Doppelmayr CTEC
Encyclopedia
Aerial lift
An aerial lift is a means of transportation in which cabins, cars, gondolas or open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more cables.Types of aerial lifts include:...
manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah
Utah
Utah is a state in the Western United States. It was the 45th state to join the Union, on January 4, 1896. Approximately 80% of Utah's 2,763,885 people live along the Wasatch Front, centering on Salt Lake City. This leaves vast expanses of the state nearly uninhabited, making the population the...
, and Saint-Jérôme, Quebec
Saint-Jérôme, Quebec
Saint-Jérôme is a town in Quebec, Canada, near Mirabel, about northwest of Montreal along Autoroute des Laurentides. The town is a gateway to the Laurentian Mountains and its resorts....
, and a subsidiary of the worldwide Doppelmayr Garaventa Group. The North America
North America
North America is a continent wholly within the Northern Hemisphere and almost wholly within the Western Hemisphere. It is also considered a northern subcontinent of the Americas...
n company was formed in 2001 after the merger of Garaventa of Goldau
Goldau
Goldau is a city in the community of Arth, canton of Schwyz, Switzerland. It lies between two mountains, the Rigi and the Rossberg...
, Switzerland
Switzerland
Switzerland name of one of the Swiss cantons. ; ; ; or ), in its full name the Swiss Confederation , is a federal republic consisting of 26 cantons, with Bern as the seat of the federal authorities. The country is situated in Western Europe,Or Central Europe depending on the definition....
, and Doppelmayr of Wolfurt
Wolfurt
Wolfurt is a municipality in the western Austrian state of Vorarlberg.-External links:*...
, Austria
Austria
Austria , officially the Republic of Austria , is a landlocked country of roughly 8.4 million people in Central Europe. It is bordered by the Czech Republic and Germany to the north, Slovakia and Hungary to the east, Slovenia and Italy to the south, and Switzerland and Liechtenstein to the...
. Its only competitor is Leitner-Poma
Leitner-Poma
Leitner-Poma of America is a North American aerial lift manufacturer based in Grand Junction, Colorado. It is the North American subsidiary of French-based Poma, which is owned by the Italian company Leitner Technologies, part of the Leitner Group. The North American company was formed in 2000 when...
. Between 2001 and 2010, the company was named Doppelmayr CTEC.
CTEC before merger
Thiokol
Thiokol is a U.S. corporation concerned initially with rubber and related chemicals, and later with rocket and missile propulsion systems...
, a company which built 41 ski lifts between 1971 and 1977. By 1977, Thiokol had decided to stop producing ski lifts and sold their designs to two employees, Jan Leonard and Mark Ballantyne.
CTEC's first lift produced as an independent manufacturer was at Seven Springs Mountain Resort
Seven Springs Mountain Resort
Seven Springs Mountain Resort is an all season resort located in Seven Springs, Pennsylvania. The resort is officially listed in the borough of Seven Springs but some sources still list it as Champion, as it previously was. It has a fairly high elevation for a Pennsylvania ski area, at 3001 feet...
, Pennsylvania
Pennsylvania
The Commonwealth of Pennsylvania is a U.S. state that is located in the Northeastern and Mid-Atlantic regions of the United States. The state borders Delaware and Maryland to the south, West Virginia to the southwest, Ohio to the west, New York and Ontario, Canada, to the north, and New Jersey to...
, in 1978. Leonard oversaw engineering at the company's Salt Lake City facility while manufacturing was performed in Sacramento, California
Sacramento, California
Sacramento is the capital city of the U.S. state of California and the county seat of Sacramento County. It is located at the confluence of the Sacramento River and the American River in the northern portion of California's expansive Central Valley. With a population of 466,488 at the 2010 census,...
, where Ballantyne worked. CTEC slowly grew to become one of three major lift manufacturers in North America along with Europe
Europe
Europe is, by convention, one of the world's seven continents. Comprising the westernmost peninsula of Eurasia, Europe is generally 'divided' from Asia to its east by the watershed divides of the Ural and Caucasus Mountains, the Ural River, the Caspian and Black Seas, and the waterways connecting...
an-owned Doppelmayr USA and Poma of America. In 1989, CTEC partnered with Von Roll to build its first detachable chairlift
Detachable chairlift
A detachable chairlift or high-speed chairlift is a type of passenger aerial lift, which, like a fixed-grip chairlift, consists of numerous chairs attached to a constantly moving wire rope that is strung between two terminals over intermediate towers. They are now commonplace at all but the...
at Solitude Mountain Resort
Solitude Mountain Resort
Solitude Mountain Resort is a ski resort located in the Big Cottonwood Canyon of the Wasatch Mountains, thirty miles southeast of Salt Lake City, Utah. With 64 trails, and vertical, Solitude is one of the smaller ski resorts near Salt Lake City, along with its neighbor Brighton...
, Utah.
From 1990 onwards, CTEC used detachable grips built by the Swiss company Garaventa. In 1992, CTEC and Garaventa merged and the new company was named Garaventa CTEC. Prior to the merger, Garaventa had built only a few lifts in North America, including Aerial Trams at Snowbird, Utah
Snowbird, Utah
Snowbird is an unincorporated area based in Little Cottonwood Canyon in the Wasatch Range of the Rocky Mountains in Salt Lake County, Utah, U.S. It is most famous for Snowbird Ski and Summer Resort, an alpine skiing and snowboarding area, which opened in December 1971.- History :Snowbird is a...
, and Squaw Valley Ski Resort
Squaw Valley Ski Resort
Squaw Valley Ski Resort in Olympic Valley, California, is one of the largest ski areas in the United States, and was the site of the 1960 Winter Olympics. It is the second-largest ski area at Lake Tahoe , with 33 chairlifts, and has the only funitel lift in the U.S...
, California
California
California is a state located on the West Coast of the United States. It is by far the most populous U.S. state, and the third-largest by land area...
. The combined company utilized the designs and manufacturing facilities of CTEC since Garaventa never had much of a presence in North America besides supplying parts to CTEC. CTEC's growing reputation combined with the European ownership and parts supply of Garaventa allowed it to win contracts for large lifts such as the Gold Coast Funitel at Squaw Valley, Placer County, California, gondolas at Telluride Ski Resort
Telluride Ski Resort
Telluride Ski Resort is a ski resort located in Mountain Village, Colorado right next to Telluride.The resort was founded by Joseph T. Zoline who hoped to build a "world class resort" from scratch. Telluride's remoteness, Zoline acknowledged, is also what makes the resort special. Weekend warrior...
and Vail Ski Resort
Vail Ski Resort
Vail Ski Resort is located in Eagle County, Colorado, next to the town of Vail. Vail Mountain, at , is the largest single mountain ski resort in the United States, featuring seven bowls and intermediate gladed terrain in Blue Sky Basin...
, and Steamboat Springs Ski Resort in Colorado, and Deer Valley
Deer Valley
Deer Valley is an alpine ski resort in the Wasatch Range, located east of Salt Lake City, in Park City, Utah, United States. The resort, known for its upscale amenities, is consistently ranked among the top ski resorts in North America...
, Utah, . In 1999, Ballantyne left the company to form a window and door distribution company but Leonard remained president.
Doppelmayr USA before merger
Marmot Basin
Marmot Basin is an alpine ski area located in Alberta's Jasper National Park. It has offered a broad variety of basin and glade skiing since it first served enthusiasts in 1961 with a single rope tow driven by a truck engine....
, Alberta
Alberta
Alberta is a province of Canada. It had an estimated population of 3.7 million in 2010 making it the most populous of Canada's three prairie provinces...
, in 1968. Doppelmayr's first North American manufacturing facility in Saint-Jérôme, Quebec, opened in 1978.
Unlike its competitors, Doppelmayr used exclusively European designs in North America. The company built the world's first detachable high speed quad chairlift in 1981 at Breckenridge Ski Resort
Breckenridge Ski Resort
Breckenridge Ski Resort, or just Breck, is perenially one of North America's top 2 most visited ski resorts, and is located in Summit County, Colorado in the town of Breckenridge...
in Colorado. As detachable lifts became increasingly popular, Doppelmayr's market share and reputation increased.
In 1996, Doppelmayr's European holding company purchased VonRoll, a Swiss lift manufacturer which had been making lifts in North America since the mid-1980s. More importantly, VonRoll owned Hall Ski Lifts, a domestic company that produced more than 400 lifts from 1960 to 1985. Doppelmayr now controlled all the spare parts sales for Doppelmayr, Von Roll, and Hall brand lifts.
Merger of Doppelmayr and CTEC
Doppelmayr
The Doppelmayr Garaventa Group is an Austrian-Swiss company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks as well as urban people movers and material handling systems. To date, Doppelmayr and Garaventa have produced over 13,700 installations in 78...
of Austria, forming the world's largest aerial lift manufacturer. The new company would be known as the Doppelmayr Garaventa Group in Europe and Doppelmayr CTEC in North America. Consolidation resulted in the closure of CTEC's Sacramento manufacturing facility and Doppelmayr's Golden, Colorado, office. Functions were consolidated into an expanded Salt Lake City headquarters.
Starting in 2003, Doppelmayr CTEC produced a new line of products that combined the best designs of Doppelmayr and CTEC. The Uni-GS detachable chairlift terminal design was specifically designed for the North American market and incorporated elements of Garaventa CTEC's Stealth line and Doppelmayr's Uni line. Many of CTEC's fixed grip designs were kept. Today, manufacturing of fixed grip chairlift terminals and all tower tubes and chairs is done at Doppelmayr CTEC's Salt Lake City factory, while all line equipment and detachable terminals are made in the Quebec plant. Jan Leonard, president of Garaventa CTEC became president of the new company, and Doppelmayr USA's Mark Bee became Executive VP.
After the merger
In 2003, the company installed its first UNI-GS detachable chairlift, the Panorama Quad, at Gunstock Mountain ResortGunstock Mountain Resort
Gunstock Mountain Resort is a sports complex located on Gunstock Mountain in Gilford, New Hampshire, and is owned by Belknap County. Activities include alpine and cross-country skiing, snow tubing, ski jumping, snowshoeing, hiking, swimming, and skateboarding.-History:The original Gunstock...
in Gilford, New Hampshire
Gilford, New Hampshire
Gilford is a town in Belknap County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 7,126 at the 2010 census. Situated on Lake Winnipesaukee, Gilford is home to Governors Island, Ellacoya State Beach, Belknap Mountain State Forest, Gunstock Mountain Ski Resort, and Meadowbrook U.S...
.
In 2003, the company was selected to design, fabricate, install and maintain the Portland Aerial Tram
Portland Aerial Tram
The Portland Aerial Tram is an aerial tramway in Portland, Oregon, carrying commuters between the city's South Waterfront district and the main Oregon Health & Science University campus, located in the Marquam Hill neighborhood. It is the second commuter aerial tramway in the United States...
at a cost of $57 million.
In 2005, the company purchased Partek
Partek
Partek Ski Lifts was a chairlift manufacturer based in Pine Island, New York. It was founded in 1996 as the successor to Borvig, who went out of business in 1993. The company was founded by Hagen Schulz, the son of Borvig's President Gary Schulz...
, a small chairlift manufacturer based in Pine Island, New York
Pine Island, New York
Pine Island is a hamlet in the town of Warwick in Orange County, New York, United States. It is the largest community in the Black Dirt Region, which is famous for the "black dirt onions." Pine Island is also home to the annual Onion Festival, celebrating the fact that nearly 30% of all the onions...
. Also included in the purchase were Partek's rights to Borvig lifts.
Jan Leonard stepped down as president of the company in October 2007 to start a new company, Skytrac Lifts. He was replaced by VP Mark Bee.
In 2007 and 2008, Doppelmayr CTEC constructed two notable lifts at Jackson Hole
Jackson Hole Mountain Resort
The Jackson Hole Mountain Resort is a ski resort at Teton Village, Wyoming. Located northwest of Jackson and due south of Grand Teton National Park in Teton County, it is named after the historically significant Jackson Hole valley. The region is served by the Jackson Hole Airport.-Ski area...
, Wyoming, and Whistler Blackcomb, British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
. The new tram at Jackson Hole cost $28 million and replaced the iconic original Jackson Hole Tram. Whistler-Blackcomb's Peak 2 Peak Gondola
Peak 2 Peak Gondola
The Peak 2 Peak Gondola is a tri-cable gondola lift located in Whistler, British Columbia that links Whistler Mountain's Roundhouse Lodge with Blackcomb Mountain's Rendezvous Restaurant. It is the first lift to join the two side-by-side mountains...
is the largest lift of its kind in the world, breaking multiple world records and costing CDN $52 million.
On January 1, 2011, the company dropped CTEC from its name to become Doppelmayr.
Designs
- Detachable
- Terminals
- Doppelmayr
- CLD Series
- UNI
- UNI-(S, M, L)
- UNI-G
- CTEC / GaraventaCTEC
- Stealth
- Stealth 32
- Stealth 3
- DoppelmayrCTEC
- Stealth 3
- UNI-G
- UNI-GS
- Doppelmayr
- Grips
- Doppelmayr
- DS
- DT
- CTEC / GaraventaCTEC
- AK-4
- AK-400
- DoppelmayrCTEC
- AK-400
- DT
- Agamatic
- Doppelmayr
- Carriers
- Doppelmar
- 80's-Style
- EJ
- CTEC / GaraventaCTEC
- Stealth
- DoppelmayrCTEC
- EJ
- Stealth
- Doppelmar
- Terminals
- Fixed-Grip
- Terminals
- Doppelmayr
- (In general Doppelmayr did not name its fixed grip terminals)
- CTEC / GaraventaCTEC
- Drive/Tension
- Enterprise
- Sprint
- Galaxy
- Drive/Fixed
- Gemini
- Northstar
- Northstar LT
- Return/Tension
- Pegasus
- Return/Fixed
- Orion
- Eclipse
- Drive/Tension
- DoppelmayrCTEC
- All of GaraventaCTEC's design except the Enterprise
- Drive/Tension
- Galaxy-GS
- Drive/Fixed
- UNI-Star
- Return/Tension
- Interpid
- Doppelmayr
- Carriers
- Doppelmayr
- Center-pole
- 80's-Style
- EJ
- CTEC / GaraventaCTEC
- Center-pole
- Thiokol-Style
- Stealth
- DoppelmayrCTEC
- EJ
- Stealth
- Doppelmayr
- Terminals
See also
- Leitner-PomaLeitner-PomaLeitner-Poma of America is a North American aerial lift manufacturer based in Grand Junction, Colorado. It is the North American subsidiary of French-based Poma, which is owned by the Italian company Leitner Technologies, part of the Leitner Group. The North American company was formed in 2000 when...
- Aerial liftAerial liftAn aerial lift is a means of transportation in which cabins, cars, gondolas or open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more cables.Types of aerial lifts include:...
- DoppelmayrDoppelmayrThe Doppelmayr Garaventa Group is an Austrian-Swiss company that manufactures chairlifts, cable cars, gondolas, surface tows for ski and amusement parks as well as urban people movers and material handling systems. To date, Doppelmayr and Garaventa have produced over 13,700 installations in 78...
- List of aerial lift manufacturers