Poma – Lift Blog

Major Lift Realignment Underway at Michigan’s Bittersweet

October 1, 2021October 1, 2021Peter Landsman9 Comments

Bittersweet in Michigan is making way for a second detachable chairlift in 2022. The mountain’s current high speed quad, the Sweet Express, will move northwest to replace the Poison Ivy triple this season. That late model Hall has been moved the other direction to replace the Chickory double. Along the way, Chickory will be upgraded with a brand new Skytrac drive terminal.

The lift shuffle come as Bittersweet owner Wisconsin Resorts expands to include six mountains in Michigan, Wisconsin and Ontario. Throughout its history, the company has invested heavily in both lift and snowmaking infrastructure.

The new Sweet Express is the third lift announced for the state of Michigan in 2022. On Wednesday, Boyne Mountain unveiled plans for the region’s first eight passenger chairlift. Caberfae Peaks also plans to add a new lift next year.

No Injuries Reported in Courchevel Tram Crash

September 29, 2021Peter Landsman6 Comments

Both cabins on a 120 passenger aerial tramway collided into stations earlier today in Courchevel, France. The Saulire Cable Car was undergoing tests at the time and no one was injured. “During an annual regulatory check carried out at the technical limits of the device, an incident severely damaged the two cabins,” read a statement from the Société des 3 Vallées, operator of the tramway. “An expert report will determine the causes of the incident and the S3V will do everything in its power to restore the ropeway in complete safety.”

The Saulire tramway was the world’s largest when built by Poma in 1984. At that time its cars carried up to 160 passengers each. Both cabins were renovated in 2013 at a cost of €300,000.

Courchevel makes up one part of Les 3 Vallées, the largest ski complex in the world with 183 lifts.

News Roundup: Government Proceedings

September 17, 2021Peter Landsman11 Comments

Mission Ridge sues Chelan County over the permitting process for a proposed three lift expansion.
The Forest Service approves Winter Park’s Pioneer Express replacement project.
It will take awhile for the Utah Department of Transportation to wade through 13,000 Little Cottonwood public comments, the most the agency has ever received for a project.
The town of Tupper Lake, New York considers leasing Big Tupper for human powered recreation.
Indy Pass founder Doug Fish expects to quadruple redemptions from 96,000 last winter to 400,000 this season.
New trail maps start to appear showing new lifts: Snowbasin and Welch Village this week.
The first towers go vertical for the Olympic Valley-Alpine Meadows Gondola at Palisades Tahoe.
Sierra at Tahoe provides a fire recovery update.
The rest of Australia’s resorts are cleared to reopen, though some have already called it a season.
The towns of Telluride and Mountain Village are evaluating three options for the aging gondola: gradual incremental upgrades, a major overhaul or total replacement with a decision targeted for next fall.
Some Banff leaders still support a gondola to Mt. Norquay despite Parks Canada opposition.
A far left group targets Poma in France. Unhappy about the company supplying a ropeway to a nuclear waste storage project, the group claims it removed bolts from Poma lifts in the Alps.
Trollhaugen says supply chain delays are impacting installation of a new Partek chairlift, though it still should be completed for this season.
London’s Emirates Air Line gondola will be renamed in 2022 as Transport for London seeks a new naming rights partner.
On the always great Storm Skiing Podcast, Taos CEO David Norden talks timing and lift types for the many upgrades in the resort’s new master plan.
The Purgatory Express is closed due to technical problems yet again.
Whiteface details summer updates to Cloudsplitter, Face Lift and Freeway in addition to the new Bear quad.

News Roundup: Turning to ‘22

August 20, 2021August 20, 2021Peter Landsman13 Comments

The new lift at Great Bear Ski Valley is eight weeks ahead of schedule with chairs on the line.
Another lockdown hits Australian resorts, this time Perisher and Thredbo in New South Wales.
New Zealand shuts down all ski resorts as part of a nationwide freeze.
A man dies after a fall from the sky ride at Utah’s Lagoon amusement park.
Cape Smokey expects Canada’s first new gondola since 2018 to open next week.
Sunlight solicits a new trail map painted by Kevin Mastin.
Brazil’s government will study the feasibility of restarting the world’s largest abandoned urban gondola.
A gondola system is being considered for Tijuana, Mexico.
The Arizona Gondola re-enters service after 18 days of lightning-related downtime.
Doppelmayr will build Latin America’s first gondola with air conditioning.
An extended interview with Poma Chairman Jean Souchal covers Covid recovery, urban growth and why Americans call surface lifts of all brands Pomas.
Despite offering $10 million, the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania receives no bids for reopening Denton Hill.
California and Nevada resorts report an almost 22 percent increase in skier visits during the Covid season of 2020-21.
Washington, DC budgets $10 million to purchase property needed for a possible future Georgetown-Rosslyn Gondola.
Steamboat confirms the first section of the Wild Blue Gondola project is a go for next summer.
The Boat will also retire the Priest Creek double and sell its chairs.
Ontario’s Beaver Valley Ski Club plans to replace the Avalanche double in 2022.
Time to vote! Choices for renaming Squaw Valley’s Squaw Creek triple are Eagle Eye, Highline, Resort, Snow King, Storm Rider and Valley View.
Welch Village updates guests on the Cannon Valley Quad project.

News Roundup: Fire Sale

July 23, 2021July 23, 2021Peter Landsman4 Comments

A fallen tree forces the evacuation of a tramway in Italy.
The Stresa-Mottarone cable car which crashed in May may be replaced by a gondola.
Doppelmayr hosts a webinar all about urban mobility.
Sugarloaf will update the public on the West Mountain expansion Monday.
The latest Indy Pass additions are Marmot Basin, Montage Mountain, Snow Valley, CA and Titus Mountain.
Big Sky posts sneak peak photos of premium chairs for Swift Current 6.
Spirit Mountain lists the Double Jaw double for sale with an asking price of $1.
Voting is open for the Rise Up Challenge; one of six lift mechanics will win $3,500 from Leitner-Poma of America and Ski Area Management.
A Quebec appeals court judge writes in a dissenting opinion that a mountain biker left on a chairlift at Bromont should be held partially responsible because he did not carry a cell phone.
TikTok drives record ridership on London’s Emirate Air Line.
Caberfae Peaks plans to build a Doppelmayr triple in 2022 replacing Shelter.
After lengthy repairs, the Purgatory Village Express is open.
Crested Butte will auction chairs from Peachtree.
Vail Resorts details plans to boost wages significantly across its resorts.
Sunshine Village provides an update on it long range plan, including a second Goat’s Eye chairlift.
The State of New Hampshire may seek federal funding to upgrade or replace the Cannon Mountain Tramway.
Hear the story of how Rick Schmitz acquired three Wisconsin ski areas beginning at age 22.

News Roundup: Dollars and Euros

June 4, 2021June 5, 2021Peter Landsman17 Comments

Blackcomb Glacier won’t host skiing this summer.
Snow King Mountain sells $150,000 worth of retired chairs in one hour.
Poma unveils the first 34 passenger cabin for the new urban 3S in Toulouse.
Okemo’s new lifts will be called Evergreen Summit Express and Quantum Six.
Former Ticketmaster chief Jared Smith is named President of Alterra overseeing mountain and hospitality divisions.
The latest on the Stresa-Mottarone disaster:
- Numerous pictures surface showing brakes blocked with passengers aboard as far back as 2014.
- An employee says pre-operational checks were skipped entirely on the day of the crash.
- Two of the three men arrested are released.
- A lawyer for the manager still held alleges Leitner was slow to respond to service calls.
- Leitner was paid €127,000 ($155,000) per year to perform major maintenance on the tram under a long-term contract, though officials do not consider the company or any of its employees suspects.
- The owner of the operating company is also under investigation over two injury incidents on a Wiegand mountain coaster at the facility.
- Eitan, the little boy who survived, is released from intensive care.
Cannon Mountain opens its tramway for the first time in 14 months.
Europe’s largest ski operator plans to spend €200 million ($244 million) per year through 2025 to catch up on investments sidelined by the pandemic.
The Pandora’s expansion on Aspen Mountain notches another approval.
Anakeesta’s chondola lift breaks down for a bit.
New Zealand’s first 8 passenger chairlift is complete and she’s a beauty.
With 35 percent of jobs unfilled, Whitefish Mountain Resort cuts summer operating days.
Schweitzer raises $80,000 for local charities through the sale of chairs from Snow Ghost.
The Sea to Sky Gondola outlines some of its security plan.
Los Angeles Aerial Rapid Transit (LAART) unveils more on its planned 3S: four stations, three towers, 44 cars and underground cabin storage at Dodger Stadium.
Steamboat’s gondola building comes down after 35 years.
Trollhaugen will sell chairs from Chair 1 next week.
Quebec records 6.1 million skier days in 2020-21, slightly above average.
The State of Texas commits $10 million towards a replacement Wyler Aerial Tramway in El Paso.

News Roundup: A Landslide

May 21, 2021May 22, 2021Peter Landsman5 Comments

After a year with no revenue, one Canadian resort resorts to GoFundMe to stay afloat.
SE Group will study the viability of a proposed hiking/biking chairlift near Park City.
97 percent of Bryce Resort homeowners vote to fund $2.5 million replacement of Chair 2.
Cape Smokey receives a CA$2.5 million construction loan from the Government of Canada, although travel restrictions may delay completion of a new gondola.
Doppelmayr’s 2021 Yearbook is out along with a new Wir magazine.
Poma’s latest Reference Book also drops.
Trails and the new lift line have been cleared on Sunday River’s Merrill Hill.
Skytrac is still recruiting construction employees in Crested Butte, Steamboat, Whiteface and Whitefish.
The first-of-its-kind Leitner 2S in Germany is complete, though Covid prevents public operation and a noise issue hinders full speed operation for now.
Doppelmayr and Sun Group mark 14 years of building record breaking ropeways in Vietnam.
Great Bear to raffle off retired Borvig quad chairs.
The story of how MND came to be through 15 acquisitions and a focus on emerging markets.
MND reports half year results with revenue declining 5 percent but snowmaking and ropeway revenue increasing by 6 percent.
Less than four years ago, new terminal equipment was shoehorned into the Steamboat Gondola building. Now it’s being used for fire training in advance of demolition.
Big Sky launches a Swift Current 6 update site.
Vidanta SkyDream claims to be the world’s first gondola transportation at a beach resort.
The Epcot Disney Skyliner line will close for a six day maintenance window in January.
For the second time in two months, a guest is injured falling from equipment at Camelback.
Berkshire East and Catamount Jon Schaefer owner talks expansion, says he came close to buying the Hermitage Club’s six pack and tells the story of re-pouring foundations for Bousquet’s new triple chair in January.
Montana’s shuttered Marshall Mountain sells to a new owner.
The proposed Los Angeles urban 3S releases its preferred alignment and will host two public meetings in June.
In an interview, Poma Chairman Jean Souchal laments losing 30 percent of business from Covid but he remains optimistic, especially about urban transport by rope.
Copper’s proposed Lumberjack replacement would be a detachable quad following a modified alignment.
One of the Jay Peak fraudsters faces three years in prison.
Icy Strait Point, home to two new gondolas stalled by the pandemic, will open this summer after all.

News Roundup: No Reservations

March 19, 2021Peter Landsman3 Comments

The Forest Services releases its Environmental Assessment for a modified Purgatory Ice Creek expansion and seeks public comments.
Bluewood closes for a weekend due to drive line issues with the Skyline Express triple (now back open).
For the first time in 15 years, The Summit at Snoqualmie sends a cat to the top of Alpental to clear snow from the Edelweiss lift line and top terminal.
A Canadian resort trains a very good dog to catch and hold Ts for skiers.
One of only two chairlift operations in Kentucky goes up for sale (asking price $750,000).
Aspen Snowmass visitation falls significantly.
Another chairlift fall video, this time from China.
Also in China, Poma nears completion of a world first: three interconnected 3S gondolas.
There was a serious grip slip incident at Snowstar, Illinois a few weeks ago.
A company called Towpro tries breaking into the surface lift business with a low cost rope tow.
Ski Area Management and Leitner-Poma launch a contest to recognize top lift maintenance teams.
Arapahoe Basin will continue limiting both season pass and day ticket sales next season.
No reservations will be required for passholders across Vail Resorts next season.
After a few weeks idled, Big Sky announces Dakota will remain closed for the remainder of the 20-21 season due to “mechanical challenges.”
Warner Brothers abandons plans to build a Hollywood gondola, opting to focus on its core business.
A wild Red Bull video features an athlete sliding down a six pack’s haul rope under a parachute.
A maintenance worker is injured when the chair he was riding falls from a Bartholet lift in Luxembourg.

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.

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