Here's Latest Update On Summer's Lift Projects In The West
At ski and snowboard resorts in the West, new and replacement lift construction this summer focused more on capacity and reliability than terrain expansion ahead of the 2025-2026 season.
The exception is Deer Valley's build-out of its new 3,700-acre Mayflower section that more than doubles the size its trail map. Five new lifts went in last summer, with three operational last season and two this season. Another five should be up and running for 2025-2026, meaning 10 shiny-new lifts in all at the Utah resort.
So as the first first snowfall brushes across the highest mountains, SnoCountry checked with with Liftblog.com's Peter Landsman who keeps close track of the ski lift business in North America.
Aside from Deer Valley, 19 lifts -- two-thirds of them new, the rest used -- went up in the Rockies, Wasatch, Cascades and Canadian Rockies this summer. Despite differences in purchase price, the lean toward brand-new lifts occurs because they typically come as a complete package -- including manufacturer installation and haulage -- while pre-owned ones usually require add-on costs for code updates, tower retrofits, modernize controls and transportation, Landsman said.
Most of the lifts that went in this summer are in response to rising popularity in the skiing and snowboarding across the West, he said, fueled by population growth, new participants during Covid, and affordable season passes.
Missing from the construction list are any resorts in California which, for the first time in recent memory, did not put up a single new surface, chair or gondola/tram during the off-season. Neither did mountains in Oregon, Idaho, Arizona or Nevada.
Fourteen of the lifts that went up this summer (Deer Valley excluded) replace existing lifts along previous alignments, save Alta's Supreme chairlift that cut out an angle to straighten out its path. Those chairlifts covering totally new routes include Monarch's backside Tomichi triple, Powder Mountain's Primetime Express, Castle Mountain's Stagecoach Express, and Lake Louise' Richardson's Ridge Express.
Falling in between categories is the return of the a chairlift on the steepest section of the backside of New Mexico's Angel Fire. Taken down in 1998, the former Lift 6 will come back to life as Rakes Ride, a fixed-grip quad rising more or less along the previous alignment from base of Southwest Flyer to base of Lift 3.
A few projects got postponed. Purgatory had to put off its parking lot-to-top chairlift because of permitting delays. Taos Ski Valley chose not to build the innovative base-to-base gondola while Lift 7 was getting an upgrade. And Bluewood's first detachable quad has been held up by legal issues.
