Sharing a glimpse of what the new gondola will look like at the June 23 groundbreaking were (L-R) Lutsen Co-owner Tom Rider, Visit Cook County Executive Director Linda Kratt, Co-owner Charles Skinner, Site Manager for Doppelmayr Steve Mayhew, and Executive Director of the Cook County Chamber of Commerce Jim Boyd.
Lutsen Mountains broke ground on Tuesday, June 23 on a new $7 million Doppelmayr gondola, which will be operational by opening day of the 2015-16 ski season. With red cars as a nod to the iconic original, the new eight-passenger gondola will multiply rider capacity to 1,000 visitors per hour. According to Lutsen Mountain owners, this project is part of a 10-year, $25 million transformation that has evolved Lutsen Mountains into a stateof the-art destination ski resort.
“The new gondola will minimize wait times and become a new visual icon of the North Shore,” said Tom Rider, family co-owner. “As a family business and economic anchor for our community, Lutsen Mountains is committed to offering the premier mountain resort experience in the Midwest.”
Rider was in attendance at the groundbreaking along with family co-owner Charles Skinner; Jim Boyd, executive director of the Cook County Chamber of Commerce; Linda Kratt, executive director of the Cook County Visitors Bureau; and Steve Mayhew, site manager for Doppelmayr.
“While Dopplemayr works on lift installations worldwide, there are a few installations where the lift becomes iconic and transformative to the resort,” said Site Manager Mayhew. “The Lutsen Mountains project is sure to be a project of this magnitude and we are proud to be a partner in this expansion.”
The existing gondola will remain operational throughout the summer. It would be an interesting time to take a ride, to see the installation process.
The old gondola cars will be sold at auction in the fall.
“The new gondola and other investments at Lutsen Mountains will ripple through the entire region,” said Boyd. “Having a state-of-the-art destination ski resort in our community not only draws visitors who support local businesses, it also helps entice new families to live, work and become part of the community in Cook County.”
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