Forest Service Approves Two New Chairlifts at Vail Mountain Ski Resort

Vail Mountain, Colorado, has received Forest Service approval for an infrastructure project that includes the replacement of two chairlifts.

The proposal, detailed in Vail Mountain’s 2023 Master Development Plan (MDP), would make the three-person Little Eagle chairlift a high-speed quad, alongside other improvements to the Eagle’s Nest area beginner experience, like the expansion of snowmaking capabilities and the conversion of the Outpost building into a dining hut with an outdoor deck.

The removal of summer activity structures that are no longer in use, including the Game Creek Canopy Tour and Golden Eagle Zipline, are also planned.

“There is a need to modernize and expand the gondola-accessed beginner terrain at Eagle’s Nest to reduce on-mountain congestion, support growing lesson demand, and provide a more progressive learning environment,” wrote Forest Supervisor Brian Glaspell in the Forest Service decision green-lighting the project.

The aging Orient Express, currently a four-person high-speed lift installed in 1988 that serves Vail Mountain’s famed Back Bowls, would also expand to carry six passengers and have an uphill capacity of 3,600 skiers and snowboarders per hour.

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The part of the plan centered on the Orient Express includes grading between the top of the chairlift and the Two Elk Lodge. The re-grade is set to improve skier flow, making the Wapiti surface lift redundant, which, under the plan, would be removed.

“As the chairlift is over thirty years old and nearing the end of its service life, there is a need to replace it to ensure reliable access, reduce wait times, and improve circulation,” Glaspell wrote of the Orient Express.

All of the improvements fall within Vail Mountain’s Special Use Permit (SUP) boundary and “could potentially be implemented as early as the 2026 construction season,” Glaspell wrote, noting that the bottom terminal and towers for the new Orient Express will be built outside the annual summertime elk calving closure in the Back Bowls. 

At Vail Mountain, the ski season is scheduled to start in just over a month on November 14, 2025.

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