Vail, CO – Officials at Vail Mountain in Colorado today announced that the resort plans to replace its Avanti Express Lift (#2) with a six-passenger lift this summer, pending U.S. Forest Service approval. Avanti Express is a primary lift on the front side of Vail Mountain, serving intermediate and advanced terrain and dispersing skiers and snowboarders from Lionshead to mid-mountain. Upgrading the lift will reduce wait times and improve reliability, company officials assert.

“We’ve been incredibly fortunate to invest more in Vail Mountain recently than most resorts can even dream of in a lifetime with six major lift upgrades since the 2007-08 season, improvements to snowmaking capabilities and a new fine-dining on-mountain restaurant. The transformations in town in the same time span have been equally impressive,” said Chris Jarnot, senior vice president and chief operating officer of Vail Mountain. “All of these upgrades and investments truly speak to our commitment to the guest experience and keeping Vail at the forefront of the industry.”

The current lift – a Doppelmayr detachable quad – was installed in 1989 and has a maximum uphill capacity of approximately 2,800 people per hour. Vail plans to replace the lift with a detachable six-passenger lift similar to the Mountain Top Express Lift (#4) with a loading conveyor and gates to improve efficiency and increase capacity by up to 30 percent and improve skier and snowboarder circulation.

The new lift is subject to U.S. Forest Service approval. Additional details on the manufacturer, design and approval of the proposed lift will be made available in the coming months.