable due to technical problems.
- Cherry Peak is set to open a third chairlift this season after three years of construction.
- Shuttered Mt. Timothy, BC is purchased by investors who plan to reopen it.
- Vail Resorts-operated Mt. Sunapee is approved to expand into West Bowl.
- The Zugspitze Cable Car reopens today with a new cabin exactly 100 days after this accident.
- Bromont inaugurates North America’s eighth combination chair/gondola lift, L’Express du Village, Sunday morning.
- Check out these photos of the Snowbowl Express build and sweet new color scheme at Stratton.
News Roundup: Working Together
- It’s not looking good for Mt. Timothy, BC.
- Two Aspen developers amend their plans to accommodate the new Lift 1 alignment.
- Horseshoe Resort commits to replacing Chair 6 with a quad in 2019.
- The Hermitage Club is still trying to ink a reopening deal with members and Oz Real Estate.
- Powdr breaks ground on Woodward Park City, set to debut with a fixed-grip quad in November 2019. No word yet on the manufacturer.
- The Forest Service green lights Aspen Highlands’ Goldenhorn platter project.
- Peak Resorts posts quarterly results: an $11.8 million net loss on $7 million in revenue as the company worked to build Hunter North and the Carinthia Lodge at Mt. Snow. SKIS had $10.1 million in cash on hand as of July 31st with $180.6 million in debt. CEO Tim Boyd says he’s still open to acquiring more mountains.
- Disney will build and maintain a boat and dock specifically for Skyliner gondola evacuation purposes.
- Hall double area Navarino Hills, Wisconsin closes for good.
- With rumors swirling about its future, Black Mountain, NH clarifies it will open this winter.
- Snow King’s gondola/expansion scoping is extended for the third time to October 4th.
- A cabin is spotted in one of the Disney World gondola stations.
- $51 million in new lifts are on track to spin for American Thanksgiving at Whistler Blackcomb. Thanks Jordan N. for these photos.
News Roundup: For Sale
- In a decision the Durango Herald calls a “bombshell,” the Forest Service proposes granting road access to the controversial Village at Wolf Creek, which would include two new lifts near Wolf Creek Ski Area’s new Meadow quad.
- Magic Mountain’s new Green lift is set to debut this winter but the Black Line Quad may not spin until 2019.
- Tawatinaw Valley, a county-owned ski hill in Alberta with three T-Bars, will go out of business on October 1st due to continued losses.
- The price of steel is up up 33 percent in the United States so far this year and companies like Caterpillar and Polaris are increasing prices as a result.
- The first Doppelmayr/Garaventa lift with D-Line cubic glass enclosures comes together in Switzerland.
- A Yan triple from Squaw Valley hits the market in Idaho (looks like East Broadway, retired in 2012.)
- Loveland’s new high-speed quad gets a name: Chet’s Dream.
- Opening of the Transbay Transit Center tramway in San Francisco slips to September.
- A refurbished Riblet quad from the closed ski resort in Drumheller Valley, Alberta goes up for sale.
- Alterra officially takes the reigns at Solitude.
- Leitner-Poma of America President Rick Spear goes on the MarketScale Transportation Podcast to discuss the ski lift business and growth of urban cable transport.
- With two Mueller lifts in need of work, Mt. Timothy, BC will likely close if it can’t find a buyer.
- Big White’s retired Powder triple is headed to Red Mountain.
- Copper Mountain commits to building its fourth new lift in three years, a Leitner-Poma triple on Tucker Mountain in 2019.
- The Miriam Fire is burning uncomfortably close to White Pass Ski Area.
News Roundup: Symphony
- Doppelmayr will bring D-Line to France for the first time this fall.
- A child is okay after falling from a Big White chairlift onto a busy road.
- Ski California to host its first Lift Maintenance and Operations Education Conference June 5-7 at Squaw Valley.
- After weathering a challenging season with a narrow profit, Sunlight considers building a truly new lift for the first time in half a century.
- An empty cabin falls from an early model Poma gondola in France, leading to a rope evacuation and significant media attention.
- Fatzer produces a 6.5 mile long, 60 mm wide rope for what may be the new longest monocable gondola, location unknown.
- Mt. Timothy, BC is “flat broke” and will likely close without public funding.
- Leitner delivers the first Symphony cabin for the world’s highest 3S by helicopter.
- The financially-challenged Hermitage Club closes for the season.
- Garaventa names a new CEO.
- A state economic development authority delays consideration of a $28 million loan guarantee for The Balsams.
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