New lifts and snowmaking upgrades at ski areas big and small, for-profit and nonprofit, across North America.
BY PETER LANDSMAN, EDITOR, LIFTBLOG.COM
Mont Grand-Fonds, QC
Compagnie des Montagnes des ski du Québec (CMSQ), owned by e-Liberty, a Swiss online ski pass retailer, purchased Mont Grand-Fonds in Septem- ber 2023. Soon after, the growing multi-mountain group ordered a detachable six-place Doppelmayr chairlift, a first of its kind in the region. This ski area near Quebec City hosted 60,000 skier vis- its in 2022-23, but aims to attract more skiers in the future with upgraded facilities and affordable prices. In the past, Mont Grand-Fonds operated only fixed- grip lifts, a majority of which were surface lifts. The new six-pack, called Lynx Express, runs up a line previously occupied by a 45-year-old Samson T-Bar. The new owners wanted to bring European lift technology to Canada. The lift’s 69 chairs were imported from Austria and feature wide seats, dou- ble dampening, and lockable restraint bars. These chairs are quite heavy, too, and should resist wind better than standard chairs. Because of the width of the chairs, the lift’s towers and terminals are also wider than a standard six-pack.
As soon as the resort closed in April, crews began removing the old lift and clearing trees to widen the corridor for the detachable. Doppelmayr Cana- da arrived on site to begin digging for foundations. An Airbus Super Puma from Helicarrier Helicop- ters arrived in late August to set five towers with already completed foundations and pour 63 buck- ets of concrete for additional footers. Doppelmayr assembled the top return terminal by crane in
early September and began the drive terminal in late September.
The 558 hp drive will move chairs at 5 meters per second, decreasing ride time from nine minutes to four. With a capacity of 2,400 pph, guests will enjoy ample time between chairs, which should maintain high loading efficiency. The 1,096-vertical-foot lift is expected to debut on schedule around Dec. 1.
Loon Mountain, NH
A second project was installing a new infiltration gallery, bringing on line about 2,000 gpm of water capacity that hadn’t been functional since Tropical Storm Irene hit in 2011. Caulder Construction did the work. With this addition, Loon’s total pumping capacity will exceed 10,000 gpm this season. Finally, Loon installed about 2,000 feet of new pipe to upgrade capacity on existing lines. Between Tim- bertown and strategic piping and valving upgrades elsewhere, the additional 2,000 gpm can be effec- tively moved across the mountain. Loon added a total of 105 HKD Impulses and 30 HKD Phazers, all tower mounted, along with 68 HKD Klik hydrants. Working across so many parts of the resort proved a challenge but as of press time, the project was expected to conclude on schedule in late October.
Boyne Resorts-owned Loon Mountain embarked on a major snowmaking expansion and modern- ization this offseason. First up was completing snowmaking in Timbertown, a beginner and low intermediate terrain pod with a quad chair that opened for the 2023-24 season. Snowmaking installation was completed this year, bringing the expansion to 100 percent coverage. Some of this work was initially planned for 2023, but a very wet summer and more bedrock/ledge than antic- ipated pushed some work to 2024. This includ- ed about 8,000 feet of new pipe, a mix of steel for water and HDPE for air where pipe could be buried. While some of the work was completed in-house, Summit Resources was contracted to install and weld pipe for Timbertown phase 2.
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