Projects include new lifts, a rebuilt lodge, and a snowmaking upgrade.
BY PETER LANDSMAN, EDITOR, LIFTBLOG.COM
Lutsen Mountains, MN
A fast-moving fire claimed one of Lutsen’s base village buildings on June 24, 2023. There were no injuries in the early morning blaze, and it spared a nearby gondola. The building, known as Papa Char- lie’s, housed a popular bar, restaurant, and music venue. Its loss was widely mourned. Lutsen owner Midwest Family Ski Resorts (MFSR) immediately began working with its insurer and designers on a plan for replacement that honored the past while also improving utility for today’s guests. Designed by LHB of Duluth, the new 7,200-square- foot structure utilizes timber frame construction and laminated wood beams. It houses an upscale bar and restaurant, along with eight lodging units,
Big Sky commenced work on the middle station’s foundation and below-grade cabin parking facility in 2023. The upper terminal foundation followed in 2024, requiring challenging excavation, blast- ing, and micro piles. Local builder Jackson Con- tractor Group spearheaded foundation work and began installing line tower footings in spring 2024. Work on the lift’s buried communication lines com- menced that summer, too. Doppelmayr mobilized in fall 2024 to install mid-station steel for the first D-Line R2 “glass box” station in the United States. The Explorer double carried its last riders on March 30, four weeks before the rest of the mountain closed, allowing the construction team to get a jump on the bottom terminal—but a deep snow- pack required the resort to remove lots of snow half of which are fully ADA accessible. The restau- rant encompasses 3,600 square feet on the first floor, and there are four king rooms and four dou- ble queen rooms on the second floor. Some func- tions, like live music, have moved permanently to other spaces. General contractor Kraus Anderson broke ground in the fall of 2024. A thousand yards of fill had to be brought in to raise the grade 5 feet (construction of a nearby road had left Papa Charlie’s in a hole that collected water at the time of the fire). Build- ing through winter in northern Minnesota proved a challenge, particularly when it came to materi- al laydown in a busy base village. Limited space
to store materials required a lot of just-in-time deliveries, “making scheduling very important and delays particularly impactful to the overall project schedule,” said MFSR chief of mountain operations and development Benjamin Bartz. Construction wrapped up in June following nine months of work. The hotel portion of the facility, dubbed Sunset Studios, launched at the end of that month. Charlie’s Alpine Bistro, a nod to the prior bar, debuted mid-summer, serving breakfast and dinner. The completed building includes several environ- mentally friendly features like water vapor fireplac- es to reduce natural gas consumption and keycard occupancy-controlled HVAC in each guest room.
Big Sky Resort, MT
Big Sky is nearing the end of a multi-year effort to build a new out-of-base gondola. The two-stage Explorer Gondola replaces a Heron-Poma double, the last remaining chair from Big Sky’s founding in 1973. The new Doppelmayr D-Line with Omega V 10-place cabins features a mid-station near the top of the old chair then continues up to the base of Big Sky’s two-year-old Lone Peak Tram. Uniquely, a single 1,200 hp direct drive will power both sections from the middle station, with tensioning at each end terminal. The 83-cabin system will span 8,237 linear feet and ascend 1,499 vertical feet at a speedy 7 meters per second (roughly 1,378 fpm) and more than double the uphill capacity to 2,850 pph.
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