CASTLE’S FIRST HIGH-SPEED LIFT AND 25% MORE LIFT-ACCESSED, SKIABLE TERRAIN IS COMING IN 2025-2026
Castle Mountain Resort is embarking on a transformative chairlift project, to enhance the skiing and riding experience of its guests, through the installation of a high-speed quad chairlift into its existing cat skiing terrain, on Mt. Haig. This new lift, which will be known as the Stagecoach Express, will provide access to more terrain, alleviate base area congestion, and capitalize on a deeper snowpack. It is expected to give access to a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced terrain, showcasing amazing views of Rainy Ridge, Mount Haig, and the West Castle Valley, as well as lots of great skiing / snowboarding.
The Stagecoach Express will be an refurbished high-speed lift, installed in time for the 2025/2026 season. The project represents Castle’s single largest on-mountain infrastructure investment in the resorts’ near 60-year history. Additionally, the resort’s lift serviced, skiable area will increase by more than 25%, with Stagecoach Express representing the first lift installation at the resort, since the 2006/07 season (Huckleberry Chair).
Planning and design have been underway for several months, with preliminary on-mountain work having started in fall of 2024. Refurbishment of lift components is ongoing with installation starting after cat skiing operations are completed, in the spring / summer of 2025.
Castle Mountain Resort is proud to be taking on this project, utilizing its fantastic team, augmented with subject matter experts to ensure the success of the project. The lift will receive mechanical, electrical, and operational upgrades in order to be ready to go for December 2025.
PROJECT UPDATES
An area closure is in effect on the Mt. Haig area of Castle Mountain Resort. This closure is in place so that Castle Mountain Resort staff, and contractors, can resume on-mountain construction work necessary to install the Stagecoach Express Lift.
Starting March 18, 2025, our team has been working hard getting the lift parts ready to go out on the mountain. They have been refurbishing the various moving pieces and now, we are starting to pull the pieces back together.
Access to the area outlined above, regardless of the activity, is prohibited until further notice. This closure includes, but is not limited to:
- CMR’s former cat skiing area
- Haig Ridge (Giddy Up) with no access to Thunder, Lightning, etc.
- Ski-Daddle Traverse, south of the new Almost Perfect trail.
This closure does not currently affect terrain accessible from the Huckleberry Chairlift or Huckleberry Chairlift operations. This lift and associated terrain will remain available until our published closing day on Sunday, April 6. However, this closure will be expanded to include this area after this time.
Please obey all posted signage and rope lines, in order to ensure your own safety and that of CMR’s staff and contractors.
Starting March 25, our friends at Spidex All Terrain Excavation took on the excavation of our 7 most difficult towers. This head start allows us the chance to get geotechnical engineering in and looking at the soil conditions.
After nearly a thousand submissions to our lift name survey, and lots of conversation, we were proud to announce the name of our new high-speed quad chairlift on April 3, 2025.
Introducing the Stagecoach Express – a nod to the importance of cat skiing at Castle over the decades, and to the visionaries that first brought us skiing / riding on Mt. Haig.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
WHAT DOES THE STAGECOACH EXPRESS PROJECT INVOLVE?
The Stagecoach Express will be a reconstruction of the former Angel Express Quad Chairlift, which we committed to purchasing in January 2024, in our current cat skiing terrain. Included in the project is the construction of an access road, the development of a few new runs (including a new run connecting the top of Huckleberry Chair to the base of the new lift) and, of course, the installation of the chairlift itself. The chair will include a top and bottom terminal, top and bottom operator buildings, and 20 towers.
HOW WILL I GET TO THE NEW LIFT?
The Stagecoach Express will be accessible by a new trail from the top of the Huckleberry Chair. This is located to the skiers / riders right of the existing Ghostrider Glades and will be known as “Almost Perfect”.
WHAT KIND OF LIFT ARE YOU INSTALLING?
This new-to-us lift is a Poma detachable high-speed quad chairlift. You may recall, back in January of 2024, when we announced that we had acquired the chair from our friends at Sunshine Village.
HOW FAST WILL THE NEW LIFT BE?
In between the load and unload stations, while affixed to the cable, the lift runs at up to 5 meters / second (about 18 km/hr). As the chair enters the loading and unloading stations, it slows to around 1 meter / second (about 4 km/hr), making for a significantly easier loading and unloading experience. We are anticipating a ride time of about 6 minutes.
For reference, our fixed grip chairs (Sundance (Blue), Tamarack (Red), Huckleberry, and Green) all run at around 2.5 meters / second (9 km/hr).
WHAT COLOUR WILL THE NEW CHAIR BE?
We have decided to paint it gray, to match the existing colour of the galvanized metal. The colour will be visible on some parts of the drive and return stations while the towers and chairs will be galvanized gray. Plus, in true Castle fashion, we don’t have a Gray Chair yet!
WHAT WILL THE NAME OF THIS NEW LIFT BE?
After surveying our guests for their suggestions, and extensive internal conversations, it was clear to us that we should honour our long history of cat skiing, in the naming of this new lift. With that, we’ve decided on Stagecoach Express, a nod to the name of our now former cat skiing operation (Powder Stagecoach).
WHAT ARE YOU DOING TO PROTECT THE ENVIRONMENT?
This project has been developed within Alberta Environment and Parks guidelines and requirements, in order to best protect the incredible environment that we live and play in. We have undertaken several wildlife and vegetation studies to understand our surroundings, and so that we can mitigate the effects associated with this project.
This project is also making use of a used lift, and extensively refurbishing it, rather than buying new.
WHAT TYPE OF RUNS / TRAILS WILL THE NEW TERRAIN HAVE?
We expect to have a good mix of terrain available to skiers and snowboarders of all abilities, including beginner, intermediate, and advanced runs. While we don’t have an exact number of trails that will come on-line, we do know that these will be a great addition to the 95+ trails already at our resort, and that we expect our total lift-accessed terrain to increase by more than 25%.
WHAT WILL HAPPEN TO CAT SKIING?
All good things must come to an end. The 24-25 season represented the last season for cat skiing at our resort.
HOW LONG WILL THIS LIFT BE?
The lift is approximately 1,450m long (4757 feet), and rises around 550 m (1805 feet) in elevation from the base station to the top.
WHEN WILL I BE ABLE TO RIDE IT?
The Stagecoach Express is expected to be in operation in time for the 2025-2026 season.
CAN I BE INVOLVED AS A CONTRACTOR?
This project is a huge endeavor and can’t be done without the help of our friends. We are accepting expressions of interest for any contractors who might be able to assist in the installation process. If you think you or your company might be able to assist in the construction, please take the time tocontact us.
