Whitefish – Lift Blog

News Roundup: Conical Towers

November 14, 2025November 16, 2025Peter Landsman9 Comments

Hickory, New York closes.
Steel erection begins for the only lift in Arkansas.
Cannon’s new map shows no more tram.
Steel and aluminum tariffs increase the cost of certain maintenance projects on the Telluride-Mountain Village gondola by 50 percent.
Vail CEO Rob Katz reiterates his company’s desire to build new Eagle and Silverlode lifts at Park City.
A wildlife reserve in Kentucky plans a three station sightseeing gondola.
Sir Sam’s, Ontario retires the Red Rocket and Eagle View doubles.
The Los Angeles City Council votes 12-1 to oppose a Dodger Stadium gondola.
MND hires a Director of Ropeways for North America.
Snowland, Utah eyes building a T-Bar or J-Bar next summer with $1.46 million in state grant money.
Unionized patrollers at Breckenridge and Eldora ink new contracts; negotiations continue at Telluride and Whitefish.
A rider falls from the Montezuma Express at Keystone.
Whitecap Mountains, Wisconsin could go to foreclosure auction on December 2nd.
Enjoy these Argo progress photos from reader Munier S.

News Roundup: Auxiliary

December 27, 2024Peter Landsman7 Comments

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.

News Roundup: Les Otten

January 26, 2024Peter Landsman28 Comments

Leitner-Poma places the only bid to modernize the Cannon Mountain Aerial Tram for $29 million, 60 percent more than the state’s $18 million estimate.
A gondola is considered to connect Dawson City to a neighboring town across the Yukon River.
This week’s viral video shows a skier inadvertently dragging a net up a chairlift in Poland.
Val Saint-Côme retires the T-Bar that had a fatal accident last winter.
Hatley Pointe, North Carolina won’t open this winter.
Neither will Mt. Timothy, BC.
Mt. Itasca, Minnesota says it needs to raise $100,000 to continue operating.
Titus Mountain pays tribute to ski patroller Rick Finch, who is believed to have died when his backpack became entangled with a chair.
Les Otten, designer of Sunday River and The Canyons, talks about his dream for 23 lifts at The Balsams, building America’s longest chairlift, the Killington-Pico interconnect and more.
The Busch Gardens gondola in Tampa is set to reopen this weekend after four years closed.
New York State seeks to force a sale of Toggenburg Mountain to an operator who will reopen it.
Sugarbush addresses recent lift downtime.
Whitefish’s President explains recent challenges with the Snow Ghost Express both in writing and video form.
A guest allegedly spent the night stuck on the Heavenly gondola last night.

News Roundup: Peak 9

January 12, 2024Peter Landsman6 Comments

Breckenridge proposes building a new C-Chair and gondola to mid-mountain learning center on Peak 9.
Park City’s Sunrise Gondola project receives unanimous support from the local planning commission.
Whitefish’s one year old Snow Ghost Express misses the holiday period due to continued mechanical issues.
A teenager who fell 25 feet from a Wachusett lift secures a $3.3 million verdict.
A viral video shows an unseated passenger travelling the entire way up Copper’s Woodward Express.
Vandals continue to damage haul ropes at a ski resort in Italy.
Vermont taxpayers are on the hook for $16.5 million going to Jay Peak investors and their attorneys under a settlement.
A French-Swiss company which recently purchased two Quebec ski areas forms Quebec Ski Mountain Company (CMSQ) and looks to invest in more mountains.
The Forest Service publishes a draft decision approving Jackson Hole’s Sublette replacement project.

News Roundup: Beast

February 10, 2023Peter Landsman6 Comments

Telluride opens the 6,000 foot long, 2,000′ vertical Plunge Express.
Palisades Tahoe seeks approval for a second Base to Base Gondola cabin parking facility in Olympic Valley.
Greek Peak rope evacuates Chair 2.
Silverton Mountain plans to install a second used chairlift as soon as this summer.
Whitefish reopens the Snow Ghost Express after additional mechanic training.
New Hampshire’s Governor suggests Cannon Mountain consider a gondola rather than an expensive new tram.
Arapahoe Basin explains why it switched from Epic to Ikon.
A new Doppelmayr fixed grip quad will debut at Tremblant next year as part of a real estate development.
Bretton Woods closes the Zephyr Express until further notice due to a mechanical problem.
Aspen Skiing Company launches a Snowmass master plan website.
Clearwater, British Columbia won’t open this season due to lack of snow.
This profile offers a behind the scenes look at lift operations at Sunshine Village.
I snapped a few photos of Mayflower construction progress today.

News Roundup: Busy Busy

February 3, 2023February 4, 2023Peter Landsman13 Comments

Ski Wentworth in Nova Scotia names its new Quad Cobequid after the local mountain range.
The Seattle Times profiles this year’s turnaround at Stevens Pass.
The Merrill Hill expansion opens at Sunday River after two years of construction.
Bear Valley’s Grizzly chair is closed due to a deropement and four chairs being ejected from the haul rope (note: the description in the Instagram post is not accurate but the resort comments below the post.)
A child is hospitalized after falling from a lift at Ski Sundown.
Storm damage forces more comm line replacements at Sierra at Tahoe.
Tenney Mountain to open next weekend for the first time since 2020.
Big Squaw goes back up for sale.
The oldest lift in Colorado will cease operations unless a new owner comes along.
The Forest Service approves Waterville Valley’s World Cup/Exhibition T-Bar, though no construction timeline has been set.
Former Big Sky/Crystal Mountain General Manager and prolific lift builder John Kircher dies at 64.
Whitewater returns Silver King to service after a bullwheel bearing replacement.
Crystal Mountain and Leitner-Poma work to reopen the Crystal Clipper this weekend.
Deer Valley to launch Burns Express this afternoon.
Doppelmayr pulls the haul rope for the new quad at Belle Neige (note: this lift was contracted with a February completion date.)
Doppelmayr and Telluride still aren’t sure when Plunge Express will open.
A misload causes a chair to get tangled in a terminal at Wolf Creek.
A deropement leads to a rope evacuation at Crested Butte.
Similar story at Brimacombe, Ontario.
Whitefish rope evacuates the brand new Snow Ghost Express, says it had safety concerns that Leitner-Poma engineers are working to address.
Palisades re-splices and reopens the new Red Dog Express.
I’m told Bridger at Nordic Valley will miss the entire season due to a planned haul rope replacement.
Aspen’s Silver Queen Gondola goes down due to a gearbox issue.

News Roundup: Viral Videos

January 13, 2023January 14, 2023Peter Landsman16 Comments

Sunshine Village seeks to replace Angel Express by 2024, manufacturer TBD.
Bromont’s outgoing Versant des Épinettes quad will get a second life at Mont Rigaud.
Mont-Sainte-Anne reopens without its gondola. The FIS postpones a February World Cup event there.
Whitefish won’t operate Bad Rock this winter.
A child falls from a lift at Whitetail.
A Park City guest is charged with assault for a mid-ride fight on the Saddleback Express.
A snowboarder falling down a T-Bar line sends four other riders to the hospital in Europe.
Blue Mountain, Pennsylvania will open the Main Street Express tomorrow.
Utah Olympic Park and Doppelmayr near the finish line on the West Peak expansion.
Ditto for Leitner-Poma and Vail on the Sun Down Express.
Chairs go on Sunnyside at Alta.
Boyne Resorts looks looks to hire an internal Lift Construction Director.
The proposed Los Angeles gondola scores a courtroom victory.
The operator of the Goldbelt Tram agrees to fund $10 million of the Eaglecrest Gondola.
Granite Peak celebrates expansion approval.
Mountain Capital Partners acquires a majority stake in Valle Nevado, Chile.
Silverton Mountain seeks approval for two more chairlifts (pages 63-67).
Vail Resorts announces a big new lift for Perisher, Australia.

News Roundup: Last of the Year

December 30, 2022December 30, 2022Peter Landsman5 Comments

A storm blows terminal panels off the new Tecumseh Express at Waterville Valley.
Ditto for the T-Bar at Smuggs.
A landslide takes out a lift tower in France.
A de-roped moving gondola and power lines do not mix well in Bulgaria.
Two major lifts to go down at Whitefish, one gets rope evacuated over multiple hours.
An upgrade project run long is what prevented Thunderwolf from opening early season at Big Sky (now finished.)
Holiday Mountain, Manitoba reopens after years closed.
Vail christens the Game Creek Express; Sun Down Express remains under construction and Leitner-Poma apologizes.
The Palisades Base to Base Gondola spins as one continuous lift for the first time.
Attitash will reveal the name of next year’s new lift on New Year’s Eve.
Maine approves expansion at Sugarloaf.

News Roundup: Funding Secured

June 24, 2022Peter Landsman9 Comments

Les Otten remains “cautiously optimistic” The Balsams redevelopment will break ground this year.
Big Snow looks to expand chairlift-served indoor skiing to more locations.
Mountain Creek inches closer to replacing the Vernon Triple with a six or eight place detachable.
With visitation up, Powderhorn would like to swap out the West End double in the “near future.”
Indy Pass reaches 100 resorts with the additions of BigRock Mountain, Marquette Mountain, Mount Kato, Nub’s Nob and Treetops Resort.
Arizona Snowbowl’s new master plan goes on hold while the Forest Service works to reach an agreement with indigenous groups.
Amusement conglomerate Herschend Family Entertainment elects to stop operating the Stone Mountain tramway six years before its contract expires, citing “protests and division” at the Confederate monument. The sole bidder for a new operating contract with the State of Georgia will take over in August.
A draft action letter outlines why the local planning commission prevented lift projects from moving forward at Park City Mountain.
The same commission approves construction of Deer Valley’s Burns Express, which will be the nation’s shortest detachable at 999 feet.
Alta, Sandy and Salt Lake County mayors rally against a Little Cottonwood Gondola.
Panorama delays summer lift operations at least a week due to a gearbox issue on the Mile 1 Express.
Steamboat shows off Greenhorn Ranch and gondola mid-station construction progress.
Whitefish starts a blog dedicated to Snow Ghost Express construction updates.
The Palm Springs Tramway closes for multiple days due to technical problems.

News Roundup: Quiet Week

April 22, 2022Peter Landsman5 Comments

Juneau buys the Austrian gondola for $1.33 million.
The Colorado Sun reports on independent mountains thriving in the mega pass era.
The Burnaby Mountain Gondola remains a top priority in Vancouver.
ORDA issues RFPs for a detachable quad at Whiteface and a fixed quad at Gore.
West Mountain to host an expansion open house.
Greek Peak will replace Chair 3 with a used triple from Windham Mountain.
The refurbished Kanc quad is ready to return to Loon Mountain.
SAM and Leitner-Poma are sponsoring another Rise Up Challenge for lift mechanics.
Whitefish’s first six place lift will arrive following a fifth consecutive skier visit record.
The long-closed Bears Den Mountain in North Dakota may reopen next season.
A proposed gondola in Canmore, Alberta enters the public engagement phase.

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