Duluth officials review Spirit Mountain plan to replace two aging lifts with single new chair; Leitner Poma recommended

Anne Glumack, executive director of Spirit Mountain, told the Duluth City Council the resort is pursuing a plan to replace two aging chairlifts with a single new four-person lift and that city staff ranked Leitner Poma of America as the top proposer in a recently completed request for proposals.

The proposal, presented in a committee-of-the-whole session, traces back to a 2020 Spirit Mountain Task Force and a 2021 consultant report by the SE Group that recommended roughly $24 million in capital improvements to preserve the 50-year-old facility’s long-term financial stability. In 2023 the state appropriated $13 million toward that work; the appropriation requires a local match, and the city previously passed resolutions authorizing bonds for the local $13 million match. According to Glumack and a city staff member answering council questions, the local bond will be repaid with tourism tax proceeds for half of the debt and Spirit Mountain will pay the remaining half.

Spirit Mountain has already implemented several of the task force recommendations, Glumack said, including replacing roughly 230 metal-halide hill lights with LEDs, upgrading snowmaking discharge management, replacing rental gear, purchasing grooming equipment, improving IT and point-of-sale systems, and adding Nordic and mountain-bike trails. Those investments amount to about $5 million, Glumack said, roughly 20% of the improvements identified in the SE Group report, which leaves larger projects such as lift replacements and a Skyline Chalet renovation to address next.

On the lifts themselves, Glumack reviewed the existing configuration and ages: an express lift about 14 years old, a summit lift original to the hill opened in 1974 (about 50 years old), a Gandy chair about 49 years old, and a Big Air chair about 36 years old. She said the city and consultants concluded Spirit has “too much lift capacity” to maintain economically and that replacing the Summit and Gandy chairs with a single lift carrying four people per chair would preserve guest access while reducing operating and maintenance costs.

Glumack described the procurement process: the city issued an RFP, received three proposals and scored them with city facilities and lift staff; Leitner Poma received the highest combined score. She also said Spirit has begun decommissioning a separate “double jaw” lift and expects it removed before next winter.

Councilors asked for clarifications during Q&A. Councilor Forsman sought confirmation that tourism taxes would service the debt; a city staff member confirmed that was the council’s and the city’s plan. Councilor Mayo asked whether Spirit had coordinated parts-sharing or maintenance with Chester Park; Glumack said Spirit is working on an agreement to provide preventive lift maintenance for Chester Park and that usable parts could be shared where appropriate. Councilor Mayo also asked about summer construction impacts; Glumack said site preparation and helicopter deliveries are anticipated but she did not expect disruption to the disc-golf course; some mountain-bike routing may need temporary adjustment depending on final scope.

Glumack said the lift alignment under consideration would start near the bottom of the summit chair and angle to end where Gandy currently ends, allowing access to all parts of the hill. She emphasized that safety inspections and maintenance remain rigorous and said continued parts-obsolescence for older lifts is increasing costs. The RFP winner, Leitner Poma, is the vendor Spirit currently uses for other lifts, she said.

No formal council vote on the lift replacement appears in the provided transcript excerpt; Glumack told the council the resolution related to the lift would be on the evening’s agenda and that councilors would vote later in the meeting. The presentation included numeric and financial details discussed above and several follow-up questions from councilors about maintenance partnerships and construction impacts.

What’s next: the council will consider the resolution related to the lift later in the meeting agenda (per Glumack) and city staff described the procurement and financing structure during council questions.