Sunday River Resort to Install New Three-Person Chairlift on Spruce Peak

Newry, Maine—Sunday River Resort will install a new three-person chairlift on Spruce Peak and a new top terminal on Locke Mountain. Both the new chairlift and top terminal are manufactured by Doppelmayr USA, Inc; construction for the new top terminal is currently underway.

Like the original Spruce Peak Triple, the new $2.1 million dollar Doppelmayr fixed-grip three-passenger chairlift will be built in the same location and use a conveyor system to help load passengers onto the chairlift. Passenger ride time is expected to improve from 12 minutes to 10 minutes. 

The decision to replace the resort's 1986-built Spruce Peak Triple comes after the original chairlift's top terminal detached from its foundation in an unwitnessed event on July 10, 2016. The Spruce Peak Triple does not operate in the summer and there were no injuries.

Engineers recently identified concrete grout failure as the cause of the detachment and determined that damage from the event warranted replacing the entire lift.

From these findings, Sunday River made the decision to also replace the top terminal of its Locke Mountain Triple chairlift. The Locke Mountain Triple is the only other chairlift at Sunday River engineered similar to that of the Spruce Peak Triple. It was built in 1985 and was also manufactured by Borvig—now Partek—Ski Lifts. 

During the replacement interim, Spruce Peak terrain will open as conditions allow and can be accessed by the Aurora Peak Quad to Borealis and Sirius trails.

Pending completion of the Locke Mountain top terminal installation, Sunday River's opening day terrain will either include terrain on Locke Mountain or terrain on Aurora Peak. Either way, Sunday River is shooting for first in the east to open, which historically occurs in October.

Sunday River Resort is home to 135 trails and 15 chairlifts, including the Spruce Peak Triple and Locke Mountain Triple. More information on the installation of the new Spruce Peak Triple will be made available following Doppelmayr's engineering study.

A four-season destination, Sunday River Resort is home to eight interconnected mountain peaks of world-class skiing and snowboarding and the most slopeside lodging in the East. Sunday River is a member of the Boyne Resorts family of resorts and attractions and is located in Newry, Maine, amidst the scenic Mahoosuc Range.