This weekend is your last chance to ride Snowbird’s oldest chairlift, Chickadee. On Monday, Snowbird will begin work to replace the 1972 Thiokol double with a quad in partnership with Skytrac. The new lift will come out from underneath the Snowbird Center deck, giving beginners more space to queue and load. Riders will also enjoy a loading conveyor, making boarding even easier. “The new and fully grown-up version of the Chickadee chair will continue to create the next generation of powder chasers, future Olympians and local legends, just with a bit more room to squeeze in your whole fam,” said Snowbird.
Interestingly this will be the first lift in Snowbird’s 55 year history not constructed by Doppelmayr or a brand it acquired. Snowbird and Skytrac plan to fast-track construction and christen the new Chickadee for summer operations some time in July.
A fifth chairlift will debut at Nevada’s Lee Canyon next winter servicing five new trails in an area known as West Bowl. The 2,200 foot Skytrac quad will rise 650 vertical feet and transport up to 1,800 skiers per hour. It is shown on the below master plan as Chair 8. Lee Canyon completed a similar expansion to the East three years ago with three new runs. West Bowl trails will range from low intermediate to advanced with snowmaking throughout. West Bowl is expected to open for the 2026/27 winter season.
The expansion caps a period of remarkable growth at Las Vegas’ only ski area with new chairlifts in 2012, 2014 and 2023 plus a new lodge in 2019.
Lee Canyon owner Mountain Capital Partners will also partner with Skytrac this summer on an expansion at Purgatory, Colorado. Skytrac plans a busy year overall with projects in Colorado, Michigan, Nevada, Utah, Wisconsin, British Columbia and Quebec.
Mont-Sainte-Anne today announced a groundbreaking order for three Doppelmayr lifts to revitalize the mountain’s aging infrastructure over the next three years. The order, signed on March 26th and among Doppelmayr Canada’s largest ever, encompasses two six place chairlifts and a 10 place gondola. The project will be funded in part with a CA$50 million loan from Investissement Québec, a government economic development agency. Mont-Sainte-Anne’s owner, Resorts of the Canadian Rockies, will fund an equal portion.
A new Express du Sud will debut first in February 2027. The bubble six pack will follow a completely new alignment, replacing both the current Express du Sud detachable and La Tortue fixed grip, both of which date back to 1986. Whistler-based Ecosign sited this lift so skiers can access North, South and East slopes from a single unload point just below the summit. Express du Sud’s 97 bubble chairs will travel at a speed of five meters per second with a trip time of 7.3 minutes, The UNI-G lift will transport 2,400 people per hour and become the first six place bubble in Eastern Canada. Tree clearing will begin this summer and both existing lifts will remain operational into next winter until the new lift is ready.
Come December 2027, Doppelmayr will complete the first 10 place gondola in Eastern Canada, replacing the mountain’s 1989 vintage gondola. This UNI-G system will include 65 CWA Omega IV level walk in cabins with individual seats and floor-to-ceiling windows. The gondola will fly a brisk six meters per second, lifting 2,600 guests per hour to the summit in just 7.4 minutes. “Designed for four-season use, this facility will also allow the transportation of mountain bikes, facilitating the development of a summer offering,” noted Mont-Sainte-Anne. “It will become much more than just a means of transportation: an experience in itself, suitable for skiers as well as visitors, groups and convention customers.” The base of the gondola will shift toward L’Express du Sud to coincide with redevelopment of the village and beginner area.
Finally a second six pack will open on the North side of the mountain in December 2028, replacing both a 1987 detachable quad and 1970s T-Bar. This UNI-G detachable will include 67 non-bubble chairs moving at five meters per second. A ride will run just 4.6 minutes with an hourly capacity of 2,600 skiers. When Express du Nord is complete, Mont-Sainte-Anne will have replaced five aging lifts with three modern machines. Mont-Sainte-Anne noted it selected Doppelmayr after a competitive bid process in part due to the Austrian company’s head office in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, “providing superior guarantees for installation and adherence to schedules.”
Mont-Sainte-Anne also plans to install a mountain coaster and revitalize the snowmaking system together with the new lifts. “This project marks a turning point for Mont-Sainte-Anne, said Maxime Cretin, Vice President and General Manager, Eastern Region for Resort of the Canadian Rockies. “It allows us not only to modernize our infrastructure, but also to rethink the overall experience offered to our visitors starting next season, by focusing on performance, comfort and innovation.”
A law firm files an antitrust lawsuit against Alterra and Vail, claiming both “unlawfully inflated prices and suppressed competition through anticompetitive bundling practices tied to their multi‑mountain season passes.”
Alterra-owned Sugarbush Resort intends to replace its oldest chairlift next year, subject to state approval. The North Ridge Express, which began life lower on Mt. Ellen as the Green Mountain Express, would be removed in spring 2027 and swapped for a Doppelmayr UNI-G detachable quad. The project is expected to cost $10 million, including $2 million of site preparation and utilities work. The new lift would transport 2,400 skiers per hour and follow the same alignment as the existing lift. Alterra first eyed replacing North Ridge in 2023 but the project was tabled in favor of other priorities.
Poma constructed the current lift in 1990 as Sugarbush’s first detachable chair. American Skiing Company then moved Green Mountain Express to North Ridge in 1995. NRX currently ranks 7th oldest detachable in New England and has suffered frequent downtime of late, most recently a result of communication line damage. Sugarbush notes the new lift will improve operational reliability and the overall guest experience at Mt. Ellen. North Ridge Express 2.0 is expected to open in time for the 2027-28 ski season.
Red Lodge Mountain’s owner and an insurance company argue over coverage related to a wrongful death lawsuit by the family of a man who died on a lift last season in high winds.
A cabin fell from a gondola lift in Engelberg, Switzerland this morning, killing the lone occupant. The incident happened on the upper section of the two stage Titlis Xpress, a Garaventa UNI-G system constructed in 2015. More than 100 other passengers were safely unloaded from the lift’s 159 remaining cabins. Swiss media reported a race scheduled to take place nearby was canceled earlier in the morning due to high winds.
Disturbing video from a bystander showed the detached cabin tumble down a steep cliff, ejecting the passenger along the way. The victim was later identified as a 61 year old woman from the area. At a press conference, Titlis Bergbahnen CEO Norbert Patt expressed regret for the accident and noted the company will fully support a government investigation. He said the gondola is regularly maintained to the highest standards. The lift has a wind alarm programmed for 40 km/hr (25 miles per hour) with a wind warning/shutdown occurring at 60 km/hr (37 miles per hour). The Titlis Xpress utilizes CWA Omega IV cabins and Doppelmayr DT-108 grips used widely throughout the world, including in North America.
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