- Highland Mountain Bike Park is closed this week as crews reinforce a 1987 Borvig triple top terminal foundation, surely as a result of the Sunday River Spruce Peak incident. The bike park, which is no longer a ski resort in the winter, hopes to re-open tomorrow.
- At Sunday River, Spruce Peak’s haul rope has reportedly been cut. Its sister lift, the 1984 Borvig Locke Mountain triple had its rope removed from the top bullwheel.
- Cardrona Alpine Resort in New Zealand will build a Doppelmayr 6/8 chondola for next season.
- Splicer Bill Alsup died last Tuesday in a crane accident at the age of 78. He started working for Poma in 1959, ran the Poma distributorship in Vermont for more than 25 years and was also an Indy Car driver.
- Steamboat inches towards two new gondolas.
- Leitner-Poma of America is designing the huge gondola from Queenstown to The Remarkables that would have three stations, 80 towers and cost approximately $36 million.
- Italy’s first heated-seat chairlift will be an 8-pack.
- Ski Magic, LLC signs purchase agreement for Magic Mountain and will immediately begin work required by the Vermont Passenger Tramway Board to make lifts operational. First priority is the Pohlig triple chair that’s sat idle the past two seasons. Geoff Hathaway, President of the new ownership group commented, “it was either Magic or Whistler Blackcomb. I think we got the better deal.”
- Aspenites continue to argue over the placement of 1A’s new lower terminal.
Steamboat
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Steamboat Plans More Lifts
Steamboat is the fourth largest ski resort in Colorado with 19 lifts and almost 3,000 acres of terrain on 10,568 foot Mt. Werner. In 2011, Steamboat Ski & Resort Corporation commissioned Ecosign Mountain Resort Planners to perform a detailed mountain analysis and update the resort’s master plan. The Routt National Forest approved the plan in 2013, which envisions seven new lifts installed over the next ten years to better serve skiers. Included are a mid-mountain learning center served by a second gondola, a new lift on Sunshine Peak and replacement of four lifts with upgraded equipment. The first of the upgrade projects already underway, replacing the Elkhead triple (a 1984 Yan) with a Doppelmayr detachable quad. Initially proposed as a six-pack, Steamboat opted to build a 4-place detachable instead. The new Elkhead will be the first Doppelmayr lift built here since 1997 following four new Leitner-Poma lifts built at Steamboat in the 2000s.
Two fixed-grip chairlifts dubbed Rough Rider and Swinger (no way that name sticks) will service teaching terrain in Bashor Bowl along with 2-3 new magic carpets. The 1989 Rough Rider platter nearby will be removed. A third new chairlift will replace the Bashor lift in the same vicinity but in a new alignment ending 500′ higher. Bashor is the second oldest lift at Steamboat, a Lift Engineering double dating back to 1972.
Steamboat to Build High Speed Quad at Elkhead
Intrawest announced in its second quarter earnings call today that Steamboat will get its 8th detachable lift this summer, a high speed quad replacing the Elkhead chair. The new lift will better serve beginner and low-intermediate skiers. Intrawest CEO Tom Marano noted, “Elkhead services a high-volume area of the mountain and facilitates lunchtime and end-of-day egress from the popular beginner and intermediate terrain pods on the south side of the mountain. The increased speed and capacity of this new lift will substantially improve the guest experience at Steamboat.”
Elkhead is a Yan fixed-grip quad built in 1984 with newer Doppelmayr line equipment. At just under 2,500 feet, the current 5.8 minute lift ride will be cut to just 2.5 minutes with a detachable quad. The existing chair rises 707 vertical feet at 425 feet/minute. No word yet on which manufacturer will build the Elkhead Express but Leitner-Poma built the Christie Peak Express for Steamboat in 2007 and the Wildhorse Gondola in 2009. This is the second major lift announcement from Colorado in recent weeks; Vail announced in December it’s replacing Chair 17 with a detachable quad this summer. With stellar snow across the west, it might be a busy one for lift manufacturers.
News Roundup: SkyTrac Gets a Lift
- Pomerelle Mountain near Twin Falls, Idaho announced they will replace their 39-year old SLI double chair with a new SkyTrac triple. This is SkyTrac’s only publicly announced project for this summer. Apparently they have another contract for a lift in Arizona. Leave a comment if you know where.
- Saddleback, Maine has listed their Rangeley lift for sale for $350,000. They had previously listed just the drive terminal for $200k.
- Steamboat’s new master plan including two new six packs approved by Routt County.
- State of Pennsylvania opens bidding for a new quad chairlift at the troubled Laurel Mountain State Park.
- Jackson Hole’s new Sweetwater 8-passenger gondola approved by the Bridger-Teton National Forest.
- Sugarloaf removes the damaged drive terminal for the King Pine lift which rolled back in March to make way for a new Doppelmayr terminal.
- Group wants to reopen Mt. Ascutney in Vermont. It’s tough to run a ski resort with no lifts, however. The mountain’s high speed quad was sold to Crotched Mountain and other lifts went to Pat’s Peak.
- The Pope rides one of Bolivia’s new Doppelmayr urban gondolas. The entire line had to be closed until he finished his ride.
News Roundup: Projects and Plans
https://instagram.com/p/3kGV5wiue-/?taken-by=pcski
- Doppelmayr and Bolivia break ground on Subway in the Sky part II.
- Steamboat has a new master plan proposal that includes two new six packs to replace the Elkhead and Thunderhead lifts.
- Will our nation’s capitol get it’s first aerial lift?
- Lake Louise abandons plan for Wolverine Ridge lift but still wants new lifts on Richardson’s Ridge and Hidden Bowl.
- A six-mile aerial tram across New York Harbor? The Gondola Project says no and even Doppelmayr says it may not be possible.
- The International Skiing Federation again tells Aspen to build a new lift or lose the 2017 World Cup Finals.
- Powderhorn and Leitner-Poma break ground on lift replacement.
- Helicopter removes “poles” at the Hermitage Club.
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