• Homewood toreopen next season but its D-Line gondoladelivered in 2023 won’t be installed this summer.
• Powdrabandons plans to sell Mt. Bachelor.
• Powdr’s sale of Eldora is said to be in thefinal stages.
• Le Massif, Quebecsigns on to the Ikon Pass.
• New details emerge from the antitrust case against the owner of Song Mountain and Labrador Mountain, New York; he plans to appeal.
• Whaleback, New Hampshire looks towarda new chairlift.
• Sun Valleyseeks to be removed from a lawsuit filed by a homeowner regarding the placement of the newFlying Squirrel quad.
• Stratton’sAmerican Express closes early and will reopen for summer later than normal for amajor systems modernization.
• The Forest Serviceapproves Steamboat to replaceSunshine Express with a six pack.
• The world’ssecond largest gondola network is proposed in India with 15 stations and 660 cabins.
• If Bluewood, Washington can’t complete its planned relocation of a used high speed quad from Austria next season, it willkeep its Borvig lift and credit passholders $100.
• The US government implements ablanket 20% tariff on goods from the European Union and 31% on products from Switzerland, both major source regions for lift components.
• Skeetawk, Alaskaworks to repair its only chairlift but snow may run out first.
• Arctic Valley, Alaska’sT-Bar will be inoperable the rest of the season due to anincident damaging the haul rope.
• Holiday Mountain, New York looks to reopen long lost terrain with athird chairlift.
• Alta torealign Supreme this summer, re-doing every foundation and re-using towers and terminals.
• Castle Mountain’s expansion lift to be calledStagecoach Express.
• The owner of Berkshire East and Catamount would operate Burke Mountain under aproposed sale to local investors. The group also plans torefurbish the J-Bar and relocate Willoughby if the sale goes through.

• A Nevada countyrejects re-zoning for a new ski area in the Ruby Mountains.
• Le Massif, Quebec isreportedly for sale or looking for an equity partner.
• Sandia Peak, New Mexicoapologizes for recent lift downtime.
• Arctic Valley, Alaska’s new master plan envisionsthree new chairlifts.
• Mantis Ropeway Technologies debuts unmanned autonomous stations onsix ropeways in Austria and Switzerland this winter with US expansion planned.
• Consulting firm SCJ Allianceexpands its cable-propelled transit division.
• A Denver TV stationexplores the history of the only lost Vail Resorts mountain.
• Eleven Telluride residentsseek to invalidate the successful ballot measure funding a new Mountain Village gondola.
• A Swiss resort group splits a$79 million lift order between Garaventa and Leitner. The former is Garaventa’slargest-ever order and includes the second-ever TRI-Line gondola.
• A straw poll suggestsstrong resident support for a gondola linking Park City’s Main Street with Deer Valley Resort.

• TheCanyons Village Management Association budgets $8 million for aCabriolet replacement and $9.24 million toward a new gondola on the Canyons side of Park City Mountain.
• The Summit at Snoqualmieadds more chairs toArmstrong Express at Alpental.
• Mt. Bachelor offersSkyliner Expresschairs for sale.
• Keystone releases anall new trail map showing the Bergman expansion.
• New owners of Holiday Mountain, New York will host astakeholder meeting tomorrow to outline rebuilding plans.
• The Whistler BlackcombPeak 2 Peak Gondolamay open late for the summer due to an issue related to ice buildup.
• A former employee who fell 30 feet from a Riblet double without a safety bar while downloadingaccuses Stevens Pass of negligently operating an old, unsafe chairlift.
• Colorado reports arecord 14.8 million skier visits.
• New Hampshire also reportsstrong results from last season.
• Vail Resorts saysseason pass sales are trending up 6 percent in units and 11 percent in dollars for next season.
• Le Massif will operate two of its longest lifts for a uniquenight time sound and light show this summer.
• Highland Mountain Bike Park toclose its chairlift for a week to replace the communications line.
• Snowmassreceives approval to replaceConey Glade with a realigned and extended detachable quad in 2024.
• Five years after closing, Deer Mountain, South Dakota willreopen as a private club.

• The Forest Service sends anotice of noncompliance to Montana Snowbowl over theSnow Park lift incident and response.
• Crystal Mountain’s President departs andAlterra reevaluates the announcedReimagine Crystal plan.
• Lutsen Mountains toretire the10th Mountain triple.
• Hoodooreports a Riblet clip ejection of a misloaded chair on theHodag quad with no injuries to the rider(s).
• Mad River Glen’sSunnyside double may geta mid-station.
• Le Massif completes afour hour rope evacuation of theMassif Express gondola, nowclosed for the season due to a gearbox issue.
• Mont-Sainte-Anne’sgondola will reopen tomorrow, four months after acabin fell off.
• Board members resign from the Antelope Butte board of directors citing lift safety concerns.
• The Balsams saysnow is not the time to go to market.
• Woods Valley eyes installation oftwo used CTEC quads over the next few years.
• Big Skyshares photos of new tram cabins being fabricated in Switzerland.
• Two studies see the ropeway market growing around 10 percent annually over the next decade with the North American share growing to near 20 percent of the global total.
• Belleayreannounces replacement ofLift 7 with a Doppelmayr quad.

• With energy at a premium in Europe, Leitnershowcases technology which regulates the speed of a ropeway based on rider demand.
• The nonprofit which has been running Big Squaw says the sale to Big Moose Development still hasn’t been completed and this season willcontinue as normal.
• Sugarbush confirms aHeaven’s Gate replacement is in the works but itwon’t happen in 2023 as lift prices surge and lead times increase.
• Ropeway pioneer Willy Garaventadies at the age of 88.
• Los Angeles releases theEnvironmental Impact Statement for the Dodger Stadium gondola project.
• Names for the five new Skytracs at Jack Frost Big Boulder are: Blue Heron, Harmony, Paradise, Pocono and Tobyhanna.
• Groupe Le Massifremains interested in acquiring Mont-Sainte-Anne from Resorts of the Canadian Rockies and would also be open to acquiring Stoneham as part of a deal.
• Aftermultiple years of construction, Ontario’s Mt. Baldy finally has a new chairlift.
• Mount Snow willsell more double, triple and quad chairs for charity.
• New York’s Attorney Generalsues the owners of Labrador Mountain and Song Mountain, alleging their purchase and closure of nearby Toggenburg was anti-competitive. Former Toggenburg/current Greek Peak owner John Meier agreed to pay the State $195,000 and will cooperate in the case against Labrador and Song’s parent company.
• The Governor of Utahthrows his support behind the Little Cottonwood gondola project.
• Anew document shows where Mammoth’s relocatedPanorama Gondola and new Big Bend chairlift would run as part of theEvolving Main project.
• The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania againseeks an operator to revive the Denton Hill Ski Area.

• Quebec skier visits rise to 6.3 million, second highest in the last 10 years.
• Colorado posts itsbest season on record with approximately 14 million skier visits.
• Skier visits werehigher than the two previous seasons in Vermont.
• Former Jay Peak head Bill Stenger sits down foran interview to share his side of the story before reporting to prison.
• Granite Gorgesells at auction to local investors who plan to reopen.
• Montana Snowbowl’s new triple chair will beextremely steep (6th steepest chairlift in the country by my count.)
• Aspen Mountain beginsPandora’s construction.
• Le Massifjoins the Mountain Collective Pass.
• Lost Trailsigns on to the Powder Alliance.
• The landlord for Big Snow American Dream remains indeep financial trouble.
• Park City planning commissionersdelay deciding on the Silverlode and Eagle lift replacement projects until at least June 15th, leaving a very narrow window for construction if approved.
• The Cascade Skyline Gondola proposal enjoyswide community support compared to a competing ski resort concept.
• Developers of the Big Moose Mountain projectpresent their case to the Maine Land Use Planning Commission.
• Big White willreplace 16 cabins onLara’s Gondola this summer.
• Dodge Ridge and Mountain High owner Karl Kapuscinski wouldlike to add new high speed lifts at both resorts in the next few years.
• The State of West Virginia planstwo eight passenger gondolas to replace older systems atHawks Nest andPipestem state parks.

• As of theJanuary 3rd Utah Passenger Ropeway Safety Committee meeting, Doppelmayr USA had sold approximately 30 lifts for 2022.
• Skytrac isalready hiring construction employees for the upcoming build season.
• Sierra at Tahoeinstalls and splices a new rope on the fire-damagedGrandview Express, a key milestone toward reopening.
• An Italian maintenance technician succumbs to injuries sustained from beinghit by a gondola cabin.
• Whalebackcloses its chairlift due to a motor issue.
• TheNew York Times explores why some resorts are experiencing more staff shortages than others, the Denver Post talks withEpic Pass customers from across the country about their experiences this season.
• A number of lifts haven’t opened at Park City this yeardue to staff shortages; one of Crotched Mountain’s four chairlifts hasno chairs on it.
• Vail Resorts Executive Chairperson Rob Katzjoins the Storm Skiing Podcast to talk about remarkable growth of the company and this season’s challenges.
• Passholders at Stevens Pass areoffered $150 off next year’s pass or the same amount in resort credit as a result of operational difficulties.
• Vailoffers $13.1 million to settle lawsuits alleging labor violations.
• Le Massif introduces aKevin Mastin trail map showing its new lift and removal of adisused gondola.
• Poma provides an update on theworld’s largest current 3S project.
• Another insightful podcast:Indy Pass founder Doug Fish on the growth of that product.
• Lake Louise says testing of the Juniper Express is underway with a delayed openingnow planned for February.
• The agency operating three New York State ski areas proposes a$105 million capital budget for 2023.
• Gore Mountain unveils a $30 million redevelopment plan for the North Creek Ski Bowl including replacing theHudson triple with a longer detachable quad.
• A Colorado countypasses on partnering with Florida developers to reopen Cuchara.
• Big Snow American Dreamstill doesn’t know when it will reopen.
• The City of Burnaby, British Columbiaofficially endorses the Burnaby Mountain Gondola proposal.
• Alaska’s newest ski area willneed at least $10 million to install its next lift.

• Boyne Resortsacquires its tenth ski area: Shawnee Peak, Maine.
• Anew trail map shows Loon Mountain’sgondola is now called the White Mountain Express.
• ABloomberg profile notes visitation has grown 46 percent in five years at Big Sky with major development to continue.
• Snow Partners becomes the new corporate umbrella for Mountain Creek, Big Snow American Dream, Snow Operating and more.
• A new model of the Sigma Diamond EVO cabin willdebut first at Austria’s Kaunertaler Gletscher.
• Whiteface proposes ahigh speed quad with angle station from Bear Den to the new Legacy Lodge and may replaceLittle Whiteface andMountain Run with a quad in 2022.
• Boyne Mountain General Manager Ed Grice takes a deep dive onsix future lift projects.
• The newCape Smokey gondola is carryingthousands of riders on peak fall days.
• A conveyor project is delayed a year due to components beingstuck on a ship near the Port of Houston.
• Welch Village also says it’swaiting for parts of its new chairlift.
• Le Massifadds a Doppelmayr platter to service the new Club Med Québec-Charlevoix.
• Crystal Mountain President Frank DeBerry says replacingRainier Express is a top priority. Alterra also wants to swap theMt. Rainier Gondola for a higher capacity machine and turn the existing gondola into a base area-Campbell Basin link. Bullion Basin Express, an East Peak lift, Kelly’s Gap Express and Northway detachable all remain under consideration.
• Reader Austin S. sent in the below photos from Mt. Shasta, purported to be clearing for a new lift on Gray Butte.

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These days building a detachable lift means a capital investment of at least $3 million plus around $100,000 in annual maintenance.  A so-called ‘pulse’ lift offers the speed of a detachable system with similar infrastructure to a traditional fixed-grip lift.  Chairs or cabins are grouped together into ‘pulses’ and the entire lift slows down for loading and unloading.  When comparing types of aerial lifts there are always trade-offs; here they include low capacity and long headways.  Most pulse lifts can only move 300-600 passengers per hour and headway – the time a passenger has to wait for a carrier to show up – can be minutes instead of as low as six seconds.  Perfect for certain applications but unsuitable in most.

There are currently 17 pulse lifts operating in the US, Canada and Mexico; all but three are gondolas.  Nearly all were built in the last 15 years.  Panorama Mountain Village, Northstar California, Steamboat, Snowmass, Canyons Resort, and Le Massif all use pulse gondolas to connect village areas.  These lifts are usually less than 3,000 feet long and convenient for skiers and non-skiers alike.  Other pulse gondolas are attractions in their own right such theIron Mountain Tramway at Glenwood Caverns Adventure Park, SkyTrail at Trees of Mystery, the Gondola at Royal Gorge Bridge Bridge & Park and theRiverfront Park SkyRide in Spokane.  There is also a new Leitner-Poma pulse gondola in Orizaba, Mexico with tripod towers that are hundreds of feet tall.

Snow Valley in Edmonton, Alberta has a very unique pulse chairlift built by Doppelmayr in 2008.  Instead of having groups of 3-5 chairs, it has just two groups of 20 closely-spaced quad chairs.  Because it is only 850 feet long, the lift can move 1,378 skiers per hour at up to 5 m/s, the same speed as most detachable lifts.  In fact the ride is only about a minute.  The lift slows to a beginner-friendly 0.8 m/s for loading and unloading.  Because of the low speed, skiers ride around the bullwheel at the top and unload facing down the hill.  It’s the only lift I know of with 180-degree unloading.

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