7 Notable Lift Installations from the Past Half Decade

Over the past five years, dozens of new lifts have been installed at major mountain resorts around North America. While nearly all of these upgrades have provided mountain experience improvements over their predecessors, a few examples have especially stood out in their positive impacts. In this article, we’ll take a look at recent lift installations that notably improved their resorts or had profound impacts on the industry.

(This list is not comprehensive and does not include resorts we haven’t reviewed.)

Snowdon Bubble Chair - Killington, VT

The Snowdon Six Express in December 2019. Photo by PeakRankings

For decades, Killington’s Snowdon Mountain, which mainly comprises intermediate terrain, went underutilized due to its painfully slow Snowdon Triple and Quad chairs. That all changed for the 2018-19 season, when Killington replaced the quad with the Snowdon Six bubble chair, which cut ride time in half and substantially increased the desirability of the mountain area. This installation also helped relieve crowds on the K1 Gondola, which at the time was the only high-speed lift serving any terrain across all of Killington and Snowdon peaks, and provided welcome isolation from the elements along the wind-prone Snowdon lift line.

Ramcharger 8 - Big Sky, MT

The Ramcharger 8 in December 2018. Photo by Liftblog

The Ramcharger 8 replaced an already high-speed lift, but we felt its cutting-edge construction warranted a spot on this list. Not only does the Ramcharger 8 boast heated seats and an auto-raising bubble to shield occupants from the elements, but it’s also the first eight-person chairlift installed in North America, setting the new benchmark for flagship projects at destination mountains. The chair’s seats are well-padded, contoured, and embroidered, and if you were to ignore your surroundings and the ground below, you could mistake your experience on the lift for a ride in a luxury sports car.

We wouldn’t be surprised to see a few more of these installed in the next few years across other resorts, and Loon Mountain, which is owned by the same company as Big Sky, plans on debuting their own 8-pack next year.

Elkhorn Express - Steamboat, CO

The Elkhorn Express in January 2017—likely before a typical late afternoon rush. Photo by Liftblog

While this lift still has some issues as a late-afternoon chokepoint, it’s just such a monumental improvement from the previous experience that it’s worth highlighting on this list. The Elkhorn lift provides the only egress to the base from around half of Steamboat’s upper-mountain terrain, and back when it was a fixed-grip triple, afternoon lines would regularly become nightmarish—and we genuinely wouldn’t be surprised if the stress generated by such situations contributed to increased 4pm sales at the base bars. In 2016, the lift was upgraded to a high-speed quad, and while the lines can still get annoyingly long in the afternoon, they’re nothing compared to the dreadful old experience.

Chet’s Dream - Loveland, CO

Chet’s Dream in January 2019. Photo by Liftblog

This high-speed quad finally brought detachable lift service to the independent Loveland Ski Area. Not only does this lift start directly at the base, making it easy to find, but it also serves some of the resort’s best terrain in terms of challenge and snow quality. By installing their first high-speed lift in what we believe is their most enjoyable resort area, Loveland certainly has a hit on their hands.

Three Bears - Copper, CO

The Three Bears lift in February 2020. Photo by PeakRankings

One of two fixed-grip lifts on this list, Copper’s Three Bears makes it thanks to the sheer amount of expert terrain it opened up lift-serviced access to. While some may miss the isolated feel and less tracked terrain of Tucker Mountain’s snowcat-only days, this installation made it much more practical to lap some of the most difficult terrain in Colorado. All in all, about 275 acres were added to Copper’s lift-serviced footprint as a result of this expansion.

Treeline Cirque - Alpine Meadows, CA

The Treeline Cirque lift in January 2020. The line below the midstation replaced a triple chair, while the segment above the curve is completely new. Photo by Liftblog

The installation of this high-speed quad made the already moderately-sized Alpine Meadows feel even smaller to get around. For the first time, visitors could reach the Sherwood backside area without traveling down an expert chute or relegating themselves to the dreadful Ray’s Rut catwalk. The Treeline Cirque chair, which replaced the Hot Wheels triple and added a new few-hundred feet of very steep lift line after that, also provided the first high-speed access to some solid low-intermediate terrain.

Over and Out - Park City, UT

The Over and Out lift in December 2019. Photo by Liftblog

Navigating Park City’s 7,300 acre footprint is still quite a mess, but the experience greatly improved when this fixed-grip quad was built. Running from the base of the Tombstone Express to the Canyons base area, this 2019 installation brought about major enhancements in crowd flow last season, tempering previous late-afternoon chokepoints at the Tombstone lift. While the lift is slow, it’s significantly more direct than other previously existing routes back to the Canyons base. All in all, Over and Out provides easier Canyons-side egress to visitors returning from more than 75% of the resort.