Industry News
If you’ve ever weaved through the trees on a storm day or stacked powder laps in the West Bowls under bluebird skies at Mt. Bachelor, Oregon, then you know just how important the Northwest Express chairlift is to the mountain experience. Now, the resort has officially launched a major modernization project for the lift, which serves some of Mt. Bachelor’s most popular advanced and expert terrain on the mountain’s west side.
The project is focused on improving reliability, storm resilience, operational efficiency, and employee workspaces ahead of the 2026-27 winter season. While much of the lift’s core infrastructure will remain in place, the modernization will bring significant technological and operational upgrades to one of Mt. Bachelor’s most important and most popular lifts, especially for tree skiing.
The resort says the project will include upgrades to utility power, a replacement of the lift’s electric motor and auxiliary power unit, and a complete overhaul of the interior control equipment. Existing foundations, towers, terminals, haul rope, and chairs will remain in use. Once complete, the Northwest lift’s operating system will match the technology currently used on the resort’s Skyliner lift.
“These upgrades are going to make a huge difference for our guests and operations teams,” Dustin Smith said, Mt. Bachelor’s Director of Mountain Operations in a press release. “We’re wrapping up routine maintenance this spring and will work throughout summer and fall to get everything wrapped up prior to the 2026/27 season.”
Work is already underway across the lift line and terminal areas. “We updated utility power to the bottom of Northwest, providing increased voltage and power supply to that area of the mountain,” Smith continued. “We’re also replacing the bull wheel bearings, removing the park rail, and performing terminal alignments this month.”
In addition to the lift system upgrades, Mt. Bachelor outlined several major infrastructure improvements planned throughout the summer and fall, including:
- Installation of roughly 5,000 feet of buried communication and fiber lines to improve network connectivity and protect critical infrastructure from storms and ice buildup.
- Construction of larger upper and lower operator shacks designed to house updated lift control systems and improve employee workspaces.
- Expansion of the chair storage facility into a semi-enclosed steel structure capable of storing all lift chairs and reducing storm recovery and snow removal efforts.
- Addition of a night-drive system that allows the lift to operate without chairs attached during closures, helping prevent ice buildup on the haul rope during storm cycles.
- Construction of a new maintenance garage near the base terminal for on-site carrier testing and repairs.
- New paint and updated signage throughout the lift area.
The Northwest Express is one of Mt. Bachelor’s most important lifts for accessing steep terrain and advanced lines on the mountain’s northwest side. The modernization project is expected to improve long-term reliability while helping operations crews better manage the challenging weather conditions that frequently impact the upper mountain during winter storms. The lift has the seventh biggest vertical drop of any lift in North America at 2,336 feet.
Mt. Bachelor says all work is scheduled to be completed before the start of the 2026-27 ski season.
