Keystone Resort Gondola Progress

The new gondola is coming along rapidly. Much work needs to be completed prior to the start of the 2008-2009 ski season. See the progress throughout the construction right here!

The New Plan

Keystone Resort announced on Dec 21st, 2007 that a new gondola was to be built in River Run, replacing the old one with a newer, faster 8 person lift. The new gondola will have higher capacity, a mid-mountain station and be able to shuttle people much faster than ever before.

Some of the new features include:

Closer to River Run by more than 100 yards.
Floor to ceiling windows for better views.
Loading and unloading onto heated platforms.
Level walk-in cabin for easy access for strollers, wheelchairs and bikes.
Skis and snowboards carried outside the cabin.
Mid-mountain terminal for loading and unloading either direction.
2400 passengers per hour capacity.
Energy minded design with effeceint motors and low profile lift towers.
Length: 9586 Feet
Vertical Rise 2307.5 Feet
Trip Time: 11.78 minutes
Capacity: 8 people per cabin

Construction begins

The after after closing (April 13th, 2008) the crews were busy dismanteling the old River Run Gondola. At that point, crews had already demolished the old ski school building to make space for the new gondola base area. A week later, the gondola cabins were moved intot the montezuma parking lot on the North side of River Runfor storage.

May 2, 2008 Main demolition of the old ski school building and dismantling of the old gondola. Old cars are being moved the the Montezuma parking lot for storage.

Cabins in Montezuma parking lot	Demolished ski school in River Run
May 7, 2008 The old base building is starting to come down. The windows were removed and next comes the complete demolition.

Ski school gone	Old gondola building no windows
May 15, 2008 The demolition is pretty much complete and construction is underway.

New concrete anchor for lift	Gondola building gone

Gondola building gone
May 27, 2008 The bottom section of the construction is well underway. A crane is visible at the top of the mountain...probably upgrading the existing building since it would be very expensive to replace the entire building.

New bottom anchor completed	New lift parts ready to go

New concrete anchor	Old gondola destroyed

New base for first lift tower
June 4 , 2008 The concrete anchors for the base are complete and construction is about to begin on the new building at the bottom. Lift tower anchors are being poured along the hillside and work being done at the top of Dercum Mountain is underway.

3rd lift tower anchor poured	2nd anchor ready for tower

Looking towards base from 3rd tower	Excavators on the hillside

Crane at the top of Dercum Mountain	Staging area of all lift parts