Skytrac

A Solid Year of Lifts

Peter Landsman20 Comments

As 2024 draws to a close, most of the 57 lifts installed this year are spinning over the holidays, a testament to hard work across the industry. The sheer number of installations fell slightly from last year but remains elevated from pre-pandemic. The business split nearly evenly between fixed and detachable lifts in 2024 with major projects coast to coast in both the United States and Canada.

At Mont Grand-Fonds, new owner Compagnie des Montagnes de Ski du Quebec replaced an aging T-Bar with the most modern lift in the province, a Doppelmayr six place detachable.

As always, the Rocky Mountain states led the charge, with 24 ropeways completed across Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico. Deer Valley added a whopping five chairlifts (three of which will open this season) and Powder Mountain added four. The Rockies comprised nearly half the total market, followed by Canada and the Eastern US. New lift construction reached its second highest level in decades across Canada, with projects in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The midwestern states lagged, falling to just two new lifts on the heels of a bad snow year in 2023-24. The west coast was down modestly with zero projects in the Lake Tahoe region, three elsewhere in California, just one in Oregon and two in Washington.

Lake Louise, Alberta debuted one of two new six place bubbles in the Banff region, the Pipestone Express.

Four detachable gondolas opened in 2024 – at Legoland New York, Big Sky, Montana; Wasatch Peaks, Utah and Grouse Mountain, British Columbia. That’s about normal for the post-covid era with three of those built by Leitner-Poma. Four bubble chairlifts also opened, all of which were six or eight packs. The number of detachable chairlifts declined from 29 to 22 and fixed grip chairlifts declined from 25 to 21. Little Chapman Hill in Durango, Colorado, added a cool platter lift, the only major surface lift this year. We’ll probably need to wait another decade for a new aerial tram following last year’s debut of the Lone Peak Tram.

Skytrac installed a Leitner platter from Italy at the community-owned Chapman Hill in Durango, Colorado.

This year was the second best for expansion lifts since the 2008 financial crisis, signaling resorts are looking to grow operations rather than simply replacing old lifts. Part of that is of course the Deer Valley East Village megaproject, encompassing five projects this year and many more to come.

Deer Valley’s Keetley Express, left, opened today, to be followed by the Hoodoo Express in early 2025.

Doppelmayr installed slightly more lifts than competitors Leitner-Poma and Skytrac but the Austrians’ number of projects declined the most from 2023. Partek, MND and SkyTrans fabricated no aerial lifts, leaving customers with a true duopoly in 2024.

The Coney Express at Snowmass features Leitner-Poma comfort chairs and an angled mid-station.

Doppelmayr dominated the fixed grip market with 57 percent share while detachables were split exactly evenly between the two builders. Doppelmayr supplied fewer D-Line detaches this year, installing two big ones at Big Sky Resort and one each at Mammoth Mountain and Deer Valley. Signs point to more D-Lines in 2025.

The Sunrise Quad at BigRock Mountain, Maine, one of the first new lifts completed this fall.

Leitner-Poma built the only new lift of the year not at a ski resort – the Minifigure Skyflyer at Legoland New York, which opened in June. The short 10 passenger gondola features individually themed cabins and carries riders between the park entrance and the base of a hill.

The Minifigure Skyflyer at Legoland New York was the first new lift to open in 2024.

One segment that grew strongly was used lifts, which tripled from three installations in 2023 to nine in ’24. As the cost of new lifts continues to rise, more operators are looking to high quality used equipment. In some cases the original manufacturer refurbishes and reinstalls, such as at Pleasant Mountain, Maine and Hunter Mountain, New York, while other ski areas chose to install used lifts themselves or hire a contractor.

Leitner-Poma designed everything from the second largest lift by vertical transport feet per hour (Grouse Mountain gondola) to the smallest at Legoland. Doppelmayr also completed a broad range of projects from the world’s longest eight seat chairlift at Big Sky all the way down to the short Aurora quad at Deer Valley. Skytrac continued serving the middle of the market with fixed grip chairlifts ranging in size from the largest at Powder Mountain’s Raintree expansion to the smallest at Mt. Ashland, Oregon.

The Super Angel Express became Sunshine Village’s second heated bubble chair in early November.

Alterra bought the most new lifts this year – eight – followed by Boyne Resorts with six. Vail Resorts pulled back from 18 new lifts in 2022 to five in 2023 and just three in 2024, one of which was a relocation and another of which was manufactured in 2022 but not installed until ’24. The fourth largest operator of North American ski areas, Powdr, purchased just two lifts this year. Really the largest customer for lifts was independent ski areas, which collectively added dozens of lifts.

This direct drive at Copper Mountain is one of five new direct drives installed in 2024.

As we wave goodbye to 2024, we also say goodbye to 50 lifts that were retired. The average age of a lift removed from service in 2024 was 41 years old. The industry retired 11 Poma lifts, nine Riblets and seven Halls over the past year.

Announced installations for 2025 are pacing about 15 percent below the same time last year. That could be a sign of actual pullback or resorts are waiting longer to make announcements. Of course Deer Valley is an exception, where an additional eight-ish lifts are planned for 2025 with more to follow. Some ’25 installs are already under construction, including Big Sky’s Explorer Gondola and Alpental’s Chair 2. One strong area for 2025 is non-ski lifts, with projects announced in Colorado, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia that have nothing to do with sliding downhill.

Red River, New Mexico continued its fleet modernization with a Doppelmayr triple called Copper replacing an aging Riblet double.

2024 marked a milestone for me, as I finished visiting every public ski area in the United States and Canada. The 752nd and final spot was Moose Mountain, Yukon, which took thousands of miles and multiple days to reach in June. Many industry friends surprised me at the Salt Lake City airport on my way home and we celebrated in the terminal. I’ll continue documenting lifts in 2025, writing about project announcements and industry news. Thanks as always for reading Lift Blog and Happy New Year!

News Roundup: Deer Valley Green

Peter Landsman13 Comments

News Roundup: 750

Peter Landsman10 Comments

Ski Sundown to Build First Skytrac in Connecticut

Peter Landsman8 Comments

Ski Sundown today announced it will replace the base-to-summit Exhibition triple this offseason with a quad from Skytrac. The current Exhibition lift opened in 1977 and carries 1,800 skiers per hour. The new fixed grip lift will feature a loading conveyor and 2,400 skier per hour capacity. The new lift will reduce ride time to 4.5 minutes with speed increasing from 400 feet per minute to 450 feet per minute. It will include 90 quad chairs and span 1,999 feet.

Exhibition’s final day will be this Sunday and the new lift is expected to open for the 2024-25 season.

News Roundup: Free Gondola

Peter Landsman5 Comments

Bogus Basin to Build Two New Lifts

Peter Landsman12 Comments

The nation’s largest nonprofit ski area will embark on two lift replacement projects this summer after initially planning just one. Bogus Basin has signed a contract with Skytrac to build the fixed grip quads replacing the aging Coach and Bitterroot chairlifts. The mountain notes the local population grew more than 25 percent between 2010 and 2020 with strong demand for winter recreation. “Bogus Basin is rising to this occasion, continually enhancing our product offerings to ensure everyone has a special experience on their local mountain,” the resort said in a blog post announcing the projects.

The Forest Service already approved the plan to replace Coach, a 1981 Yan double. The Yan beginner lift is in its second location and originally ran where the Deer Point Express spins today. The new Skytrac will follow a longer alignment, spanning 1,412 feet in 2.9 minutes. Vertical will increase from 163 feet on the current double to 323 feet. Bogus will create a wraparound beginner run off the top that is almost 3.5 times longer than the current bunny slope along with adding additional groomed and gladed intermediate terrain. New snowmaking and lighting are also planned for Coach.

Bogus Basin acknowledges that both Coach and Bitterroot were initially planned to become detachable quads in the mountain’s 2015 master plan. However, costs for detachables have risen dramatically in the Covid era. Bids from both manufacturers exceeded $6 million for a 1,400 foot detachable quad at Coach. Just five years ago, Bogus purchased a high speed quad more than twice as long for $4.3 million. Luckily Skytrac came in with a $2.5 million bid to replace Coach with a fixed grip quad and Bogus realized it could use the savings to also replace Bitterroot.

The mountain is a 501(c)(3) organization run by a board of directors that invests all profits back on the mountain. “Bogus Basin is charged with the fiduciary responsibility of the community’s investments to ensure excellent and sustainable recreation for the Treasure Valley,” the resort notes. “When analyzing the statistics of the Coach chairlift upgrade, opting for a fixed-grip quad translates to a slightly longer ride time of 1.5 minutes compared to a high-speed quad, while saving over $2,500,000 for a second lift upgrade.”

Bitterroot is a Riblet double dating back to 1973 that only operates on weekends and holidays. The new Skytrac will run in an improved alignment and perhaps more often. The top station will move to the North side of the Pioneer Lodge and ride time will decrease to 4.9 minutes. “Guests will now have more convenient access to the lodge’s amenities as well as the runs that access Morning Star Express, Bitterroot quad, and Superior Express chairlifts,” the mountain notes. This second new Skytrac will run 2,462 linear feet with a vertical rise of 538 feet. Bitterroot is located entirely on private land thus its replacement does not require Forest Service approval.

Bogus Basin notes that it has invested more than $60 million since 2017 and will continue to make improvements to serve Boise’s growing population. Bogus has up to three future chairlift installations and numerous snowmaking and facility upgrades on tap after this busy summer.

Powder Mountain Plans Four New Lifts in 2024

Peter Landsman32 Comments

Netflix founder and Powder Mountain CEO Reed Hastings will invest $20 million next summer, replacing two lifts and building two new ones servicing parts of the mountain currently accessed by snowcat. Hastings took majority ownership of Powder Mountain earlier this year and already invested in new snowmaking and a conveyor lift for this season. Next year, the first order of business will be replacing the long and slow Paradise quad with a Doppelmayr detachable quad, cutting ride time by more than half. The aging Timberline triple will also be retired for a fixed grip quad.

Two chairlifts in brand new alignments will also debut next year. A fixed grip quad will be installed from the base of Timberline to the top of Lightning Ridge, servicing intermediate and expert terrain currently accessed by snowcat or hiking. A second infill lift called Raintree will open only for Powder Mountain homeowners in Cobabe Canyon. This expert terrain currently serviced by cat will remain open to those willing to hike. All three fixed grip lifts will be constructed by Skytrac, bringing Powder Mountain to six Skytracs in total.

Starting next year, the existing Mary’s and Village lifts will close to the public and, like Raintree, be open only to homeowners. “In order to pay our bills, we need to sell more real estate, and to do that we are introducing private homeowner-only skiing a year from now,” said Hastings. “We believe this blend of public and private skiing secures us decades of exceptional uncrowded skiing for all, funded partially by real estate. To stay independent and uncrowded, we needed to change, and we didn’t want to join the successful but crowded multi-resort pass model (i.e. Snowbasin) or sell to a conglomerate (i.e. Vail).”

News Roundup: Utah, Utah, Utah

Peter Landsman14 Comments

News Roundup: Modernizing

Peter Landsman6 Comments

Leitner-Poma Breaks Ground on Utah Factory

Peter Landsman7 Comments

Elected officials joined Leitner-Poma of America yesterday in Tooele, Utah to turn the first dirt for what will become the company’s largest North American facility. The 130,000 square foot campus will complement an existing 100,000 square foot factory in Grand Junction, Colorado opened in 2007. Leitner-Poma subsidiary Skytrac Lifts will move from leased space near the Salt Lake City airport to Tooele. The state-of-the-art facility will allow the firms, which are owned by HTI Group of Italy, to increase production and expand headcount up to 120 employees, with further growth possible in additional phases of the project. In addition to Skytrac and Leitner-Poma production, the building will also house a parts warehouse and offices for HTI snowmaking brand DemacLenko and HTI grooming brand Prinoth. All told HTI plans to invest $27 million in Tooele.

When the new facility opens in May 2024, LPOA and Skytrac will manufacture 85 to 90 percent of lift equipment for the North American market in the United States. “Today, we are thrilled to mark a new era of our company here in Tooele,” said Daren Cole, president of LPOA. “We are really invested in the State of Utah and the resort industry. We are focused on Made in America here in Utah and the U.S.” He noted Leitner-Poma’s primary competitor imports much of its equipment from Europe. Leitner-Poma is Italian-owned but offers a largely North American-designed and manufactured product line.

The Tooele facility will support not only the ski industry but also future projects for amusement parks and urban transit. “We want to welcome Leitner-Poma to the fastest growing county in the fastest growing state in the nation,” said Utah Lieutenant Governor Diedre Henderson. “Here in the heart of Utah’s industrial landscape our partnership with Leitner-Poma will pave the way for groundbreaking new developments in the transportation industry with its cutting edge new manufacturing facility.”

Leitner-Poma plans to install solar panels and a 250 kilowatt wind turbine from fellow HTI brand Leitwind to provide 100 percent of the factory’s energy needs.