National Winter Activity Center

News Roundup: Resort Happenings

Peter Landsman2 Comments
  • Hidden Valley, New Jersey will reopen as the National Winter Activity Center this month with two new Partek lifts.
  • The Balsams crosses another hurdle which could mean new lifts in the New Hampshire high country as early as this summer.
  • Sunshine Village hopes to have the Goat’s Eye Express running by today.

  • Construction at Laurel Mountain is 30% complete and ahead of schedule.  The state-owned mountain will open next winter for the first time since 2005 with a brand new SkyTrac quad.
  • Magic Mountain only managed to open one lift last winter and may not spin any this season.  The Vermont area had five aerial lifts in its heyday.
  • CNL Lifestyle Properties, the real estate investment trust that was slated to wind down by Dec. 31st, only sold one of its 16 mountain resorts by that date.  Okemo, Northstar, Big Sky and a dozen others will remain for sale into 2016.
  • Aspen Skiing Company will submit the Pandora terrain expansion and chairlift to the Forest Service for review in 2016.
  • Girl uninjured after mis-loading, dangling by her helmet and falling 20 feet from a chair in Saskatchewan.
  • Thanks to some much-needed snow, Vermont now has a third six-pack with bubble chairs and heated seats.  This one’s not open to the public, unfortunately.

News Roundup: Tragedy in Oklahoma

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A work chair on the Skyride at the Tulsa State Fair failed earlier this week causing two mechanics doing line work to fall.
A work chair on the VonRoll Skyride at the Tulsa State Fair failed earlier this week causing two mechanics doing line work to fall.
  • OSHA is investigating the death of one of two mechanics who fell while doing line work on the Skyride at the Tulsa State Fair.  A work chair on the 1965 VonRoll gondola appears to have failed below the hanger, dangling both men from their harnesses.  Steve Shelton, 43, died of trauma as a result.  His family set up a GoFundMe page to raise money for funeral expenses.
  • Poma is setting steel for Europe’s new highest lift in Russia.  The three-stage, two-passenger gondola on Mt. Elbrus will reach 3,847 m/12,621 feet (Breckenridge’s Imperial Express SuperChair goes 350 feet higher.)
  • Sugarloaf begins removing its oldest lift as part of a ‘lift safety’ initiative.  I guess a lift that doesn’t exist is safer than one that does.
  • Hidden Valley, New Jersey’s three Borvig lifts are out and two new Partek lifts are going in.  The ski area which closed in 2013 also has a new name – the National Winter Activity Center.  Follow the progress live here.
  • The city of Cali in Colombia will open MIO Cable, a 10-passenger Poma gondola, on Friday.  The 6,800′ system has four stations and 60 Sigma cabins that move 2,000 passengers per hour each way.
  • Deer Valley Resort, SkyTrac and the NSAA will host an evening program honoring Jan Leonard on October 14th at Snow Park Lodge.
  • Doppelmayr crews fly 11 towers for a new gondola at Lutsen Mountains, Minnesota.  The $7 million system is going up alongside the resort’s Hall gondola, which will run through October 18th.
  • It’s looking like Saddleback, Maine will have a ski season without a new lift.