Leitner-Poma of America, known simply as Leitner-Poma, is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

aerial lift An aerial lift, also known as a cable car or ropeway, is a means of cable transport in which ''cabins'', ''cars'', ''gondolas'', or open chairs are hauled above the ground by means of one or more cables. Aerial lift systems are frequently employe ...

manufacturer based in Grand Junction,

Colorado Colorado (, other variants) is a state in the Mountain states, Mountain West subregion of the Western United States. It encompasses most of the Southern Rocky Mountains, as well as the northeastern portion of the Colorado Plateau and the wes ...

. It is the American subsidiary of French-based

Poma Poma, incorporated as Pomagalski S.A., and sometimes referred to as the Poma Group, is a French company which manufactures cable-driven lift systems, including fixed and detachable chairlifts, gondola lifts, funiculars, aerial tramways, peop ...

, which is owned by the Italian company HTI Group. The North American company was formed in 2000 when the Seeber Group, owner of Leitner, bought Poma and merged both companies' North American subsidiaries. Leitner-Poma of America operates a

Canadian Canadians (french: Canadiens) are people identified with the country of Canada. This connection may be residential, legal, historical or cultural. For most Canadians, many (or all) of these connections exist and are collectively the source of ...

subsidiary based in

Barrie Barrie is a city in Southern Ontario, Canada, about north of Toronto. The city is within Simcoe County and located along the shores of Kempenfelt Bay, the western arm of Lake Simcoe. Although physically in Simcoe County, Barrie is politically ...

Ontario Ontario ( ; ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada.Ontario is located in the geographic eastern half of Canada, but it has historically and politically been considered to be part of Central Canada. Located in Central C ...

called Leitner-Poma Canada Inc. Leitner-Poma's only major competitors are

Doppelmayr USA Doppelmayr USA, Inc is an aerial lift manufacturer based in Salt Lake City, Utah, and a subsidiary of the worldwide Doppelmayr Garaventa Group. The United States company was formed in 2002 after the merger of Garaventa of Goldau, Switzerland, a ...

, based in

Salt Lake City Salt Lake City (often shortened to Salt Lake and abbreviated as SLC) is the capital and most populous city of Utah, United States. It is the seat of Salt Lake County, the most populous county in Utah. With a population of 200,133 in 2020, th ...

, and Doppelmayr Canada. Leitner-Poma also supplies lifts to Australia and New Zealand.

Poma of America before merger

Beaver Run SuperChair competition terminal

Jean Pomagalski invented the detachable Pomalift surface tow in 1935, and first brought it to North America in 1952. The first North American Poma brand chairlift was installed in 1958 in Squaw Valley,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

, for the 1960 Winter Olympics. Poma's Grand Junction,

, manufacturing facility was opened in 1981 in order for Poma to better serve the North American market. In 1973, the company built its first Gondola in the United States at

Big Sky Resort Big Sky Resort is a ski resort in the western United States, located in southwestern Montana in Madison County. An hour south of Bozeman via U.S. Highway 191 in Big Sky, Montana, it is the second-largest ski resort in the United States by a ...

Montana Montana () is a state in the Mountain West division of the Western United States. It is bordered by Idaho to the west, North Dakota and South Dakota to the east, Wyoming to the south, and the Canadian provinces of Alberta, British Columb ...

(removed in 2008). In the following years, Poma built gondolas at

Whistler-Blackcomb Whistler Blackcomb is a ski resort located in Whistler, British Columbia, Canada. By many measures it is the largest ski resort in North America and has the greatest uphill lift capacity. It features the Peak 2 Peak Gondola for moving between ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

; Squaw Valley, California (replaced by North America's only

funitel A funitel is a type of cableway, generally used to transport skiers, although at least one is used to transport finished cars between different areas of a factory. It differs from a standard gondola lift through the use of two arms attached to tw ...

); Stowe Mountain Resort,

Vermont Vermont () is a state in the northeast New England region of the United States. Vermont is bordered by the states of Massachusetts to the south, New Hampshire to the east, and New York to the west, and the Canadian province of Quebec to ...

; and Stratton, Vermont, among others. In total, the company built 205

chairlift An elevated passenger ropeway, or chairlift, is a type of aerial lift, which consists of a continuously circulating steel wire rope loop strung between two end terminals and usually over intermediate towers, carrying a series of chairs. Th ...

s, surface lifts, and gondolas before merging with Leitner.

Designs of POMA of America

*Detachable **Terminals ***Alpha evolution ***Performant ***Falcon Gondola ***Competition ***Challenger ***Competition Gondola ***Phatboy **Grips ***TB-41 ***Double TB-41 ***Omega **Carriers ***Arceaux ***Competition ***Omega *Fixed Grip **Terminals ***Delta ***Alpha **Carriers ***Falcon

Leitner Lifts before merger

Leitner had a limited history in North America prior to its merger with Poma of America. Between 1997 and 2001, it installed 21 lifts in the

and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. Customers included

Fernie Alpine Resort Fernie Alpine Resort is a ski resort, located on Lizard Range, near the town of Fernie, British Columbia in Canada. The resort also operates a mountain bike park, hiking, guided hikes, and sightseeing in the summer months. The resort has 10 l ...

Kimberley Alpine Resort Kimberley Alpine Resort is a ski resort in southwestern Canada, located in Kimberley, British Columbia. In the Purcell Mountains on the northeast face of ''North Star Hill'', Kimberley's vertical drop is with a summit elevation of above sea leve ...

, and Big White in

; Mount Norquay and Lake Louise in

Alberta Alberta ( ) is one of the thirteen provinces and territories of Canada. It is part of Western Canada and is one of the three prairie provinces. Alberta is bordered by British Columbia to the west, Saskatchewan to the east, the Northwest Ter ...

; and Jay Peak, Vermont.

Designs of Leitner in America

*Detachable **Terminals ***Automatic ***Quintessential ***Plan de Gralba **Grips ***LA48-95 *Fixed Grip **Terminals ***N/A

Merger of Leitner and Poma

In 2000, the Seeber Group of Italy purchased Pomagalski, S.A. of France. Although the two remained separate in

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a subcontinent of Eurasia and it is located entirel ...

, the North American operations of each were combined. While it was announced as a merger of Leitner Lifts USA/Canada and Poma of America, Leitner's operations were mostly folded into Poma's. The last Leitner designed lifts were installed in 2001, and since 2002, all lifts produced by the company have been of Poma's design. In 2010, Leitner-Poma adapted the LPA detachable grip, which is cosmetically slightly different from the Omega T-Grip. The terminal design also changed with the introduction of the new grip. The first lift in the United States with the new grip was the High Noon Express at

Vail Ski Resort Vail Ski Resort is a ski resort in the western United States, located near the town of Vail in Eagle County, Colorado. At , it is the third-largest single-mountain ski resort in the U.S., behind Big Sky and Park City, featuring seven bowls and ...

. In 2012, Leitner-Poma adapted a new retro tower design that is a cross of the design of tower heads on Poma chairlifts built in the late 1970s and early 1980s with the design used since 1994.

After the merger

In 2009, Leitner-Poma of America moved into a new headquarters in Grand Junction along with other companies owned by Leitner Technologies, including Leitwind, a manufacturer of wind turbines, and Prinoth, a maker of snow groomers. Colorado Governor Bill Ritter attended the grand opening ceremony, which took place during the

financial crisis of 2007–2010 Finance is the study and discipline of money, currency and capital assets. It is related to, but not synonymous with economics, the study of production, distribution, and consumption of money, assets, goods and services (the discipline of fi ...

at which Leitner-Poma promised to create 100 new jobs. The company recently won the contract to build the replacement

Roosevelt Island Tramway The Roosevelt Island Tramway is an aerial tramway in New York City that spans the East River and connects Roosevelt Island to the Upper East Side of Manhattan. The tramway is the first commuter aerial tramway in North America, having opened in ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

, and is also the supplier of the passenger capsules for both the London Eye

Ferris wheel A Ferris wheel (also called a Giant Wheel or an observation wheel) is an amusement ride consisting of a rotating upright wheel with multiple passenger-carrying components (commonly referred to as passenger cars, cabins, tubs, gondolas, capsule ...

in England and the

High Roller A high roller, also referred to as a whale or cheetah, is a gambler who consistently wagers large amounts of money. High rollers often receive lavish " comps" from casinos to lure them onto the gambling floors, such as free private jet transfer ...

Ferris wheel to be built on the

Las Vegas Strip The Las Vegas Strip is a stretch of Las Vegas Boulevard South in Clark County, Nevada, that is known for its concentration of resort hotels and casinos. The Strip, as it is known, is about long, and is immediately south of the Las Vegas city ...

. Leitner-Poma's market share continues to trail significantly behind Doppelmayr. As both Poma and as Leitner-Poma, the company has built some of the most notable lifts in America, including, among others, the only double-loading chairlift in North America (Quicksilver Super6) and the highest chairlift in North America, Imperial Express SuperChair (topping at ), both located at

Breckenridge Ski Resort Breckenridge Ski Resort is an alpine ski resort in the western United States, in Breckenridge, Colorado. Just west of the Continental Divide in Summit County, it is perennially one of the most visited ski resorts in the western hemisphere. Br ...

in Colorado. In 2016 Leitner-Poma had acquired Skytrac, a Utah-based competitor.

Designs after the merger

Immediately following the Leitner-Poma merge, there were no noticeable aesthetic changes in the designs of the chairlifts, as all lifts built until 2010 utilized the Omega T-Grip and terminal. The first noticeable changes were when the LPA grip and terminal were introduced in 2010, replacing the Omega grip. Also, a new tower design was introduced in 2012, replacing a design used since 1994. *Detachable **Terminals ***Phatboy Terminal ***Omega Terminal (1998-2011) ***LPA Terminal (2010-current) **Grips ***Omega T-Grip (1998-2011) ***LPA Grip (2010-current) **Carriers ***Omega Carrier ***LPA Carrier *Fixed Grip **Terminals ***Alpha Terminal (Drive) ***Z-Type (Return) ***N/A (Return) **Carriers ***Omega Carrier

Skytrac

Skytrac Lifts, Inc, known as Skytrac, is an American aerial ropeway engineering, manufacturing and installation company located in Salt Lake City, UT. Since 2010, Skytrac has focused on the North American majority market of new fixed-grip installations. They also provide modification and retrofitting services to the aging chairlift segment of the ski, chairlift transportation and amusement ride industries. Leitner-Poma purchased Skytrac in April 2016. This acquisition gives Leitner-Poma a stronger presence in the fixed-grip and retrofit market in North America.

References

{{Reflist

External links

Leitner-Poma's websitePoma's websiteLeitner Group's website
on skilifts.org
Skytrac website
Aerial lift manufacturers Manufacturing companies based in Colorado American subsidiaries of foreign companies