LIFT CONSTRUCTION SURVEY 2025
BY PETER LANDSMAN, EDITOR, LIFTBLOG.COM
BACK DOWN TO EARTH
Tariffs and inflation were among the primary causes for a dip in North American lift installations.
This season’s new lifts trended small- er and simpler with fewer detachables (18 vs. 25), fewer bubbles (1 vs. 4) and fewer loading conveyors (4 vs. 10) compared to 2024. More than half the installations were fixed-grip lifts, and conveyors sold well, emphasizing resorts’ desire to trans- port guests cost-efficiently. A FEW EXCEPTIONS Some ski areas bucked this trend, replac- ing older equipment with new detach- able lifts, mostly quads, with some exceptions. Leitner-Poma of America supplied Snowmass, Colo., with a direct-drive
six-place chair spanning nearly 1.5 miles to replace the Elk Camp Express quad. Big Sky Resort, Mont., complet- ed the two-segment Explorer Gondola from Doppelmayr, the culmination of a 10-year effort to renew the entire moun- tain’s lift fleet with premium equipment. In Canada, Mount St. Louis-Moonstone partnered with Doppelmayr on a six- pack with heated seats, raisable load- ing conveyor and in-station parking to replace two aging fixed grips. At Park City Mountain, Utah, Leit- ner-Poma replaced an outdated double chair called Sunrise and extended the line for a 10-passenger, direct-drive gondola.
Lift construction returned to pre- Covid levels in 2025 as ski areas and manufacturers faced headwinds of continued inflation and new tariffs. North American ski areas installed 37 new aerial lifts, still up from the early Covid years of 2020 and 2021 but down significantly from the post- Covid boom of the past three years. Installed vertical transport feet per hour (VTFH) declined 16 percent year- over-year, falling most in the Western United States and Canada. The num- ber of Midwest installations was flat, and the East built three more lifts in 2025 than in 2024.
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