- Boyne Resorts raises an additional $120 million through the sale of bonds to cover general expenses during the downturn.
- An Australian ski resort burned in last summer’s bush fires will be rebuilt over the next year.
- On the latest SAM podcast, Mountain Capital Partners says it’s moving forward with two new lift projects this summer.
- Indy Pass adds some big names: Cannon Mountain, China Peak, Crystal Mountain (Michigan), Granite Peak, Lutsen Mountains, Sasquatch and Tamarack.
- Aspen Skiing Company raises $10,000 for charity through the sale of Big Burn chairs.
- A structure fire briefly stops service on an urban gondola in the Dominican Republic.
- In a letter to employees, CEO Rob Katz says he hopes to reopen all the company’s resorts by late June or early July.
- A very large natural avalanche crosses the alignments of two different Yellowstone Club lifts.
- Zincton Mountain Village submits an expression of interest to develop a hybrid lift/backcountry resort in British Columbia’s Goat Range.
Teleferico Santo Domingo
News Roundup: Skier Days
- After missing last season, Mt. Timothy gears up to reopen under new ownership.
- Tariffs on imported Canadian and Mexican steel and aluminum are history as of last weekend.
- The “Balsams Bill” becomes law in New Hampshire.
- Creditors seek an involuntary Chapter 7 bankruptcy of the Hermitage Club.
- Jackson Hole wants to increase clearance under the aerial tramway for big snow years.
- The first indoor chairlift in America should finally open this fall in New Jersey.
- Utah crushes its previous skier visit record, hosting more than five million skiers for the first time in history.
- Jay Peak and Burke Mountain’s former owner and ex-CEO are indicted by a federal grand jury on 14 counts.
- As of April 30th, 26 potential Jay Peak buyers had signed non-disclosure agreements. The resort says revenue was up 4 percent this season, skier visits increased 3.5 percent and room nights shot up 11 percent.
- Burke Mountain is still losing money but revenue increased by 26 percent this season, skier visits were up 20 percent and room nights 47 percent.
- With the Forest Service’s blessing, Ski Cooper embarks on adding 71 acres and a Leitner-Poma T-Bar for next season.
- The Poma-built urban cable car in the Dominican Republic capital transported over four million passengers in its first year.
- Mexico City’s transportation authority rejects all three Cablebus bids from Leitner, Bartholet and Doppelmayr.
- A Loveland, Colorado developer still wants to build a gondola as part of an amusement complex.
- The Las Vegas Convention and Visitors Authority selects Elon Musk’s Boring Company to build a new people mover over Doppelmayr.
- Still no opening date for the Disney Skyliner but gondola merchandise has arrived.
- In a few years, you may be able to ride twin tramways between Russia and China with immigration and customs facilities at each end.
News Roundup: Shutdown
- The Jay Peak receiver hires an investment bank to market Vermont’s northernmost resort to potential buyers.
- Now flying at Copper Mountain: the world’s longest bubble chair. Down to five new ski lifts that have yet to open this season in the United States.
- The government shutdown coincides terribly with Hurricane Ridge’s ski season, which can’t start without funding for the National Park Service.
- Alpine Media Technology launches digital signage on lifts at Steamboat with more Alterra resorts to follow.
- Many North American resorts enjoyed a banner holiday week.
- Vail Resorts North American skier visits are up 16.9 percent through January 6th.
- Killington applies for permission to replace the North Ridge chairlift with a fixed grip quad.
- The BBC traces the global rise of urban gondolas.
- A Maine county joins the state in suing the owner of Big Squaw Mountain for failing to operate the resort, which once was the second largest in Vacationland.
- The Lift 1 Corridor Project heads to Aspen voters March 5th.
- Arizona Snowbowl closes Agassiz for a mid season gearbox replacement.
- Elk Ridge, Arizona won’t operate for the second season in a row, leaving just three ski areas in the state.
- Attitash’s Summit triple is still closed.
- So are two of Pajarito’s main lifts indefinitely.
- The 2018 Olympic Downhill venue – gondolas, high speed quads and all – may be returned to a natural state.
- Lawyers for The Hermitage Club seek more time to respond to a lawsuit filed by investors who helped purchase the Barnstormer bubble chairlift.
- Santo Domingo, the largest city in the Dominican Republic, solicits bids for its third and fourth urban gondola sections with hourly capacities of 6,000 and 4,500, respectively.
- Scott Pierpont retires as Vice President of Sales at Doppelmayr USA and is succeeded by Shawn Marquardt.
- Glenwood Caverns’ old gondola is already rising again in southern Illinois.
- Last month’s lift evacuation at Whitefish got worldwide media attention. The Flathead Beacon digs into why the mountain was so well prepared for the situation.
News Roundup: Un-Lost?
- The State of Pennsylvania looks to spend $7.8 million on new lifts at Denton Hill, where a Riblet triple, Hall double and two platter lifts last spun in 2014. A private operator is also being sought.
- Maple Valley, Vermont – last operated in 2000 with three Hall lifts – sells to a new ownership group.
- As Aspen Mountain prepares to reinvent Lift One, the Aspen Daily News traces the remarkable history of the original.
- Doppelmayr will build and operate a $64 million urban 3S gondola in Moscow.
- The Portland Aerial Tram is set to close for five weeks in June and July while the track ropes are slipped downhill.
- Leitner commissions the first 2S gondola with DirectDrive in South Korea.
- As the public comment period nears its end, California Express faces critics.
- Under the proposed Hermitage Club receivership, FTI Consulting would maintain properties but wouldn’t reopen the mountain for skiing next winter. The Club objects to some of the proposal even though the receivership would be dissolved if Berkshire Bank is paid in full or the assets auctioned off.
- This guy is lucky to be okay and probably won’t be allowed back to Squaw Valley for a long time.
- Boston’s Seaport gondola proposal might be in trouble.
- The Forest Service gives a final green light to Purgatory’s Gelande lift project although construction this summer is uncertain.
- Hefty tariffs on steel and aluminum coming into the United States from the European Union, Canada and Mexico take effect at midnight tonight.
- North America’s newest urban gondolas, built by Poma in the Dominican capital of Santo Domingo, carried 41,000 riders in their first 18 hours last week.
News Roundup: Back Up
- Berkshire Bank seeks to foreclose on the Hermitage Club, saying the private ski area owes $16.6 million on $17.1 million in loans taken out between 2014 and 2017.
- Hunter Mountain apologizes to season pass holders and explains in detail why two of its lifts went down for much of Presidents’ Week.
- Mt. Snow’s Bluebird Express is down with a damaged gearbox.
- Similar story for Cypress Mountain’s Lions Express, which reopened on Tuesday.
- Harmony at Whistler also went down for much of last week..
- Big Sky’s Six Shooter was rope evacuated last week, sparking an interesting conversation about why that lift turns a few degrees.
- HeliOps profiles Brian Jorgenson of Timberline Helicopters, who explains why even at $1.50 per second, the UH-60 Black Hawk has become the gold standard for western ski lift missions.
- The largest urban gondola system in North America will open this May in Santo Domingo, capital of the Dominican Republic.
- Boston’s proposed Seaport gondola has a new route.
- A conference center in Wisconsin called Forest Springs plans to expand its ski area with a new chairlift.
- Silver Star’s new gondola is on track for a rare July opening with the top terminal and all foundations complete.
News Roundup: Transactions
- Skytrac begins construction on two new quad chairs at a new Rainforest Adventures park in St. Maarten.
- The old Casper triple from Jackson Hole won’t debut at Magic Mountain in time for this winter.
- New York hedge fund buys 13 ski resorts from CNL Lifestyle Properties, Enterainment Properties Trust takes Northstar.
- Saddleback Mountain Foundation agrees to purchase Saddleback for $6 million if it can raise enough money.
- Seattle real estate developer buys Silver Mountain.
- Steamboat’s local paper previews the Elkhead Express.
- First cabins fly on the Dominican Republic’s new urban gondola system.
- Doppelmayr’s latest Wir magazine is available.
- Some splice advice from Mountain Wire Rope Services.
- The Black Hawk finds new civilian life with Timberline Helicopters building lifts.
- Powder Mountain makes new lifts official, will become largest ski resort in the United States.
News Roundup: New Manufacturer?
- Brian Hepler wants to start a ski lift manufacturing business that builds exclusively double chairlifts for Midwestern mountains under the name Sno Technology.
- Skytrac built a custom Skyride in Sacramento this spring that proved extremely popular during the California State Fair.
- The Poma/Sigma-built British Airways i360 observation tower opens tomorrow.
- Whaleback completes a $100,000 capital campaign to install a West Side T-Bar this fall.
- Nicholas Clesceri, VP of Maintenance at the Palm Springs Tramway and owner of NJC Advisers talks tram maintenance, rime ice and urban ropeways.
- The initial section of the first detachable in the Caribbean will open in the first quarter of 2017.
- Check out photos and video of a four-section system with two haul ropes, glass-floor cabins and Leitner Ropeways’ first gondola aligned in the shape of a triangle, set to open this month at a nature park in Spain.
- Two mechanics were airlifted from Bogus Basin Monday after falling from the Showcase lift while performing line work. Please keep them in your thoughts.
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