September 6th was the day Hurricane Irma hit St. Maarten. Our eco-park was ten days away from opening with the two new fixed-grip installations having already run for ten months during construction. The lifts were explicitly designed for hurricane forces, and although we knew they would get tested, we didn’t think that would happen so… Read More »

We’ll take our Kliffy, straight up, hold the ice. Here’s the story.

Skytrac has launched a new website and video specifically for the Hilltrac Automated People Mover (APM). This is a transit system powered by green technology and engineered to perform both vertical and horizontal curves while traversing virtually any topography. Hilltrac.com »

Dale Haglin shares his 34 years of know-how, facts on reclaimed water, and, hold the salt, Snowbowl uses volcanic ash. “Arizona has all six of the of the Merriam life zones, starting at the driest of desert zones all the way up through the Sonoran’s of Joshua tree and sage brush to the Hudsonian Life… Read More »

New England Summit, SANY, PSAA, SSAA, NSAA Fall Meetings and Shows http://www.nsaa.org/events/fall-education-seminars/fes-home/

Bill Brett, the now retired mountain manager from Timberline Resort, OR, is the 2017 recipient of the PNSAA Tower of Excellence Award. Here’s his story on lift mechanics in some of the U.S.’s toughest weather. “Here at Timberline, we built the first Palmer lift; a Riblet fixed double in 1977 to 1978. It was the… Read More »

Knight Equipment Company, circa 1957. Aubrey Knight; founder, and the little guy is R.J.

Fly day safety. The most critical concern that can save time, money and stress on a fly day is having control of the work area. Helicopter ski lift construction is becoming more difficult as resorts become year-round destinations and where people are continually on the mountain. If someone is out on their mountain bike, we… Read More »

Writer’s note for reading this article: If you know Dave, you’ll understand that is written just as he speaks .. loaded with his humble, wry humor. Bill Merk bought a Tucker Snowcat and trailer to carry people up the mountain for skiing. A small building with a center fireplace and a gravel floor served as… Read More »

Professional Engineer and life skier on today’s ski lift culture, lift projects, and his take on differing ANSI Standard interpretations. “The mid-eighties was my ten-year career mark in civil, structural, ski lift and tramway engineering — the engineering I loved the most. At this point in time, I decided to venture out on my own… Read More »

Win a Skytrac hat! Last June, LeRoy Shultz, Engineer and past chairman of the ANSI B77.1 Committee received the Jan W. Leonard award for exceptional contribution to the Committee. We caught up with his wife Dana who sent us this wonderful picture of Leroy accepting his award. Thanks Dana! But WHO’s the rugged ivy-leaguer-looking guy… Read More »

Generations of Advice from Mountain Wire Rope Services. Is your team prepared for your upcoming splice or will you fall back on old habits? JT and Whitney Walters-Anderson give us the basics for Splice Day that often get overlooked. Pre-Splice Day Mountain Wire Rope will ask for the original splice report, original rope specs and… Read More »