Colorado — While Colorado is home to some of the best ski lifts on the planet, there’s room for improvement.
As outlined in SRG Skiing’s latest video, various lift replacements are needed at major ski resorts in the state. However, the major destinations have spent the past few years twiddling their thumbs on potential lift replacements following major additions to start the 2020s.
Alterra & Vail
In particular, Vail Resorts and Alterra Mountain Company have been slacking on lift replacements in recent years. Vail, Beaver Creek, Breckenridge, and Keystone have all had projects go through Forest Service review, but haven’t started them yet. Recently reappointed CEO Rob Katz has stated they’re aiming to diversify their capital investments, meaning more money spent on dining, snowmaking, and other parts of the skiing experience, rather than just lifts. Alterra has also stalled on the lift replacements at Steamboat and Winter Park. Add in the fact that lifts are expensive and demand for them remains high; it’s becoming an issue for Colorado ski resorts.
Recent Lift Additions
In terms of the 2025-26 season’s additions, he was most critical of Sunlight Mountain Resort’s new lift network. In theory, their old chairlifts could have been replaced with a singular high-speed quad. However, with Sunlight’s purchase of A-Basin’s Lenawee Triple, it made more sense for them to just purchase a new fixed-grip quad to complement the other addition. With the vertical drop of Sunlight being 2,010 feet, you could argue that a high-speed chairlift is needed. However, you could also argue that locals want to keep Sunlight under the radar, so these changes serve that purpose.
SRG Skiing described some of these new lifts as positive additions, such as Elk Camp at Snowmass, the No Name Basin expansion at Monarch, and Loveland’s new beginner chairlift. He praised Aspen One’s ongoing investments in its properties, such as at Snowmass. It’s looking like another busy offseason for them, with preparatory work happening for the Nell Bell chairlift and possible new 1A lift at Aspen.
While lift additions were a priority for major Colorado mountains a few years ago, they’re clearly less of a priority now. We’ll see whether economic headwinds affect the schedule for future lift replacements in Colorado.
Image/Video Credits: SRG Skiing
