Construction Continues on Major Lift Improvement at Colorado's Powderhorn Ski Area
Colorado’s Powderhorn Mountain Resort has a significant update in the works ahead of the 2026-27 ski season, which also marks its 60th Anniversary.
The mountain’s Heron-Poma double chair, West End, has been removed and is being replaced with a high-speed quad lift that’s been repurposed from Snowmass.
The new chair, Wild West Express, will be one of the mountain’s three chairlifts, and the second high-speed quad Powderhorn has installed since 2015. For much of the summer, prep work for the new lift, like digging holes and pouring concrete, has been underway at Powderhorn.
Courtesy of Powderhorn Mountain Resort
The Wild West is a top-drive lift, meaning the new base terminal is the return terminal, or where chairs spin and are redirected back uphill. The lift’s power, or drive machinery, lives in the top terminal.
Courtesy of Powderhorn Mountain Resort
Recently, crews began installing the return terminal of the Wild West Express, hosting lettered terminal structure into position, while the top terminal is being refurbished by Leitner-Poma in Grand Junction. The lift’s haul rope has also arrived at Powderhorn, weighing in at 65,000 lbs, and the spider excavator has finished digging difficult tower footer locations along the steep sections of the lift line.
Courtesy of Powderhorn Mountain Resort
Next on the to-do list for the Wild West Express is placing footer forms by helicopter in harder-to-reach spots. In a social media post about the upgraded lift, Powderhorn noted just how much specialized equipment it takes to build a chairlift. Excavators are used where you can’t drive, spider excavators, which have four mechanical legs that can move independently, for the places a regular excavator can’t reach, and helicopters for the toughest spots.
“There’s still a lot of work ahead, but the view from the base has changed considerably,” Powderhorn wrote. “You don’t have to look at drawings or survey stakes and imagine the Wild West Express anymore. You can just look up.”
The old West End lift was one of the longest fixed-grip chairs on the continent, with a ride time of 13.5 minutes. The new lift will have a significantly shorter ride time and cut down lift line times on Powderhorn’s west side. Wild West Express is slated to open in December 2026—right in time to celebrate the mountain’s 60th Anniversary season—making for a big change to the ski area’s feel and flow.
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