Kimberley Alpine Resort, BC

Last spring, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies (RCR) placed two landmark orders for seven lifts across four mountains. Leitner-Poma won work in Western Canada and is constructing the first lift, a fixed-grip quad, at Kimberley, utilizing equipment from Skytrac. Kimberley’s in-house maintenance team immediately began removing the prior lift, a 1972 Mueller double with Riblet chairs and clips. An excavator lifted the lift’s lattice towers off their foundations and brought them down the hill for recycling. The return terminal was set into concrete, and it required significant demolition using a bulldozer and several excavators.

Because Skytrac had never built lifts in Western Canada until this year, Leitner-Poma Canada sold the project and is handling installation for the new Tamarack quad. Leitner-Poma utilized several excavators to dig holes for 13 new towers. As of late July, buckets were pouring tower foundations, avoiding the need for helicopters. Evan Peters, director of technical services for RCR, noted that despite this being the first project of its kind in the region, Skytrac, Leitner-Poma Canada, and Kimberley teams were all working well together.

When complete, the new lift will significantly improve comfort with a ride time of 8.1 minutes. A 250-hp motor will drive the lift at 450 feet per minute with an hourly capacity of 1,000 skiers. The Tamarack is roughly 3,600 feet long with nearly 1,180 feet of vertical rise. Due to the lift’s location in a dead-end basin, only minimum downloading capacity was chosen, with no auxiliary power unit. A 74-hp diesel evacuation drive will unload the lift at 110 feet per minute in the event of an issue with the main drive system.

Woods Valley, NY

A second base-to-summit chairlift will open this winter at Woods Valley, running along the line of a 1964 T-bar dismantled in 2025. The new quad will run an additional 900 feet to the summit, unloading adjacent to a Hall double that provided the only mountaintop access for decades. 

While the lift isn’t new, it will feel new. Owner Tim Woods sourced CTEC parts from several locales for the project. He acquired an entire defunct lift from the Kennywood Amusement Park near Pittsburgh. Additional terminals came from Saddleback, Maine, and Woods found additional towers and line equipment at Mount Snow, Vt. “These towers were a last minute save from the scrap yard,” noted Woods. “Luckily, I had a friend there at the right time and these were purchased over the phone in the 11th hour.” Bobby Farrell (Elevations Engineering) and Larry Wollum (All Ski Lifts) engineered the lift to follow a 2,935-foot path with 494 feet of rise. The 150-hp quad will transport up to 1,800 skiers per hour at 450 feet per minute when completed this fall.

In 2025, Woods and his team constructed 1.5 miles of new roads for access, and cleared and stumped the alignment above the old T-bar. Crews utilized a TimberPro harvester, Caterpillar D-8 Crawler, Peterson Grinder, several excavators, a Bell tracked haul truck, and Prinoth tracked crane. In spring 2026, Dolomite Construction poured concrete for 13 towers and both terminals. Meanwhile, Woods Valley employees refurbished used parts, sandblasting and preparing them for galvanizing. “We are touching every part of this lift,” said Woods, who’s adding custom ladders, uphill and downhill walkways, and new haul rope, communication line, and control system. As of late July, the project was on track despite wet weather in June and rising costs for materials.

Powder Mountain, UT

Netflix founder Reed Hastings has been transforming Powder Mountain since purchasing it in 2023, investing tens of millions yearly. Hastings has expanded the public ski area while also carving out a private section for homeowners. This summer’s program included four new lifts from Leitner-Poma and Skytrac split between the public side and private Powder Haven.

At the public Sundown base area, the Leitner-Poma Sundown Express detachable quad replaces a Skytrac fixed quad. As of July, towers were set and both terminals were awaiting installation. The detachable will “increase vertical transport feet and provide a better guest experience,” noted Brooke Hontz, chief development and construction officer. “Also, it will now serve the massive additional area known as DMI (Don’t Mention It), and it is our only lift that offers both day and night skiing.” 

A new triple, the tallest Skytrac to date, will also serve DMI, rising 1,804 feet over its 4,152-foot length. With a maximum angle of 42 degrees, it requires a 334-hp drive—Skytrac’s highest horsepower ever. Clearing and site work, terminal and tower bases and other pre-vertical work were completed last summer; 21 towers were flown in May 2026. The top drive terminal followed in June and DMI is expected to be complete for this season, unlocking 1,000 acres previously only accessible by private snowcat tour.

The two private lifts include one of the lowest-angle lifts Skytrac’s built. Half Pint will rise about 600 vertical feet over a 4,650-foot run. The fixed-grip quad utilizes CTEC equipment from a prior installation with several upgrades, and will serve new blue and green terrain. The second lift, Foxtrot, is a Leitner-Poma detachable quad. This lengthy lift serves intermediate terrain previously accessed by an aging platter tow. Towers for both Powder Haven lifts were flown in mid-summer, and two of the four terminals were vertical as of late July.

Powder is also constructing a 15,000-square-foot public lodge and a 73,000-square-foot member clubhouse set to open in 2027 and 2028, respectively. Powder will christen another 15,000-square-foot building this fall, Mountain Ops Central, that replaces an outdated and undersized maintenance shop from the pre-Hastings era. If that wasn’t enough, Powder plans to break ground on a new fire station soon after.

The Hermitage Club, VT

Since 2020, The Hermitage Club at Haystack Mountain has relied on a single detachable six-pack for out-of-base uplift. If weather or maintenance shuttered that machine, members and guests could only lap lower mountain lifts or head for the lodge. Members requested leadership bring back a mid-mountain lift like one that stood before the six-pack, and last year, the Club’s Long Range Planning Committee recommended purchase of a 3,313-foot-long detachable quad. Club staff selected Doppelmayr to build the yet-to-be-named lift, which will run from the main lodge to a mid-mountain cabin.

The lift gained environmental approval on June 13, and surveyors immediately began staking out tower locations. Most tower locations required blasting, done by a team from Ridge Runner Blasting. Once holes were excavated, Doppelmayr and Fall Line Construction formed tower and terminal foundations. As of early August, foundations were complete and Doppelmayr began erecting steel.

Although a non-bubble chairlift like this typically wouldn’t include carrier parking, Hermitage opted to build a parking structure as a windbreak at the top. “The return station has significant exposure, so installing the chair barn there will improve wind resiliency,” noted Hermitage assistant GM of mountain experience Aaron Sherritt. Essex Steel out of New York designed and fabricated the steel structure that will house all 36 carriers.

The new lift will ultimately carry skiers up 798 vertical feet in just 3 minutes, 40 seconds. A 12-second carrier interval will allow ample time for loading and relieve pressure from the core Barnstormer six-pack. The Club expects to load test the new lift in early December.