- Watch LST Ropeways build its first detachable lift in three minutes.
- A Swedish company has developed a new, more comfortable T-Bar carrier called Boardie.
- Doppelmayr moves into new $62 million Wolfurt headquarters.
- Grand Targhee, Jackson Hole, Brundage, Sun Valley, Mt. Hood Meadows and Tamarack are operating a total of 13 lifts on August 21st for the first total solar eclipse visible from the United States since 1979.
- Sunlight’s end-of-season survey includes some insightful tidbits:
- “Sunlight is evaluating the addition of a high-speed detachable lift.”
- “Understanding that lift ticket and season pass prices would likely increase with the addition of a high-speed lift, please rank how favorable this would be.”
- Vail and Replay Resorts break ground on LIFT development set to anchor future detachable Sunrise lift at Park City’s Canyons Village.
- Preliminary gondola tree cutting and construction work spotted at Walt Disney World.
- Waterville Valley secures $7.5 million for future projects including multiple unspecified lift upgrades. “To answer one burning question, we do have multiple options in development regarding the High Country lift,” the resort says on Facebook.
- Utah sets another all-time record for skier visits.
- Two new Skytracs in St. Maarten won’t open until late summer but are already getting rave reviews.
Waterville Valley
News Roundup: Quebec
- Intrawest likely won’t buy any new lifts this year.
- TV station in Maine highlights lift maintenance and oversight with visits to Sugarloaf and Camden Snow Bowl.
- Denver7 lands the first interview with Larry Smith of the Colorado Passenger Tramway Board following Granby Ranch incident.
- Sunshine Polishing moving gondola refurbishing operation to Grand Junction.
- A $67 million, six-year old gondola in Rio sits abandoned.
- Poma double rope evacuated at Mont Orford.
- Heron-Poma double rope evac’d at Sleeping Giant before problem apparently fixed with a screwdriver.
- French lift site reports on two brand new lifts in Quebec.
- Waterville Valley’s new Green Peak triple will finally open Saturday.
- “Mexicable is a great experience and it is something that you need to do should you ever visit Mexico City.”
- Austrian rope manufacturer Teufelberger acquires Italian competitor Redaelli (Fatzer of Switzerland and ArcelorMittal of France are the other big two.)
- See more photos of the mind-blowing Giggijochbahn gondola.
- La Paz’s fourth gondola opens March 6th.
- Leitner Ropeways will complete the new 8-passenger gondola in Torreón, Mexico in April.
- British Columbia approves construction of Revelstoke Adventure Park with chairlift/gondola construction planned for 2017 and 2018 adjacent to Revelstoke Mountain Resort.
- Seilbahn Blog has some awesome new photos of the first and only D-Line chairlift.
- Seven year-old falls from chair at Thunder Ridge.
- The New York Times checks in at Tamarack.
- Arapahoe Basin formally unveils Beavers/Steep Gullies trail map & expansion plan with fixed-grip quad chairlift to debut in late 2018.
- Doppelmayr to build 21,000′, $18 million gondola in Silao, Mexico.
- Sugarloaf and Doppelmayr are doing a mid-season load test of Skyline on Thursday.
News Roundup: Huge
- The Grand Canyon Express is a huge development for Arizona Snowbowl and the entire Flagstaff region.
- New York State Fairgrounds to build a gondola, though details are scarce.
- Mi Teleférico hits 75 million riders, will surpass 100 million in April.
- Searchmont finally reopens its quad chair after a six-year repair.
- The Portland Aerial Tram transported a record 2.1 million riders last year. In ten years, it has indirectly contributed $1 billion to the Portland economy while creating 4,000 jobs.
- This forum thread is an interesting read on how guests can perceive lifts.
- The Denver Post reports Fortress Investment Group is considering selling Intrawest, operator of Blue Mountain, Snowshoe, Steamboat, Stratton, Tremblant and Winter Park.
- Editorial in the Summit Daily hates on Vail Resorts’ six-pack push with a jab at Leitner-Poma (though the lift pictured is actually a Doppelmayr.)
- Ray’s lift at Sundance is rope evacuated, remains out of service three days later.
- Bearing issues apparently caused the closures of lifts 1 and 6 at Loveland.
- Waterville Valley’s only summit access lift rope evacuated for the third time in three weeks, now closed until further notice.
- Poma’s new eeZii terminal offering in Europe features a footprint 20-30 percent smaller than its predecessor.
- Power outage leads to partial rope evacuation at Sandia Peak.
News Roundup: One Third
- Alpine Mountain says goodbye to skiing. The Pennsylvania ski area once operated three Borvig fixed-grips chairlifts.
- Nearing December, Suicide Six and Waterville Valley are still building their respective new lifts.
- Skytrac talks ANSI and more with Ross Stevens of Stevens Engineering.
- East River Skyway gains more backers.
- City of Branson to vote on American Gondola agreement Dec. 13th.
- One summer is down, two more to go building the world’s highest 3S.
- Chile’s President inaugurates new Poma gondola in Santiago.
- Saddleback Mountain Foundation raises one third of the millions needed to reopen Maine’s third largest resort as a co-operative.
- Parks Canada is not on board with gondola transit for Banff.
- Ski racer gets $750,000 after being left on a gondola at Killington for five hours in October 2011.
News Roundup: Leitner
- Michael Seeber takes a ride on Berlin’s new mile-long gondola built for the International Garden Exhibition.
- Guests can now view bears and gorillas from gondolas with glass floors in Spain.
- Paris launches study of 2.8 mile, €120 million urban gondola.
- The press takes a tour of the Partek-built State Fair Flyer in North Carolina.
- Regional district approves rezoning for Valemount Glacier.
- The future of the Grand Canyon Escalade will likely be decided Oct. 17th, construction could be complete by 2020.
- Follow this thread to see LST’s very first detachable lift take shape in La Plagne.
- NewEnglandSkiIndustry.com posts a grim progress report from Sunday River.
- Waterville Valley cuts the lift line for Green Peak.
- Good news for Leitner-Poma: Ruapehu Alpine Lifts in New Zealand plans another quad chair for 2017, gondola in 2018 that will likely be built in Colorado.
- The Teleférico do Alemão in Rio unexpectedly shut down Thursday for at least six months following the discovery of abnormal wear in the haul rope which now needs to be replaced.
- As Snowbird plans for construction in Mary Ellen Gulch beginning in 2018, environmental group takes the media on a tour of abandoned mines there. The 500-acre expansion will likely include a two-stage gondola, Sunday Saddle lift and a new, longer Mineral Basin six-pack.
- Jan Leonard, of CTEC and Skytrac fame, will be inducted into the Intermountain Ski Hall of Fame at a ceremony in Park City tomorrow.
- Big Sky posts lots of pictures as their new lifts near completion.
- Grouse Mountain is for sale, including two aerial tramways and four quad chairs.
- Doppelmayr signs agreement with the United Nations Human Settlements Programme to collaborate on mobility solutions worldwide.
- Yet another city in Mexico – El Marqués – looks at building a gondola.
News Roundup: Champagne
- Doppelmayr is reportedly working on a concept 3S gondola that can switch between being cable-driven and self-propelled along elevated guideways.
- The Mexican coastal town of Manzanillo plans to build a sightseeing gondola in 2017.
- Videos of child falling from a six-pack in New Zealand make the rounds.
- Transport for London wants to serve champagne to riders aboard the Emirates Air Line.
- Newly-named Arthur’s Seat Eagle unveils innovative gondola cabins with removable windows.
- Les Otten talks about what he hopes will become the largest ski resort in the Northeast.
- The Green Peak expansion is progressing rapidly at Waterville Valley.
- A new, longer Sunrise lift from Park City’s Canyons Village will likely be built next summer.
- The Rio Grande National Forest seeks public comments on the Meadow lift at Wolf Creek, also likely to go in next summer.
- A progress report from Suicide Six where Leitner-Poma is building a new quad chair.
- More than 32,000 people submitted comments to the Navajo Nation last week regarding the proposed Grand Canyon Escalade.
- Sweetwater Gondola is on schedule at JHMR.
Waterville Valley’s Green Peak Expansion is a Go
Waterville Valley will open new terrain for the first time in thirty years this winter, CEO Chris Sununu confirmed at a press conference this morning. With $2 million in financing clearing just recently, SkyTrans Manufacturing will relocate the World Cup Triple this fall to serve the ten new trails on Green Peak. The U.S. Forest Service approved the 45 acre expansion in 2013. In addition to managing Waterville Valley, Mr. Sununu is running for Governor of New Hampshire which could have something to do with the late-summer timing of the announcement. He frequently cites his leadership and job creation at Waterville Valley on the campaign trail.
The Green Peak triple chair will rise 1,011 vertical feet and move up to 1,800 skiers per hour over a slope length of 4,380′. SkyTrans, which specializes in refurbishing old lifts and relocating them to smaller ski resorts and amusement parks, has experience at Waterville. SkyTrans General Manager Rich Combs said in a press release, “this project builds on our history, starting when O.D. Hopkins Associates, the predecessor to SkyTrans, installed the very first lifts at Waterville Valley Resort.” Those lifts were all built by Stadeli and the mountain still operates six of them!
The 1985 triple formerly known as World Cup has numerous Doppelmayr components thanks to a June 2000 lightning strike and fire. The bottom station building burned to the ground and the haul rope separated due to the heat. Doppelmayr came in and replaced both stations and added a mid-station at the same time. After the installation of the parallel White Peaks Express in 1988, World Cup only ran weekends and holidays and was removed starting in June. The move to Green Peak comes sooner than many expected and the new lift and terrain will open sometime this winter.
News Roundup: Making Moves
- Sunshine Village will spin its gondola this summer for the first time in twenty years.
- ZGF Architects, the firm conducting the feasibility study for the Rosslyn Gondola in Washington, D.C. will hold a community open house on July 7th.
- The Jay Peak Tram re-opened last Saturday.
- More trouble from Vermont as the state pauses investment in the South Face Village EB-5 project adjacent to Okemo Mountain Resort. The developer completed one new chairlift last year while the future of another is uncertain.
- Waterville Valley’s World Cup triple is coming down in advance of a move to Green Peak.
- Doppelmayr confirms talks to build urban gondolas in the capital city of the Philippines.
- Caberfae Peaks shows how it’s done keeping guests informed during a seven-figure lift project.
News Roundup: Fire Season
- The North Resort at Mountain High narrowly escapes one of California’s many wildfires burning out of control.
- Leitner-Poma is about to start 3 1/2 months of construction at Sipapu, New Mexico.
- Next season will not happen at Saddleback, Maine unless the resort can secure $3 million for a new quad lift in the next two weeks. Or so they say.
- In central New Hampshire, Waterville Valley continues clearing for the Green Peak expansion while Tenney Mountain prepares to reopen after a decade being closed.
- Sugarloaf launches their lift safety website that appears it took an intern half an hour to make.
- Leitner gets into the surfing business with DirectDrive.
- Poma’s 2014 Reference Book is now online. Better late than never!
- Snow King Mountain’s very wealthy investors announce phase 2 expansion with a base-to-summit gondola and major skiing expansion.
News Roundup: Small Mountains and Big Cities
- Construction on The Balsams Resort in New Hampshire may begin late this summer. We could see new lifts there next summer.
- A bit further south, Waterville Valley started cutting trees for its Green Peak Expansion. Unfortunately they don’t have funding for a new lift or even a used one.
- Also in New Hampshire, Tenney Mountain plans to reopen next season after being closed since 2010. The mountain has a 1964 Stadeli double and 1987 Borvig triple
- You can own one of Oregon’s ski areas for only $1.25 million. Includes lifts with charming names like “Happy” and “Echo.”
- The Harbour Skylink would be a four-stage gondola in one of the world’s great capitals.
- Poma is currently building five gondolas in Latin America, two for the Metrocable system in Medellin, Colombia and one each in Bolivia, Chile and Mexico. They recently received €1.3 million from the French government to lead a consortium promoting ropeway transportation in cities.
- The world’s tallest observation tower is coming to Brighton, England, courtesy of Poma, who also brought us the London Eye and the High Roller in Las Vegas.
- Sigma takes on CWA with 3S gondola cabins developed by Italian car designer Pininfarina, set to debut in 2018 on the world’s highest 3S in Zermatt.
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