Wachusett Mountain – Lift Blog

News Roundup: SLI Retirements

May 2, 2025Peter Landsman16 Comments

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: Megaprojects

September 6, 2024Peter Landsman6 Comments

Alterra details its 2024 capital plan, totaling $300+ million with six new chairlifts.
Following yesterday’s announcement of three new lifts this year, Deer Valley also outlines the seven detachable lifts opening in 2025 for a total of 10 in two years (counting the two section gondola as two.)
A presentation details massive construction underway at Deer Valley.
Deer Valley will hold an open house to update the community on construction and future plans next Thursday.
Park City continues to explore a gondola connection from Main Street to Deer Valley.
Speaking of megaprojects, here are some unofficial photos of the two D-Line gondolas with six total stations under construction at Big Sky.
The world’s largest indoor ski area opens near Shanghai with a detachable chairlift and gondola from Poma.
Parks Canada approves the Banff Gondola owner’s purchase of the Jasper SkyTram.
A Swiss newspaper reports Alterra may be as interested as Vail in acquiring Swiss resorts.
Vail Resorts to report earning September 26th, traditionally when lift projects are announced for the following year.
Vail to sell Wildcat Express gondola cabins, run only chairs in the future.
Solitude will auction 29 chairs from the Moonbeam quad, which operated only four years.
Wachusett orders a Doppelmayr UNI-G six pack to replace the Polar Express.
A rider is injured and airlifted after falling while boarding Schweitzer’s Great Escape Quad.
Five years since the Sea to Sky Gondola‘s haul rope was first cut and four years since it was cut again, police are still looking for the perpetrator(s).
Maintenance workers on London’s IFS Cloud Cable Car plan a strike.

News Roundup: La Fenster

February 24, 2023Peter Landsman1 Comment

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: Gondola Party

November 25, 2022November 27, 2022Peter Landsman2 Comments

The reopening of Mont Glen, Quebec falls through due to financing.
Big Squaw owner James Confalone says a developer canceled plans to rebuild the resort because lenders abandoned the project.
The nonprofit which operates the lower mountain at Big Squaw will sell double chairs from the former summit lift as a fundraiser.
Jordan 8 and Merrill Hill debut on the Sunday River trail map.
Sundance’s new map shows the Wildwood expansion.
Loveland’s 22/23 map is out.
Northstar too.
Seven Springs launches an all new map under Vail Resorts.
Snowriver renames nearly all its lifts and retires the Voyager Quad.
Whistler hopes to open the new Creekside Gondola by Christmas with Big Red likely earlier.
Waterville Valley pushes back opening by a week to focus on completing the Tecumseh Express.
Palisades Tahoe flies towers for Red Dog, plans a huge party for the Base to Base Gondola opening.
Thunder nears completion at Jackson Hole despite some delays.
Magic Mountain further delays the Black Line Quad because the used lift needs a new haul rope.
The new red tram car begins carrying skiers at Snowbird.
Wachusett looks to replace the Polar Express in 2024.
Marmot Basin seeks to swap the Knob double for a longer quad chair come 2023.
Big openings: East Peak at Caberfae, Colter at Grand Targhee, Comstock Express at Northstar and Lakeview Express at Mt. Rose all carry their first skiers today.
Tulsa seeks a new operator for Oklahoma’s only lift.

News Roundup: ConnX

December 3, 2021December 3, 2021Peter Landsman9 Comments

Leitner unveils a prototype dual mode transport system which combines ropeway technology with autonomous driving.
Developer Perry Williams still expects to purchase Big Squaw, Maine in the coming months and will change the mountain’s name. Chairs from the former Thompson double are being auctioned.
New York State resorts saw a 27 percent increase in visits last season with four million skier days.
Interior BC ski areas again face being cut off from their largest markets, this time due to floods. Sasquatch Mountain Resorts postpones its opening day due to the State of Emergency.
More than 12,000 people sign a petition asking Whistler Blackcomb to require proof of vaccination for riding gondolas.
Park City won’t run Eaglet this winter.
The State of New Hampshire says a replacement Cannon Tram could carry 100 passengers and cost between $24 and 32 million.
Wachusett’s owners explored purchasing a bubble six pack and made an offer for Jay Peak last year.
Another great podcast with the legend himself – James Niehues.
A local newspaper traces the history of the first chairlift and gondola on the West Coast, both located at Sugar Bowl.
Catamount’s new trail map shows the locations of two new lifts.
The new Grand Targhee map shows where the Peaked Mountain lift will go next year.
Attitash introduces a completely new trail map.
Gunstock will host an open house tomorrow to unveil its new master plan.
Florida investors propose leasing and operating long-closed Cuchara in Colorado.

News Roundup: Reopening x3

May 28, 2021May 28, 2021Peter Landsman4 Comments

New York lost ski area Hickory Hill may return next winter.
Snow King’s former Summit double could live on at Sleeping Giant, although Snow King is selling the chairs today. Also here are some new renderings of the gondola.
A hearing is ordered to determine whether Wachusett management knew an employee falsified lift operator training records following an accident.
Even before Virginia’s indoor ski resort breaks ground, developers explore more locations.
Just like that, the cool new 2S gondola in Germany is open.
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania commits $10 million to revive Denton Hill but needs a private partner.
Deer Mountain in South Dakota is sold and plans a reopening after four years shuttered.
For the fourth time in its short history, the Sea to Sky Gondola receives a shipment of new cabins and will announce a reopening date soon. Finding criminal(s) who twice destroyed the lift remains the top investigative priority for Squamish police.
Pictures of the Steamboat Gondola station move.
A Loon Kanc 8 update.
Canada’s first new gondola in three years will be named the Atlantic Gondola.
The BC Ministry of Forests will choose between the Cascade Skyline Gondola and Bridal Veil Mountain Resort proposals, which have significant overlap.
Leitner releases a third statement regarding the Stresa-Mottarone disaster. The manufacturer will join a civil lawsuit against the tramway’s operator and any compensation for damages will be donated to families of the victims.

News Roundup: Olympics

November 6, 2020Peter Landsman4 Comments

The proposed Park City gondola system I wrote about last week could be tied to a 2030 or 2034 Salt Lake Olympic bid.
Another Mission Ridge bubble update.
Timberline Helicopters, the leader in ski lift flying for the Western United States, adds another Black Hawk to its fleet.
The State of Virginia proposes building a chairlift at Natural Bridge State Park near Lynchburg.
Vancouver explores another winter Olympic bid.
Vail Resorts retires some former Peak Resorts lifts: Mad River at Mad River Mountain, the Double Chair at Alpine Valley and Black Forest at Big Boulder (all Hall doubles).
One of Marble Mountain’s chairlifts will sit idle this season and the ski area won’t open until January.
Chairs are being sold off from three of six chairlifts at closed Sugar Loaf, Michigan.
TimberlineMountain.com goes live with a new trail map.
A late season fire scorches 60 acres near Tamarack’s Summit Express.
Receiver Douglas Wilson looks back at saving Tamarack during the 2008 financial crisis.
Wachusett adds new graphics to the Polar Express, which is named for sister company Polar Seltzer.
Sugarbush’s new chief discusses the future of Slide Brook Express, possible expansion and potential lift upgrades.
Poma’s business is down 30 percent but the French company will keep its 1,300 employees working.
One project keeping Poma busy: a showcase urban 3S in Toulouse.
The Jackson Hole Aerial Tram will carry 25 passengers at a time this winter.
This is how gondola Wi-Fi works.
Aspen Snowmass prepares to debut its first DirectDrive lift.
Sun Valley’s new lift, pictured below, gets named Broadway. Updated trail map here.

News Roundup: 2020 and Beyond

August 21, 2020Peter Landsman12 Comments

A dozen years after closing, North Carolina’s Hawksnest lists two Hall doubles for sale.
As it attempts to lower its tax bill, Jay Peak reveals it received several non-binding offers ranging from $38 million to $70 million.
Burke Mountain argues it’s worth only $11.2 million, citing seven figure losses each of the last three years.
Wachusett will sell four different sessions this winter rather than day and night tickets.
Garibaldi at Squamish now plans to break ground in 2023 and spin lifts circa 2027.
For the second time in a year, the tram in Juneau, Alaska has a new name: Goldbelt Tram.
An American visitor caught riding the Banff Gondola faces a CA$750,000 fine.
Not good: a paraglider gets tangled up in a chair.
Sugarloaf reiterates its commitment to West Mountain, which will include a lengthy detachable lift.
Holimont plans to eventually move Chipmunk, replace Sunset and build a new lift on WestMont Ridge.
Maine’s closed Eaton Mountain becomes a non-profit and will aggressively seek funding for a new chairlift.
Park City won’t be seeing gondola transit any time soon.
Nitehawk’s only chairlift will remain out of service for the entire 2020-21 season following last spring’s landslide.
Elk Mountain has not been sold.
North America’s 2019-20 ski season will come to an end August 30th.
Sunday River plans to build the Merrill Hill lift in 2022.
Quebec-based Samson Industries, which built more than 100 ski lifts, calls it quits after 160 years.
What was supposed to be New Zealand’s first 10 passenger Doppelmayr gondola will sit in shipping containers until tourism recovers.
Big Sky and Doppelmayr get to work on Swift Current 6 (shown below.)

News Roundup: Companies

July 26, 2019July 26, 2019Peter Landsman5 Comments

All of a sudden, the Aspen Lift One project finds itself in jeopardy.
The City of Branson ends its exclusive agreement with a would-be gondola developer after years of false starts.
Two companies bid to replace the Barrows double at Howelsen Hill in 2020 or 2021.
Disney Skyliner attendants will start at $12 an hour.
Competing resorts comment on the New Hampshire Vail acquisitions as Attitash touts major lift maintenance investments.
A jury decides Wachusett Mountain should pay $3.3 million to the family of a child who was injured in a 30 foot fall from the Polar Express in 2015.
The Placer County Board of Supervisors unanimously approves the California Express gondola project.
Utah Olympic Park breaks ground on the first phase of its major expansion with a second new lift to follow in two to five years.
A study concludes Teton Pass, Montana would need to attract 15,000 visitors annually to reopen as a viable resort.
Big changes are coming to the EB-5 visa program, which some ski areas have used to pay for big ticket improvements in the past.
Timberline’s owners hire an investment bank to sell the ski area.
Berkshire Bank and others slam the latest Hermitage restructuring plan.
TransLink gets serious about building a 3S in metro Vancouver.

Instagram Tuesday: Line Work

September 1, 2015September 1, 2015Peter LandsmanLeave a comment

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