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The chairlift market and the real estate market have a lot in common—namely a slow recovery. Words of optimism like “pent-up demand” have slowly given way to the possibility of a “new normal.”

But the news is not all bad. Projects outside the industry, as well as more work updating older lifts, have largely made up the difference for lift companies. And the surface lift market continues to thrive.

Let’s start with the overall numbers. Guests this season will be riding 26 new lifts, which is down from last season’s total of 30, but up from the two years prior to that. The total of 26 is slightly below the five-year average of 27.6. In terms of VTFH, 2013 comes in at 48,496, which is up 7.7% over 2012, and is well over the five-year average of 40,856.

As with the past several years, there was no region left behind, though the East hit an all-time low (since SAM started keeping track) with only two lifts.

In the Midwest there were four new lifts, though the two lifts at Mt. Brighton recycled a fair number of parts from its new owners at Vail, including sheave assemblies, chairs, and crossarms. But they will feel like new to Brighton fans.

The Mountain region saw nine new lifts, which is fairly average. The big story in this region is the opening of Peak 6 at Breckenridge, and servicing this new terrain are a 6-pack and a fixed-grip quad.

The Pacific region also saw an average year, with four lifts from Alaska on down to California.

In Canada, the seven new lifts were spread out from east to west and represent an average year for lift construction.

As for type of lifts, there were five 6-packs installed, six detachable quads, and one gondola. The balance was an assortment of fixed grip triples and quads, a platter and two T-bars.


AERIAL LIFTS

If there is, indeed, a new normal in lift construction, what does this new normal look like? And will it last?

“I think that 30 should be about the average number of new lifts,” says Rick Spear from Leitner-Poma, “and I predict we’ll get there in 2014. Last year was an echo from the terrible snow year the year before.”

Mark Bee from Doppelmayr is also hopeful the pattern will break and that 2014 will see more lifts, but it all depends on Mother Nature. “What materializes will largely depend on early season numbers,” Bee says. “Most of the market likes to feel comfortable with these numbers before making big decisions like a new lift.”

Over at SkyTrac, Jan Leonard was pleased with the four lifts the company installed. “We had three early orders, which was great,” he says. Leonard does feel that summer activities are affecting lift sales. “Any money that was spent last year appeared to go toward summer operations.”

Two things that the lift companies agreed on are the importance of projects outside the ski industry, as well as the growing importance of work on existing lifts. SkyTrac and Doppelmayr reported a considerable volume of work in lift modifications and relocations, while Leitner-Poma took on the enormous Big Roller in Las Vegas and will start tackling the new automatic people mover in Miami Airport’s new Terminal E.


SURFACE LIFTS

Conveyors saw a healthy rebound from 32 in 2012 to 49 in 2013. And tows increased from 5 in 2012 to 6 in 2013.

“Tubing continues to be a big market for us,” says Jennifer Kelly from Magic Carpet. “And we are also doing a lot of work repowering conveyors for more capacity.” Kelly also says that canopies are much sought after by areas who have snow removal issues.

Over at Star Lifts, the number of installations more than doubled from 2012 to 2013. “Projects that were back-burnered in 2012 came on line in 2013,” says Pete Kavanagh from Star Lifts. “I also think that terrain-based learning is having an impact on conveyor sales.”
At presstime, the snow was flying from one end of the continent to the other, which will make for good early season numbers. Beyond that, it’s anybody’s guess.