Lifts 2016: Moving Up

Resorts continued to install new lifts at an accelerating pace this past summer as the industry rebounds from an all-time low two years ago. Twenty-nine new lifts went in across North America this past summer and fall, up from 23 the year before and just 16 two years ago.

And, despite what was a down year for most resorts east of the Rockies, the installations were fairly widespread geographically, as the tables on these two pages show. In fact, the biggest increases took place in the Midwest and Ontario, regions that faced their share of challenges last winter.

The new installations reflect a desire for convenience, comfort, and practicality. Some, such as Jackson Hole’s eight-passenger Sweetwater gondola and Big Sky’s Lone Peak Express six-pack, both built by Doppelmayr, and Arizona Snowbowl’s six-passenger Grand Canyon Express, built by Leitner-Poma, are serious upgrades.

MAJOR UPGRADES

The Sweetwater, for example, replaces a couple of older fixed-grip lifts, and it allows the resort to move its beginner terrain out of the village core and up onto the mountain. That relieves congestion in the base area, and provides a more dramatic environment for beginners. Low-angle skiers can access this terrain from the lift’s midstation, while more adventurous guests can continue up the mountain.

Big Sky’s Lone Peak Express is the continent’s only heated, bubble-chair installation this season. The combination of heat and wind protection should be appreciated by riders heading to the resort’s upper slopes.
“The interest in heated bubble lifts is increasing,” says Mark Bee, Doppelmayr president. “This is the fifth in North America. We thought there would be a tidal wave (of heated bubble installs) after they were introduced, but it’s pretty expensive.”

Yes, but these lifts are popular with guests. In Canada, Sunshine Village installed a heated bubble chair last year, and it’s become the workhorse of the area’s half-dozen express lifts. Okemo and other areas have seen a strong positive reaction as well.

Snowbowl’s Grand Canyon six-pack takes the lift infrastructure there “up two or three levels,” says Leitner-Poma sales manager Jon Mauch. “It’s a monumental step considering the lift infrastructure they had.” By a combination of measures—length, horsepower, vertical rise, total VTFH—the Grand Canyon Express is one of the biggest installations in North America this season. It begins life with an hourly capacity of 1,800, but that can increase to as much as 3,000 per hour in the future, if the area needs it.

And it might need it. “Snowbowl is the real deal of an area, with great expert terrain on top,” says Mauch. Combined with the addition of extensive snowmaking, Snowbowl is poised for increased visits.

That has been Snowbowl’s goal for two decades, and the area has an energy that is palpable. “It’s fun to work with a group that is so excited and pursuing a dream,” Mauch says. “This was one of the smoothest installation projects we’ve been involved with. Snowbowl stayed ahead of us on all their responsibilities.”

In keeping with the focus on customer convenience and operational efficiency, resorts installed three Chairkit loading conveyors this past summer. Two, at Big Sky and Beaver Valley, Ont., accompanied new installations. Snowbasin added a loading conveyor to an existing triple.

Convenience doesn’t have to mean a big expense. Surface lifts can often serve a specific purpose. Two examples: the new T-bar at Cannon Mountain, N.H., which serves the race hill at Mittersill, and a J-bar at Osler Bluff Ski Club, Ont., which serves its terrain park.

SERVING NEW TERRAIN

Most lifts this year replaced older lifts, as usual. But a handful access new terrain. The biggest terrain expansions are at Powder Mountain, Utah, where two Skytrac fixed-grip chairs open up 1,000 acres of new terrain and provide access for a planned real estate development. The resort chose fixed-grip lifts to preserve Powder Mountain’s more traditional, even funky, atmosphere.

Other areas with new lifts that open new terrain are Mt. Bachelor, Ore., Caberfae Peaks, Mich., and Red River, N.M.

Skytrac’s installation at Laurel Mountain, Pa., is reopening old terrain that had been long dormant. After the once-private-club struggled in the late 1900s, Laurel went public, but closed around 2000. A series of operators have tried to revive it. But it took a state grant to fund some needed updates, which have now been completed. These include a renovated lodge, upgraded snowmaking, regraded trails, and a new lift.

Wilmot, Ill., now owned by Vail Resorts, has gone through an extreme makeover. Doppelmayr removed four aged lifts, replaced them with three new ones, and upgraded four others. To simplify maintenance, operations, and training, all the lifts have identical control systems, says Bee. The new lifts also have a new “Alpenstar” terminal design, first introduced last year at Snow King, Wyo.

For all the increase in new lifts this year, manufacturers have been seeking new business outside the ski industry. Doppelmayr built two parallel funiculars in Puerto Rico, where they connect a hilltop hotel to a nearby harbor. The Oakland Zoo will open a new section on a hill above the older facility, and a new Doppelmayr gondola connects the two. Skytrac installed a triple at the California State Fair. Partek built a double for the North Carolina State Fair.

REBUILDS ON THE RISE

Leitner-Poma has seen enough requests for rebuilds that it is establishing a separate division to handle the work. “We have staff who do the heavy maintenance on lift equipment and rebuild gearboxes,” says Mauch. “The idea of having an outside firm perform major maintenance projects is being well received, especially at more urban operations. They don’t have to maintain a large technical staff and can focus on day-to-day operations.”
Among other additions, many areas ran fiber optic cable up their lifts. “A lot of resorts are looking at taking connectivity to the top of the mountain; using the lift infrastructure is a convenient way to go. Some are selling or leasing capacity to the cell companies,” says Mauch.

CONVEYORS

For conveyors, “It was a pretty typical year,” says Jennifer Kelly of Magic Carpet. “Tubing is still driving the longer lengths, as areas transition to carpets, and there are still resorts that are putting in their first learning carpets.” There were 42 conveyor lifts installed this past off-season, on par with those for the past five years.

Not that there weren’t any novelties among them. Magic Carpet lifts had a few brushes with fire in the past year. One of this year’s installs, at Fort McMurray in Alberta, replaced a Magic Carpet destroyed in wildfires last spring. And this fall, the wildfires around Gatlinburg, Tenn., damaged the Boyne Resorts-owned Sky Lift and threatened the ski area at Ober Gatlinburg—days after all the components for a new Carpet had arrived. Fortunately, the ski area was spared any significant damage, and the lift was installed in time for the season.

While conveyors are used in a variety of situations, not just on snow, tubing lifts are going into some unlikely locations. For instance, Magic Carpet installed a tubing lift for Gateway Hills, N.H., a shopping mall/activity center.

Pete Kavanagh of Star Lifts saw some other key trends. Perhaps the biggest: 8 of the company’s 22 installs have gallery enclosures. “Every year, that increases,” Kavanagh says. “People realize that if you cover them, the maintenance crew and guests love it. That’s exciting; it adds a lot to the experience.”

He also notes that increasingly, conveyors are replacing other types of lifts. Mount Snow installed a 400-foot conveyor (enclosed) to replace a double chair that served a terrain park at Carinthia. And at Copper Mountain, a new 1,000-foot conveyor serves the Woodward Copper training center near the top of the mountain, where it replaces a T-bar. The lift opened in mid-June.

LOOKING AHEAD

All three major lift builders are optimistic about next season. Why? Cold weather and hot politics. “There’s a lot of enthusiasm about what could happen under a Trump administration,” says Bee. “People expect deregulation and a more business-friendly climate.”

“We’re off to a strong year for ’17, there are lots of people asking about lifts,” says Mauch. “It’s very positive compared to the previous two years.”

“We’re seeing lots of requests for quotes, lots of major modifications and retrofits,” says Carl Skylling of Skytrac. “It’s all being driven by the age of the existing lift infrastructure.”

That, of course, has been the driving factor for several years, and will likely remain the case for many more.