You rarely hear of new T Bar drag lifts being installed anywhere. Indeed at one point the lifts were so unpopular that a plan (later abandoned apparently) to remove them all from Austria was unveiled in the 1990s.
But Bretton Woods in New Hampshire, USA is installing a brand new Doppelmayr T-Bar as part of its expansion in to the Mount Stickney area for the 2012/13 season. There's also a new warming cabin with a wood stove, allowing skiers to get the chill out before their next run.
Drag lifts and particularly rare in North America and T Bars especially so but the resort says it wants to create a step back to a traditional New England skiing experience in the new area which includes 30 acres of gladed tree skiing. This will feature steep drop offs and a cliff area thrill-seekers at Bretton Woods.
For the less adventurous, many of the glades are being manicured in the Bretton Woods fashion so they will be skiable even in lean snow years.
With the addition of the surface lift, skiers and riders can now spend hours doing laps in the trees without having to return to the main base area. www.brettonwoods.com