- Homewood’s new gondola is finally approved.
- Eaglecrest receives a key gondola construction permit.
- The Wall Street Journal covers several challenges facing Vail Resorts.
- Unionized Crested Butte lift mechanics authorize a strike should they be unable to reach a contract agreement with Vail.
- Breckenridge lift staff stage a one day sick out in protest of employee housing conditions, closing several lifts on Wednesday.
- Pioneer at Park City hasn’t opened this season due to an offseason deropement still being repaired.
- Blackcomb’s Glacier Express to be closed a week or longer due to a possible gearbox issue.
- Mount Snow’s Challenger has been inoperative since January 13th.
- Mammut sponsors a short film exploring the transformation of Shames Mountain, British Columbia into a community co-op.
- British Columbia opens public consultation for the proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Resort.
- A gondola transit network in Oshawa, Ontario could cost CA$1.1 billion.
- Reed Hastings explains his sweeping changes at Powder Mountain including four new lifts in one summer and partial privatization.
- Chicopee, Ontario explains why its three new lifts aren’t spinning yet.
- Bristol Mountain partially rope evacuates the Comet Express.
- Ditto for the Mt. Hood Express at Mt. Hood Meadows.
- The Balsams extends approval for long-delayed redevelopment.
- Mont Farlagne, New Brunswick reopens its only chairlift after a month-long closure due to a bullwheel issue.
- Ischgl invites guests to help build a life size replica of a 3S gondola cabin with Lego bricks.
- The latest New Hampshire tram board minutes hint at a possible new lift for Bretton Woods.
- Mountain Village and Telluride begin planning their new gondola in earnest.
- Vermonters ask Why hasn’t Burke Mountain sold? as receivership fees surpass $12 million.
- Sugarbush gets all but one of its chairlifts going after a challenging start to the season.
- Several videos show the chaotic aftermath of the bullwheel detachment in Spain last week.
- Colorado releases the Winter Park gondola crack incident report, a full report of investigation remains in progress.
Palisades Tahoe
News Roundup: Eclipse Weekend
- Ikon Pass adds St. Moritz, Switzerland as its sixth European destination.
- A child is hospitalized after falling from Steamboat’s Sunshine Express.
- Another child falls from Park City’s Orange Bubble Express.
- Powder Mountain will auction Timberline chairs this weekend.
- Holiday Mountain removes the long lost D double, plans to eventually replace it with a used triple chair.
- No link but I’m told a hand charge landed on and exploded on top of a Base to Base Gondola cabin last Saturday at Palisades Tahoe during avalanche hazard reduction work. No one was injured but the cabin was damaged.
- Blackcomb cancels summer skiing due to the receding glacier under the Showcase T-Bar.
- Former Jay Peak President Bill Stenger tells his side of the fraud saga in two parts.
- Homewood will hold a master plan update and perhaps address the future of its delivered-but-not-installed D-Line gondola.
- West Mountain continues planning for a backside detachable quad.
News Roundup: Gondola Down
- The on-demand Ropetaxi gondola in Switzerland suffers from outages, slow speeds and confused riders after opening.
- Gore Mountain’s Northwoods Gondola goes down for a week and counting due to a gearbox bearing issue.
- The Heavenly Gondola is also out of service while bearings are replaced.
- Both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma are expected to bid on the Cannon tram rebuild with completion targeted for December 2026.
- A child is injured falling from the Gold Coast chair at Palisades.
- The strong earthquake in Japan shakes running chairlifts.
- Windham Mountain Club runs out of weekend Ikon reservations for most of the winter.
- The Forest Service approves replacements for Mineral Basin and Gadzoom at Snowbird, the proposed Brighton Chondola and a Coach replacement at Bogus Basin.
- Snowbasin plans to replace the Becker triple.
- Boyne Mountain will spin lifts 75 hours straight for a good cause.
- Alterra President and CEO Jared Smith participates in an interview with Colorado Public Radio covering a range of industry hot topics.
News Roundup: 2S
- The only bidder for the Tulsa Skyride plans to relocate it to the Middle East.
- A loaded Base to Base Gondola cabin mis-captures and gets stuck in the KT-22 mid-station at Palisades Tahoe during a storm.
- Speaking of Base to Base, here’s a cool profile on what it takes to keep the lift running.
- A Celebration of the Life and Work of Hans Burkhart will be held on Monday, March 13 at 5 pm at the Funitel Plaza at Palisades, with a reception to follow.
- An employee causes a Riblet clip ejection at Anthony Lakes.
- Wolf Ridge, North Carolina sells to new owners who promise improvements.
- Elko Snobowl closes for the season due to issues with its Hall double.
- Bousquet closes its Hall double for the season due to a gearbox issue.
- Nordic Valley’s Hall double remains closed with alternate snow cat service in place.
- Montana lost ski area Wraith Hill goes up for sale with a 1976 Doppelmayr T-Bar.
- BigRock, Maine inks a contract with Doppelmayr for a new quad in 2024.
- Sunlight’s Segundo will spin one more season before replacement in ’24.
- The Forest Services issues a Draft Environmental Assessment and seeks comments on Taos Ski Valley’s proposed Base to Base Gondola and replacement of lifts 2 and 8.
- Indy Pass prices increase approximately 11 percent, Epic 8 percent and Ikon 7.5 percent for next season.
- Deer Valley will require Ikon Pass reservations next year, Taos eliminates them but goes off Ikon Base.
- Vail reports mixed quarterly results with skier visits up 3.6 percent but earnings down 1 percent due to weather and increased operating costs.
News Roundup: Beast
- Telluride opens the 6,000 foot long, 2,000′ vertical Plunge Express.
- Palisades Tahoe seeks approval for a second Base to Base Gondola cabin parking facility in Olympic Valley.
- Greek Peak rope evacuates Chair 2.
- Silverton Mountain plans to install a second used chairlift as soon as this summer.
- Whitefish reopens the Snow Ghost Express after additional mechanic training.
- New Hampshire’s Governor suggests Cannon Mountain consider a gondola rather than an expensive new tram.
- Arapahoe Basin explains why it switched from Epic to Ikon.
- A new Doppelmayr fixed grip quad will debut at Tremblant next year as part of a real estate development.
- Bretton Woods closes the Zephyr Express until further notice due to a mechanical problem.
- Aspen Skiing Company launches a Snowmass master plan website.
- Clearwater, British Columbia won’t open this season due to lack of snow.
- This profile offers a behind the scenes look at lift operations at Sunshine Village.
- I snapped a few photos of Mayflower construction progress today.
News Roundup: Busy Busy
- Ski Wentworth in Nova Scotia names its new Quad Cobequid after the local mountain range.
- The Seattle Times profiles this year’s turnaround at Stevens Pass.
- The Merrill Hill expansion opens at Sunday River after two years of construction.
- Bear Valley’s Grizzly chair is closed due to a deropement and four chairs being ejected from the haul rope (note: the description in the Instagram post is not accurate but the resort comments below the post.)
- A child is hospitalized after falling from a lift at Ski Sundown.
- Storm damage forces more comm line replacements at Sierra at Tahoe.
- Tenney Mountain to open next weekend for the first time since 2020.
- Big Squaw goes back up for sale.
- The oldest lift in Colorado will cease operations unless a new owner comes along.
- The Forest Service approves Waterville Valley’s World Cup/Exhibition T-Bar, though no construction timeline has been set.
- Former Big Sky/Crystal Mountain General Manager and prolific lift builder John Kircher dies at 64.
- Whitewater returns Silver King to service after a bullwheel bearing replacement.
- Crystal Mountain and Leitner-Poma work to reopen the Crystal Clipper this weekend.
- Deer Valley to launch Burns Express this afternoon.
- Doppelmayr pulls the haul rope for the new quad at Belle Neige (note: this lift was contracted with a February completion date.)
- Doppelmayr and Telluride still aren’t sure when Plunge Express will open.
- A misload causes a chair to get tangled in a terminal at Wolf Creek.
- A deropement leads to a rope evacuation at Crested Butte.
- Similar story at Brimacombe, Ontario.
- Whitefish rope evacuates the brand new Snow Ghost Express, says it had safety concerns that Leitner-Poma engineers are working to address.
- Palisades re-splices and reopens the new Red Dog Express.
- I’m told Bridger at Nordic Valley will miss the entire season due to a planned haul rope replacement.
- Aspen’s Silver Queen Gondola goes down due to a gearbox issue.
News Roundup: Three Left
- The lone chairlift at Elko Snobowl is rope evacuated on a busy Saturday.
- Windham Mountain rope evacuates the Wonderama Express after a chair collides with a snow gun.
- The Disney Skyliner closes for planned maintenance.
- Part of a detachable terminal blows away at Kirkwood.
- Aspen’s 1A replacement project remains in seemingly perpetual limbo.
- A new tram update with Big Sky’s Director of Construction.
- Telluride and Doppelmayr to load test Plunge Express this weekend with opening planned for early February.
- The final Vail Resorts Epic Lift Upgrade project opens on Vail Mountain.
- The Snow Flyer at Bittersweet and Transporter at Montana Snowbowl both opened today, marking 100 percent completion for Leitner-Poma and Skytrac projects.
- The workhorse of Crystal Mountain, Michigan will remain closed for another weekend.
- Multiple lifts go down at Cannon Mountain.
- A bill introduced in the New Hampshire legislature has $25 million for a new Cannon tram.
- The new Red Dog at Palisades Tahoe will temporarily close for a re-splice this week; Alpine Bowl will be closed indefinitely due to a mechanical problem.
News Roundup: On Line
- MND raises more money to continue growth plans.
- Palisades Tahoe opens Red Dog, Mount Baldy, Ontario opens the chairlift it worked years to build.
- Vail aims to open Sun Down Express this weekend.
- Sunnyside at Alta will open tomorrow, two months late.
- Cascade Mountain’s delayed lift also spins tomorrow.
- Granite Gorge, New Hampshire reopens after a multi-year closure.
- Loup Loup temporarily closes its lone chairlift to remove hazard trees identified by the Forest Service.
- Children are injured falling from lifts at Boyne Mountain, Bristol Mountain and Mt. Snow.
- Vail Resorts reports a 12.5 percent increase in skier visits but cautions extreme weather and airline disruptions hurt holiday performance.
- Unionized lift mechanics at Park City prepare to negotiate their first contract with Vail Resorts.
- Whitewater’s Silver King lift will be down for up to a month.
- Crystal Mountain, Michigan’s main lift to be down all weekend.
News Roundup: North Dakota
- Both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma submit preliminary proposals to connect concourses at Denver International Airport by gondola or cable-propelled train.
- Attitash rope evacuates the brand new Progression quad.
- Thrill Hills, North Dakota opens for skiing for the first time in 10 years.
- Forest Service documents show a slightly modified alignment for Breckenridge’s 5-Chair replacement.
- Property acquisition begins for the proposed Cascade Skyline Gondola.
- A county government purchase of Cannonsburg, Michigan goes on hold for now.
- North Dakota’s Bottineau Winter Park will replace its Hall T-Bar with a Doppelmayr one this summer.
- Nearing a month since a gondola incident, Mont-Sainte-Anne remains closed indefinitely.
- Bartholet will build the first major urban gondola in India with five stations and 150 cabins.
- The Durango Herald profiles Wolf Creek’s fierce independence and expansion despite not participating in any multi-mountain passes.
- Chairs go on Red Dog at Palisades Tahoe in advance of a planned mid-January opening.
News Roundup: Last of the Year
- A storm blows terminal panels off the new Tecumseh Express at Waterville Valley.
- Ditto for the T-Bar at Smuggs.
- A landslide takes out a lift tower in France.
- A de-roped moving gondola and power lines do not mix well in Bulgaria.
- Two major lifts to go down at Whitefish, one gets rope evacuated over multiple hours.
- An upgrade project run long is what prevented Thunderwolf from opening early season at Big Sky (now finished.)
- Holiday Mountain, Manitoba reopens after years closed.
- Vail christens the Game Creek Express; Sun Down Express remains under construction and Leitner-Poma apologizes.
- The Palisades Base to Base Gondola spins as one continuous lift for the first time.
- Attitash will reveal the name of next year’s new lift on New Year’s Eve.
- Maine approves expansion at Sugarloaf.
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