- A new park map shows where Legoland New York’s gondola will go.
- A skiing preview of Deer Valley Expanded Excellence.
- The Colorado Sun embeds with departments who work all night to make Winter Park run.
- Afton Alps removes Chair 18 to make way for a tube park.
- Vail Resorts reports season-to-date skier visits are down 9.7 percent and lowers earnings guidance.
- From the classifieds: a 1987 Poma Quad for sale.
- Doppelmayr assumes patents needed for Autonomous Ropeway Operation (AURO) installations in the USA.
- Kimberley, BC files a new master plan.
- MND to make an announcement on April 16th.
- Upon learning of a young guest named Reid with a phobia of chairlifts, Stevens Pass staff spring into action, giving him a full day tour of mountain operations and making him an honorary lift operator.
- Red Lodge Mountain closes the Cole Creek quad due to a component failure within the lift terminal structure.
- A high speed quad is rope evacuated at Burke Mountain.
- Flat Top Flyer at Powderhorn remains closed awaiting delivery of parts.
- Sugarloaf closes King Pine for whatever this “mechanical problem” is.
- Guests were stuck on Blackcomb’s new gondola for hours yesterday.
- The OITAF World Congress for Ropeways is coming to Vancouver June 17-21.
- Leitner has reportedly paid more than $16 million in settlements to families of victims of the 2021 Stresa-Mottarone tram disaster.
- A D-Line gondola in Austria will run entirely on solar energy produced on site this summer.
- Grouse Mountain provides a gondola construction update.
- A raccoon rides Sugarbush’s Village quad.
- Costs double for the proposed gondola-served transit center at Steamboat.
- Also at Steamboat, Leitner-Poma appears to have won the contract to replace Sunshine Express.
- Leitner-Poma also appears to have upcoming projects at Big Bear Mountain Resort, Snowbasin and Wasatch Peaks Ranch.
- Chapman Hill will replace its main rope tow with a Leitner-Poma platter.
- Wachusett nears a decision to replace Polar Express with a six pack.
- The Town of Alta passes a resolution opposing the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola.
- Red River shares renderings of its upcoming Copper Chair, will sell retiring Riblet chairs.
Snowbasin
News Roundup: Gondola Down
- The on-demand Ropetaxi gondola in Switzerland suffers from outages, slow speeds and confused riders after opening.
- Gore Mountain’s Northwoods Gondola goes down for a week and counting due to a gearbox bearing issue.
- The Heavenly Gondola is also out of service while bearings are replaced.
- Both Doppelmayr and Leitner-Poma are expected to bid on the Cannon tram rebuild with completion targeted for December 2026.
- A child is injured falling from the Gold Coast chair at Palisades.
- The strong earthquake in Japan shakes running chairlifts.
- Windham Mountain Club runs out of weekend Ikon reservations for most of the winter.
- The Forest Service approves replacements for Mineral Basin and Gadzoom at Snowbird, the proposed Brighton Chondola and a Coach replacement at Bogus Basin.
- Snowbasin plans to replace the Becker triple.
- Boyne Mountain will spin lifts 75 hours straight for a good cause.
- Alterra President and CEO Jared Smith participates in an interview with Colorado Public Radio covering a range of industry hot topics.
News Roundup: Gondola Gallery
- Troll, British Columbia secures a million dollar grant to double ski terrain with a new T-Bar next year.
- Snowbasin may not host events for a second Utah Olympics but Deer Valley and Park City are on board.
- Baltimore explores building a harbor crossing gondola.
- Big Sky’s stunning new tram will open December 19th.
- Vail Resorts debuts gondola cabin artwork by diverse artists at Park City and Stowe with Whistler Blackcomb up next.
- Vail brings lift mechanics from Indiana, Minnesota and Ohio to help finish the Mountaineer at Attitash.
- A rigging mishap sets back reopening of Chair 4 at Cuchara.
- Sugar Bowl replaces two damaged towers on the Crow’s Peak triple.
- Sierra at Tahoe modifies lift towers due to wind load changes from Caldor Fire tree removal.
- Discovery, Montana completes a solar power facility adjacent to the Anaconda triple capable of providing 65 to 70 percent of the lift’s energy needs.
News Roundup: Conquer the Mountain
- Keystone shows the process for creating a new trail map with next winter’s Bergman Bowl expansion.
- The Balsams redevelopment notches another necessary approval.
- Alta Sierra closes for weeks due to storm impacts.
- Salt Lake City prefers a 2034 Olympics over 2030.
- Troll, BC shows off 30 new runs to be serviced by a new T-Bar.
- Loon previews its expansion on South Peak.
- A man dies after falling from Breckenridge’s Zendo quad.
- Granite Peak rope evacuates the Blitzen triple.
- Heavenly offers a look into wind hold decision making.
- Snowbasin cancels construction of a Club Med, calling into question associated lift projects.
- Great Bear considers building a second chairlift.
- Steamboat again floats replacing the Wildhorse Gondola with a detachable version.
- Still no deal between Deer Valley and Mayflower although talks continue.
- Here’s a Cascade Skyline Gondola update.
- Vail settles a lawsuit with the family of a man who died while dangling from a chairlift in 2020.
- Doppelmayr is one of three finalists to replace Newark Airport’s automated people mover.
Snowbasin to Add Second Strawberry Lift
The Strawberry Express Gondola at Snowbasin Resort will get some much-needed relief next season with construction of a new six person chairlift next summer. The Leitner-Poma built DeMoisy Express will load near the gondola and unload along the Strawberry Traverse, providing much-needed redundancy and capacity. The lift will be named after DeMoisy Peak, which sits between Strawberry and Needles. “Through this strategic placement, we will be able to double the uphill capacity of this region, provide multiple options for skiers and riders into the Strawberry area, and allow access to this varied and sought-after terrain more frequently throughout the season,” said Snowbasin’s announcement. The new lift will transport up to 2,400 skiers per hour with a ride time of 10 minutes. “To say that both the Snowbasin staff and loyal guests will be excited about this lift announcement may be the understatement of the year,” said Davy Ratchford, Vice President and General Manager of Snowbasin Resort. “DeMoisy Express has been contemplated as part of our future plans for the resort, and we are thrilled to be moving forward on this incredible addition.”
The DeMoisy Express is expected to open for the 2023-24 ski season and will be the second Leitner-Poma detachable at Snowbasin, following the Middle Bowl Express built in 2021.
Snowbasin to Build Base Village, Hotel and New Lifts
Upcoming commercial developments will bring multiple new and upgraded lifts to Snowbasin Resort. Today the mountain announced partnerships with East West Partners and Club Med to transform the resort’s base area over the next several years.
By late 2024, the first all inclusive hotel at a United States ski resort by Club Med will be complete, connected to the base village by an upgraded Little Cat Express. This signature lift will be a multi-use, serving skiers and foot passengers in both directions. As part of the hotel project, a beginner expansion dubbed Ridgeline will open with a new chairlift and conveyor.
Future phases will see the construction of two additional village area chairlifts, a platter lift and more conveyors. “We’re thrilled to announce this extensive list of improvements for both our local guests and travelers that will now have the opportunity to stay at Snowbasin,” said Davy Ratchford, Snowbasin General Manager. “These new developments put us on track to become the world-class resort destination envisioned for Snowbasin.”
Snowbasin is owned by Grand America Hotels & Resorts, which also owns Sun Valley, Idaho and is controlled by the Holding Family. “East West Partners and Club Med will bring distinctive, high-quality development to Snowbasin; building on a superlative ski experience and decades of careful stewardship and investment into Snowbasin from our owners,” said Bruce Fery, CEO of Grand America. “Our local guests will continue to be a priority, with a plan that increases parking and out-of-base lift capacity. Club Med will showcase the beauty and excellence of Snowbasin to a largely international clientele, which will benefit the entire region,” added Fery.
Snowbasin will host two public events to detail resort expansion plans later this month. Each event will be open to the first 100 guests that register at snowbasin.com/openhouse.
News Roundup: Government Proceedings
- 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: Skytrac Upgrades
- New Zealand and Victoria, Australia resorts reopen after extended Covid closures (New South Wales remains locked down.)
- Mt. Spokane will replace the drive terminal of Chair 2 with a new one from Skytrac.
- Skytrac is completing similar mods to Tumbelina at Monarch Mountain.
- The fate of the Pandora’s expansion on Aspen Mountain will be decided October 13th.
- Sierra at Tahoe still doesn’t know the full extent of lift damage from the Caldor Fire but remains optimistic.
- Users get stuck on one of Mexico City’s new gondola lines following an earthquake.
- The Holding family agrees to sell most of Sinclair Oil Corporation’s assets, though Sun Valley and Snowbasin aren’t included.
- The Forest Service issues a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Lutsen Mountains’ proposed expansion with public comments being solicited through October 25th. A new alternative would see the addition of five new chairlifts on Moose and Eagle Mountains rather than the initially planned seven.
- The only lift in Oklahoma won’t open for the second year in a row and is in danger of removal.
- Schweitzer adds 14 chairs to Stella.
- A quick update from Snow King Mountain:
News Roundup: Firm Orders
- Mexico’s Grupo Vidanta will build a second SkyDream gondola system, this time at Vidanta Riviera Maya.
- Sundance auctions chairs from the former Arrowhead triple.
- The team at Craigleith, Ontario wins the inaugural Ski Area Management/Leitner-Poma Rise Up Challenge.
- Four Japanese resorts sign on to the Indy Pass.
- Arizona Snowbowl’s new gondola has been down for two weeks and the ski area moves its entire summer operation to a different base area and the Grand Canyon Express.
- Beaver Creek’s two new quads will be named McCoy Park Express and Reunion.
- The sale price for Blue Mountain, PA is revealed as $31.9 million.
- MND reports annual results with ropeway sales up 32 percent and a firm order backlog of €91.7 million.
- A group continues to push for a West Seattle gondola as a planned rail project gets delayed.
- Squaw Alpine and Leitner-Poma make great progress on the base to base gondola, though they aren’t publicly committing to a completion timeline.
- Citing staffing and fire danger, Mt. Shasta ends its summer season early.
- After missing a year, Searchmont plans to reopen this season with two new triple chairs.
- Manitoba’s Holiday Mountain announces it won’t open in 2021-22.
- Vail Resorts unveils a succession plan with CEO Rob Katz moving to an Executive Chairperson role and Chief Marketing Officer Kirsten Lynch becoming CEO November 1.
- Icy Strait Point and Norwegian Cruise Line cut the ribbon on the Transporter gondola with another 8 passenger system set to open later this summer.
- Jay Peak’s former President and CEO will plead guilty to a single charge of providing false statements and other charges are expected to be dropped.
- Keystone posts a big update on the Peru Express replacement project.
- Aspen Snowmass introduces a new brand and logo which is already on some gondola cabins.
- Snowbasin’s Middle Bowl replacement project gets off to the races.
Another Six Pack for Snowbasin
Utah’s Snowbasin Resort has partnered with Leitner-Poma of America for its next big project, a six place chair in Middle Bowl. The lift will replace Snowbasin’s oldest fixed grip, a 1979 CTEC triple. Together with the recently-built Wildcat Express, the new six pack will offer an attractive alternate route up the mountain to the Needles Gondola. Middle Bowl Express will be the first Leitner-Poma lift for Sinclair Oil Corporation, the parent of Snowbasin and Sun Valley.
“Middle Bowl is a legendary lift that runs through the heart of Snowbasin,” said Davy Ratchford, General Manager of Snowbasin Resort. “We are committed to our guest experience and advanced lift infrastructure, so we’re thrilled to provide this upgrade to improve our guests’ access to upper mountain skiing.”
According to planning documents submitted to Weber County, the new Middle Bowl will load to the north of the current base station and terminate above Needles Lodge, allowing more room for egress. It will rise 1,190 vertical feet over 4,803 feet of slope length and 18 towers. Initial capacity is planned at 1,800 passengers per hour with 51 chairs on the line. In the future, 17 carriers could be added to reach 2,400 skiers per hour. A ride up Middle Bowl will last just 4.9 minutes compared with 9.2 minutes on the old lift at full speed.
Leitner-Poma is currently looking for employees to help build the six pack beginning in mid-July through November.
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