Breckenridge proposes building an infill chairlift on Peak 7 to improve skier circulation.
Local electeds vote in support of an urban gondola to Simon Fraser University’s Burnaby Mountain campus.
Retired Riblet double chairs bring in $146,000 for nonprofit organizations surrounding Schweitzer Mountain Resort.
Towers supporting the world’s first eight passenger monocable gondola are history.
This video shows how the Disney Skyliner’s innovative loading works. Every 9th gondola goes to a second turnaround, stopping about 50 seconds for unloading and another 1:10 for loading before rejoining the moving line. Pretty slick!
The Hermitage Club files for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection, listing more than 200 creditors. A company called Restructured Opportunity Investors could lend the club up to $1.75 million for restructuring if approved by a bankruptcy court.
Berkshire Bank wants the Hermitage receiver to stay on the job while a different bankruptcy court considers whether to initiate a Chapter 7 liquidation, which at least 187 club members now support.
At Smugglers’ Notch, hundreds of trout take a spin up Sterling to their new home in Vermont’s highest pond.
A Dutch-American joint venture proposes building an indoor snow park on a Northern Virginia landfill serviced by a two stage gondola.
The world’s first high speed quad is finally headed for retirement after 38 winter seasons in two countries. Owl’s Head in Quebec will dismantle the Lake quad this spring, a machine which originally entered service at Breckenridge as Quicksilver in 1981. The Doppelmayr detachable moved to Quebec in 1999 but has been out of service of late due to mechanical problems.
The soon-to-be-gone Lake lift utilizes chain conveyors and a remote tension bullwheel unlike modern detachable lifts. Photo credit: rodo_af, remontees-mecaniques.net.
The replacement will be a $2.6 million Doppelmayr Alpen-Star fixed-grip quad with loading carpet that will open in time for next season. The new lift will move up to 2,200 skiers per hour. This is the first major investment by a new ownership group at an area with seriously aging infrastructure. “We were more than due to upgrade this lift,” said Destination Owl’s Head CEO Pierre Bourdages. “The loading carpet will be a huge improvement, especially for young and new skiers.”
There will be no construction at Valemount Glacier this year after all.
Catamount (the New York/Massachusetts one, not Colorado) seeks new investors or an outright buyer.
Following another best ever season, Whitefish Mountain Resort eyes improving lift service from the base lodge and in Hellroaring Basin, which might mean replacing lifts 4 and 8.
Ski Areas of New York will again offer a series of lift maintenance training classes across the state.
French regulators propose $800,000 in fines against MND Group and its CEO for allegedly misleading investors and deleting emails, which the company denies.
Amid the turmoil, MND subsidiary LST Ropeways inks an order to install its second detachable chairlift worth $5.4 million in Avoriaz, France.
As Crested Butte departs the Powder Alliance, Marmot Basin, Castle Mountain, Sugar Bowl and Loveland join up.
Red Mountain is searching for a used Doppelmayr T-Bar.
The Trump Administration’s proposed tariffs target goods from China including “teleferics, chair lifts, ski draglines; and traction mechanisms for funiculars.” Outside contacted both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma for comment with interesting results.
More contractors and employees say the Hermitage Club didn’t fully pay them and the Town of Wilmington may hold a tax sale in June.
A man claims he was left to spend a cold night on one of Gore Mountain’s chairlifts and wasn’t found until the next morning, April Fool’s Day.
A bullwheel bearing issue on Nob Hill at Sugar Bowl throws a major wrench in the end of the season.
We regret to inform you, Nob Hill lift is closed for the remainder of the season. The repairs will take several days to accomplish & cannot begin until after the upcoming storm. We sincerely apologize for the inconvenience. Tomorrow all resort services via Judah portal only.
— Sugar Bowl Resort (@sugarbowlresort) April 5, 2018
Bretton Woods’ new gondola is on track to break ground in June or July, which would make 11 new gondolas for 2018 in North America – the most ever.
Approaching two years post-Olympics, both urban gondolas in Rio remain abandoned.
Bloomberg is out with a not-so-complimentary article about the Whistler Blackcomb-Vail transition.
Doppelmayr wins contracts to build nine Beijing 2022 Olympic lifts including five gondolas and two bubble six place chairs.
A gondola once the symbol of an Olympics destroyed by war returns to Sarajevo thanks to Leitner Ropeways and a $3.5 million donation from an American.
The Oakland Athletics consider building a gondola to their new stadium.
If approved, Vail’s new Golden Peak lift will likely be a T-Bar.
Owl’s Head retires its Green lift and will give the chairs away to season pass buyers.
I started this blog three years ago this week as an off season project. It now sees 215,000 page views each month from 40,000+ unique visitors. Thanks to everyone who has helped to make Lift Blog a success!
Crystal Mountain owner John Kircher revives the idea of a second gondola to Campbell Basin, which would be around 7,800′ long and closely follow the one time path of an SLI double chair.
Vermont shuts down the Hermitage Club for a third time as morelawsuits are filed against the business and its founder. One by a food service company argues, “The dire financial circumstances facing the defendants compel the plaintiff to press forward with alacrity…the collectible assets of the defendants appear to be dwindling.”
The New York City Economic Development Corporation is again studying a gondola to connect Lower Manhattan with a redeveloped Governors Island.
With 2,400 cabins headed out the door this year alone, CWA is expanding its production capabilities in Switzerland. Photos from the factory floor show new cabins bound for Montana, Hawaii and more.
Park City’s NPR station reports a chair slid into another chair on the Jupiter lift in January, resulting in an injury, three day closure and now litigation.
Approval of Woodward Park City is upheld, paving the way for construction of a fixed-grip quad.
The Forest Service tentatively approves Purgatory’s proposed Gelande high-speed lift.
A real estate development now under construction includes money for reopening New York’s Big Tupper with up to five lifts.
New owners at Owl’s Head, Quebec may spend up to $150 million on new lifts and other improvements. The mountain currently includes three 1980s-era detachables including the world’s first high-speed quad from Breckenridge.
Lift construction season is here! Thanks to Carleton G. for these photos of Waterville Valley’s new LST T-Bar.
A Denver TV reporter heads to Texas for a two-part interview with the husband of Kelly Huber, the woman killed during a lift malfunction last year at Granby Ranch.
Two loaded chairs collide at Owl’s Head, Quebec after the Green Chair was pressed into rare operation amid downtime on a neighboring high-speed quad. The 1972 Heron-Poma is the former Big Hitch lift from Stagecoach, Colorado.
China Peak’s owner wishes he still had the $900,000 he spent to build a new lift last summer that can’t open with no snow.
The new Peak triple was rope evac’d at Pats Peak last Monday, apparently due to a gearbox issue.
Disney Skyliner’s first tower is up and it’s tapered in the cool Wolfurt style.
Ian Cumming, founder of Powdr and majority owner of Snowbird, dies at age 77.
Granite Gorge’s chairlift opens for the season after a gearbox issue and other problems.
Ariel Quiros officially settles with the Securities and Exchange Commission for $82 million, paving the way for the sale of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain.
Killington formally applies to replace the South Ridge triple with a quad chair, manufacturer unknown. The sample profile confusingly shows a Poma Alpha drive and Doppelmayr Eclipse return terminal.
Skier visits have declined 30 percent in South Korea over the last five years and there are several lost ski resorts in the Olympic region.
The Sawtooth National Forest tentatively approves Sun Valley’s project to replace the Cold Springs lift with a longer high-speed quad as soon as this summer.
A chairlift will be studied studied for one of Alabama’s most popular state parks.
Alterra names Mammoth veteran Rusty Gregory as the company’s first CEO.
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