Pennsylvania’s Seven Springs Mountain Resort is planning a chairlift upgrade aimed at improving reliability and reducing wait times, according to a recent announcement made during Vail Resorts’ Q4 2025 earnings call.
The resort intends to replace its existing three-passenger fixed-grip Blitzen Lift with a new four-passenger fixed-grip chair ahead of the 2026/27 season.
“We are thrilled to bring this project to Seven Springs, pending final approvals,” said Brett Cook, vice president and general manager of Seven Springs, Hidden Valley, and Laurel Mountain. “Replacing the Blitzen Lift with a new four-person chair will significantly improve reliability and increase uphill capacity by 33%, giving our guests more time on the slopes and less time in line.”
The Blitzen Lift currently serves a mix of beginner, intermediate, and advanced terrain at Seven Springs and is one of the resort’s older fixed-grip chairs. While detachable high-speed lifts tend to deliver the biggest time savings, replacing an aging fixed-grip lift can still provide meaningful improvements through higher capacity, more consistent operations, and fewer mechanical disruptions.
Seven Springs has not yet released construction timing details or whether any trail or lift alignment changes are planned as part of the project.
If approved, the lift replacement would represent another infrastructure investment by Vail Resorts in the East Region, following a broader strategy of upgrading guest-facing systems and mountain operations at its resorts. In 2022, a lift upgrade project was completed at Jack Frost and Big Boulder, resulting in the replacement and consolidation of five lifts.
While the lift replacement at Seven Springs is the only Mid-Atlantic lift project Vail has publicly discussed so far, some skiers in the region will be watching to see whether additional lift investments are announced in the future. One area frequently mentioned by local riders is Whitetail, where the resort’s aging high-speed chair has been unavailable during the opening week of the season due to mechanical difficulties, restricting access to Whitetail’s terrain. Vail has not announced any lift upgrades for Whitetail and is currently working on repairing the lift.
M. Scott Smith is the founder and Editor of DCSki. Scott loves outdoor activities such as camping, hiking, kayaking, skiing, and mountain biking. He is an avid photographer and writer.
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