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CRANMORE, NH

When Cranmore tore down its main base lodge in April 2022, it planned to complete the first floor of a new mixed-use building in time for the 2022-23 ski season. Covid supply chain and labor challenges derailed that plan, forcing the resort to improvise. Cranmore made do with portable restrooms, portable seasonal locker space, and a 3,000-square-foot temporary cafeteria last winter.  

During that time, Atlantic Construction Group continued working on the new Fairbank Lodge, a 30,000-square-foot facility with skier services and 15 condo residences. The project is part of a complete base area redevelopment with multiple new buildings. Bull Stockwell Allen and SE Group created conceptual designs for the new base area, and the architect of record is Archetype Architects with civil engineering by New Hampshire firm HEB Engineers. 

The team worked to complete the Fairbank Lodge this summer. It will include an expansive new food pavilion, a slopeside bar, day and seasonal lockers, and two retail stores. In August, many of the same contractors broke ground on a second, adjacent project called The Lookout. This mixed-use building will house 30,000 square feet of residential space and a 1,664-square-foot ski patrol medical clinic. 

Both buildings are primarily wood frame with some steel components. An earlier building at Cranmore was one of the first in New Hampshire to utilize electric heat pumps, and both Fairbank Lodge and The Lookout will also use heat pumps for heat and air conditioning. The Fairbank Lodge is expected to debut this winter, with phase one of The Lookout following in 2024. A future phase will include a full-service ski shop and a rental shop along with additional real estate. The new buildings will more than double the skier services space available in prior base buildings. 

WINTER PARK, CO 

In April, Winter Park Resort removed its oldest detachable quad, the Pioneer Express, a 1986 Poma, to make room for a new Leitner-Poma six-place detachable with a mid-station to improve skier flow.  

The new, larger machine—dubbed the Wild Spur Express—follows the same alignment but features the half mid-station for loading about a third of the way up the line. This will allow guests, and particularly snowboarders, lapping the upper terrain pod to re-board without the need to negotiate a low angle run out. Riders coming from other parts of the mountain to the Vasquez Ridge zone will still board at the original load station. The 1,000-hp, top- drive six-pack will span 6,690 feet with 1,212 feet of vertical rise.  

Leitner-Poma subcontracted installation to Alpine Cable & Construction, a Colorado-based firm that specializes in installation and service work. Winter Park planning director Doug Laraby noted that as of September, work was going smoothly, with no major challenges.  

Twenty-four tower bases were completed in August as well as all three terminal foundations. A crane and helicopter set steel for towers and terminals in September. Load test is scheduled for Dec. 6.

 BIG SKY, MT

A whopping 27 different contractors and four types of helicopters worked to complete the new Doppelmayr/Garaventa Lone Peak Tram at Big Sky this summer. Work started last year to drill 51 micropiles and additional tiebacks to support the new top terminal and the tram’s only intermediate tower on 11,166-foot Lone Peak. Crews poured 1,800 cubic yards of concrete for the terminals and the tower.  

In April, one of the first and most challenging tasks was setting two tower cranes at the top terminal and tower sites. There is no road to the top of Lone Peak, so multiple Chinook helicopters airlifted the cranes in pieces weighing up to 9,000 lbs. The single heaviest items were two 13,000-lb. generators needed to support work on the peak.  

Challenging early-spring weather caused some delays. By July, conditions improved, and Big Sky employees had trained to operate the tower cranes. A crew of 10 Garaventa mounters arrived from Switzerland and set 250,000 lbs. of steel at the top terminal in just three weeks. The 100-foot-tall intermediate tower, made of 205,000 lbs. of steel, also took about three weeks to assemble. Finally, the bottom terminal was constructed over four weeks using a mobile crane. The bottom floor of the new lower terminal houses the tram’s drive systems, an employee locker room, and maintenance space.  

A Black Hawk carried each of five pilot lines from the bottom terminal up to the top and back down. Four track ropes were winched up the mountain using three successively larger intermediate cables. The 37-mm haul rope followed and was spliced in late September.  

The tram’s two 75-passenger cabins are a major upgrade from the old 15-person cars. Big Sky expected to hang them in October. Significant electrical work remained, as well as testing; opening was targeted for December. 

The new tram will travel at 10 m/s over a length of 4,612 feet—about twice as long as the old tram, which started higher on the mountain and required two lift rides to access. Guests will gain 2,142 vertical feet in just 3.7 minutes. Glass enclosures are set to be constructed around each station in summer 2024. 

MIDDLEBURY COLLEGE
SNOWBOWL, VT

The college-owned Middlebury Snowbowl installed the only new lift in Vermont this year in partnership with Skytrac. The 150-horsepower bottom drive fixed-grip quad replaced a 38-year-old Poma double. Snowbowl GM Michael Hussey noted the old lift typically opened first and closed last each season, making replacement this year a priority.  

Middlebury didn’t receive stringent Vermont Act 250 approval until June 12, leading to a tighter-than-normal construction window. Veteran lift installer Tim Nicou handled the project for Skytrac over what turned out to be a very wet summer in New England.  

Construction Helicopters Inc. flew in seven new lift towers in late September. The lift will include 40 chairs spinning at 450 fpm. Final load test for the new quad is scheduled for Nov. 22. A major benefit of the larger chairs, said Hussey, is that snow school instructors and students will now be able to ride together.

In concert with the lift project, Middlebury also added night lighting to three trails and graded a short new beginner trail from an existing conveyor lift to the new quad’s loading station. 

Schaefer Management installed approximately 60 LED lights from Wisconsin Lighting Lab to bring night skiing back to the trails serviced by the new lift. Each light is fed with underground wiring and mounted on a telephone pole drilled into the ground with a hydraulic auger. The new lighting will also allow Middlebury to host more school programming and ski teams. 

Middlebury built the new trail in house, using excavators, dozers, and a Prinoth tracked dump truck.

MASSANUTTEN, VA 

Massanutten Resort is in the middle of a three-year project to add new trails, upgrade snowmaking, and debut the mountain’s first detachable lift. The resort contracted with Doppelmayr for the new summit high-speed quad in January 2022, with the goal of opening it for mountain biking and scenic rides in late July 2023. GM Kenny Hess closed upper mountain bike trails last summer to focus on early preparation for the project, as well as to log and grade a new intermediate trail off the summit. Crews installed 7,000 feet of new snowmaking pipe and 50 new HKD guns with KLIK hydrants along with LED lighting on the new trail last summer.  

This year’s focus was removing the previous Borvig quad, turning its lift line into a second new ski trail, and installing the new Doppelmayr UNI-G detachable quad (the previous lift ran the same line but did not have ski-under clearance). Disassembly of the Borvig began in late March while skiing continued off other lifts, and Doppelmayr got started in April on foundations. A helicopter flew 10 new towers into place on May 20. Wet weather and supply chain delays pushed the opening date to Sept. 6. 

The new Peak Express is 2,900 feet long with an 800-foot vertical rise. Initial capacity is 2,300 pph with 60 chairs; design capacity is for 63 chairs and 2,400 pph if needed in the future.  

Between a new intermediate trail, the new expert lift line trail, and projects on other parts of the mountain, Massanutten installed a total of 27,000 feet of new snowmaking pipe over two summers (a mix of ductile iron, steel, and plastic for air). The resort also added nearly 200 low-e snow guns including 39 TechnoAlpin TF10 automated fans, eight SMI Super Puma automated fans, and 125 HKD Impulse guns, about half of which are automated. Massanutten also increased water storage from 18 million to 40 million gallons and boosted pumping capacity from 4,800 gpm to 6,200. The multi-year effort will continue next year with a third new trail.

ASPEN MOUNTAIN, CO 

A long-awaited expansion of Aspen Mountain will culminate with the opening of new terrain called Hero’s in December. Initially known as Pandora’s, the expansion is named for late Aspen owner Jim Crown and other heroes who made the project possible.  

A 600-hp, top-drive Leitner-Poma detachable quad will serve 153 acres of new chutes, glades, and developed runs. Four new trails were cut in the summer of 2022 to prepare for lift construction. Ground crews with chainsaws were assisted by log skidders, excavators, skid steers, a masticator and, in steeper areas, a Black Hawk helicopter from Timberline Helicopters. Several existing runs were extended downhill to increase vertical drop to 1,220 feet and eliminate a hike out at the bottom. 

Aspen paused its traditional May weekend skiing this year to get a jump start on construction. Aspen Skiing Company crews began clearing snow from work roads immediately, with Leitner-Poma mobilizing on June 1.  

The Black Hawk returned to fly concrete for the 13 lift towers in August and steel in September. Aspen contracted Maya Construction for vertical construction and Savage Excavation for earth work and civil infrastructure on the project. Construction progressed remarkably smoothly, with no major weather or supply chain challenges reported as of late September.  

When complete, the Hero’s high-speed quad will span 4,144 feet with 66 chairs and capacity of 1,800 pph. Aspen expects to commission the lift by Nov. 1, and open as soon as snow permits.

SUN VALLEY, ID

Two lifts on the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain were replaced this summer with new lifts in new configurations. For the past 35 years, twin Yan detachable quads ran straight up this part of the mountain. The shorter of the two terminated halfway and was underutilized due to the limited terrain it served. To solve this, Sun Valley is essentially creating three new lifts out of two by incorporating a mid-station into a new six pack called Challenger. A second lift in a new alignment will be a detachable quad called Flying Squirrel. Sun Valley expects more balanced utilization of both lifts compared with the prior configuration. 

Sun Valley closed Warm Springs on April 10 to remove several feet of snow by snowcat and dozer and then remove the two Yans. Helicopter timber removal began immediately for the new lift lines and a new ski trail. Burks Excavation and Mountain States Contracting completed the new trail, installing 2,000 feet of eight-inch steel water pipe and three-inch HDPE air pipe to feed 14 TechnoAlpin Rubis Evo sticks coupled to Y.B. hydrants. 

Simultaneous with the trail work, Doppelmayr poured foundations for five different lift terminals and 49 lift towers. The most challenging installation was the Challenger mid-station—nearly triple the length of the old Greyhawk terminal at 155 feet—due to the amount of excavation required. 

Challenger’s top drive station houses the largest Doppelmayr direct drive in North America, with four rings and 1,690 hp. Sun Valley grooming manager John Nichols drove the 56,000-lb. motor to the top of the mountain in mid-August using a D155 dozer pulling a triple-axle trailer. The drive was lifted onto the terminal carriage with a 110-ton crane. Three 550-kW backup generators also were driven to the top. When complete, the 8,963-foot-long Challenger will rise 3,138 vertical feet at 1,181 fpm. 

Challenger makes the new Flying Squirrel quad seem small, but the latter is also a stout machine at 6,252 feet long and rising 2,353 vertical feet. It is powered by an 800-hp AC motor and gearbox at 1,000 fpm. The two-lift project was so large, Doppelmayr brought in four Swiss installers to augment its domestic workforce. Due to helicopter availability, Doppelmayr opted to fly tower tubes in August before crossarms and sheave assemblies arrived on site in the fall. When complete in December, the two new lifts will carry more than 4,000 skiers per hour up Warm Springs.

GUNSTOCK, NH 

Gunstock invested more than $6 million this summer in a variety of on- and off-mountain capital improvements. 

At the base, the 1970s-era Stockade Lodge was transformed from a cafeteria to a yet-to-be-named full-service restaurant. The entire kitchen was gutted and replaced with a new service line and equipment to support the full-service concept. Gunstock added a dishwashing room and beer cooler to serve draft beer at a new 18-seat bar. New tables will seat about 80 guests. In addition, bathrooms were remodeled, the outside deck was expanded by 20 percent—with plans to wrap the deck around the building in spring for additional seating and outdoor dining—and a stone indoor/outdoor fireplace was refurbished. The majority of this work was completed in house. 

Nearby, a new, two-level, 1,600-square-foot equipment rental building rose, mirroring an existing building that required guests to retrieve boots downstairs and walk upstairs to get their skis and snowboards. The new panelized building by LaValley Lumber will allow rentals to be all on a single floor, with the existing building housing boot rental. Guests will take only a few steps (on the same snow-level) to the new building to get skis or boards and will exit onto the snow, facing the snowsports school lesson line-up area.  

A new tune and repair shop with a Montana Crystal Glide belt and tune system will open on the ground floor of the new building, as well as a ticketing counter. A boot storage system from Advanced Racking Systems with built-in dryers was added to the existing building. 

The summit building was expanded with a 16’-by- 30’ stick-built addition to provide more space for guests. The addition sits on a poured concrete foundation and was built by in-house crews with the help of several contractors.  

Outside, Gunstock added 40 HKD Impulse tower guns with Klik hydrants. All of these guns are in fixed locations utilizing existing pipe.