- 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
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.
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.
News Roundup: Many Uses
- Cranmore announces an over $1 million overhaul of the Skimobile Express to take place next summer.
- Granite Gorge’s owner says he’s unlikely to reopen skiing.
- Catamount and Berkshire East owner Jon Schaefer explains his strategy of relentless capital improvements.
- Park City Canyons Village skiers get stuck for a few hours when the Red Pine Gondola goes on wind hold.
- In Japan, a gondola lift doubles as a device to cure salmon.
- Carrabassett Valley Academy seeks to raise $1.6 million to build a T-Bar at Sugarloaf next summer.
- In other Sugarloaf news, pieces of Big Sky’s former Swift Current reportedly begin arriving.
- Telluride confirms it has ordered a Doppelmayr detachable quad to replace Plunge/Lift 9 in 2022. The existing triple will be sold to another resort.
- Chairs for Welch Village’s new Cannon Valley Quad arrive after a delayed journey from Asia through Canada.
- Alyeska’s tram will remain closed through December due to ongoing maintenance.
- Doppelmayr says its global market share stands at 55 percent.
- The gondola at Busch Gardens Tampa Bay will reopen in Summer 2022 after a more than two year Covid closure.
- An interesting tidbit from the Colorado Passenger Tramway Safety Board: a suspected bullet damaged the haul rope of Game Creek Express at Vail, requiring a repair.
- Vail Resorts sells more than 2.1 million season pass products, 700,000 more than last year.
- The 2022 Epic Lift Upgrade expands from 19 to 21 projects with additional lifts announced for Jack Frost and Big Boulder.
- Indy Pass will add yet another Western resort next week.
- Former Palisades Tahoe President Andy Wirth signs on to advise Alpine-X.
- Sundance says the Outlaw Express opening is delayed until December 22nd due to weather and construction timing.
- Doppelmayr flies towers in December for Juniper at Lake Louise, set to open in January.
- Steamboat considers a fourth gondola connecting the base area to town, Greenhorn Ranch will include a chairlift and eight passenger chairs are in play for future lift replacements.
- Maine’s Bigrock Mountain fundraises to purchase a Doppelmayr quad.
- Les Otten partners with Provident Resources Group to revive the Balsams redevelopment (same firm involved in reopening Big Squaw, Maine.)
- Boyne Highlands becomes The Highlands at Harbor Springs with lift improvements planned, starting with the southern end of the mountain.
News Roundup: Race to Open
- Wolf Creek opens tomorrow, Arapahoe Basin Sunday.
- Carrabassett Valley Academy looks to build a T-Bar at Sugarloaf next summer for race training.
- Powdr plans to operate Fast Tracks express lanes at 31 Copper Mountain, Killington, Mt. Bachelor and Snowbird lifts.
- Bogus Basin eyes an expansion to meet rising demand.
- A map shows Sunday River’s Merrill Hill may eventually include a second lift.
- Lots of new trail maps are out: Big White, Crested Butte, Devil’s Head, Keystone, Snow King front and back.
- Under construction Wasatch Peaks Ranch faces a legal challenge.
- The latest Mayflower schedule has the first lift in 2023 with more to follow in ’24.
- Bromley spends over a million dollars upgrading the Sun Mountain Express.
- After four months of work, the Jackson Hole Aerial Tram is back in action.
- Whitefish Mountain Resort previews next summer’s big six pack project.
- A sobering fire update from Sierra at Tahoe acknowledges big challenges and uncertainty surrounding this season.
- Massanutten will build its first detachable quad in 2023, replacing Lift 6.
- The Chamonix Grand Montets cable car, destroyed by fire in 2018, will be replaced with a €110 million 3S gondola featuring stations designed by Italian architect Renzo Piano.
- MMG Equity Partners takes full ownership of Tamarack Resort, buying out two other shareholders.
- Incoming Vail Resorts CEO Kirsten Lynch says lift capacity and speed are key to managing crowding.
News Roundup: Fire Sale
- A fallen tree forces the evacuation of a tramway in Italy.
- The Stresa-Mottarone cable car which crashed in May may be replaced by a gondola.
- Doppelmayr hosts a webinar all about urban mobility.
- Sugarloaf will update the public on the West Mountain expansion Monday.
- The latest Indy Pass additions are Marmot Basin, Montage Mountain, Snow Valley, CA and Titus Mountain.
- Big Sky posts sneak peak photos of premium chairs for Swift Current 6.
- Spirit Mountain lists the Double Jaw double for sale with an asking price of $1.
- Voting is open for the Rise Up Challenge; one of six lift mechanics will win $3,500 from Leitner-Poma of America and Ski Area Management.
- A Quebec appeals court judge writes in a dissenting opinion that a mountain biker left on a chairlift at Bromont should be held partially responsible because he did not carry a cell phone.
- TikTok drives record ridership on London’s Emirate Air Line.
- Caberfae Peaks plans to build a Doppelmayr triple in 2022 replacing Shelter.
- After lengthy repairs, the Purgatory Village Express is open.
- Crested Butte will auction chairs from Peachtree.
- Vail Resorts details plans to boost wages significantly across its resorts.
- Sunshine Village provides an update on it long range plan, including a second Goat’s Eye chairlift.
- The State of New Hampshire may seek federal funding to upgrade or replace the Cannon Mountain Tramway.
- Hear the story of how Rick Schmitz acquired three Wisconsin ski areas beginning at age 22.
