- Crystal Mountain puts a timeline on Reimagine Crystal: Bullion Basin/Gold Hills expansion in 2023/24 and Campbell Basin Gondola/Mt. Rainer Gondola upgrade/Discovery shortening in 2024/25.
- Interesting terminals take shape in New Hampshire: a pancake-style return at Waterville Valley and a UNI G skin on an older Doppelmayr at Loon Mountain.
- Labrador Mountain and Song Mountain President Peter Harris defends the closure of Toggenburg Mountain.
- In Quebec, closed ski area Val Neigette and its Doppelmayr quad are for sale.
- More new trail maps showing new lifts: Arapahoe Basin, Big Boulder, Breckenridge, Loon Mountain, Steamboat and Stowe
- SunKid builds a new world’s longest conveyor lift.
- Lutsen’s new six pack will be called Raptor Express.
- The National Labor Relations Board will hold a hearing on Park City lift mechanics’ unionization effort November 1st.
- I join Tom Kelly on the Ski Utah podcast to talk about new lifts in Utah and more.
- The parent company of Grouse Mountain and Revelstoke and provides an update on the proposed Garibaldi at Squamish resort.
Toggenburg
News Roundup: Allegations
- With energy at a premium in Europe, Leitner showcases technology which regulates the speed of a ropeway based on rider demand.
- The nonprofit which has been running Big Squaw says the sale to Big Moose Development still hasn’t been completed and this season will continue as normal.
- Sugarbush confirms a Heaven’s Gate replacement is in the works but it won’t happen in 2023 as lift prices surge and lead times increase.
- Ropeway pioneer Willy Garaventa dies at the age of 88.
- Los Angeles releases the Environmental Impact Statement for the Dodger Stadium gondola project.
- Names for the five new Skytracs at Jack Frost Big Boulder are: Blue Heron, Harmony, Paradise, Pocono and Tobyhanna.
- Groupe Le Massif remains interested in acquiring Mont-Sainte-Anne from Resorts of the Canadian Rockies and would also be open to acquiring Stoneham as part of a deal.
- After multiple years of construction, Ontario’s Mt. Baldy finally has a new chairlift.
- Mount Snow will sell more double, triple and quad chairs for charity.
- New York’s Attorney General sues the owners of Labrador Mountain and Song Mountain, alleging their purchase and closure of nearby Toggenburg was anti-competitive. Former Toggenburg/current Greek Peak owner John Meier agreed to pay the State $195,000 and will cooperate in the case against Labrador and Song’s parent company.
- The Governor of Utah throws his support behind the Little Cottonwood gondola project.
- A new document shows where Mammoth’s relocated Panorama Gondola and new Big Bend chairlift would run as part of the Evolving Main project.
- The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania again seeks an operator to revive the Denton Hill Ski Area.
News Roundup: Uniting Legends
- Palisades Tahoe posts more details on its Gondola and Red Dog projects. The gondola will include 96 cabins and a name will be released later this summer.
- The Telluride-Mountain Village gondola is likely to be replaced with a brand new system.
- Steamboat’s newest high speed quad will be called Greenhorn Ranch Express.
- Stowe to sell chairs from the Mountain Triple today; its replacement will be called Sunrise.
- Mount Snow is also selling chairs now from Sunbrook and Tumbleweed.
- Northstar too.
- Keystone’s new six pack will be called Bergman Express.
- Utah smashes its all time skier day record with 5.8 million visits.
- New Hampshire skier visits drop 3 percent.
- Looking for a rewarding job in the mountains? Leitner-Poma is still hiring installation team members to build lifts across North America.
- For the first time in years, the Blackcomb Glacier is open for summer skiing.
- Arizona Snowbowl temporarily closes due to regional wildfires.
- Toggenburg goes back on the market with a list price of $2.9 million.
- Sterling Vineyards releases renderings of its new gondola cabins.
- The family of a woman killed when a chairlift malfunctioned reaches a confidential settlement with Granby Ranch.
News Roundup: First Chair
- Park City Mountain Resort tells elected leaders that visitation and lift wait times are flat compared to previous seasons.
- Sugarbush borrows parts from the Slide Brook Express to keep Super Bravo going. A blog post discusses lift staffing/lift maintenance and hints at future lift replacements.
- Waterville Valley shows off the first chair for its upcoming bubble lift.
- The hard work continues to repair immense damage at Sierra at Tahoe.
- Closed New York ski area Toggenburg is put up for sale.
- An unfortunate viral video shows a fight between security and Blue Mountain guests in the Orchard Express loading area over masks.
- Mt. Bachelor says the Skyliner Express will miss the entire season.
- Two Black Hawk helicopters crash land near the base of Snowbird’s Mineral Basin Express; no injuries reported.
- Despite an alleged $4.5 million theft, backers of the Mighty Argo Cable Car look to begin tower foundations as soon as this winter.
- Vancouver’s transit agency posts a Burnaby Mountain Gondola roadmap.
- A child is injured in a fall from a Camden Snow Bowl chairlift.
News Roundup: Valleys
- Bear Valley lists the Kuma triple for sale.
- Deer Valley plans to move the bottom terminals of Carpenter Express, Silver Lake Express and Snowflake downhill as part of Snow Park redevelopment. Space will also be saved for a possible Park City gondola link.
- Mayflower developers want to build build a signature lift linking to the Sultan pod at Deer Valley.
- Squaw Valley solicits the public’s help to rename the Squaw Creek triple. Squaw One Express is expected to be renamed separately in partnership with the Washoe Tribe.
- Hickory Ski Center, closed since 2005, says there’s a “strong possibility” of reopening this winter.
- Both Leitner-Poma of America and Doppelmayr Cable Car bid to build an automated people move in Kuala Lampur, though Bombardier is said to be the frontrunner.
- The Leitner portion of Cablebús Mexico City launches Sunday.
- A Grand Targhee expansion proposal faces more opposition in Teton Valley, Idaho, though the project would be located on federal land in Wyoming.
- Baldy Mountain Resort throws in the towel on summer due to British Columbia wildfires.
- Timberline Lodge will end ski season three weeks early due to snowmelt.
- Leitner opens a new production facility in Slovakia focused on tower and steel fabrication.
- Toggenburg’s lifts are indeed for sale.
- Victoria, Australia resorts shut down again due to coronavirus.
Toggenburg Closes After 68 Years
I am sad to report the lifts at New York’s Toggenburg Mountain have carried their final skiers. The owner of nearby Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain, Peter Harris, announced his purchase of the property today and said he will consolidate operations at his other mountains. The sellers are John and Christine Meier, who own and operate the largest resort in the region, Greek Peak. The Meiers plan to focus on Greek Peak, which they have grown into a four season destination in recent years.
Harris, the owner of Song and Labrador, cited a number of reasons for his decision including business levels and a labor shortage. He will continue to operate and invest in Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain, which feature eight lifts between them. “As new strains of COVID emerge, there is still great uncertainty about future capacity restrictions and concerns about finding and keeping seasonal staff as many local companies continue to struggle to hire workers. This purchase follows a decades long trend of ski resort consolidation,” said Harris, who did not disclose the purchase price. “The decision to close Toggenburg isn’t one we took lightly or made easily, but when you take a hard look at the numbers, three ski resorts drawing from the same pool of skiers and snow boarders every year is a challenge. I am confident that we are going to offer Central New Yorkers an excellent ski experience at Song and Labrador.”
The future of Toggenburg’s two Hall doubles and Borvig triple remains uncertain. The Skitog.com website is already gone.