- Indy Pass signs two more ski areas – Chestnut Mountain, Illinois and Snowriver Mountain Resort, Michigan.
- Snowriver plans to replace multiple fixed grip lifts with one detachable at Jackson Creek Summit (formerly Indianhead)
- Searchmont takes delivery of a Skytrac drive terminal as a retrofit to a Blue Mountain triple chair and will complete another Skytrac triple in the beginner area.
- The Emirates Air Line in London will be named the IFS Cloud Cable Car from October as part of a two year sponsorship deal.
- A nonprofit takes over development of the Los Angeles Dodgers Stadium gondola.
- Ukraine-related sanctions halt a Poma 3S gondola project on the China-Russia border.
- Steamboat posts an update on the new longest gondola in North America.
- Vail Resorts will report earnings and possible new capital plans on September 28th.
- Gallix, Quebec seeks to raise $1.2 million to pay for ongoing chairlift repairs.
- Big Bear, Brundage and Nordic Valley all escape unscathed from wildfires this week.
- Mont Farlagne says goodbye to its T-Bar.
- The Heineken Highline gondola at Hard Rock Stadium in Miami will be open to all on game days this football season.
Vail Resorts
News Roundup: All Good Things
- Co-owned Dodge Ridge and Mountain High are the latest resorts to join the Indy Pass.
- The Jay Peak sale hearing is delayed until September in hopes more parties will bid.
- Vail Resorts will cap day ticket sales at every mountain every day this season.
- Vail settles one class action labor lawsuit for $13 million.
- Alta’s former Sunnyside detachable triple will keep its name at Red Lodge Mountain.
- A grand opening celebration for the Palisades Tahoe Base to Base Gondola is scheduled for December 17th.
- Grouse Mountain will break ground on its Leitner-Poma gondola next month.
- Loon Mountain’s former Seven Brothers triple will live on as an adventure park access lift in Quebec.
- Also in Quebec, closed Mont Glen plans a 2023 reboot with a new poma lift.
- Doppelmayr will supply the world’s longest single stage monocable gondola in the Caribbean.
- Lift repairs remain on track at Kimberley.
- Sunrise Park will replace what was once the longest triple chair in the world with a rope tow.
- Waterville Valley and MND fly towers for the first Bartholet detachable in North America.
- Cypress Mountain auctions chairs from the retired Sky double.
- Wildcat will sell retired Doppelmayr quad chairs next month.
News Roundup: Early August
- A Forest Service report details what Keystone did wrong in Bergman Bowl, the lift will not not be completed this season.
- One Gunstock Area Commissioner resigns, another is removed from office and another appointed. Staff reopened the resort yesterday.
- Forbes interviews Doppelmayr Managing Director Thomas Pichler.
- NSAA launches a lift service bulletin database for members.
- In Argentina, a mechanic dies after his legs become caught in chairlift machinery.
- Apex Mountain Resort is evacuated due to a nearby wildfire.
- Ex Jay Peak owner Ariel Quiros reports to prison.
- Sommet Gabriel’s new Doppelmayr quad will be called La Laurentienne.
- The new triple at Dodge Ridge will be Triple Nugget.
- ORDA awards a $3.2 million contract to Skytrac for construction of the Bear Cub Quad at Gore Mountain.
- Snoqualmie and Doppelmayr conduct a heli mission to scope upcoming International triple construction.
- Vail Resorts completes its acquisition of a majority stake in Swiss ski resort Andermatt-Sedrun.
- Alta opts not to remove Albion until next year.
- Here are some pictures of an Epic Lift Upgrade project on track at Vail Mountain (thanks to reader Mark.)
Vail Resorts to Build New Lifts at Attitash, Breckenridge & Stevens Pass in 2023
Vail Resorts today released quarterly financial results and previewed three signature lift installations for 2023 construction season. The newly-announced projects will follow the record 21 new lifts currently under construction as part of the 2022 Epic Lift Upgrade.
Season pass sales are trending up for the 2022-23 season, increasing approximately 9 percent in units and 11 percent in sales dollars from the year prior as of May 31st. This past season, approximately 72 percent of all Vail Resorts 2021/2022 North American skier visitation was on a pass product. The company noted visitation on weekday and non-holiday periods increased approximately 8 percent last season while visitation on weekend and holiday periods decreased 3 percent, excluding Peak Resorts visitation in both periods. “We believe this trend is driven by the growth in pass sales as pass holders tend to spread their visitation more across the season, and, with the increase in flexible and remote work, we expect this trend to continue,” the company said. Vail is continuing to build new lifts across its portfolio in an effort to increase capacity and improve the ski experience.
Attitash skiers will be thrilled to learn the Summit triple is slated for replacement in 2023. A detachable quad will increase uphill capacity and reduce ride time on the longest lift at the resort. Attitash is also getting a fixed grip quad this summer to replace the mountain’s Borvig double doubles. When both projects are complete, five of Attitash’s seven chairlifts will be quads.
At Breckenridge, 5-Chair will be replaced by a detachable quad in 2023. Redevelopment of the Peak 8 base area will include new teaching terrain and a transport carpet to make the beginner experience more accessible. The new 5-Chair combined with a new Rip’s Ride being constructed this summer will mean all five lifts at the Peak 8 base will be detachable.
Finally at Stevens Pass, a fixed grip quad will replace Kehr’s chair, a Riblet dating back to 1964. This is the third new chairlift for Vail Resorts at Stevens and will improve out-of-base capacity.
Vail is investing approximately $320 million across its resorts this season for improvements. “Vail Resorts will have invested over $2 billion in capital since launching the Epic Pass, increasing capacity, improving the guest experience and creating an integrated resort network,” the company noted. Additional calendar year 2023 investments and upgrades will be announced in the coming quarters.
News Roundup: Fresh Designs
- Poma introduces new station and tower elements in Europe with an eco-friendly focus.
- Doppelmayr now offers a third D-Line station design.
- Sugarbush proposes replacing Heaven’s Gate with a fixed grip quad.
- Chairs from Big Red and cabins from Creekside will be sold to benefit the Whistler Blackcomb Foundation.
- Doppelmayr to host the second annual Insights virtual event on May 4th.
- Ski Sawmill, Bluewood and Kelly Canyon become the latest resorts to sign on to the Indy Pass; Marmot Basin leaves after just one year.
- Snow King Mountain joins the Powder Alliance.
- Vail reports a season-to-date 12.5 percent increase in skier visits.
- A new Doppelmayr Wir is out with features on Big Sky and Loon Mountain.
- The first urban ropeway trade show will be held in June in Germany.
- Powder Ridge, Minnesota to sell chairs from a retired double chair.
- Two new lifts are approved for Park City.
- A May deadline looms for 100,000 Vail Resorts employees to join or opt out of a class action lawsuit regarding labor practices.
- Boyne Mountain will sell Disciples chairs on May 2nd to benefit a local charity.
- A public hearing is scheduled regarding the Moosehead Lake resort project.
- Eaglecrest staff visit the gondola they bought in Austria; all systems are go for bringing it to Alaska.
- Seventh Heaven at Stevens Pass closes for the season early for “maintenance/evaluation.”
- Icy Strait Point opens its big Mountain Top gondola for the first time.
News Roundup: Three Continents
- Vail Resorts to acquire a majority stake in and operate a Swiss ski resort with 32 lifts.
- A Vermont perspective on why some people are unhappy with Vail.
- Juneau Tram owner Goldbelt takes interest in financing a gondola at Eaglecrest Ski Area.
- Homewood says its business model has failed, plans to turn into a private club with two new lifts.
- Taos seeks Forest Service approval to build a base to base gondola and replace two lifts.
- Jackson Hole finds success keeping reservations post-Covid.
- A river crossing pulse gondola is proposed in Red Deer, Alberta.
- The Sun Valley Company is not for sale, will consider a village to mountain gondola in the future.
- A Boise TV station produces an eight minute summary of Tamarack’s checkered history and plans for the future.
- Alpine-X ends its crowdfunding campaign with $1.4 million raised.
- Sommet Saint-Sauveur calls two mid-season breakdowns of the three year old Sommet Express “unfortunate, unacceptable and incomprehensible.”
- As spotted on Interstate 70, someone’s getting a Leitner-Poma detachable named Snow Flyer.
News Roundup: Final Rides
- A decision on the Little Cottonwood Canyon gondola isn’t announced yet but some are already calling for an audit and threatening a lawsuit.
- Telluride celebrates 25 years of public transport by gondola.
- Catamount now plans to finish its two relocated chairlift projects over the summer.
- An impressive six station, 150 cabin urban gondola opens in Israel.
- Granby Ranch teases a new lift between its East and West mountains.
- The Forest Service green lights Purgatory’s Ice Creek expansion, through construction won’t happen right away.
- Whitefish will give the public one last chance to ride Chair 4/Great Northern tomorrow; Bigfoot T-Bar will be closed for the rest of the season due to maintenance.
- Epic Pass prices rise modestly, tiers and blackout dates remain the same.
- In a presentation to investors, Vail Resorts says it will continue to focus on advance commitment products, high return capital investments and network expansion.
- Vail says data-based adjustments to select lifts achieved an average capacity increase of 10 percent, equivalent to adding five high speed quads to its network without investing any capital. The program will expand to more lifts for 2022-23.
- Some Juneau leaders have second thoughts about bringing over a used gondola from Austria.
- Mt. Snow’s Sunbrook quad may live on at another Vail resort.
- A lawsuit seeks to stop the proposed Los Angeles Dodger Stadium-Union Station gondola.
- Following last week’s Bartholet-HTI news, MND says its agreement with Bartholet runs through December 2023 and that MND “aims to be a major and self-sufficient industrial ropeway mobility player.” The company plans to deliver around 32 non-detachable chairlifts and surface lifts this year in addition to Bartholet alliance projects.
- An Associated Press investigation uses an Iowa county’s purchase of Mt. Crescent Ski Area as an example of wasteful pandemic relief spending.
- Connonsburg, Michigan may become the latest private ski area to transition to public ownership.
- A permit extension request reveals why the Palisades Base to Base gondola wasn’t completed last summer.
“The 2021 construction season was particularly challenging due to a number of unusual circumstances. The pandemic resulted in labor shortages for not only the lift construction crews and building teams, but also with the supply chain companies delivering key materials. Helicopter usage was a key component for construction, as they were required for activities including tree removal, setting of lift towers and pouring the foundations at the KT mid-station. Helicopter availability was greatly affected by one of the worst wildfire seasons in California history, and once helicopters were available, their operations were shut down as they could not safely fly in the smoky conditions. The fires also resulted in periods when the crews had to be sent home due to unhealthy air quality. For these reasons, construction could not be completed within the six-to-eight-month time frame anticipated in the EIS.”
News Roundup: Any Day Now
- British Columbia’s Troll Resort proposes an expansion serviced by a 2,600 foot T-Bar.
- Loon Mountain is selling a 1985 CTEC triple chair.
- White Pass’ former Doppelmayr platter is up for sale again.
- The Forest Service accepts Tamarack’s expansion proposal, which now moves to an environmental review.
- UDOT will announce soon whether it will pursue a gondola in Little Cottonwood Canyon.
- Kendall Mountain rope evacuates its only chairlift.
- Vail Resorts reports improving financial results with skier visits up 11.7% from last year and +2.8% from pre-Covid 2019/20.
- Vail will invest an extra $175 million in employees next year including implementing a $20 per hour minimum wage ($21 for maintenance technicians.)
- A child is uninjured after falling from the only chairlift in the Yukon Territory.
- Juneau moves ahead with its used gondola purchase.
- Keystone shows off a map of the Bergman Bowl expansion.
- The owner of Big Squaw appeals millions of dollars in fines.
- A dispute over whether to expand Gunstock Mountain gets very nasty.
- A new gondola has revitalized an entire community in Eastern Canada.
- Bill Jensen talks about the transformation of Sundance and teases a soon-to-be-announced terrain expansion.
- The lift line is cut for Mayflower’s first lift adjacent to Deer Valley.
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: Bounty
- Sandia Peak won’t open for skiing this season due to weather and staffing challenges.
- A snowboarder falls from Vail Mountain’s Avanti Express.
- The mall where Big Snow American Dream operates faces mounting financial problems.
- Kimberley offers a CA$100,000 reward for information leading to the conviction of the Northstar Express arsonist.
- Castle Mountain loans Kimberley another passenger snow cat and Leitner-Poma prioritizes repairs in its production schedule.
- The Bode Miller Ski Academy at Granby Ranch will include a high speed surface lift for race training.
- Elk Mountain rope evacuates for the second time in a week, this time the C double.
- The same day, nearby Montage Mountain rope evacuates the Long Haul triple.
- Also last Sunday: 150 people evac’d from the double chair at Song Mountain.
- A Colorado mountain will join the Indy Pass for the first time next week.
- Tamarack removes a North Bowl lift from its expansion proposal, hopes to begin the NEPA process soon for its proposed gondola, south expansion lifts and Wildwood Express extension.
- The reincarnated Big Squaw would include a six person chairlift and new T-Bar.
- Outside Magazine talks with numerous Vail Resorts employees about operational challenges.
- Town of Vail leaders discuss the situation at the namesake company.
- A Sea to Sky-style gondola is planned for interior British Columbia.
- Sunshine Village posts some fascinating stats about its very unique gondola.
- Four men plead not guilty to felony vandalism charges following last month’s incident at the San Diego Zoo.
- Soldier Mountain closes for the weekend due to unspecified lift issues.
- Alaska’s first gondola system is complete and will open to the public in April.
- Cannonsburg laments contractor and supply chain delays which have kept its triple chair from operating this season.
- Aspen Skiing Company raises its minimum wage to $20 per hour, effective the day after tomorrow.
- Argentinian actress Vero Lozano breaks an ankle falling from height off an Aspen chairlift.
- The South Korean resort where a detachable quad rolled back on January 22nd won’t reopen any of its lifts this winter.
- Multiple parties file objections to Purgatory’s Ice Creek expansion approval.
- The State of New Hampshire will host a public meeting next week regarding the future of the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tramway.
