Park City – Lift Blog

News Roundup: Chances for Chairs

May 20, 2022Peter Landsman7 Comments

Sipapu is threatened by New Mexico’s largest-ever wildfire.
Other New Mexico ski areas postpone summer operations due to National Forest closures.
Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania has 247 double chairs for sale.
Ditto for Cascade Mountain, Wisconsin.
Steamboat will auction chairs from Christie III along with retired gondola cabins next week.
Heavenly’s rescheduled North Bowl chair sale will take place June 3-4.
Aspen Snowmass forges the Silver Queen Gondola’s old haul rope into anniversary tokens.
Snowbird provides a tram modernization project update.
Park City won’t issue a building permit for Park City Mountain’s new lifts until at least June 8th, when an appeal will be heard. Vail Resorts tells me it still intends to complete the projects ahead of the 2022-23 season.
Stowe also remains committed to replacing the Mountain triple this summer despite approval still pending.
The Caribbean island of Dominica plans to build one of the world’s longest gondolas from a cruise port to a mountain lake.
Tenney Mountain’s new owner plans to reopen next season.
Beartooth Basin won’t open this year due to low snow.
Kimberley and Leitner-Poma work to get the Northstar Express back operational 5 months after being idled by arson.
The Sierra-at-Tahoe rebuild may include new lifts.
New York’s Cockaigne won’t operate this summer and is listed for sale.
Big Sky and Garaventa begin building Lone Peak Tram 2.0.
Silver Mountain Lift Maintenance rescues a lost goat and gives him a gondola ride.
Here come the terminals for Palisades Tahoe’s base to base gondola.

News Roundup: Hurdles

May 6, 2022Peter Landsman13 Comments

Four people file appeals seeking to halt construction of Park City’s new lifts.
Doppelmayr, Poma and Leitner all release annual brochures featuring lifts built last year.
The former owner of Jay Peak and Burke Mountain is sentenced to five years in prison and ordered to pay $8.3 million in restitution.
The Tenney Mountain property is sold.
Grouse Mountain formally applies for a development permit to build a new gondola.
West Mountain looks to break ground in 2023 on a $140 million real estate project which includes a high speed quad.
Whistler’s chair and gondola sale is live now.
Heavenly to sell North Bowl triple chairs beginning today (update: the sale has been postponed for unspecified reasons.)
With multiple projects in planning, Canada may beat the United States to the urban gondola party.
Maine’s Quoggy Jo loses key funding.
A preliminary timeline for the Timberline Lodge gondola construction: 2028.
Juneau will spend $845,000 to transport the used 15 passenger gondola it purchased for Eaglecrest, more than double an initial estimate.
Mount Roberts Tramway operator Goldbelt downplays its involvement in the Eaglecrest gondola project.
Preliminary lift work begins begins at Mayflower.
In case you missed Doppelmayr Insights, here’s a replay.
Bartholet prepares to build Flem Xpress, the first Ropetaxi with autonomous gondolas and multi-station selection.
Big Snow is on track to reopen May 27th.
County officials approve Mt. Shasta’s Gray Butte expansion and construction begins.

News Roundup: Fresh Designs

April 29, 2022May 2, 2022Peter Landsman27 Comments

Poma introduces new station and tower elements in Europe with an eco-friendly focus.
Doppelmayr now offers a third D-Line station design.
Sugarbush proposes replacing Heaven’s Gate with a fixed grip quad.
Chairs from Big Red and cabins from Creekside will be sold to benefit the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation.
Doppelmayr to host the second annual Insights virtual event on May 4th.
Ski Sawmill, Bluewood and Kelly Canyon become the latest resorts to sign on to the Indy Pass; Marmot Basin leaves after just one year.
Snow King Mountain joins the Powder Alliance.
Vail reports a season-to-date 12.5 percent increase in skier visits.
A new Doppelmayr Wir is out with features on Big Sky and Loon Mountain.
The first urban ropeway trade show will be held in June in Germany.
Powder Ridge, Minnesota to sell chairs from a retired double chair.
Two new lifts are approved for Park City.
A May deadline looms for 100,000 Vail Resorts employees to join or opt out of a class action lawsuit regarding labor practices.
Boyne Mountain will sell Disciples chairs on May 2nd to benefit a local charity.
A public hearing is scheduled regarding the Moosehead Lake resort project.
Eaglecrest staff visit the gondola they bought in Austria; all systems are go for bringing it to Alaska.
Seventh Heaven at Stevens Pass closes for the season early for “maintenance/evaluation.”
Icy Strait Point opens its big Mountain Top gondola for the first time.

News Roundup: All Over

April 15, 2022Peter Landsman22 Comments

The Disney Skyliner suffers a minor breakdown.
Construction resumes on the first MND/Bartholet detachable in the Americas.
Two are dead following a collision and multi-day helicopter evacuation of a sightseeing gondola in India.
Park City needs more time to present its upcoming lift projects at a public hearing.
Issues with multiple lifts spell the end of Marble Mountain’s season.
I recently joined the Powder Hounds Ski Trivia Podcast to talk lifts.
Sunlight purchases Arapahoe Basin’s Lenawee Mountain triple to replace Segundo; Primo will be next.
The name for Grand Targhee’s new lift on Peaked Mountain will be Colter.
Paris selects a cabin design for its upcoming urban gondola system.
Juneau moves ahead with purchasing a used Austrian gondola.
A construction update on SkyLand Ranch, Tennessee, which will include a SkyTrans combination lift.
Vail Resorts bags summer operations at Attitash to focus on lift maintenance and construction.
Sugarloaf details plans for two new lifts over the next two summers.
Leitner-Poma of America launches a new website.
Big Sky profiles the maintenance manager of one of America’s largest lift fleets.
Sunshine Village posts fun facts about its chairlift system.
Former Jay Peak head Bill Stenger is sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fraud scheme involving the mountain and a biomedical research facility.
A publicly-funded study says a gondola would be the best option for sightseeing above Butte, Montana.
Cuchara looks to reopen one chairlift this summer.
A tram or gondola is considered for Half Moon Bay, California.
One of the Roosevelt Island Tramway‘s stations will receive a $7 million renovation.

News Roundup: Maine & More

March 11, 2022Peter Landsman41 Comments

COO Al Henceroth breaks down the numbers behind Arapahoe Basin’s quest to maintain a quality experience through capacity management.
Solitude intends to replace the aging Eagle Express within the next few years.
An Indiana public broadcaster devotes five minutes to comparing bare bones operations at Vail-owned Paoli Peaks with Perfect North Slopes, which operated more lifts more hours per day over a much longer season.
A broken sheave on the high speed quad at Marble Mountain leads to a 220+ skier rope evacuation; the lift may remain down for some time.
Park City shows off the new alignment for the upcoming Eagle Express.
Telluride appears destined to spend lots of money on its gondola, either as a major refurbishment or total replacement.
A child is unhurt after falling from a Sugarloaf high speed quad.
Eight months after a rooftop fire, Big Snow American Dream eyes a Memorial Day reopening.
Moosehead Lake developers say the cost of a detachable six pack increased a million dollars in six months and financing remains an issue.
The Seattle Times profiles a successful season turnaround at Stevens Pass.
BigRock Mountain raises $1.2 million toward the purchase of a Doppelmayr quad chair.
In Utah tram board news, Alta has sold the Sunnyside detachable triple to an unidentified mountain; Wasatch Peaks plans to build a third lift.
Mission Ridge posts a bit of a wild wind video.
Sierra-at-Tahoe will spin two chairlifts one weekend in April as it continues Caldor Fire recovery.

News Roundup: First Chair

February 25, 2022Peter Landsman4 Comments

Park City Mountain Resort tells elected leaders that visitation and lift wait times are flat compared to previous seasons.
Sugarbush borrows parts from the Slide Brook Express to keep Super Bravo going. A blog post discusses lift staffing/lift maintenance and hints at future lift replacements.
Waterville Valley shows off the first chair for its upcoming bubble lift.
The hard work continues to repair immense damage at Sierra at Tahoe.
Closed New York ski area Toggenburg is put up for sale.
An unfortunate viral video shows a fight between security and Blue Mountain guests in the Orchard Express loading area over masks.
Mt. Bachelor says the Skyliner Express will miss the entire season.
Two Black Hawk helicopters crash land near the base of Snowbird’s Mineral Basin Express; no injuries reported.
Despite an alleged $4.5 million theft, backers of the Mighty Argo Cable Car look to begin tower foundations as soon as this winter.
Vancouver’s transit agency posts a Burnaby Mountain Gondola roadmap.
A child is injured in a fall from a Camden Snow Bowl chairlift.

News Roundup: Quad For Sale

February 18, 2022Peter Landsman13 Comments

In an op-ed, Vail Mountain Vice President and Chief Executive Officer Beth Howard says the company is evaluating wages for next season.
Mike Goar pens a similar letter to the Park City community.
New Hampshire governor Chris Sununu says his office is working to address complaints about Vail Resorts operations at state-owned Mt. Sunapee.
Indy Pass adds Sunlight, Colorado.
A 7 year old is expected to be okay after falling 35 feet from a chairlift at the Florida State Fair.
New York State issues an RFP for the North Creek Ski Bowl detachable quad project at Gore Mountain.
Here’s a preview of the Lookout Pass Eagle Peak expansion, set for a CTEC quad this summer:

Hickory won’t reopen this winter due to lift inspection timing.
Jackson Hole lists the Thunder chair for sale.
With a new gondola costing up to $22 million after a two to three year wait, Eaglecrest looks at purchasing a used 15 passenger pulse gondola from Austria.
A chairlift-served bike park is proposed near Evergreen, Colorado.
Sierra at Tahoe shares its latest recovery update with a focus on the 12 different comm line patches needed on seven different lifts.
The incident report from the Beech Mountain water line mishap is made public.

News Roundup: Olympic Infrastructure

February 4, 2022February 4, 2022Peter Landsman16 Comments

Sugarbush’s Slide Brook Express may remain closed for the entire season.
More brand new trail maps pop up: Black Mountain, New Hampshire and Sunlight, Colorado.
Camp 10 in Wisconsin rope evacuates its only chairlift.
Approximately 170 people are roped down from the F quad at Elk Mountain, Pennsylvania.
Another Elk Mountain lift is the subject of a viral video.
Cedar Pass, California won’t open this season due to required haul rope replacement.
Boyne Resorts considers changing Shawnee Peak’s name back to Pleasant Mountain.
The four people arrested for damaging the San Diego Zoo Skyfari are United States Marines and have yet to be charged with any crimes.
Fortress Mountain’s owners now aim for a December 2023 reopening.
Lake Louise opens the Juniper expansion and high speed quad.
MND Group reports half year results with revenue up 41 percent to €39.7 million and snowmaking/ropeway sales increasing 79 percent.
Telluride seeks public input on the future of the gondola.
Operations remain limited at three Vail-owned Ohio mountains while other regional areas report being 100 percent open.
Two Park City media outlets cover residents’ frustration with Vail Resorts over closed lifts, crowding and traffic.
The Sandia Peak Tramway is seeking a tram maintenance manager and aerial tram mechanic.
Work begins on bike trails which could eventually be serviced by gondola in Idaho Springs, Colorado.
Caberfae Peaks releases a rendering of where its new triple chair will go.
Fourteen Doppelmayr lifts will support the Beijing Olympics including 9 at the brand new downhill venue.
Stevens Pass aims to finally open all its lifts by the middle of February.
A resident floats the idea of a gondola running from a ferry terminal to business district on Bowen Island, British Columbia.
Citing crowding, Berkshire East institutes a reservation requirement for Indy Pass holders.
Whaleback aims to have its chairlift back in action by Sunday.

News Roundup: Ramping Up

January 28, 2022Peter Landsman3 Comments

As of the January 3rd Utah Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee meeting, Doppelmayr USA had sold approximately 30 lifts for 2022.
Skytrac is already hiring construction employees for the upcoming build season.
Sierra at Tahoe installs and splices a new rope on the fire-damaged Grandview Express, a key milestone toward reopening.
An Italian maintenance technician succumbs to injuries sustained from being hit by a gondola cabin.
Whaleback closes its chairlift due to a motor issue.
The New York Times explores why some resorts are experiencing more staff shortages than others, the Denver Post talks with Epic Pass customers from across the country about their experiences this season.
A number of lifts haven’t opened at Park City this year due to staff shortages; one of Crotched Mountain’s four chairlifts has no chairs on it.
Vail Resorts Executive Chairperson Rob Katz joins the Storm Skiing Podcast to talk about remarkable growth of the company and this season’s challenges.
Passholders at Stevens Pass are offered $150 off next year’s pass or the same amount in resort credit as a result of operational difficulties.
Vail offers $13.1 million to settle lawsuits alleging labor violations.
Le Massif introduces a Kevin Mastin trail map showing its new lift and removal of a disused gondola.
Poma provides an update on the world’s largest current 3S project.
Another insightful podcast: Indy Pass founder Doug Fish on the growth of that product.
Lake Louise says testing of the Juniper Express is underway with a delayed opening now planned for February.
The agency operating three New York State ski areas proposes a $105 million capital budget for 2023.
Gore Mountain unveils a $30 million redevelopment plan for the North Creek Ski Bowl including replacing the Hudson triple with a longer detachable quad.
A Colorado county passes on partnering with Florida developers to reopen Cuchara.
Big Snow American Dream still doesn’t know when it will reopen.
The City of Burnaby, British Columbia officially endorses the Burnaby Mountain Gondola proposal.
Alaska’s newest ski area will need at least $10 million to install its next lift.

News Roundup: Consolidation

January 14, 2022Peter Landsman10 Comments

Doppelmayr USA’s Katharina Schmitz joins the Ski Utah podcast to talk lift technology, next year’s projects and more.
According to Forest Service documents, Alta plans to replace Sunnyside and Albion this summer with a single six place chairlift.
Sierra at Tahoe President John Rice takes SAM podcast listeners through the harrowing Caldor Fire disaster and recovery effort.
White Pine, Wyoming is sold to new owners.
Kimberley announces the Northstar Express will be inoperable for the entire season following last month’s fire.
Vail Resorts says Stevens Pass faces its most acute staffing problems, replaces the General Manager the same day as a Seattle Times front page story comes out.
Nine people successfully catch a child who fell from a chair at Mt. Washington.
Big White seeks more parking at the Black Forest base in advance of two planned lift installations.
Steamboat repairs the Sunshine Express; Storm Peak Express lives up to its name.
Mt. Bachelor will be without the Skyliner Express for an indefinite period.
Keystone closes the River Run Gondola for three days of maintenance (now back open).
Redevelopment of the Meadows parking lot at Steamboat could include replacing the Wildhorse Gondola with a higher capacity detachable.
BigRock Mountain’s quad chair fundraising gets off to a strong start.
Vail Resorts and Park City ski patrollers reach a tentative contract agreement, likely avoiding a strike.
Despite the headlines, Vail Resorts’ skier visits are actually down from the last two seasons as of January 2nd. Ski school, dining and retail/rental revenue are all up from last year but still down significantly from pre-Covid 2019-20.

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