- Ragged Mountain, New Hampshire is sold to local investors, will no longer be operated by Pacific Group Resorts.
- Voters in Mountain Village, Colorado enact a 5 percent tax on Telluride lift tickets starting next week to fund gondola construction, operations and maintenance.
- The Texas Parks & Wildlife Foundation launches a multi-million dollar fundraising effort to finish replacing the Wyler Aerial Tramway in El Paso.
- Sugarbush intends to operate the Slide Brook Express this winter after it missed last season.
- Honolulu’s City Council passes a resolution opposing construction of a sightseeing gondola on the island.
- A study finds Utah’s ski industry generated $2.5 billion in spending last season, directly supporting 31,800 jobs.
- Angel Fire’s new map shows off an all-new lift alignment.
- Big Sky’s fresh map depicts the new, curved Explorer Gondola.
- Mount St. Louis-Moonstone shows where its fifth detachable runs.
- Compagnie des Montagnes de Ski du Quebec (CMSQ) to operate Massif du Sud, its fourth Quebec ski area. Planning is underway for a base-to-summit detachable.
- Camp 10, Wisconsin remains unsure about the future of the Red T-Bar, damaged by an October fire and uninsured.
- The first Doppelmayr TRI-Line gondola is commissioned and ready for winter.
- Saskadena Six retires Chair Two, may build a new lift in the future.
Telluride
News Roundup: Mechanics
- New hanger arms arrive at Kicking Horse five months after a cabin fell from the Golden Eagle Express.
- Snow Ridge, New York moves two towers on the North lift damaged by a 2023 tornado.
- Two possible buyers emerge for Toggenburg, New York, one of which would reopen the mountain for skiing.
- Powdr continues to work toward a transaction to sell SilverStar, BC.
- Virtually all candidates for Park City Council support exploring aerial transit for the region.
- The family of a Montana man who died in a lift deropement at Red Lodge Mountain last winter hold a community car show in his honor.
- Leaders of the European Union and United States settle on a 15 percent tariff for goods moving stateside.
- The tariff rate on Swiss goods soars to 39 percent beginning next week.
- Mexico’s President announces construction of the world’s longest urban gondola line in Mexico City with eight stations over 7.1 miles and 398 cabins.
- Oaxaca to join the urban gondola train too.
- The proposed Zincton project in interior British Columbia to bypass a full environment assessment.
- Here are two great snapshots of the lift maintenance profession.
- Telluride looks toward a 10 place gondola with a design capacity of 2,500 to 3,000 people per hour and two cabin parking/maintenance facilities.
- Vail Resorts and unionized Park City mechanics reach a tentative agreement good through mid-2028.
News Roundup: Third Best
- Vail Resorts reports pass sales down 1 percent in units and up 2 percent in dollars. Full season skier visits fell 3 percent (7 percent in March and April), quarterly net income rose 8.5 percent, lift revenue rose 3.3 percent, ski school revenue fell 0.6 percent, dining revenue rose 1.4 percent, retail revenue fell 10.1 percent and rental revenue fell 5.5 percent.
- Colorado as a whole reports its third best season ever with 13.8 million visits.
- Vermont also posts strong results with skier visits 6.2 percent over the 10 year average.
- Lake Louise looks to open the Richardson’s Ridge expansion sometime during the 2025-26 season.
- Monarch releases the map for the No Name Basin expansion with a lift named Tomichi. The frontside of the mountain also gets a new map.
- Angel Fire shows where two new lifts will go.
- Steel and aluminum tariffs increase to 50 percent as of June 4th.
- An Austrian resort fits tables to chairlift restraint bars for happy hour chairlift rides with food and drinks.
- A new master plan for Crescent Hill, Iowa includes replacing both chairlifts.
- The Town of Mountain Village, Colorado seeks feedback for replacement gondola station designs.
- A 2024 French tram crash is blamed on human error with several safeties bypassed.
- Sunlight to offer retired chairs to the public through a raffle, online auction and live auction.
- Hawaii’s first gondola proposal faces opposition.
- Dagmar, Ontario teases major mountain investment.
- Sponsored job: Mountain Designer and Planner at SE Group.
News Roundup: SLI Retirements
- Big Moose, Maine hints at reviving summit lift access.
- Austria’s KitzSki and SkiWelt could connect to form the world’s largest ski area.
- Lake Louise cuts trails for the long-awaited Richardson’s Ridge expansion.
- Hatley Pointe decommissions the SLI-built Laurel double.
- Telluride seeks approval to replace its last two SLI doubles.
- Big Sky to be the North American launch customer for the Doppelmayr S-Line surface lift, replacing the Bear Back Poma.
- Big Sky will also enclose the Lone Peak Tram‘s top terminal this summer.
- Doppelmayr releases its latest customer magazine featuring projects at Big Sky and Deer Valley.
- Snowmass to keep the Elk Camp quad spinning for bikes through August 4th while work begins on its replacement.
- Eldora seeks approval for unspecified projects from its master plan.
- A court blocks the proposed Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium gondola for now.
- Wachusett looks to sell the Polar Express to another ski area.
- I stopped by Deer Valley for a quick look at the progress to build two gondola sections and four detachable chairlifts this summer.
News Roundup: Passport
- Vail Resorts reports skier visits down 3.1%, lift revenue up 3.4%, ski school revenue up 2.7%, dining up 2.2% and retail/rental down 4.0% with pass sales for next year down slightly in units.
- Burke Mountain to be sold to Bear Den Partners for $11.5 million.
- Park City explores possible routes for a Main Street-Deer Valley gondola.
- Ski Utah continues advocating for a Little Cottonwood gondola.
- Telluride seeks approval for yet-to-be-specified projects from its master plan.
- Boyne launches two multi-resort pass products good at all their resorts.
- Local artists to transform Park City Sunrise chairs into works of art to be auctioned for charity.
- Italy opens a criminal investigation into last week’s fatal tram incident involving a haul rope failure and track rope brake failure on one of two cabins.
- Steeplechase, Minnesota turns to crowdfunding to finance expansion.
- Leitner-Poma Canada is hiring lift installers for a project at Whitewater, BC.
- Loveland to operate the new Lift 7 quad as a triple.
- Killington is full steam ahead on Superstar replacement.
- Red Lodge Mountain begins repairing the chairlift involved in a fatal incident last month.
- Palisades Tahoe invites local high school students on mountain operations tours to aid with recruitment.
News Roundup: USFS
- The Forest Service approves three lift projects at Taos, including a base to base gondola.
- Red Lodge Mountain reopens all lifts except the Triple Chair involved in last month’s fatal incident.
- The widow of the man killed at Red Lodge hires a law firm and engineer to look into the circumstances.
- Telluride Ski Resort declines to help fund a new Mountain Village gondola so the town looks to pass a lift ticket tax.
- Powder Mountain to construct a new lift in Wolf Canyon/DMI.
- A child falls from a lift at Park City.
- An urban gondola is floated in Denver.
- Cataloochee, North Carolina lists parts from the Omigosh double for sale.
- New York’s state-owned ski areas report visitation up over 3 percent this season with revenue up more than 8 percent.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire delays going to a co-op model, will continue to be run by Indy Pass for now.
- Whaleback, NH passes $100,000 toward its goal of $250,000 to continue operations.
- The Caribou-Targhee National Forest weighs whether to change its forest plan to accommodate Grand Targhee’s proposed South Bowl and/or Mono Trees expansions.
- The Arapaho National Forest releases the Draft Environmental Assessment for Winter Park’s proposed Gemini Gondola, Copper Creek South chairlift, Looking Glass replacement, Endeavour replacement and Discovery replacement.
- Park City shutters Sunrise to resume construction of the Sunrise Gondola.
News Roundup: Riverbanks
- 19 deluxe cabins arrive stateside for South Carolina’s only gondola.
- Ragged Mountain goes on the market.
- Leitner-Poma posts an ad hiring lift installers for a project at Crystal Mountain, Washington.
- A widow sues Breckenridge following her husband’s fatal fall from the Zendo chair, alleging “an unreasonable amount of snow and ice accumulation.”
- Purgatory acknowleges belt tightening on the mountain as it renegotiates long term debt.
- The Forest Service shows two Mission Ridge expansion proposals as canceled.
- The Forest Service releases a Draft Environmental Impact Statement for Grand Targhee’s proposed expansion including three pared down alternatives.
- Big Sky raises $150,000 for charity selling Explorer chairs.
- An idea to connect two Seattle neighborhoods by gondola resurfaces.
- Leitner teases a “New Era of Ropeways” coming at Interalpin.
- Relations sour between the Town of Mountain Village and Telluride Ski Resort owner Chuck Horning with the Town Manager giving a lengthy speech about problems at the resort.
- Skeetawk, Alaska’s only chairlift shuts down for a multi-week repair.
- Stowe’s FourRunner quad has been out of service all week.
- Vail reopens Riva Bahn after a two week gearbox rebuild.
- Kicking Horse’s gondola remains closed indefinitely; the resort will transport gear up to Stairway to Heaven free of charge but guests still have to walk there.
- Vail Resorts presents its strategic vision to investors.
News Roundup: Change at the Top
- An avalanche hits the top of Swift Current 6 pre-opening, resulting in the rope evacuation of seven staff members and damaging several chairs.
- An empty chair falls from Mt. Bohemia’s Riblet double.
- Diamond Peak provides a primer on how lifts are de-iced of rime.
- A guest is injured falling from the new Coach chair at Bogus Basin, Idaho.
- Ditto for a lift at Mt. Holly, Michigan.
- Telluride-area residents seek to have the new gondola election results thrown out.
- British Columbia sues the operator of closed Tabor Mountain, seeks a new operator.
- New Hampshire provides an investigation update on the Attitash chair detachment, Flying Bear to remain closed.
- Wolf Creek forges on independently – selling reasonable walk up tickets, partnering with only one other mountain and building lifts in house.
- Cannon Mountain rope evacuates the Peabody Express due to a bolt failure.
- Pacific Group Resorts transitions from an operating lease to controlling owner of Powderhorn.
- Leitner-Poma is selected to build a new chairlift at Spirit Mountain, Minnesota.
- Middlebury Snowbowl opens Bailey Falls for the first time in two years.
- Whistler Blackcomb nears reopening the Glacier Express after a two week repair.
- Katharina Schmitz to depart as CEO of Doppelmayr USA, be succeeded by current VP, Operations Keith Johns.
News Roundup: Short Films
- Homewood’s new gondola is finally approved.
- Eaglecrest receives a key gondola construction permit.
- The Wall Street Journal covers several challenges facing Vail Resorts.
- Unionized Crested Butte lift mechanics authorize a strike should they be unable to reach a contract agreement with Vail.
- Breckenridge lift staff stage a one day sick out in protest of employee housing conditions, closing several lifts on Wednesday.
- Pioneer at Park City hasn’t opened this season due to an offseason deropement still being repaired.
- Blackcomb’s Glacier Express to be closed a week or longer due to a possible gearbox issue.
- Mount Snow’s Challenger has been inoperative since January 13th.
- Mammut sponsors a short film exploring the transformation of Shames Mountain, British Columbia into a community co-op.
- British Columbia opens public consultation for the proposed Bridal Veil Mountain Resort.
- A gondola transit network in Oshawa, Ontario could cost CA$1.1 billion.
- Reed Hastings explains his sweeping changes at Powder Mountain including four new lifts in one summer and partial privatization.
- Chicopee, Ontario explains why its three new lifts aren’t spinning yet.
- Bristol Mountain partially rope evacuates the Comet Express.
- Ditto for the Mt. Hood Express at Mt. Hood Meadows.
- The Balsams extends approval for long-delayed redevelopment.
- Mont Farlagne, New Brunswick reopens its only chairlift after a month-long closure due to a bullwheel issue.
- Ischgl invites guests to help build a life size replica of a 3S gondola cabin with Lego bricks.
- The latest New Hampshire tram board minutes hint at a possible new lift for Bretton Woods.
- Mountain Village and Telluride begin planning their new gondola in earnest.
- Vermonters ask Why hasn’t Burke Mountain sold? as receivership fees surpass $12 million.
- Sugarbush gets all but one of its chairlifts going after a challenging start to the season.
- Several videos show the chaotic aftermath of the bullwheel detachment in Spain last week.
- Colorado releases the Winter Park gondola crack incident report, a full report of investigation remains in progress.
News Roundup: Auxiliary
- Mt. Ashland reopens on the tree-damaged Ariel double, opens one of the first all-electric chairlifts in the country.
- Sugarbush explains what’s going on with five lifts that have either gone down or not opened yet this season.
- California OSHA tells me it won’t investigate the lift incident that hospitalized five people at Heavenly because most of the Comet Express is in Nevada, including where the collision occurred.
- Whitefish is without Chair 2 while a systems modernization is completed.
- Black Mountain, New Hampshire seeks to raise $5 million to form a co-op.
- Winter Park reopens The Gondola just 48 hours after last week’s tower crack.
- Construction begins on a third Mexicable line in Greater Mexico City with 10 stations and 278 cabins at a cost of $149 million.
- A tower collapses on a fair chairlift in Mexico during operations.
- The Chondola at Telluride is rope evacuated.
- Alpental’s new Internationale chair opened today but was offloaded on auxiliary shortly thereafter due to a mechanical issue. “Our lift maintenance team is working with Doppelmayr and plans to complete full diagnostics and testing in the morning, with the goal of reopening the lift tomorrow once we are 100% satisfied we’ve eliminated all potential issues,” says The Summit.
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