- Yellowstone Club and Homewood developer Discovery Land Company plans to revive the former Stagecoach ski area near Steamboat as a private ski and golf resort. A local realtor says Stagecoach Mountain Ranch has a Doppelmayr gondola on order.
- Loon Mountain rekindles plans to build a pulse gondola from RiverWalk Resort in Lincoln to the base of South Peak in 2025.
- MND’s upcoming product launch appears to be lift related.
- Hesperus, Colorado will remain closed next season.
- Nordic Valley will refurbish, not replace Apollo.
- Red River retires the outgoing Copper Chair early due to a mechanical issue.
- A paraglider in Austria dies after flying into a moving gondola. Two passengers in the gondola cabin were slightly injured.
- Mad River Glen details plans for Skytrac to add a mid-station to Sunnyside this summer.
- Mt. Bachelor installs a new electric motor on Northwest Express, allowing it to run full speed for the first time since January.
- A small forest fire briefly closes Timberline’s Jeff Flood Express.
- Parks Canada says no again to a Banff-Mt. Norquay gondola.
- White Hills, Newfoundland rope evacuates the Powder Line Express due to a mechanical issue.
- Powderhorn reopens the Flat Top Flyer after a 17 day unplanned closure.
- The Los Angeles City Council will vote today on a motion to halt approval of the Dodger Stadium Gondola.
- Arapahoe Basin moves to paid peak parking, may alter Ikon Pass access for next season.
- Sugarloaf load tests the newly shortened West Mountain double.
- Norway Mountain, Michigan begins selling season passes for reopening next season after seven years closed.
- FirstGroup, a large private operator of public transit, will take over operation of the London Cable Car.
Sugarloaf
News Roundup: Above & Beyond
- 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.
News Roundup: Aspen Snowmass
- Aspen Mountain’s Lift 1A goes down and is rope evacuated.
- Aspen closes redundant lifts midweek due to low ridership.
- The next lift upgrades at Snowmass will be Coney Express followed by Cirque and potentially another lift at the same time.
- Multiple homeowner associations sue Deer Valley, arguing an East Village-Snow Park gondola won’t mitigate traffic.
- Magic Mountain successfully load tests the new Black Line Quad.
- Ski Santa Fe will self install its high speed quad this summer, then look at replacing Easy Street.
- Sugarloaf opens West Mountain with a high speed quad and nine new trails.
- Deer Mountain, South Dakota reopens as a private ski area.
- The new Telluride-Mountain Village gondola will likely be a 10 passenger model with direct drive.
News Roundup: Happy Holidays
- Berkshire East names its new high speed quad T-Bar Express.
- Sugarloaf explains how it rebuilt a high speed quad from Big Sky to be as wind resistant as possible.
- Belleayre and Mt. Hood Meadows introduce all new trail maps showing new lifts.
- China Peak’s latest map shows the new Canyon quad and upcoming Firebowl quad.
- Sunday River’s new map shows Barker 6 and Merrill Hill but not Merrill Hill II.
- Mount St. Louis Moonstone celebrates completion of its groundbreaking CA$14 million chairlift.
- Homewood’s new gondola is spotted in a vacant lot in downtown Reno.
- Leitner to build a ropeway for apples in Italy capable of carrying 150 tons per hour.
- Closed Brodie Mountain, Massachusetts is sold to Florida investors.
News Roundup: Ahead of Schedule
- Cockaigne Resort is listed for sale at $3.5 million.
- Steamboat releases renderings of a possible future detachable parking lot gondola.
- Steamboat also closes the Christie Peak Express until further notice due to ground movement.
- Sterling Vineyards plans to debut the first Omega V 8 passenger gondola cabins in the USA in October.
- A sightseeing gondola in Idaho Springs, Colorado moves toward reality.
- Windham Mountain promises further lift infrastructure upgrades as part of a new master plan.
- BigRock, Maine commits to building a new quad next year.
- Park City will host an open house regarding the future Sunrise Gondola next week.
- Brundage expects to sell Centennial‘s old chairs for a total of $135,000.
- Another chair sale in Quebec.
- Whistler’s 8 pack project is ahead of schedule and construction begins early on Blackcomb’s new lift.
Sugarloaf to Debut Bucksaw Express Next Winter
The high speed quad servicing Sugarloaf’s planned West Mountain expansion got a name today: Bucksaw Express. The moniker is a nod to the Bucksaw double, a Stadeli which served the northwest edge of the mountain from 1969 to 2015. Sugarloaf began construction on the 450 acre expansion today and it is expected to open to skiers in February 2024.
The Bucksaw Express quad will span 6,574 feet with a vertical rise of 1,433 feet. Some of the equipment for the 755 horsepower lift comes from Big Sky Resort, where it operated as the Swift Current quad. The Doppelmayr detachable will be completely overhauled with brand new UNI G enclosures and many other upgrades. With a 1,000 feet per minute line speed, the lift will move 2,400 skiers per hour up West Mountain with a ride time of just seven minutes. As part of the project, the West Mountain double will be shortened to its current mid-station. The West Mountain project will include a dozen new alpine trails covering roughly 120 acres, which will increase Sugarloaf’s total skiable acreage by nearly 10 percent.
“This is the most significant development project at Sugarloaf since the SuperQuad was built in the mid-1990s,” said Sugarloaf General Manager Karl Strand. “We’re very excited to get to work on what will be a transformative project for the resort and our guests.”
News Roundup: Last of the Year
- A storm blows terminal panels off the new Tecumseh Express at Waterville Valley.
- Ditto for the T-Bar at Smuggs.
- A landslide takes out a lift tower in France.
- A de-roped moving gondola and power lines do not mix well in Bulgaria.
- Two major lifts to go down at Whitefish, one gets rope evacuated over multiple hours.
- An upgrade project run long is what prevented Thunderwolf from opening early season at Big Sky (now finished.)
- Holiday Mountain, Manitoba reopens after years closed.
- Vail christens the Game Creek Express; Sun Down Express remains under construction and Leitner-Poma apologizes.
- The Palisades Base to Base Gondola spins as one continuous lift for the first time.
- Attitash will reveal the name of next year’s new lift on New Year’s Eve.
- Maine approves expansion at Sugarloaf.
News Roundup: Dueling Passes
- Sun Peaks joins the Ikon Pass.
- Alterra settles multiple class action lawsuits over 2020 Covid closures, offering credits toward future purchases.
- Vail Resorts and Telluride renew their multi-year Epic Pass partnership.
- Telluride aims to send a gondola replacement proposal to voters in 2024 and begin construction in 2028.
- Snowbird’s new red tram ships again from Switzerland.
- A group continues efforts to save the Tulsa State Fair Skyride.
- Cuchara remains on track to reopen one of its Riblet chairlifts this winter and is still seeking donations.
- An awesome one hour documentary chronicles the history of Riblet Tramway Company.
- There’s also a new book about Byron Riblet.
- The Salt Lake County Council narrowly passes a non-binding resolution against a Little Cottonwood gondola.
- A Hall double goes up for sale in Connecticut, likely from the closed Woodbury Ski Area.
- Analysis is complete on Lutsen Mountains’ expansion proposal and a new Forest Supervisor expects to make his decision public around the beginning of ski season.
- The head of Whistler Blackcomb offers more details on the decision to move forward Fitzsimmons and Jersey Cream projects with lifts from Park City.
- Cascade Mountain names its new quad chair in memory of two locals who died in a 2014 avalanche.
- The Sugarloaf 2030 timeline is updated to reflect Double Runner being replaced in 2023 or 2024.
News Roundup: Grants
- The Eccles Family donates $5 million to support Utah Olympic Park’s mountain expansion.
- In Florida, the public is asked to weigh in on a possible Clearwater Beach gondola.
- The Edmonton Prairie Sky Gondola proposal is voted down.
- Edmonton gondola proponents look to build in Red Deer, Alberta instead.
- A new gondola idea emerges in San Diego.
- BigRock Mountain wins $2.5 million in American Rescue Plan funds to build a Doppelmayr quad chair in 2024.
- The Tulsa Skyride secures a historic status recommendation but still may be torn down.
- All three Disney Skyliner lines will shut down for a week of maintenance in January.
- Energy shortages related to the Ukraine War may close or slow down lifts in the Alps this winter.
- Crotched Mountain will sell chairs from the West Double next week.
- A local planning board advances Sugarloaf’s West Mountain expansion project.
News Roundup: All Over
- The Disney Skyliner suffers a minor breakdown.
- Construction resumes on the first MND/Bartholet detachable in the Americas.
- Two are dead following a collision and multi-day helicopter evacuation of a sightseeing gondola in India.
- Park City needs more time to present its upcoming lift projects at a public hearing.
- Issues with multiple lifts spell the end of Marble Mountain’s season.
- I recently joined the Powder Hounds Ski Trivia Podcast to talk lifts.
- Sunlight purchases Arapahoe Basin’s Lenawee Mountain triple to replace Segundo; Primo will be next.
- The name for Grand Targhee’s new lift on Peaked Mountain will be Colter.
- Paris selects a cabin design for its upcoming urban gondola system.
- Juneau moves ahead with purchasing a used Austrian gondola.
- A construction update on SkyLand Ranch, Tennessee, which will include a SkyTrans combination lift.
- Vail Resorts bags summer operations at Attitash to focus on lift maintenance and construction.
- Sugarloaf details plans for two new lifts over the next two summers.
- Leitner-Poma of America launches a new website.
- Big Sky profiles the maintenance manager of one of America’s largest lift fleets.
- Sunshine Village posts fun facts about its chairlift system.
- Former Jay Peak head Bill Stenger is sentenced to 18 months in prison for the fraud scheme involving the mountain and a biomedical research facility.
- A publicly-funded study says a gondola would be the best option for sightseeing above Butte, Montana.
- Cuchara looks to reopen one chairlift this summer.
- A tram or gondola is considered for Half Moon Bay, California.
- One of the Roosevelt Island Tramway‘s stations will receive a $7 million renovation.
Lift Blog 
.jpg){kind=link}