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In 1990, Michigan got its first high-speed detachable quad 2025 10-year plan, although an exact date has not been set.
chairlift at Boyne Highlands, and in 1992, Boyne Mountain Boyne also owns and operates Gatlinburg SkyLift, an
unveiled America’s first six-pack high-speed chairlift. (Stephen 1,800-foot-long chairlift ride located in downtown Gatlinburg,
Kircher places an asterisk after this claim to fame, noting that Tenn., that affords panoramic views of the Great Smoky Snow
in that same year there was another prototype six-seat chair- Mountains and beyond. Installation of a new Doppelmayr
lift in operation at Mont Orignal, Quebec.) triple was completed in the spring of 2017, after a wildfire Makers
In addition to these milestones, Big Sky’s Lone Peak Tram in November 2016 left the previous double chairlift and its
is also unique, with a bottom terminal set on a glacier and a mountaintop overlook badly damaged. The SkyLift re-opened
S N O W M A K E R S . C O MN O W M A K E R S . C O M O M
S S N O W M A K E R S . C
top terminal inaccessible for construction except via helicopter. in May 2017, and construction is still underway to transform YOUR TOTAL
Built in 1995, the installation required specially trained high- Gatlinburg SkyLift into Gatlinburg SkyLift Park, which will
altitude workers and 3,000 helicopter flight hours. Terminating reportedly have the longest pedestrian suspension bridge in
on Lone Peak’s 11,166-foot summit—with breathtaking views North America. The park is slated to open in October 2018.
into Yellowstone and Teton National Parks—the tram expanded Kircher says the new tax reform legislation enacted in SNOWMAKING
Big Sky’s skiable terrain by more than 1,200 acres and increased December 2017 had a big role in making it possible for the
the vertical to 4,350 feet, pole-vaulting itself to becoming one company to purchase the lift (see “The Great Divide: How the
of the top three largest ski resorts in North America, along New Tax Law Will Dramatically Improve the Ski Business,” SOLUTION
with Whistler-Blackcomb, BC, and Park City, Utah. spring 2018). More resorts are leveraging the current tax
“That installation had a wow factor that’s hard to replicate,” incentives—including the five-year window allowing for 100
Kircher says. “My brother John [who independently owns percent immediate depreciation on business infrastructure— PROVIDER
Washington’s Crystal Mountain] was the visionary on that. and many more lifts are being built across the country.
I supported him, but our father actually didn’t want to do it, So is this a sign of a US renaissance in chairlift technology?
so we had to argue with dad to get it done. But we knew it Kircher thinks it should be.
would be so transformational for Big Sky that we knew we “In terms of lift technology, we’ve fallen behind in North
had to do it.” The replacement of the tram is also part of the America—and why is that? Mostly because tax incentives in

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42 | NSAA JOURNAL | FALL 2018 S E R V I C E

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