- Timberline Lodge evacuates 42 guests from the new Pucci detachable quad by rope.
- Another late day evac happens on Castle Mountain’s Tamarack chair.
- Mt. Spokane considers upgrading two 60 year old chairlifts.
- The seemingly cursed Gold chair at Nakiska goes down for a week (now back in action).
- Under new ownership, Sundance Resort eyes an out-of-base detachable.
- Bogus Basin plans expansion and lift upgrades in a new master plan coming later this spring.
- Dakota at Big Sky has been down since March 1st.
- The first of its kind Leitner 2S gondola undergoes testing in Germany.
- Ischgl, an early pandemic hot spot last year, gives up on opening this season.
- Vancouver’s transit authority picks a preferred alignment for the Burnaby Mountain Gondola.
- The Seattle Times profiles Washington’s first bubble chairlift.
- A transportation bill which includes Little Cottonwood funding heads to the Utah Governor’s desk.
- Once slated to close, Sleeping Giant now considers adding more lifts.
- Zincton Mountain Village, a proposed resort in BC, announces the purchase of a late model Riblet quad.
- Facing capacity challenges, Crystal Mountain eliminates unlimited access on the Ikon Base Pass.
- Magic Mountain needs some mid-’80s vintage Poma sheave assemblies to complete the Black Line quad. Give them a shout if you can help!
- Winter Park’s proposed lift replacements I mentioned last week are a Pioneer Express six place and Lariat conveyor.
- On a podcast, Indy Pass creator Doug Fish says more resorts are coming, including in Canada (along with a price increase.)
- During recent historic snow, the Portland Aerial Tram ran for 114 consecutive hours while other transit modes shut down.
- When the Disney Skyliner stops for a bit, you better believe it will make the news.
- Nitehawk looks for funding to replace its landslide-destroyed chairlift.
Portland Aerial Tram
News Roundup: Big Picture
- Copper’s new lift up Tucker Mountain will be named Three Bears after three members of the Cumming family who founded Powdr Co.
- Parks Canada green lights Lake Louise’s new long range plan including nine new lifts.
- The Forest Service weighs environmental concerns about Breck’s planned Peak 7 infill lift.
- Proposed federal legislation would set aside large swaths of the Wasatch for conservation and limit ski terrain expansion options.
- The fixed grip chondola in Illinois still doesn’t have an opening date but progress is ongoing.
- Revelstoke Mountain Resort previews the Stellar expansion and introduces a new trail map.
- A local TV reporter learns how to operate the Portland Aerial Tram and a Discovery Channel personality plays tram mechanic in Palm Springs.
- Wooward Park City, the all-new actions sports park with a Doppelmayr quad chair, will launch November 27th.
- Charles Hlavac purchases Teton Pass and plans to reopen as soon as possible under a new name.
- Disney bloggers discover the Disney Skyliner cabins feature automated narration. T-minus 16 days!
- Stevens Pass will sell 216 chairs from Daisy and Brooks on Thursday, September 19th with proceeds benefiting the Epic Promise Foundation.
- Eaglecrest opens a public survey to gauge interest in its gondola proposal and other projects.
- Here’s a rundown from the Saddleback community meeting.
- Mt. St. Louis Moonstone invests over CAD$6 million on a Leitner-Poma detachable six place lift to replace the Louis Express.
- A new lawsuit seeks to block approval of the Squaw-Alpine gondola project.
News Roundup: Worth the Wait
- Copper Mountain becomes the fifth US ski resort to offer a combination chair/gondola lift with American Eagle 2.0.
- Supply chain delays and five feet of snow push back delivery of the Bretton Woods gondola to an unknown future date.
- Les Otten is still working behind the scenes to line up financing for The Balsams rebuild.
- New owners close on Tamarack and reiterate their plan to resurrect Wildwood in time for next season.
- Vail Resorts won’t spin Crested Butte’s last remaining Riblet this season.
- Spout Springs plans to open this winter for the first time in three years.
- A metal panel falls 130 feet from the Portland Aerial Tram and hits a pedestrian.
- Is the Geogetown-Rosslyn Gondola idea a bold solution or vanity infrastructure?
News Roundup: Wyoming
- The Province that owns Atlantic Canada’s largest ski resort grows tired of losing money and looks for a private operator for Marble Mountain.
- Doppelmayr will build the largest vertical six-pack in the world this year at Ischgl, Austria with over 3,000 feet of elevation gain in a single section.
- Boyne Resorts President and CEO Stephen Kircher says a recent bond sale and tax cuts should yield increased capital investment at his resorts over the next five years. Boyne doesn’t plan to buy new mountains any time soon, however.
- Fire update: Purgatory reopens summer operations, Arizona Snowbowl is still closed while Taos, Red River, Sipapu, Ski Santa Fe and Sandia Peak are under partial closures due to extreme fire danger.
- Antelope Butte, Wyoming has raised the $360,000 it needs to complete lift work and reopen next winter.
- Beartooth Basin ends its summer season early due to problems with the upper platter lift.
- Alterra CEO Rusty Gregory says of committing $555 million to mountain improvements: “We went to each resort and said, ‘Tell us, as resort operators, what will make the biggest positive impact on the guest experience.’ They had long lists.”
- Leitner is pulling ropes at 12,740′ for the highest-ever 3S gondola.
- Big Sky posts sweet photos from the Austrian factory where America’s first eight passenger chairlift and D-Line stations are being prepared for shipment. Chairs will have some unique designs on the back too.
- The Portland Aerial Tram returns to service 5:30 am Monday, three weeks early, thanks to crews slipping track ropes much faster than expected.
News Roundup: Un-Lost?
- The State of Pennsylvania looks to spend $7.8 million on new lifts at Denton Hill, where a Riblet triple, Hall double and two platter lifts last spun in 2014. A private operator is also being sought.
- Maple Valley, Vermont – last operated in 2000 with three Hall lifts – sells to a new ownership group.
- As Aspen Mountain prepares to reinvent Lift One, the Aspen Daily News traces the remarkable history of the original.
- Doppelmayr will build and operate a $64 million urban 3S gondola in Moscow.
- The Portland Aerial Tram is set to close for five weeks in June and July while the track ropes are slipped downhill.
- Leitner commissions the first 2S gondola with DirectDrive in South Korea.
- As the public comment period nears its end, California Express faces critics.
- Under the proposed Hermitage Club receivership, FTI Consulting would maintain properties but wouldn’t reopen the mountain for skiing next winter. The Club objects to some of the proposal even though the receivership would be dissolved if Berkshire Bank is paid in full or the assets auctioned off.
- This guy is lucky to be okay and probably won’t be allowed back to Squaw Valley for a long time.
- Boston’s Seaport gondola proposal might be in trouble.
- The Forest Service gives a final green light to Purgatory’s Gelande lift project although construction this summer is uncertain.
- Hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the United States from the European Union, Canada and Mexico take effect at midnight tonight.
- North America’s newest urban gondolas, built by Poma in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, carried 41,000 riders in their first 18 hours last week.
Instagram Tuesday: Metropolitan
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BbdEjubF3QM/
Instagram Tuesday: Night Moves
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
News Roundup: A Million
- Foundation work is starting for Disney gondolas.
- Partek will build a fixed-grip quad at Mt. Peter, NY this summer.
- East River Skyway proposal expanded to five phases with more possible stations.
- Belleayre bid documents suggest December 2017 completion and a name for gondola: Catskill Thunder. Funding was approved Monday though I’m told a manufacturer has not yet been awarded the contract.
- NY State Fair gondola is also funded, separate from a chairlift to be built there by SkyTrans Manufacturing this summer.
- Lee Canyon seeks approval to build two new quad chairs in new places.
- Work to resume on Poma gondola in Zacatecas, Mexico with commissioning scheduled for September.
- Gould Academy may build a T-Bar up Monday Mourning at Sunday River.
- Intrawest stock hits record high amid acquisition rumblings.
- A Yan detachable still operates with original grips in Spain.
- Quebec announces $70 million in subsidies to support infrastructure investments at ski resorts in the province, including lift upgrades.
- SEC filing shows exactly how much CNL Lifestyle Properties paid for each of the 16 ski resorts it owns. The most valuable was Northstar at $80.1 million with Loon Mountain selling for just $15.5 million. The Gatlinburg Sky Lift operation went for a whopping $19.9 million!
- Bridger Bowl to sell chairs from Virginia City if buyer falls through.
- Interalpin, the every-other-year mountain technology nerd fest is April 26-28.
- If rent payments to the federal government are any indication, Colorado is booming.
- Flying demo tent gets hung up on Stowe gondola.
- Staff at Barcelona’s urban gondola will strike.
- In addition to completing the Green Lift, Magic Mountain will install a new motor and drive for the Black Lift and return capacity to three per chair.
- Lift Blog reaches 1,000 Instagram followers, 700 Facebook fans and 1,000,000 page views. Thank you to everyone who has supported me with this project over the last two years.
Instagram Tuesday: Spring
Every Tuesday, I feature my favorite Instagram photos from around the lift world.
https://www.instagram.com/p/BPgIWH1Anvg/?taken-by=georgia_knott
News Roundup: Huge
- The Grand Canyon Express is a huge development for Arizona Snowbowl and the entire Flagstaff region.
- New York State Fairgrounds to build a gondola, though details are scarce.
- Mi Teleférico hits 75 million riders, will surpass 100 million in April.
- Searchmont finally reopens its quad chair after a six-year repair.
- The Portland Aerial Tram transported a record 2.1 million riders last year. In ten years, it has indirectly contributed $1 billion to the Portland economy while creating 4,000 jobs.
- This forum thread is an interesting read on how guests can perceive lifts.
- The Denver Post reports Fortress Investment Group is considering selling Intrawest, operator of Blue Mountain, Snowshoe, Steamboat, Stratton, Tremblant and Winter Park.
- Editorial in the Summit Daily hates on Vail Resorts’ six-pack push with a jab at Leitner-Poma (though the lift pictured is actually a Doppelmayr.)
- Ray’s lift at Sundance is rope evacuated, remains out of service three days later.
- Bearing issues apparently caused the closures of lifts 1 and 6 at Loveland.
- Waterville Valley’s only summit access lift rope evacuated for the third time in three weeks, now closed until further notice.
- Poma’s new eeZii terminal offering in Europe features a footprint 20-30 percent smaller than its predecessor.
- Power outage leads to partial rope evacuation at Sandia Peak.
Lift Blog 
