Windham Mountain

Ikon Pass Signs Mt. Bachelor and Windham Mountain

Peter Landsman12 Comments
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Uniquely located on a volcano, Mt. Bachelor is the largest destination resort in Oregon.

New resorts on both coasts will join Alterra’s Ikon Pass for winter 2020-21.  In central Oregon, Mt. Bachelor will become the fifth Powdr-owned mountain to sign on to Ikon following Copper, Eldora, Killington and Snowbird.  In New York’s Catskill region, independently-owned Windham Mountain will be the first Ikon destination in the Empire State.  Both new additions will offer seven day access on the full Ikon Pass and five restricted days with the Ikon Base Pass.  Ikon Pass holders will now enjoy access to 42 mountains in North America with a total of 503 lifts.  The competing Epic Pass from Vail Resorts offers 42 different mountains with 434 lifts in the US and Canada.  Both passes also include days in Europe, Asia and Australia.

“As we look ahead, we are excited to announce these new partners that represent the spirit of the Ikon Pass community, bringing added value to pass holders, at some of the lowest rates available since we launched the Ikon Pass,” said Erik Forsell, Chief Marketing Officer for Alterra Mountain Company.  “Mt. Bachelor in Oregon and Windham Mountain in New York are favorites in their regions, adding expanded access in two new states in North America and inspiring Ikon Pass holders to seek more adventures.”  Alterra recently introduced enhanced renewal savings and an Adventure Assurance program to entice buyers amid COVID-19 uncertainty.

News Roundup: Wish Lists

Peter Landsman13 Comments

News Roundup: Auction

Peter Landsman7 Comments

 

Windham Is Shuffling A Lift to Replace C Lift

Peter Landsman12 Comments

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Major lift moves will continue in the Catskill Mountains of New York this summer as Windham Mountain Resort moves its original detachable quad to replace a CTEC triple chair nearby.  “As one successful winter season full of upgrades begins to wind down, plans for the next are already in the works,” said the resort in a media release.  Last December, the larger Westside Six chairlift rendered the quad redundant and it hasn’t opened since.  The move will mean two different high speed lifts will serve as out-of-base workhorses in addition to Windham’s third detachable on East Peak.

C Lift, also known as Wonderama, started out on East Peak in 1987 and moved to its current location in 2006 to replace a Carlevaro-Savio triple.  The latest lift in this alignment will be the fourth new detachable built between neighbors Hunter, Windham and Belleayre in just the last three years.

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This 1993 Garaventa CTEC Stealth will move very close to home over the summer.

Windham also announced new grooming, trail widening and automated snowmaking investments today.

News Roundup: Rope Time

Peter Landsman10 Comments
  • Searchmont, Ontario sells to Wisconsin Resorts, the firm behind Pine Knob, Mt. Holly and Ski Bittersweet in Michigan as well as Alpine Valley, Wisconsin.
  • Mike Solimano of Killington reveals what three lifts he would upgrade if given $100 million to spend at The Beast.
  • The new Winter Park gondola is creatively named Gondola.
  • Grand Junction’s NBC affiliate takes viewers inside the factory where Leitner-Poma lifts are created.
  • The two stage Blackcomb Gondola is almost finished; thanks Max for these pictures.
  • Next up for Ramcharger 8 at Big Sky: installation of an in-terminal video wall and the haul rope, which is going up right now.
  • Beech Mountain commissions its twin fixed grip quads.
  • Freeskier looks at Alterra’s whirlwind growth and future trajectory.
  • Rope pulling commences tonight at Walt Disney World, 24 years to the day since the Disneyland Skyway cable was taken down for good.
  • This week’s new trail map comes from Hunter Mountain.
  • In an act of sabotage, someone cuts into three haul ropes at a Pyrenees ski resort.

News Roundup: Next Generation

Peter Landsman12 Comments
  • The above $52 million masterpiece and highest-ever 3S opens for business in the shadow of the Matterhorn.
  • The Leitner-Poma Group’s sixth tricable gondola is set to carry commuters between three stations in Toulouse, France from 2020 and will cost $94.5 million to build.
  • Alterra closes on its purchase of Crystal Mountain.
  • A lift operator and his employer, Killingon/Pico, are sued following a loading mishap.
  • An eighth urban gondola line opens in La Paz and carries 72,740 riders on its first day.
  • CWA teases Omega V, the next evolution of the world’s best selling gondola cabin.  While we wait to see what it looks like, check out hundreds of CWA designs from the past 75 years.
  • The Palm Springs Tram gets a new 13,500′ x 45 mm upper haul rope from Fatzer.  Thanks Kirk D. for the photos.
  • Horseshoe Resort’s retired 1989 Doppelmayr detachable quad hits the used market.
  • Whistler Blackcomb’s 2018-19 trail map shows what $52 million worth of new lifts looks like.
  • Read up on Sun Peaks’ new Orient quad here.
  • Lone Mountain Land Company eyes two more lifts on the Spanish Peaks side of Big Sky Resort and nine in Moonlight Basin.
  • Revelstoke’s newspaper looks into rumors of a gondola project on Mt. Begbie.
  • The City of Los Angeles will study two Hollywood gondola ideas.
  • Another Disney Skyliner station is nearly finished with tons of windows.
  • Windham names its new lift Westside Six.  I stopped by last week to check out the progress.

Windham Mountain Announces Six-Pack for 2018-19

Peter Landsman20 Comments

A base-to-summit six-passenger chairlift is coming to Windham Mountain in the Catskill Mountains of New York.  The mile-long Doppelmayr system will replace the Whistler triple, a 1983 VonRoll triple with a ten-plus minute ride.  A parallel detachable quad called Whirlwind, built by Garaventa CTEC in 1993, will remain in place at least through this summer.  Windham also revealed today it will launch RFID ticketing across its seven lifts next season and Doppelmayr now has at least a dozen lifts to build in the United States and Canada this year.

Current Windham Mountain trail map.

The Catskill region has seen a number of big new lifts recently, including a gondola at Belleayre and six-pack at nearby Hunter Mountain.  Peak Resorts could build another new high-speed lift at Hunter in 2018, raising the bar for the entire region.  Windham’s announcement comes after two very quiet months for new lift news, with hopefully a bunch more to come this spring.

News Roundup: Ahead

Peter Landsman5 Comments
  • Doppelmayr and CWA unveil world’s most luxurious gondola cabin with air conditioning, a fridge and more powered by carriage wheel generators.
  • The five chairlift Hermitage Club lays off 50 to 80 employees and cuts ski operations to weekends only, a result of significant financial challenges.
  • Children fall from lifts at West Mountain and Windham Mountain.
  • 2022 Winter Olympics host China is up to an impressive 236 ski areas with at least one chairlift.
  • Woodward Park City remains in limbo pending the outcome of three appeals.
  • Theme park projects such as the Doppelmayr-supplied Hogwarts Express and Disney Skyliner drive record revenue for PCL Construction of Edmonton.
  • There was a deropement followed by partial rope evac of the triple chair at Red Lodge Mountain over Presidents’ weekend.
  • Apres Vous at Jackson Hole was evacuated yesterday following a gearbox issue.
  • Sunday River reveals why it takes 3.5 hours to put cabins back on the Chondola after a windstorm.
  • Here’s more construction eye candy from Disney World.
  • Stella, the only six-pack in Idaho, was named and themed by a former Disney imagineer.
  • Catch up on the upcoming season pass battle and what else lies ahead for Alterra with company President Dave Perry.
  • Speaking of the Ikon Pass, it now includes 400 lifts with new partners Revelstoke, Sugarbush, Sunshine Village, Lake Louise and Mt. Norquay for $899.