[VIDEOS] 3 Dead, 9 Injured After Chairlift Cable Derailment on Europe’s Highest Mountain This post was updated at 3:30 a.m. PST on Saturday, September 20, to correct early reports that the cable snapped when, in fact, it derailed. Three people died, and nine others sustained injuries on September 12 when a cable supporting a Soviet-era chairlift slipped from its rollers on the slopes of Mount Elbrus, Russia, Europe’s highest peak in Kabardino-Balkaria. Investigators […] Industry News SnowBrains | September 17, 2025 1 Comment
Bluewood Ski Area, WA, Files Lawsuit Over Delayed High-Speed Quad Installation This article is a follow-up story to a story that was published on September 1, 2025. Just days after confirming its new Skyline Express lift would not be ready for the 2025-26 ski season, Bluewood Ski Area has announced it is taking legal action against companies it says are responsible for the delay. In an August 29 press release, WGSKI, […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | September 3, 2025 0 Comments
Alta Ski Area, UT, to Rebuild 7-Year-Old Supreme Chair by 2025-26 Season, Eliminating Bend in Route Which Has Caused “Accelerated Metal Fatigue” After nearly a decade of rattling rides and wear-and-tear on equipment, Alta Ski Area is set to realign its Supreme lift to eliminate the infamous 8-degree bend that has defined the lift’s route since 2017. The resort announced this month that it will reconfigure the lift to run in a straight line for the 2025–26 ski season, removing the mid-route […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | April 16, 2025 0 Comments
Colorado’s Oldest Chairlift is Retiring Today After 71-Years of Service After decades of service and countless laps, Colorado’s oldest operating-ski lift is about to take its final ride. Sunlight Mountain Resort is preparing to say goodbye to Segundo, a two-seater lift with a legacy that dates back to 1954, on Friday, March 28. Originally installed in Aspen before relocating to Sunlight in 1973, Segundo has quietly carried skiers and snowboarders […] Industry News SnowBrains | March 28, 2025 0 Comments
Man Injured After Chair Detaches and Falls 20 Feet at Attitash Mountain Resort, NH A chair on the Flying Bear chairlift at Attitash Mountain Resort, New Hampshire, detached and fell 20 feet on February 2, injuring a man, reports Peter Landsman at LiftBlog. The incident occurred at approximately 12:15 p.m. Witnesses reported that the man was conscious and walking after the fall. Ski patrol attended to him before he was transported to a local […] Industry News SnowBrains | February 3, 2025 1 Comment
Powder Mountain, UT, Debuts Timberline Chairlift Replacement, Ushering in a New Era of Upgrades Powder Mountain opened its much-anticipated Timberline chairlift on December 19, marking a significant step in a season of transformative upgrades for the Utah ski resort. The new Skytrac fixed-grip quad replaces one of the state’s oldest operational lifts, bringing modern reliability, increased uphill capacity, and improved skier access to the mountain’s diverse terrain. Related: Powder Mountain, UT, Makes February Weekends […] Industry News Martin Kuprianowicz | December 24, 2024 0 Comments
[VIDEO] Missile Strike Damages Chairlift at Israeli Ski Resort נזק כבד נגרם לרכבל באתר החרמון מפגיעת רקטה שנורתה מלבנון. מראשית המלחמה ההר ומוצביו מותקפים על בסיס יום יומי@rubih67 (צילום: אתר החרמון) pic.twitter.com/UXzUt9Msgb — כאן חדשות (@kann_news) September 25, 2024 The conflict in the Middle East between Israel and Hamas has led to widespread devastation in Gaza and has also heightened tensions between Israel and Hezbollah on the Israel-Lebanon border. […] Brent Glogau | September 27, 2024 0 Comments
The Ski Industry’s Chairlift Guru Has Now Visited Every Lift in North America If you ever want to know details about a chairlift, unquestionably the best resource is Liftblog.com. The site contains a giant database dedicated to the latest news, reviews, and updates about every ski chairlift, tramway, and gondola in North America. It provides detailed information on new lift installations, technological advancements, industry news, and the history of ski lifts. The blog […] Industry News Brent Glogau | June 2, 2024 1 Comment
History with SnowBrains: How Bananas Led to the First Chairlift in the World The world’s first chairlift was built in Sun Valley, Idaho in the fall of 1936. The first two lifts were located on Sun Valley’s Dollar and Proctor mountains. The design of this new machine was patterned after conveyor belts which were used to load bananas on cargo ships in Central America. James Curran designed the first plans for the ski lift. He was a bridge engineer for the Union Pacific Railroad Company. Curran’s previous work making conveyor systems that ran at a continuos flow and loaded bananas on ships in Honduras inspired his design for a machine that could carry humans uphill and drop them off on top of a […] Brains The Brains | May 21, 2024 11 Comments
[VIDEOS] Skier Thrown From Chair After 62 MPH Winds Batter Chairlift at Matterhorn Ski Paradise View this post on Instagram A post shared by Vinello e domiciliari (@vinello_e_domiciliari) Check out these videos to see if you’ve ever complained about a chairlift stopping due to wind hold. Related: The 5 Steepest Chairlifts in the United States The lift is the Cretaz chair at Matterhorn Ski Paradise, Cervinia, Italy. Videos were taken by lucky people […] SnowBrains | March 29, 2024 0 Comments
Attitash Mountain Resort, NH, Continues To Make Progress on the Mountaineer Quad As the end of November approaches, Attitash Mountain Resort, New Hampshire, appears to be behind on the construction of its new flagship chairlift. With their winter season set to kick off in just a few weeks, it’s crunch time in Bartlett. Towers were installed just last week, and construction on the bottom terminal of the lift has only recently begun, […] Industry News Will Hart | November 22, 2023 0 Comments
Chair Plummets to Ground at Thredbo Ski Resort, Australia, Injuring 3 A chair plummeted to the ground at Thredbo Ski Resort, Australia, in the afternoon today, August 19, 2023, at approximately 2:20 p.m. The chair in question was the Kosciuzko Quad Express. According to the press release received from Thredbo, the chair became detached when it was struck by a gust of wind. The incident occured just before the top station at […] Industry News Oz Brains | August 19, 2023 0 Comments
Smoke Erupts From Chairlift at Cerro Chapelco Ski Resort in Argentina Skiers and riders at Cerro Chapelco, a popular ski resort in the Andes Mountains, Argentina, were concerned on Saturday when one of the resort’s chairlifts began emitting a significant amount of smoke. Around 2 pm local time on August 5, visitors at the resort witnessed large clouds of smoke billowing from the bottom terminal lift of the chairlift. Despite the […] Industry News SnowBrains | August 8, 2023 0 Comments
What to Know About Sunday River’s New “Barker 6” Bubble Lift For the 2023/24 season, Sunday River Ski Resort will have a new bubble lift titled Barker 6. The Doppelmayr D-Line design will replace the outdated Barker lift installed in 1987, currently the resort’s oldest detachable lift. The installation of this lift is part of Sunday River’s “2030 Plan” which seeks to sustainably grow the ski area and make investments that […] Ian McIsaac | July 1, 2023 0 Comments
Mt. Bachelor, OR, To Sell Chairs from Skyliner Express for Charity For $500 a piece, 50 people can purchase a chair from Skyliner Express in Mt. Bachelor’s effort to raise money for Vamanos Outside. 100% of proceeds will be donated to this organization which focuses on giving Latinx people an opportunity to get outdoors in new, adventurous ways. Related: SnowBrains Podcast #51 | Vamonos Outside – Let’s Get More People of […] Industry News Tate Sundberg | June 8, 2023 0 Comments
Mammoth, CA, Report: High Speed Slush Moguls, 360s, a Mountain of Wiggles, & a River Surf Report from June 3 & 5, 2023 Brought to you by Mammoth Mountain “I’ll surf or ski.” – Kush, Jerry McGuire Mammoth is skiing incredibly well right now. On Saturday, we skied top to bottom, threw 360s, and slid a mountain of wiggles. Mammoth has about six wiggles right now, and a couple of them are world-class. When the race […] Conditions Report Miles Clark | June 6, 2023 0 Comments
Park City Mountain, UT, Cited and Fined $2,500 for Serious Violations Resulting in Death of Ski Patroller On Duty An investigation by FOX 13 News has revealed that Park City Mountain Resort, UT, violated safety standards resulting in an accident that killed Christian Helger, a ski patroller on duty. A Utah Occupational Safety and Health (UOSH) citation rated the violation as “serious.” The 29-year-old was riding the Short Cut chair on January 2nd, 2023, when “a large pine tree […] Industry News SnowBrains | May 22, 2023 1 Comment
Chance to Buy a Piece of Alpine History at Hotham, Australia For the first time ever, people have the chance to own a piece of Hotham history, with 57 chairs from Hotham’s first ever chairlift, The Playground Chair, going up for auction. “This is a very special chairlift, Hotham’s first – a two-seater that opened in 1969 that was the main access lift back to the village until 1993 when the […] Industry News Oz Brains | May 17, 2023 0 Comments
Colorado’s Oldest Chairlift Set to Be Retired After 70 Years Colorado’s oldest operating chairlift started spinning almost 70 years ago at Aspen Mountain. The historic double chair, center pole was engineered by lift designer Robert Heron. Serving as Lift 3 at Aspen from 1954 until 1969, the lift was then sold to Sunlight Mountain Resort where it went into service in 1973. Related: These Are All The New Chairlifts Being […] Industry News Luke Guilford | March 7, 2023 4 Comments
[VIDEO] High Winds Caused a Chair With Skier to Fall to the Ground at Breckenridge, CO, Today pic.twitter.com/DOoWfJ0bDF — brettmgoldberg (@brettmgoldberg1) December 22, 2022 High winds currently battering Colorado caused an occupied chairlift to fall from the haul rope at Breckenridge, CO, today. The person involved was not injured and declined medical care. “At approximately 10:35 am today, a chair dislodged from the haul rope of the Peak 8 SuperConnect as it was reaching the top terminal. One […] SnowBrains | December 22, 2022 1 Comment
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