It’s official: Snowmass will construct two lifts simultaneously this summer for the first time since 2006. Leitner-Poma will replace theElk Camp detachable quad with a six pack and Skytrac will install a T-Bar to replace theCirque platter. The projects are part of an$80 million capital improvement summer for Aspen Snowmass. Other projects include a new Ullrhof restaurant, snowmaking upgrades and forest health work. “We have a huge summer ahead for on-mountain developments here at Aspen Snowmass,” said Geoff Buchheister, CEO of Aspen Skiing Company. “These projects represent Aspen One’s commitment to ongoing investment in delivering the most exceptional guest experience possible.”

The Elk Camp chair dates back to 1995, tied for the third oldest lift at Snowmass. Elk Camp services popular intermediate terrain in the winter and hauls bikes to the top of the Snowmass Bike Park come summer. Winter throughput will increase from 2,020 skiers per hour on the current quad to 2,800 while bike haul capacity will nearly double. The lift’s alignment will shift slightly away from the Elk Camp Restaurant.

At the top of the mountain, the curved Cirque platter will be retired in favor of a straight Leitner/Skytrac T-Bar. Capacity here will increase from 450 guests per hour to 1,000. Similar to thenew surface lift at Champan Hill, Colorado, Cirque will combine specialized Leitner parts from Europe with American made towers, controls and operator houses from Skytrac.

“The areas of terrain served by these lifts are some of the most popular on our mountain,” said Susan Cross, Mountain Manager at Snowmass. “These updates allow for guests to more smoothly access Snowmass’ classic wide-open slopes and sweeping vistas at Elk Camp, and the incredible variety of high-alpine terrain we have off The Cirque. I am proud that we continue to invest in making this mountain the best that it can be, and having high-speed, higher capacity lifts is critical to the Snowmass experience,” she continued.

Purgatory willembark on a significant expansion this summer, constructing the long-awaited Gelande lift and five new trails. The top drive Skytrac triple will introduce a new out-of-base option, allowing day visitors to bypass the main village. “This addition will greatly improve our guests’ experience by creating a new way to access the top of the mountain without requiring access through the Columbine or Village base areas while adding to the advanced and expert terrain offered on the frontside of the mountain,” said Purgatory General Manager Dave Rathbun.

The triple chair will be substantial for a fixed grip, spanning roughly 4,200 feet with 1,600 feet of vertical rise. The alignment includes some very steep sections near the bottom and flatter segments up top.

The Forest Service approved this project back in 2018 and it will add 26 acres to Purgatory’s special use permit boundary. The expansion is expected to create 12-15 construction jobs, mostly utilizing existing winter seasonal employees. Purgatory hopes the new year-round team will continue building new lifts and trails in future summers. “We are excited to be in position to grow and develop our year-round team of employees,” said Rathbun. “These positions will play a crucial role in the ski lift construction and ski trail development. It will also give us the opportunity to provide year-round, benefited positions to some of our key winter seasonal employees and build a stronger, more knowledgeable and experienced team.”

Due to construction, the Purgatory Bike Park will not operate in 2025. “We understand that the temporary closure of the Mountain Bike Park may be an adjustment, but we are confident that the long-term benefits of the new Gelande chairlift and ski terrain will be well worth it,” said Purgatory.

In between Utah lift visits last week, I ventured to Tooele, a sleepy town west of Salt Lake to see America’s newest lift factory. Skytrac Lifts opened its 25-acre campus last summer, which will supply chairlifts and surface lifts to customers throughout the US. During my visit, the Skytrac team was finishing getting settled while gearing up to build at least nine new lifts this summer.

Skytrac has grown substantially since building its first drive terminal at Monarch Mountain, Colorado in 2010. With the late Jan Leonard as one of the founders, the company quickly found a niche providing ski areas high quality yet uncomplicated fixed grip chairlifts. As of this winter, Skytrac has built 82 lifts in three countries along with numerous retrofits, modifications and relocations.

Leitner-Poma of America acquired Skytrac in 2016. The two companies remain distinct brands under Italian conglomerate High Technology Industries (HTI). Skytrac and Leitner-Poma often bid separately on the same projects and retain unique product lines. While both subsidiaries make fixed grip chairlifts, Skytrac recently took over the surface lift (T-Bar and Platter) side of the business while Leitner-Poma focuses on larger chairlifts and gondolas. For a surface lift, Skytrac manufactures operator houses, towers and control systems but imports carriers and terminals from Leitner’s specialized facility in Slovakia. Skytrac’s original products, the Monarch fixed grip chairlift and Hilltrac inclined elevator, are produced almost entirely in Tooele.

HTI’s 130,000 square foot building replaced a smaller site Skytrac leased site near the Salt Lake City airport. Tooele lies roughly 30 minutes west with ample land and two nearby technical colleges. With Skytrac occupying 90,000 square feet, the $27 million facility can produce nearly an entire chairlift under one roof. Everything from chairs and towers to bullwheels and control systems are made here. Electrical, engineering and sales departments work right alongside the production hall. Skytrac lifts are truly made in America with typically only the haul rope and gearbox imported from abroad.

The new facility is even larger than LPOA’s Grand Junction plant with ample room for growth. Bobby Langlands, Skytrac’s Sales Engineer and my tour guide, said the factory could probably pump out 20-plus lifts a year, up from the eight to ten they generally do now. In addition to production, there’s a cavernous parts warehouse, which will expand to include stock for the growing number of Leitner-Poma lifts in the Intermountain region. HTI sister companies Prinoth and Demaclenko also have space for parts and service in Tooele.

One of the coolest things when touring a lift factory is seeing parts tagged with names of mountains they’re headed to. Lift manufacturers generally produce components in order of contract signing and I saw pieces destined for Pats Peak, Ski Butternut, Monarch and Snowmass. Skytrac produces the most common components in advance based on a forecast. As an example, the company is producing 120 tower crossarms this spring and will do a second production run later if orders warrant. One thing that makes a Skytrac lift relatively affordable is the number of parts that are common among every lift. The chair bail, for example, is the same regardless of whether a customer orders a double, triple or quad.

Skytrac utilizes several robotic welding machines in Tooele along with automated plasma cutters. Hard working people do the rest of the work by hand. The new facility includes a state-of-the art sandblasting and paint booths for finishing operator houses and motor room enclosures. Galvanizing is completed offsite by contractors.

In addition to Skytrac, Leitner-Poma, Demaclenko and Prinoth, a fifth HTI company is also involved with the Tooele project. Wind energy manufacturer Leitwind supplied a 250 kilowatt wind turbine capable of powering the entire plant. Italians were on site last week testing the turbine to prepare to hook up to Rocky Mountain Power’s regional grid.

Skytrac built nine complete lifts in 2024 and plans to do at least that many again this year. During my visit, the construction team was outside preparing to fan out across the country as Skytrac nears its 100th new lift.

Minnesota gem Welch Village plans to continue upgrading its lift fleet this summer with a new quad from Skytrac. The chairlift will replace theSkilink double in a completely new alignment. The existing Hall double dates back to 1967 and originally operated at Birch Park, Wisconsin. It was moved to Welch circa 1989 and services exclusively beginner terrain. “With the upgraded lift, beginners will have quicker access to the slopes, and more space will be available to practice and develop their skills,” said Welch.

Skilink will be the mountain’s seventh fixed grip quad and follows three recent Doppelmayr installations. It will take the place of an existing rope tow and terrain park. As part of the project, the rope and park will move near Skilink’s former location, allowing for a steeper terrain park.

Welch’s project is one of just two installations announced in the Midwest for next season thus far, the other being at Spirit Mountain, also in the Land of 10,000 Lakes.

Pats Peak, New Hampshireannounced this week it will uprade its second oldest chairlift to a modern quad chair. The new lift will be designed by Skytrac and contain a mix of new and used parts. Skytrac will supply a Monarch XL drive terminal, which will also include a Chairkit loading conveyor. The return terminal, towers and chairs will be 1997 Garaventa CTEC equipment, arriving by way of Lake Compounce Amusement Park in Connecticut. The new lift will follow the same alignment as the currentHurricane triple, which is being retired after 47 seasons. Both loading and unloading areas will be reconfigured to improve accessibility and flow. Pfister Mountain Services and Phoenix Excavation will handle installation with several tower foundations already completed last summer.

Hurricane will be the first quad chair for family-owned Pats Peak, which operates a fleet of double and triple chairs. “This new lift is an exciting step forward for Pats Peak,” said Kris Blomback, Pats Peak General Manager. “We are dedicated to continuous improvements that enhance the skiing and riding experience for all of our guests, and we look forward to welcoming everyone to enjoy the benefits of this new quad next season.” Chairs from the outgoing Borvig triple arefor sale to the public.

Family-owned Ski Butternut plans to build its second Skytrac in five years this coming summer. The new lift, to be called Jane’s Quad, will replace the 50 year oldOverbrook triple. The quad will load lower on the mountain and unload higher, following a modified alignment. The lift will be named for Jane Murdock, who founded the ski area with her husband Channing in 1963 and passed away last winter. Jane’s will be quite large, spanning 3,633 feet with 125 chairs and 15 towers. Vertical rise will increase from 721 feet on the current Thiokol lift to 757 feet.

Site preparation began last spring in partnership with the Massachusetts Department of Conservation & Recreation. “After a multi-year planning, engineering, and permitting phases, we are excited to bring this modernization to Ski Butternut,” said Dillon Mahon, Marketing Director of Ski Butternut. “This area of the mountain is a favorite among our guests, and this new lift will enhance the overall experience. It’s a long term investment in the future of Ski Butternut and in the enjoyment of our skiers and snowboarders,” he continued.

Jane’s will be the second Skytrac constructed at Butternut followingPaddy Wagon in 2021. The area also operates three CTEC quads and will become a 100% fixed grip quad mountain for the 2025-26 season.

As 2024 draws to a close, most of the 57 lifts installed this year are spinning over the holidays, a testament to hard work across the industry. The sheer number of installations fell slightly from last year but remains elevated from pre-pandemic. The business split nearly evenly between fixed and detachable lifts in 2024 with major projects coast to coast in both the United States and Canada.

As always, the Rocky Mountain states led the charge, with 24 ropeways completed across Utah, Colorado, Idaho, Wyoming, Montana, Arizona and New Mexico. Deer Valley added a whopping five chairlifts (three of which will open this season) and Powder Mountain added four. The Rockies comprised nearly half the total market, followed by Canada and the Eastern US. New lift construction reached its second highest level in decades across Canada, with projects in British Columbia, Alberta, Ontario and Quebec. The midwestern states lagged, falling to just two new lifts on the heels of a bad snow year in 2023-24. The west coast was down modestly with zero projects in the Lake Tahoe region, three elsewhere in California, just one in Oregon and two in Washington.

Four detachable gondolas opened in 2024 – at Legoland New York, Big Sky, Montana; Wasatch Peaks, Utah and Grouse Mountain, British Columbia. That’s about normal for the post-covid era with three of those built by Leitner-Poma. Four bubble chairlifts also opened, all of which were six or eight packs. The number of detachable chairlifts declined from 29 to 22 and fixed grip chairlifts declined from 25 to 21. Little Chapman Hill in Durango, Colorado, added acool platter lift, the only major surface lift this year. We’ll probably need to wait another decade for a new aerial tram following last year’s debut of theLone Peak Tram.

This year was the second best for expansion lifts since the 2008 financial crisis, signaling resorts are looking to grow operations rather than simply replacing old lifts. Part of that is of course the Deer Valley East Village megaproject, encompassing five projects this year and many more to come.

Doppelmayr installed slightly more lifts than competitors Leitner-Poma and Skytrac but the Austrians’ number of projects declined the most from 2023. Partek, MND and SkyTrans fabricated no aerial lifts, leaving customers with a true duopoly in 2024.

Doppelmayr dominated the fixed grip market with 57 percent share while detachables were split exactly evenly between the two builders. Doppelmayr supplied fewer D-Line detaches this year, installing two big ones at Big Sky Resort and one each at Mammoth Mountain and Deer Valley. Signs point to more D-Lines in 2025.

Leitner-Poma built the only new lift of the year not at a ski resort – theMinifigure Skyflyer at Legoland New York, which opened in June. The short 10 passenger gondola features individually themed cabins and carries riders between the park entrance and the base of a hill.

One segment that grew strongly was used lifts, which tripled from three installations in 2023 to nine in ’24. As the cost of new lifts continues to rise, more operators are looking to high quality used equipment. In some cases the original manufacturer refurbishes and reinstalls, such as at Pleasant Mountain, Maine and Hunter Mountain, New York, while other ski areas chose to install used lifts themselves or hire a contractor.

Leitner-Poma designed everything from the second largest lift by vertical transport feet per hour (Grouse Mountain gondola) to the smallest at Legoland. Doppelmayr also completed a broad range of projects from the world’s longest eight seat chairlift at Big Sky all the way down to the short Aurora quad at Deer Valley. Skytrac continued serving the middle of the market with fixed grip chairlifts ranging in size from the largest at Powder Mountain’s Raintree expansion to the smallest at Mt. Ashland, Oregon.

Alterra bought the most new lifts this year – eight – followed by Boyne Resorts with six. Vail Resorts pulled back from 18 new lifts in 2022 to five in 2023 and just three in 2024, one of which was a relocation and another of which was manufactured in 2022 but not installed until ’24. The fourth largest operator of North American ski areas, Powdr, purchased just two lifts this year. Really the largest customer for lifts was independent ski areas, which collectively added dozens of lifts.

As we wave goodbye to 2024, we also say goodbye to 50 lifts that were retired. The average age of a lift removed from service in 2024 was 41 years old. The industry retired 11 Poma lifts, nine Riblets and seven Halls over the past year.

Announced installations for 2025 are pacing about 15 percent below the same time last year. That could be a sign of actual pullback or resorts are waiting longer to make announcements. Of course Deer Valley is an exception, where an additional eight-ish lifts are planned for 2025 with more to follow. Some ’25 installs are already under construction, including Big Sky’s Explorer Gondola and Alpental’s Chair 2. One strong area for 2025 is non-ski lifts, with projects announced in Colorado, South Carolina, Tennessee and West Virginia that have nothing to do with sliding downhill.

2024 marked a milestone for me, as I finished visiting every public ski area in the United States and Canada. The 752nd and final spot was Moose Mountain, Yukon, which took thousands of miles and multiple days to reach in June. Many industry friends surprised me at the Salt Lake City airport on my way home and we celebrated in the terminal. I’ll continue documenting lifts in 2025, writing about project announcements and industry news. Thanks as always for reading Lift Blog and Happy New Year!

• The nonprofit that operates Big Moose Mountain, Maineseeks to buy the resort.
• Local Boulder investors areinterested in purchasing Eldora.
• TheSeattle Times looks at why Riblets areslowly being retired across the Pacific Northwest.
• A remarkable$145 million 3S gondola opens in France.
• One of La Grave’s most popular lifts will beclosed for a month or longer after an inspection finds an in-season rope change is needed.
• Theworld’s steepest aerial tram launches in Switzerland.
• Achild is injured falling from a lift at Mt. Ski Gull, Minnesota.
• Multiple people fall from theBeaver Run SuperChair at Breckenridge.
• The newBlack Bear 6 isrope evacuated at Camelback, Pennsylvania.
• Doppelmayr USAappoints former DPS Skis President and CEO Alex Adema as Vice President of Sales, promotes Shawn Marquardt to Senior Director of Sales.
• Leitner-Poma and Skytrac celebrateon time completion of 22 projects before the Christmas holiday.
• Gondolas arestaging a comeback at theme parks, zoos and fairs.
• TheSky Cab gondola at Snowmass could bereplaced and repurposed to run from the town center to base village.
• Brush cutting in the area of a possible future Lower Faces lift at Jackson Holeriles conservation groups.
• Skytrac is the low bidder to replace Gore Mountain’sTopridge triple and move the old lift to Mt. Van Hoevenberg.
• Thanks to reader Tyler for these pictures of the five new chairlifts in Deer Valley’s East Village.

• Leitner plans to offer theConnX multi-model gondola system from 2025 after passing tests in Hungary.
• Aprogress report on the first Doppelmayr TRI-Line in Switzerland.
• Also on thefirst MND Orizon detachable in France.
• MND inaugurates anew production facility to support the Orizon line.
  Skytraccelebrates its new facility in Tooele, Utah.
  Bartholet releases its 2024reference book.
• Alta clarifies itsupports a Little Cottonwood gondola.
• White Passadds chairs to boost capacity on theGreat White Express.
• Aviral video shows a lift being jostled by a small tornado.
• Homewood now plans to build its already-delivered D-Line gondolain 2025 and upgradeEllis in 2030.
• Burke Mountaindelays summer opening to mid-July due to a mechanical issue with theSherburne Express.
• Marmot Basin tosell chairs from theKnob double.
• Jackson Hole toauctionSublette chairs.
• Beartooth Basin isfor sale.
• I visited my 750th ski area this week, marking the completion the CanadaLift Database.

Ski Sundown today announced it will replace the base-to-summitExhibition triple this offseason with a quad from Skytrac. The current Exhibition lift opened in 1977 and carries 1,800 skiers per hour. The new fixed grip lift will feature a loading conveyor and 2,400 skier per hour capacity. The new lift will reduce ride time to 4.5 minutes with speed increasing from 400 feet per minute to 450 feet per minute. It will include 90 quad chairs and span 1,999 feet.

Exhibition’s final day will be this Sunday and the new lift is expected to open for the 2024-25 season.