- In a real estate sales presentation, Red Mountain leaders say expansion lifts on Mt. Kirkup and White Wolf Ridge are a higher priority than replacing existing lifts.
- Sasquatch Mountain, BC provides an update on the Green Chair, which hasn’t spun all season.
- An avalanche strikes a closed detachable lift in France.
- Another French avalanche takes out a tower and hits a terminal.
- Rime ice topples a lift tower in Spain.
- A double chair rolls back during operation in China (likely a lift from BHMRI, not a western manufacturer.)
- Also in Asia, a viral video shows a gondola cabin dragging through deep snow.
- Bluewood, Washington upgrades Triple Nickel with Partek carriers, will sell old Borvig ones.
- Anakeesta offers up chairs from its former Chondola but not the gondola cabins.
- The 13 year-old critically injured in an unloading incident at Ski Vorlage, Quebec last week died four days later, her family says. Quebec’s ropeway regulator inspected the lift post-accident and identified several unspecified corrective actions, now completed.
- A five year old is hospitalized after falling from Sunday River’s Jordan Mountain double.
- Groundbreaking could come soon for the Aspen development that includes a new Lift 1A.
- Skytrac to construct both new lifts at Little Switzerland, Wisconsin.
- Five people board a quad chair on the Sourdough Express at Vail, one later jumps off after the lift stops (unclear if they were directed to do so by Vail Resorts staff.)
- Wisp temporarily closes two lifts for separate repairs.
- Tye Mill at Stevens Pass goes out of service.
- Also two lifts at Pico.
- Stratton’s gondola to remain closed into next week due to a maintenance issue.
- Sundance Express at Sun Peaks to be closed this weekend for maintenance.
- Castle Mountain, Alberta temporarily closes the new Stagecoach Express to swap a motor.
- At Marquette Mountain, Michigan, a misload bends apart a Riblet chair (quickly replaced without incident.)
- The Supreme Court strikes down some of President Trump’s import tariffs but not Section 232 steel and aluminum tariffs most affecting lift manufacturers. In response to the decision, the President orders a 10 percent global tariff to last 150 days (USMCA compliant goods and items already subjected to Section 232 tariffs are exempted).
Sun Peaks
News Roundup: Settlement
- The Hermitage Club to build a detachable quad to mid mountain this summer.
- Snowmass likely to replace the Sky Cab pulse gondola with a detachable system in 2027.
- Under a proposed settlement, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies would pay some 300 riders who were on the Mont-Sainte-Anne gondola during two abrupt stopping incidents in 2020 a total of CA$5.1 million.
- Blackcomb closes Catskinner for a few days for haul rope inspection/repair.
- Glen Eden’s Limestone quad goes out of service for repairs.
- Also Luckey’s at Table Mountain.
- And Lift 2 at Loveland.
- Ragged Mountain works to return Barnyard to service.
- Tremblant runs the rarely open Casino Express as a substitute for the Soleil Express for a few days.
- Two workers are killed on a Bartholet construction site in Oman when a work carrier falls.
- A snowboarder dies in Japan after being dragged by a backpack while trying to disembark a lift.
- A Graffer gondola for the Cortina Olympics may not be finished in time.
- An unseated passenger is okay after falling from height at Mammoth.
- Nonprofit Badger Mountain, Washington fundraises to maintain utilities and insurance.
- Another transit gondola route is floated in Park City.
- After two incidents and two lawsuits, Sun Peaks stops allowing a concessionaire to load “Snow Limos” on chairlifts.
- Closed Sleeping Giant, Wyoming in talks to sell to an unnamed operator with properties in Colorado and New Mexico.
- Gore Mountain conducts a high-profile evacuation of its gondola following a deropement.
- Cornerstone General Contractors is the low bidder to be construction manager/general contractor on the Eaglecrest used gondola install.
- An update on the sale of Eldora to a nearby town.
- Several Oregon ski areas suspend operations due to minimal snowpack.
News Roundup: Battery Powered
- West Virginia State Parks delays opening of the new Pipestem gondola to spring 2025.
- A tower crane working to build the Grands Montets 3S in Chamonix collapses due to wind and ice.
- Keystone installs solar panels on the Bergman Express to power ancillary functions such as lights.
- Perfect North transforms the Red Chair into an LED light show for the holidays with individual chairs lit by batteries.
- ORDA plans to build not one but two people mover chairlifts at Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
- Hunter names its new quad chair Otis.
- Planning documents show the alignment and D-Line equipment for a planned gondola at Stagecoach, Colorado.
- More ink on the unfortunate closure of Homewood this season.
- The world’s shortest T-Bar to be built with only 5 Ts.
- A criminal trial begins regarding the deadly gondola collapse in Turkey last spring.
- Garaventa installs a robotic cargo loading system on the world’s steepest aerial tramway.
- Kendall Mountain, Colorado suspends pass sales due to lift maintenance.
- Killington’s CEO talks about future lifts beyond Superstar; how the sale to locals went down.
- Park City weighs possible routes for a transit gondola from Old Town to Deer Valley.
- Mt. Waterman, California sells to a new owner promising private powder days.
- Powder Mountain won’t sell any lift tickets on weekends in February.
- Sun Peaks’ new trail map shows the West Bowl expansion.
- Indy Pass to announce new resorts next week.
News Roundup: Metrics
- Aspen Mountain’s Lift One project inches closer to reality.
- Aspen Skiing Company reports skier visits declined 2.3 percent last season.
- Colorado as a whole reports its second best season ever, down five percent from last year’s record.
- New Hampshire was down four percent.
- Vail Resorts reports a 5 percent increase in lift revenue but a 7.7 percent decline in visits with season pass unit sales down 5 percent for next season.
- Colorado’s Estes Park Tram reopens after an extended closure.
- Nordic Valley works to reactivate Apollo, which missed last season.
- Legoland New York’s new 10 passenger gondola to open June 24th.
- A Park City resident files an appeal of Deer Valley’s Lift 7 approval.
- Sun Peaks flies towers for the new West Bowl Express.
- Leitner’s 2023 annual report is out highlighting global projects.
News Roundup: Sunrise
- An avalanche crushes a six pack terminal in France.
- Doppelmayr’s latest customer magazine focuses on North America overtaking Europe as the company’s largest market and achieving more than 50 percent market share in our highly competitive region.
- Two bears climb a very tall tower on Steamboat’s new Wild Blue Gondola.
- A prototype MND Orizon detachable is under construction at the factory and expected to be operational in early summer for testing. The first customer installation may be in Uzbekistan.
- Sun Peaks resumes construction on the West Bowl Express after a winter break.
- Homewood seek approval for its Madden Gondola in a modified alignment.
- Huff Hills, North Dakota to close following a lease dispute with the mountain’s landowner.
- Tenney Mountain eyes replacing Hornet with a detachable lift.
- Alterra’s CEO discuses lift construction costs and more in a wide ranging interview.
- Plans show four major lifts at the planned Stagecoach Mountain Ranch near Steamboat.
- Legoland New York’s new gondola appears mostly complete with the first Diamond EVO cabins in North America.
- Quebec Ski Resorts Company says if it acquired the lease to Mont-Sainte-Anne, it would install a 10 passenger Doppelmayr gondola in 2025 and two detachable chairlifts in 2026. Resorts of the Canadian Rockies insists the mountain is not for sale.
- The Park City planning Commission delays a decision again on Deer Valley’s proposed Lift 7, citing wildlife concerns.
- Park City’s upcoming Sunrise Gondola will be constructed by Leitner-Poma with Vail Resorts’ first direct drive.
- An unnamed New Hampshire resort is looking for CTEC quad chairs for an upcoming relocation.
News Roundup: Bonnie
- The Summit at Snoqualmie releases renderings of and begins construction on the new Wildside Quad.
- Jay Peak intends to replace Bonaventure next summer.
- Stratton eyes replacing Tamarack with a high speed quad in 2025, may swap the gondola for a bubble six or eight place chairlift after that.
- Brian Head, Utah appears to be working on an expansion.
- Powder Mountain plans to build a new lift in Wolf Canyon next year and add additional private terrain in the Davenport zone. Owner Reed Hastings tells the New York Times privatized terrain will subsidize the money-losing public operation.
- A wild video from Italy shows the dangers of bubble chairs in high winds (no injuries).
- Obstructors sue to halt progress on the proposed Los Angeles Dodger Stadium gondola.
- Park City highlights unique operational aspects of opening Ninety Nine 90 with no electricity or vehicle access to the summit.
- The Forest Service approves Sun Valley’s Seattle Ridge six pack, slated for this summer, and the future Christmas chondola.
- Whistler Blackcomb debuts two wrapped cabins on the Peak 2 Peak Gondola with designs crafted by indigenous artists.
- Hatley Pointe works to reactivate two backside chairlifts, teases another lift upgrade skiers will be “really surprised” about.
- Deer Valley hopes to break ground on a Snow Park-Silver Lake gondola in 2025, says the line could eventually become part of a five segment network from East Village all the way to Old Town Park City with stops at Park Peak, Silver Lake and Snow Park.
- Highlander is hiring construction crew members for multiple lift installations at Deer Valley this summer.
- Sun Peaks faces another lawsuit for another Burfield Quad mis-unload.
- Sugarbush catches flak for closing much of Lincoln Peak early to begin construction of the new Heaven’s Gate quad.
- There’s further evidence MND will launch a new detachable line at Mountain Planet next month.
- Funding for a new Telluride-Mountain Village gondola will likely be on the ballot this fall alongside the Presidential choice.
Sun Peaks Announces West Bowl Express
Construction has already begun on Sun Peaks Resort’s third new chairlift in six years, the West Bowl Express. The CA$12 million Doppelmayr detachable quad will replace the retired West Bowl T-Bar in a much longer alignment and open in late 2024. West Bowl Express will service approximately 1,000 vertical feet with nearly a mile of slope length in the high alpine. “Sun Peaks continues to evolve and this significant new lift infrastructure will diversify the experience in an important pod of terrain in the resort,” noted Darcy Alexander, Sun Peaks Resort Vice President and General Manager. “Guests will have additional trails and vertical to explore with the convenience and efficiency of detachable lift technology.”
Preliminary site work is already finalized and foundations will follow this summer with steel installation commencing in 2024. When the project is complete next November, Sun Peaks will operate a 100 percent Doppelmayr fleet with eight quad chairlifts and two surface platters.
News Roundup: La Fenster
- The 66th and final new lift of the season opens at Belle Neige, Quebec and is named for two Holocaust survivors who founded the ski area.
- Les Otten continues to pursue financing for The Balsams redevelopment.
- Wachusett will invest $1.3 million to overhaul the Minuteman Express this summer.
- A bill with $25 million for Cannon tram replacement advances in the New Hampshire Senate.
- Sun Peaks closes the Morrisey Express for three days and will close it again next week due to a power supply issue.
- Locals express frustration with Vail Resorts’ operation at Snow Creek.
- Mt. Abram’s Wayback Machine will be down all weekend due to an unspecified mechanical problem.
- Ditto for Snoqualmie’s Pacific Crest quad.
- Mt. Bachelor will operate a modified footprint in May due to construction of the new Skyliner six pack.
News Roundup: Project Status
- Centennial Park, Ontario permanently closes with its Hall T-Bar up for removal.
- Sun Peaks dismantles the West Bowl T-Bar in preparation for a new chairlift.
- An update on Kimberley and Leitner-Poma’s efforts to get the arson-damaged Northstar Express back in service.
- Al at A-Basin provides an update on Lenawee Express project, which is a few weeks behind schedule.
- Loon Mountain’s Seven Brothers Express project also faces delays.
- Steamboat’s new Wild Blue Gondola will undergo a 30 day commissioning process before opening.
- The Palisades Base to Base Gondola will open on schedule.
- Mt. Shasta and Doppelmayr load test the big Gray Butte expansion lift.
- Chair 9 and the terrain it serves disappear from the Alpine Valley, Michigan trail map.
- More new maps: Big Boulder, Camelback, Greek Peak, Heavenly, Jack Frost, Lookout Pass, Nordic Valley, Steamboat and Whistler Blackcomb.
- The new red cabin is successfully installed on Snowbird’s tram.
- White Pass eyes a new lift.
- Mt. Rose will open this weekend, then close midweek to continue work on the new Lakeview Express.
- An analysis of Little Cottonwood Canyon public comments shows 61 percent of respondents against the project with 35 percent pro-gondola.
- Doppelmayr launches a new global website.
- Snowshoe to replace Powder Monkey with a fixed grip quad in 2023, manufacturer TBD.
- Indy Pass will add two Colorado resorts next.
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.
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