Poma – Lift Blog

News Roundup: Olympics

November 6, 2020Peter Landsman4 Comments

The proposed Park City gondola system I wrote about last week could be tied to a 2030 or 2034 Salt Lake Olympic bid.
Another Mission Ridge bubble update.
Timberline Helicopters, the leader in ski lift flying for the Western United States, adds another Black Hawk to its fleet.
The State of Virginia proposes building a chairlift at Natural Bridge State Park near Lynchburg.
Vancouver explores another winter Olympic bid.
Vail Resorts retires some former Peak Resorts lifts: Mad River at Mad River Mountain, the Double Chair at Alpine Valley and Black Forest at Big Boulder (all Hall doubles).
One of Marble Mountain’s chairlifts will sit idle this season and the ski area won’t open until January.
Chairs are being sold off from three of six chairlifts at closed Sugar Loaf, Michigan.
TimberlineMountain.com goes live with a new trail map.
A late season fire scorches 60 acres near Tamarack’s Summit Express.
Receiver Douglas Wilson looks back at saving Tamarack during the 2008 financial crisis.
Wachusett adds new graphics to the Polar Express, which is named for sister company Polar Seltzer.
Sugarbush’s new chief discusses the future of Slide Brook Express, possible expansion and potential lift upgrades.
Poma’s business is down 30 percent but the French company will keep its 1,300 employees working.
One project keeping Poma busy: a showcase urban 3S in Toulouse.
The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram will carry 25 passengers at a time this winter.
This is how gondola Wi-Fi works.
Aspen Snowmass prepares to debut its first DirectDrive lift.
Sun Valley’s new lift, pictured below, gets named Broadway. Updated trail map here.

News Roundup: Going Virtual

October 2, 2020Peter Landsman12 Comments

Beaver Creek’s website is updated to show the McCoy Park expansion coming for the 2021-22 ski season.
Doppelmayr will build a $9.3 million temporary gondola for a horticulture show in Germany.
A developer in St. George, Utah looks to build a lift-served bike park.
An unnamed ski area in New York hits the market with an asking price of $1.6 million.
The pandemic may have actually helped Timberline Mountain rebuild faster this summer.
Searchmont, located near the Ontario-Michigan border with two new lifts under construction, remains uncertain what this winter will look like.
Jamie Storrs, Senior Manager of Communications for Vail Resorts in the east, answers questions about reservations and more on the Out of Bounds Podcast.
Spirit Mountain receives a $300,000 cash infusion allowing it to open this winter.
Solitude profiles a major maintenance project on the Eagle Express.
The Park Record checks in on Mayflower Mountain Resort construction and The Wall Street Journal reports Extell would like to partner with an established ski operator like Vail or Alterra.
Indy Pass sales are pacing six times higher than last year!
New Alaska ski area Skeetawk plans a December 5th grand opening.
Poma launches a fresh new website.
Mt. Baldy, Ontario, which initially held off on construction of a new chairlift this summer, decides to proceed with a fall installation.
A virtual open house is now open for Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit project scoping.

News Roundup: Workers

June 12, 2020Peter Landsman19 Comments

Alterra, Aspen, Arapahoe Basin and Boyne file a petition to force Liftopia into bankruptcy, claiming the company owes them a combined $3 million.
The only North American ski resort accessible exclusively by aerial tramway will reopen at 30 percent capacity.
Leitner-Poma is seeking installation labor for a major project at Nordic Valley, Utah.
The Mont-Sainte-Anne gondola, which suffered two separate incidents before the Covid shutdown last winter, won’t operate this summer.
High Country News profiles one group of workers’ quest to unionize at a Vail resort.
The first concrete is poured for Arizona Snowbowl’s big new Telemix.
Granby Ranch goes dark.
The developer of American Dream, home to Big Snow, may be in trouble.
An old Yan heads from Idaho to Mt. Baldy, California.
The Indy Pass generated close to 9,000 skier visits last year.
As Florida theme park Busch Gardens reopens, its gondola won’t be spinning. No word yet on the Disney Skyliner.
Newly-purchased Bousquet Mountain will add a used Poma triple to replace its Summit Double this summer.
Poma wins the contract to build $75 million urban gondola system in Grenoble, France.
Hermitage Club founder Jim Barnes is still trying to appeal the sale of club assets to a member group.
Leitner Ropeways releases its 2019 Annual Report.

News Roundup: Switzerland to Italy

June 5, 2020June 5, 2020Peter Landsman41 Comments

In Massachusetts, Bousquet sells to a private investment firm which will be advised by Jon and Jim Schaefer.
Magic Mountain resumes work on the Black Line Quad project.
Bravo to many more ski areas offering up ski lifts for graduation ceremonies: Big Bear, Canyon, Copper Mountain, Deer Valley, Giants Ridge, Jackson Hole, Mountain High, Snow Valley and Treetops.
Nub’s Nob says goodbye to the Blue Chair.
There will be no summer skiing on Blackcomb Glacier this year.
A Canadian government decision means no Alaska cruises will sail in 2020 and it will likely be 2021 until Icy Strait Point’s dual gondola system debuts.
The creator of the Indy Pass argues shared revenue models are the future of ski passes.
Poma’s 2019 Reference Book is here.
Doppelmayr begins building Saddleback’s $7 million high speed quad.
The Aspen Mountain Telemix may happen in 2022.
Mountain Collective adds a fifth new resort for 2020/21: Sun Peaks, British Columbia.
Set to become the world’s longest alpine 3S, Jungfrau’s Eiger Express will open early.
Launching tomorrow: another spectacular 3S which travels 705 feet above the sea in Vietnam. Three more sections will eventually form a 12.1 mile gondola chain.
Demaclenko creates a fully automated fogging/disinfection solution for moving gondola cabins.
Construction gets underway on the first bubble chairlift in the Pacific Northwest, which will load and unload inside buildings.
In Minnesota, both Welch Village and Spirit Mountain pull the plug on summer operations.
Vail Resorts lost $40 million less than anticipated in March and April and reported a net income of $152.5 million for the quarter ended April 30th.
Purgatory proposes building a detachable quad chair and four low intermediate trails in an area known as Ice Creek.
On Mt. Hood, Summit Ski Area seeks a boundary extension to the Timberline border, a first step towards a possible lift link.
Leitner-Poma President Daren Cole pens a letter addressing challenges facing the ski industry in the age of coronavirus.
Alterra extends the Ikon Pass deferral option to April 2021 and introduces a credit policy in the event of resort closures next season.
A new English edition of International Ropeway Review profiles Treeline Cirque at Alpine Meadows and the Express du Village at Bromont.
Utah’s Department of Transportation narrows its Little Cottonwood Canyon mobility study to gondolas and buses.
The Snowbird tram will carry only 25 passengers when it reopens June 13th.
The City of Idaho Springs, Colorado conditionally approves the Mighty Argo Cable Car, a 1.2 mile gondola on the site of a historic mine.

News Roundup: That Was Fast

November 1, 2019Peter Landsman10 Comments

After just three weeks being open, the Disney Skyliner flies its one millionth guest.
The new Park City trail map shows exactly where Over and Out goes.
Poma inaugurates a lift full of superlatives in South Korea: the longest span between towers (4,000 feet) and tallest concrete tower (492 feet) for a monocable gondola.
The Boston Seaport Gondola project is officially dead.
Timberline Four Seasons Resort is scheduled to be auctioned November 19th.
Aspen Skiing Company will try again for approval of the Ajax Pandora expansion.
With an expansion coming, a dispute arises between Idaho and Montana over how much of Lookout Pass Ski Area each can lay claim to.
The Forest Service approves Timberline Lodge’s request to replace Pucci with a high speed quad.
In what could be a preview of an eventual lift sale, Alterra, Vail Resorts and Seven Springs all bid to buy the Hermitage Club’s snowmaking guns (Vail won.)
The latest Pomalink newsletter previews Téléo, the first 3S urban gondola in France.
Tampa Bay will study gondola transportation.
Park City elected leaders discuss the same topic.
Grafton SkyTour is now open.
Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers visits Granite Peak to see how lifts are inspected and learn about a proposed expansion.
The Sea to Sky Gondola replacement haul rope is spliced.
A guy BASE jumps off a tram tower in Germany.
The urban gondola promoter in Edmonton unveils its first proposed station location.
The new Gould Academy T-Bar at Sunday River will be open to the public whenever four or more major chairlifts go on hold.
The name of Manning Park Resort’s new Doppelmayr quad is Bear.
Steamboat’s new gondola completes acceptance tests.
The Swiss gondola which lost a cabin on October 20th reopens.

News Roundup: Win-Win

May 31, 2019May 31, 2019Peter Landsman25 Comments

A bill introduced in Congress would allow National Forests to use some of the fees collected from ski resorts to be used to expedite permitting for improvement projects.
Poma will break ground on its first urban 3S in July.
Lookout Pass intends to buy a second Skytrac quad for the Eagle Peak Expansion and relocate Chair 1.
In addition to its Lake replacement project, Owl’s Head decides to also remove the Panorama double without a direct replacement.
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.
It sure looks like the Skyline Express is moving as part of the Brooks/Daisy replacement project at Stevens Pass.
The haul rope is up on the Bretton Woods Skyway.
Construction is well underway on Jackson Hole’s 10th chairlift.

News Roundup: Master Plans

May 17, 2019May 21, 2019Peter Landsman14 Comments

Sunrise Park Resort will develop a master plan to address infrastructure challenges and might build a chondola.
Leitner submits the lowest bid for Mexico City’s upcoming Cablebus gondola system.
Three months since it was rope evacuated, SeaWorld San Diego’s Bayside Skyride remains closed.
The Indy Pass is up to 24 resorts.
Leitner supplied 43 ropeway systems last year, 77 percent of which were detachable and 80 percent of which carry more than four passengers per carrier.
Doppelmayr has a new WIR issue and the 2019 yearbook is out.
Timberline’s bankruptcy filing will prevent a scheduled receivership hearing from taking place.
The new Oakland A’s ballpark, which includes a gondola component, receives one key approval.
Poma’s 2018 Reference Book is also out along with a new Pomalink highlighting Copper’s new combination lift.
The largest Hermitage Club creditor is seeking an August auction.
One of the biggest lost ski areas in Colorado, Cuchara, is now publicly owned with a master plan for two new chairlifts.
Omega V may not yet be in the United States but miniature versions are already available.
Ski resort employees are among the most likely to be injured on the job in the United States, behind only nursing home workers and motor home manufacturing employees.
Cascade Mountain’s North Wall lift is for sale.
White Pass’ old platter is still up for grabs.
The Forest Service releases its environmental assessment of Whitefish Mountain Resort’s Hellroaring Basin project.

News Roundup: Atria

April 12, 2019Peter Landsman13 Comments

Poma’s largest single lift contract ever is worth more than $110 million for a six station, 100 cabin 3S system in China.
Whitecap Mountains still wants to build its first new lift since 1991 but doesn’t yet have funding.
A 70 year old woman is okay after falling from Whistler’s new Emerald 6 Express last Saturday.
Doppelmayr will introduce two new products at Interalpin: a new 3S cabin called Atria and something called Smart Ropeway.
Mi Teleférico crosses the 200,000,000 passenger mark and is on track to transport more than 40 million by gondola this year.
A feasibility study will look at whether Teton Pass could reopen as private company, nonprofit or co-op.
West Mountain confirms a Partek quad will replace its last classic chairlift.
Casper, Wyoming is unlikely to put six figures towards a Hogadon quad chairlift after all.
The Glenwood Gondola reopens today with all 44 cabins.
The Hermitage Club founder’s wife files for bankruptcy and lists $8.5 million in debt related to the closed ski resort.
Mount St. Louis Moonstone’s Louis Express is up for sale.
Arapahoe Basin is in talks with the Mountain Collective and others about possibly joining a multi-resort pass on a limited basis.
A judge will consider whether to place Timberline Resort into receivership next Thursday.

News Roundup: More Cabins

July 27, 2018July 27, 2018Peter Landsman7 Comments

A live streaming webcam shows New Hampshire’s largest and fastest gondola going in at Bretton Woods. Some tidbits on the lift from the New Hampshire Tramway Board: line speed will be 6 m/s with 36 cabins and a design capacity of 2,600 using 62 cabins. SkyTrans is taking the retired B double and the gondola’s load test is slated for December 20th.
Sunrise Park Resort abruptly ends all summer operations.
In Europe, some pulse gondolas are on the way out.
As it works to finalize its lease of Mt. Sunapee, Vail Resorts assures New Hampshire residents the company is in for the long haul and doesn’t plan any real estate development at the state-owned mountain.
A stack up of at least nine cabins on the White urban gondola line in La Paz last Monday is deemed the result of human error. No passengers were on the lift at the time.

Loveland receives more than 3,000 name suggestions for its upcoming detachable quad and will unveil a winner early next week.
One of the longest gondolas in Mexico, opened seven months ago in Torreon, has already carried more than 325,000 passengers and will soon get nine additional cabins from Sigma.
Go inside Poma’s newest French factory.
Arapahoe Basin and Leitner-Poma commence pouring concrete and digging tower locations for the Beavers lift.
As Winter Park continues testing digital chairlift advertising, sister resort Steamboat goes old school with bar mounted trail map ads.
The widow of Loveland mechanic Adam Lee, who died underneath a carpet lift last winter, goes on CBS This Morning to talk about his workers compensation claim being reduced due to a positive marijuana test.
Magic Mountain submits a permit application/profile for the Black Line Quad and hopes to commence construction next month.
Copper’s all-new trail map is amazing…

Poma Releases 2017 Reference Book

June 1, 2018June 1, 2018Peter Landsman7 Comments

The latest edition of the annual Poma Reference Book is out and features pictures, statistics and diagrams from projects the storied French manufacturer completed last year. Poma has now built more than 8,000 lifts in 80 countries and many of the newest gondolas and detachable chairlifts were built in Asia last year. One of them was among the first gondolas to utilize Sigma’s new Diamond Evo cabins with sliding doors in China. Other projects were realized as far away from France as Inner Mongolia, Vietnam and Myanmar. Another notable installation was a 10-passenger reversible tramway with double LPA grips in Ecuador.

Unfortunately not quite all of Leitner-Poma of America’s U.S. and Canadian projects were included in the book but there are some excellent images of three new six-packs built for Vail Resorts in Colorado as well as the supremely unique quad at Alta, Utah. As you scroll through the pages, note how many of Poma’s detachable lifts built outside North America in 2017 feature Direct Drive. LPOA plans to bring the innovative technology to Colorado for the first time in 2018.

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