- Ikon Pass adds five mountains in the Aosta Valley of Italy.
- One of those mountains – Cervino – announces a monster Leitner 3S with three stations and 4,700 feet of vertical.
- Indy Pass signs a flurry of new mountains, mostly small and remote outposts:
- Hilltop and Mt. Eyak, Alaska
- Little Ski Hill, Idaho
- Hyland Hills, Minnesota
- Cuchara, Colorado (lift not yet operable)
- Mt. LaCrosse and Sunburst, Wisconsin
- Buffalo Ski Club and Dry Hill, New York
- McIntyre, New Hampshire
- Hockley Valley, Ontario
- Mont Sutton, Owl’s Head, Mont Edouard, Mont Habitant, Vallée Bleue, Val d’Irene and Ski Vorlage, Quebec
- Marble Mountain and Smokey Mountain, Newfoundland and Labrador
- Others in Europe, Asia and South America
- Buck Hill, Minnesota; Swiss Valley, Michigan and Montage Mountain, Pennsylvania leave Indy Pass.
- Judges uphold the 2022 revocation of a permit for Park City Mountain’s Eagle and Silverlode lift replacements; Vail Resorts vows to submit new applications for both.
- In another blow for Vail, a jury awards $20 million to a teenager who fell after misloading the Paradise Express at Crested Butte.
- Matthew Prince floats the idea of a gondola from Old Town Park City to Solitude and Alta.
- Big Sky’s Lone Peak Tram top station enclosure to open this season with the name Kircliff.
- A flood damages lifts at Crystal Ridge, Wisconsin.
- A new Leitner-Poma gondola opens in South Carolina.
- Jackson Hole lobbies the Forest Service for a mountain resort specific management designation applying to JHMR, Snow King and White Pine plus 620 acres not currently in JHMR’s permit area but identified in an accepted master plan (full letter here).
- Doppelmayr raises a 7,800 lb. bullwheel into position at Alpental by hand.
- Spirit Mountain to name its new chairlift via a public vote.
Solitude
News Roundup: Lynx Express
- June Mountain closes for two days due to issues with againg J1.
- Loveland proposes replacing Lift 7 with a quad.
- Indy Pass plans more resort additions through the spring and fall.
- One of them is Tenney Mountain, which also looks to build a high speed quad.
- Tenney’s Hornet double needs a gearbox rebuild, will be closed until mid-March.
- Skeetawk, Alaska seeks state funding to develop electrical infrastructure for a future Lift 2.
- Burke Mountain’s receiver says a sale may be near.
- The proposed Burnaby Mountain Gondola in metro Vancouver would include significant transit oriented development.
- Mt. Seymour, BC removes the Brockton chair from service for an unknown amount of time.
- Manning Park, BC closes the similar Blue Chair for inspections due to the incident at Mt. Seymour.
- Marble Mountain, Newfoundland hits the market.
- Chair 8 at Bear Mountain suffers a grip slip incident with passengers.
- Rezoning paves the way for more development at Powder Mountain.
- Leitner to build a seven station gondola in Iraq.
- Poley Mountain, New Brunswick works to repair its triple chair.
- Bretton Woods applies to build a new lift, Attitash seeks to reduce capacity on the closed Flying Bear.
- Solitude completes a mid-winter bullwheel bearing replacement on Sunrise.
- The first terminal and towers go up for the winter build Saluda Skyride in South Carolina.
- Mt. Crescent, Iowa rebrands as Crescent Hill.
- An inside look at operating the largest lift fleet in the country.
- And one of the smaller ones.
- Mineral Basin at Snowbird to be closed for a week-ish due to a machanical issue.
News Roundup: Valentine’s Edition
- Vail Resorts reaches an agreement with Crested Butte lift mechanics, averting a strike.
- A window falls from a cabin on Stowe’s Mansfield Gondola during operations.
- Mission Ridge acknowledges three different chairs have detached this season from Chair 4, a 1971 Riblet double (all empty and no injuries).
- Waterville Valley completes a midseason splice on the High Country T-Bar.
- A new owner looks to reopen Crystal Mountain, BC via crowdfunding.
- Winter Park’s High Lonesome Express is back after a four week maintenance closure.
- Still no Slide Brook Express at Sugarbush but hopefully soon.
- The Glade Triple at Catamount will miss the rest of the season.
- Badger Pass, California won’t open this season.
- Ditto for Cedar Pass, also in California.
- Park City gets serious about a gondola connecting Main Street to Deer Valley.
- President Trump imposes 25 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum imports with potential impacts on lift manufacturers.
- The US Forest Service, landlord to 124 ski areas, lays off 3,400 employees.
- A bipartisan group of Senators sponsor a bill that would direct the Forest Service retain some of the fees resorts pay to the federal government for ski purposes, such as processing resort improvement projects.
- The gondola in Moab, Utah which sat for 25 years without ever opening, is finally being removed.
- Solitude demystifies lift maintenance for customers.
News Roundup: Megaprojects
- Alterra details its 2024 capital plan, totaling $300+ million with six new chairlifts.
- Following yesterday’s announcement of three new lifts this year, Deer Valley also outlines the seven detachable lifts opening in 2025 for a total of 10 in two years (counting the two section gondola as two.)
- A presentation details massive construction underway at Deer Valley.
- Deer Valley will hold an open house to update the community on construction and future plans next Thursday.
- Park City continues to explore a gondola connection from Main Street to Deer Valley.
- Speaking of megaprojects, here are some unofficial photos of the two D-Line gondolas with six total stations under construction at Big Sky.
- The world’s largest indoor ski area opens near Shanghai with a detachable chairlift and gondola from Poma.
- Parks Canada approves the Banff Gondola owner’s purchase of the Jasper SkyTram.
- A Swiss newspaper reports Alterra may be as interested as Vail in acquiring Swiss resorts.
- Vail Resorts to report earning September 26th, traditionally when lift projects are announced for the following year.
- Vail to sell Wildcat Express gondola cabins, run only chairs in the future.
- Solitude will auction 29 chairs from the Moonbeam quad, which operated only four years.
- Wachusett orders a Doppelmayr UNI-G six pack to replace the Polar Express.
- A rider is injured and airlifted after falling while boarding Schweitzer’s Great Escape Quad.
- Five years since the Sea to Sky Gondola‘s haul rope was first cut and four years since it was cut again, police are still looking for the perpetrator(s).
- Maintenance workers on London’s IFS Cloud Cable Car plan a strike.
News Roundup: 750
- Leitner plans to offer the ConnX multi-model gondola system from 2025 after passing tests in Hungary.
- A progress report on the first Doppelmayr TRI-Line in Switzerland.
- Also on the first MND Orizon detachable in France.
- MND inaugurates a new production facility to support the Orizon line.
Skytrac celebrates its new facility in Tooele, Utah.
Bartholet releases its 2024 reference book. - Alta clarifies it supports a Little Cottonwood gondola.
- White Pass adds chairs to boost capacity on the Great White Express.
- A viral video shows a lift being jostled by a small tornado.
- Homewood now plans to build its already-delivered D-Line gondola in 2025 and upgrade Ellis in 2030.
- Burke Mountain delays summer opening to mid-July due to a mechanical issue with the Sherburne Express.
- Marmot Basin to sell chairs from the Knob double.
- Jackson Hole to auction Sublette chairs.
- Beartooth Basin is for sale.
- I visited my 750th ski area this week, marking the completion the Canada Lift Database.
News Roundup: Lifts Matter
- Lake Louise reopens a week after an intentionally-set fire displaced hundreds of employees.
- Okemo temporarily closes due to Vermont flooding.
- Lift-free Colorado resort Bluebird Backcountry fails after three seasons.
- Sterling Vineyards load tests its new D-Line gondola, with wine of course.
- Both Solitude and Brighton offer old high speed quad chairs for sale.
- Summer operations at Brundage remain paused due to issues with the Bluebird Express.
News Roundup: Public Dollars
- California Mountain Resort Company (owner of China Peak/Dodge Ridge/Mountain High) buys Taos’ outgoing Lift 4 for reinstallation next summer.
- One of New Zealand’s largest ski resorts faces liquidation right before ski season.
- Solitude’s next three lift replacement priorities, in order, are Link, Sunrise and Powderhorn II.
- Buck Hill holds a chair sale. Middlebury Snowbowl too.
- Gatlinburg SkyLift Park simplifies its name to SkyPark.
- A New York public broadcaster highlights the Olympic Regional Development Authority’s $700 million in recent spending subsidized by taxpayers.
- A one year delay over sewer issues increases the cost of Gore Mountain’s new Ski Bowl detachable quad by $681,000, will now be built next year.
- New Hampshire commits $18 million to a major overhaul of the Cannon Mountain tramway.
- The Forest Service approves the replacement of Wilbere at Snowbird with a fixed grip quad.
- Leitner releases its 2022 annual report showcasing installations across Europe.
- Loon Mountain shares a South Peak construction update.
- Big Sky’s new tram cabins are complete and ready for shipping.
Alterra Details Plans for Six New Lifts in 2023
The parent company of the Ikon Pass plans to construct half a dozen new lifts for the 2023/24 ski season in addition to numerous other capital investments across 16 owned resorts. All Alterra lift projects for the upcoming 2023 construction season were previously announced but some details have changed slightly. Privately-held Alterra plans to invest a total of $400 million in resort infrastructure, $50 million for employee housing and $40 million toward technology upgrades to better connect and streamline the guest experience in the year ahead.
At Solitude, the previously announced Eagle Express replacement will now be a Doppelmayr six pack rather than a high speed quad. Solitude and the entire Wasatch have seen an extremely busy winter with plentiful snowfall and a growing Ikon passholder base in Utah.
Steamboat’s Full Steam Ahead initiative continues this summer with completion of the second section of the Wild Blue Gondola and debut of the Mahogany Ridge Express. The gondola will become the longest in North America with a 12 minute ride from base to summit. The first section of the D-Line gondola from Steamboat Square to Greenhorn Ranch debuted this winter and Doppelmayr has already completed tower foundations for phase 2 to Sunshine Peak.
Leitner-Poma of America will build Steamboat’s second new lift this summer, previously known as Pioneer Ridge but now dubbed Mahogany Ridge Express. The new detachable quad will service 655 acres of expert terrain in Mahogany Ridge and Fish Creek Canyon, making Steamboat the second largest mountain in Colorado.
Leitner-Poma will also build the new Pioneer Express at Winter Park, a six pack replacing a 1986 detachable quad. The new lift will feature a mid-loading station for easier access to return skiing.
At Snowshoe, Alterra affirmed the fixed grip triple Powder Monkey will be replaced with a fixed grip quad this summer from Skytrac.
At Mammoth Mountain the Canyon Express #16 will be replaced with a Doppelmayr D-Line detachable six place lift. Notably, the previously announced Broadway Express #1 replacement is no longer proceeding this summer. Mammoth and Alterra are currently working through approvals for redevelopment of the Main Lodge portal which may affect the alignment of a future Broadway Express.
“In our first five years, Alterra Mountain Company has established itself as a proven leader in the outdoor industry, and we intend to continue to innovate by investing in large-scale projects that will deliver differentiated guest experiences,” said Jared Smith, President & CEO of Alterra Mountain Company. “These projects, and our investments in the years ahead, demonstrate our unwavering commitment to evolving our destinations to better serve our guests and to improving the experience our employees can expect when living and working in our mountain communities.”
News Roundup: Town Halls
- On an all-star podcast with Katharina Schmitz and Mark Bee, Stephen Kircher discusses more new lifts coming to Boyne Resorts and the two companies’ shared history.
- Leitner-Poma forecasts another busy year of building lifts in Grand Junction despite high material and shipping costs.
- 2022 will be the busiest year ever for Doppelmayr USA with 25 installations including 6 D-Line detachables.
- Mt. Rose launches a page dedicated to Lakeview Express updates.
- A €100 million 2S gondola project in France is cancelled due to rising costs.
- The Matterhorn Alpine Crossing 3S will open one year from now.
- Canadian and Quebec governments will spend CA$400,000 to modernize the world’s first six passenger chairlift.
- At a Palisades Tahoe town hall, leaders discuss on this summer’s $60 million capital infusion and Alterra’s plan to spend $150 million over the next 2-4 years.
- Solitude commits to replacing Eagle Express in 2023; will look at upgrading Link and adding a Moonbeam-Roundhouse-Powderhorn gondola after that.
- Following last weekend’s mishap, Doppelmayr and Snowbird now plan to reopen the tram in mid-July with one new cabin and one old cabin on the line but not carrying passengers.
- Big Sky and Garaventa break ground on America’s first new large tramway since 2008.
- As real estate sales begin, more detailed maps emerge from Mayflower Mountain Resort.
- Michigan considers returning a second chairlift to Porcupine Mountains State Park.
- The appeal pausing Park City’s lift projects will be heard next week.
News Roundup: Maine & More
- COO Al Henceroth breaks down the numbers behind Arapahoe Basin’s quest to maintain a quality experience through capacity management.
- Solitude intends to replace the aging Eagle Express within the next few years.
- An Indiana public broadcaster devotes five minutes to comparing bare bones operations at Vail-owned Paoli Peaks with Perfect North Slopes, which operated more lifts more hours per day over a much longer season.
- A broken sheave on the high speed quad at Marble Mountain leads to a 220+ skier rope evacuation; the lift may remain down for some time.
- Park City shows off the new alignment for the upcoming Eagle Express.
- Telluride appears destined to spend lots of money on its gondola, either as a major refurbishment or total replacement.
- A child is unhurt after falling from a Sugarloaf high speed quad.
- Eight months after a rooftop fire, Big Snow American Dream eyes a Memorial Day reopening.
- Moosehead Lake developers say the cost of a detachable six pack increased a million dollars in six months and financing remains an issue.
- The Seattle Times profiles a successful season turnaround at Stevens Pass.
- BigRock Mountain raises $1.2 million toward the purchase of a Doppelmayr quad chair.
- In Utah tram board news, Alta has sold the Sunnyside detachable triple to an unidentified mountain; Wasatch Peaks plans to build a third lift.
- Mission Ridge posts a bit of a wild wind video.
- Sierra-at-Tahoe will spin two chairlifts one weekend in April as it continues Caldor Fire recovery.
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