- In a real estate sales presentation, Red Mountain leaders say expansion lifts on Mt. Kirkup and White Wolf Ridge are a higher priority than replacing existing lifts.
- Sasquatch Mountain, BC provides an update on the Green Chair, which hasn’t spun all season.
- An avalanche strikes a closed detachable lift in France.
- Another French avalanche takes out a tower and hits a terminal.
- Rime ice topples a lift tower in Spain.
- A double chair rolls back during operation in China (likely a lift from BHMRI, not a western manufacturer.)
- Also in Asia, a viral video shows a gondola cabin dragging through deep snow.
- Bluewood, Washington upgrades Triple Nickel with Partek carriers, will sell old Borvig ones.
- Anakeesta offers up chairs from its former Chondola but not the gondola cabins.
- The 13 year-old critically injured in an unloading incident at Ski Vorlage, Quebec last week died four days later, her family says. Quebec’s ropeway regulator inspected the lift post-accident and identified several unspecified corrective actions, now completed.
- A five year old is hospitalized after falling from Sunday River’s Jordan Mountain double.
- Groundbreaking could come soon for the Aspen development that includes a new Lift 1A.
- Skytrac to construct both new lifts at Little Switzerland, Wisconsin.
- Five people board a quad chair on the Sourdough Express at Vail, one later jumps off after the lift stops (unclear if they were directed to do so by Vail Resorts staff.)
- Wisp temporarily closes two lifts for separate repairs.
- Tye Mill at Stevens Pass goes out of service.
- Also two lifts at Pico.
- Stratton’s gondola to remain closed into next week due to a maintenance issue.
- Sundance Express at Sun Peaks to be closed this weekend for maintenance.
- Castle Mountain, Alberta temporarily closes the new Stagecoach Express to swap a motor.
- At Marquette Mountain, Michigan, a misload bends apart a Riblet chair (quickly replaced without incident.)
- The Supreme Court strikes down some of President Trump’s import tariffs but not Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs most affecting lift manufacturers. In response to the decision, the President orders a 10 percent global tariff to last 150 days (USMCA compliant goods and items already subjected to Section 232 tariffs are exempted).
Pico
News Roundup: Power Problems
- Crescent Hill, Iowa to install a new (used) drive terminal on its double chair.
- Approval of a new gondola in Hawaii may be rescinded.
- The private ski resort planned near Steamboat faces a mix of public backlash and support.
- Deer Valley President & COO Todd Bennett says several more lifts are planned for Deer Valley East, timeline TBA.
- Megève, France joins the Ikon Pass.
- Doppelmayr wins the tender to build a nine station urban gondola in Puebla, Mexico.
- Val Bialas, New York to reopen after several years closed.
- Lifts and ski trails return to Google Maps after a one year hiatus.
- A power outage leads to a rope evacuation at Sunburst, Wisconsin.
- Electric infrastructure problems will delay the start of Mont-Sainte-Anne’s season for at least another week.
- Skeetawk, Alaska seeks public funding for a second lift, possibly a gondola.
- Eaglecrest extends the bid deadline for a gondola general contractor, wants to open in 2028 but doesn’t have enough money to finish.
- Lost Ontario ski area Talisman to be preserved as conservation land.
- Aspen Mountain’s Nell Bell approval moves along.
- The New York Times spends a day with Snowbird’s mountain operations team.
- Holiday Mountain, New York sends a Poma bullwheel and gearbox to help Whaleback, New Hampshire revive its chairlift.
- Welch Village, Minnesota’s new quad is named Joy Ride.
- Spirit Mountain’s new trail map shows where the Highline Quad runs.
- Toronto Zoo’s SkyPod to open in 2027.
- Leitner-Poma and Skytrac celebrate completing 20 lifts on time or early.
- Pico to auction 1965 Bonanza chairs for charity.
- Bear Mountain, California purchases new Skytrac chairs for Lift 7.
News Roundup: Windstorm
- Killington’s Superstar lift replacement will cancel the 2025 Killington World Cup; chairs from Superstar will move to Golden Express at Pico.
- An unseated passenger is successfully caught in a deceleration net at Killington.
- Powderhorn plans a detachable replacement for West End.
- Gunstock loses its summit chairlift for much of the holiday week due to gearbox failure.
- Silver Mountain, Idaho rope evacuates Chair 4 due to a power outage and evacuation engine failure (now back open).
- A falling tree in high wind causes a three tower deropement on the Belleaye Express at Belleayre, New York (scheduled to reopen some time tomorrow).
- The same storm leads to a deropement and rope evacuation at Pats Peak, New Hampshire (back open).
- And the roof blows off Stratton’s gondola top terminal (also back open).
- Following three recent incidents in the state, New Hampshire clarifies how its tramway oversight works.
- Brattleboro Ski Hill in Vermont closes due to an electric motor issue.
- Arkansas adopts the ANSI standard in advance of its first chairlift installation.
- Pioneer at Park City still hasn’t run this season but may soon.
- Cannon’s tramway is still on track for $19 million in upgrades.
- Sugarloaf confirms plans to install Big Sky’s former Six Shooter to replace Timberline, a two year project.
- Stevens Pass rope evacuates the new Kehr’s quad at night.
- Echo Mountain, Colorado also has a night rope evac.
- Timberline closes the Molly’s detachable quad due to damage to a tower from a snow cat.
- Tenney Mountain, New Hampshire loses its main lift due to a mechanical issue.
- Hersheypark, Pennsylvania retires its chairlift ride.
Killington to Replace Superstar Express and Upgrade Skyeship Gondola
The sale of Killington and Pico to local investors has closed and today the group announced their initial tranche of capital investments. Over the next 12 to 16 months, Killington plans to spend roughly $30 million to build a Superstar Express six pack, add 1,000 HKD low energy new snow guns and replace all 116 Skyeship Gondola cabins. Skyeship’s cabin storage facility will also be replaced in the near future. The current Superstar lift is the oldest detachable chairlift in New England, dating back to 1987 (tied with two other lifts at Killington/Pico and the Grand Summit Express at Mount Snow.)
The news comes just over a month since Powdr announced the sale of Killington and listing of three other resorts. “Over the next 10 years, our goal is to reinvest all the profits the mountain creates,” said Michael Ferri, one of two lead investors in Killington Independence Group, LLC, comprised of 16 total investors. “[Profits] will stay here in Vermont, they will stay here at Pico and they will stay here at Killington,” said Ferri.
Surprisingly after 37 straight lifts from other manufacturers, Killington selected Doppelmayr to construct the new Superstar Six. Unlike Killington’s Snowdon Six, the new lift will not feature bubbles. “There are a number of factors, but this lift is a relatively short ride which makes having bubbles on the lift less impactful, especially considering the added complexity of needing a storage barn for overnight storage of bubble chairs,” said Killington. Superstar has one of the longest winter operating schedules in the country, spinning for World Cup ski racing in November all the way until the end of the season in May or June. “The Superstar lift replacement will affect spring skiing this season and potentially the 2025 Stifel Killington Cup, noted Killington President and CEO Mike Solimano. “We do plan to make more snow in North Ridge to extend the season in the Canyon this year and are working with the lift manufacturer to finalize the construction plan for the lift before making the call on the Killington Cup,” he continued.
Leitner-Poma will supply new cabins for Skyeship, the same Diamond model the K-1 Gondola received in 2018. “Many of our current operational challenges with [Skyeship] can be attributed to the older cabins,” noted Killington. “The challenges are exasperated by not being able to store the cabins in a heated building causing door opening and closing mechanisms to become frozen overnight.” All of these improvements are slated for the next two years with more expected to follow over the next decade.
Local Investors Purchase Killington and Pico from Powdr
New England’s largest ski resort has been sold to a local group of investors for an undisclosed price. The sale, which had been rumored for weeks, is the second recent disposition by Powdr following the sale of Lee Canyon, Nevada to Mountain Capital Partners in 2023. Lead investors in the new ownership group, Phill Gross and Michael Ferri, both have long term ties to the Killington area and ski racing. Gross is Managing Director of Boston-based Adage Capital Management and Ferri owns Valvoline Instant Oil Change franchises throughout the East Coast. Powdr will retain a minority stake and one seat on Killington/Pico’s board of directors. Current management will remain in place and the resorts will continue to participate in the Ikon Pass. “The Killington leadership team is excited about this opportunity to build on the strong foundation laid by Powdr,” said Mike Solimano, President and General Manager of Killington Resort. “We believe that local ownership will allow us to be even more responsive to the needs and desires of our community and guests.”
The sale is expected to close this fall. In an email to employees, Powdr said it also plans to list Eldora, Colorado; Mt. Bachelor, Oregon and SilverStar, British Columbia for sale in the coming weeks. The Park City-based company expects to retain Boreal, California; Copper Mountain, Colorado; Snowbird, Utah; Soda Springs, California and Woodward Park City, Utah as its only five alpine ski areas. The company has been expanding its portfolio of Woodward action sports parks of late and bidding on concession contracts with the National Park Service in order to diversify its portfolio.
During the Powdr era, Killington made significant upgrades to its infrastructure including a new K-1 lodge, Snowdon bubble six pack, North Ridge quad and new cabins on the K-1 gondola. The Beast faces significant ongoing capital needs, however, including a replacement for the Superstar Express and a higher capacity lift on Ramshead Mountain. “We are grateful to Powdr for their stewardship over the years, as Killington saw substantial improvements to infrastructure, snowmaking capabilities, and year-round growth,” said Gross and Ferri. “For our families, Killington is more than just a business or asset to own; it is our home. We are thrilled to guide the mountain into a substantial investment phase. Mike and his leadership team have done a great job, and we look forward to giving them the resources to up our game and continue to evolve Killington as a leader among world-class resorts with strong local roots.”
News Roundup: Wrapping Up
- Winter Park’s Gondola becomes the third direct drive lift to open in as many weeks in the United States. As of October, there were zero!
- Pico is added to Ikon, bringing the pass to 40 mountains with a combined 474 lifts in the the US and Canada.
- The Hermitage Club won’t reopen until January at the earliest.
- The last of British Columbia’s seven new lifts debuts at Sun Peaks.
- I did a double take on this lift: a D-Line gondola with Carvatech cabins.
- The new American Flyer is very close to becoming the world’s longest bubble chair.
- Stratton’s new high speed quad is now set to open early in the new year.
- Skeetawk remains on track to become Alaska’s eleventh lift-served ski area next winter with a SkyTrans triple chair.
- An 8 year-old boy sustains only minor injuries falling 33 feet off a lift at Nordic Valley.
- The Colombian capital of Bogotá launches a $73 million urban gondola called TransMiCable.
- Frost Fire says it cannot open yet due to “contractual obligations with our chairlift,” a brand new Skytrac quad.
- Big Sky brings high speed access to the southern flank of Lone Peak with Shedhorn 4.
News Roundup: Next Generation
- The above $52 million masterpiece and highest-ever 3S opens for business in the shadow of the Matterhorn.
- The Leitner-Poma Group’s sixth tricable gondola is set to carry commuters between three stations in Toulouse, France from 2020 and will cost $94.5 million to build.
- Alterra closes on its purchase of Crystal Mountain.
- A lift operator and his employer, Killingon/Pico, are sued following a loading mishap.
- An eighth urban gondola line opens in La Paz and carries 72,740 riders on its first day.
- CWA teases Omega V, the next evolution of the world’s best selling gondola cabin. While we wait to see what it looks like, check out hundreds of CWA designs from the past 75 years.
- The Palm Springs Tram gets a new 13,500′ x 45 mm upper haul rope from Fatzer. Thanks Kirk D. for the photos.
- Horseshoe Resort’s retired 1989 Doppelmayr detachable quad hits the used market.
- Whistler Blackcomb’s 2018-19 trail map shows what $52 million worth of new lifts looks like.
- Read up on Sun Peaks’ new Orient quad here.
- Lone Mountain Land Company eyes two more lifts on the Spanish Peaks side of Big Sky Resort and nine in Moonlight Basin.
- Revelstoke’s newspaper looks into rumors of a gondola project on Mt. Begbie.
- The City of Los Angeles will study two Hollywood gondola ideas.
- Another Disney Skyliner station is nearly finished with tons of windows.
- Windham names its new lift Westside Six. I stopped by last week to check out the progress.
News Roundup: Color Choices
- The Adirondack Park Agency approves construction of a new chairlift at the Lake Placid Olympic ski jumping facility.
- Ascutney seeks permission to build a 1,760′ T-Bar with 11 towers.
- As Oz Real Estate weighs investing more than $50 million, the Hermitage Club receiver reports the resort’s lifts need $86,000 in maintenance that neither the bank nor members have agreed to fund.
- Mountain Capital Partners hosts a packed public meeting regarding its Nordic Valley expansion. “I’ve never had a project not be successful and I’m not going to start with this one,” James Coleman tells the crowd.
- Days before the deadline for public comments, Sunshine Village CEO Ralph Scurfield pens an op-ed criticizing Parks Canada’s proposed site guidelines that would eliminate three future lifts from consideration.
- Leitner-Poma looks to immediately hire installation team members for the big Winter Park gondola project.
- Thanks to Rob and Max for these awesome shots of the Whistler Blackcomb megaproject.
- Some Alta land is withdrawn from a proposed land swap, maintaining the possibility of future expansion in Grizzly Gulch.
- Killington goes blue with its bubbles.
- Vail Resorts officially takes over Stevens Pass.
- Massachusetts awards the current operators of Blue Hills a new three year contract.
- Fatzer begins production of the first Compacta rope for the US lift market. At 54 mm, any guesses where it’s headed?
- The Jackson/Teton County Parks & Recreation Board unanimously says no to a Snow King Gondola alignment as the Forest Service extends public comment until September 13th.
- The Capital Gondola project moves along in Albany.
- Anyone can rent the six lifts at Pico Mountain for $6,500 on Tuesdays or Wednesdays this winter.
- The Jay Peak receiver plans to sell the resort by next summer while an offering of Burke Mountain is indefinitely on hold.
- Copper Mountain appears to abandon dark green lifts for more sophisticated copper-colored terminals.
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