Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

I have noticed that some lifts have loading gates. I see these mostly at Breck, but there are also some on the Excelerator and Super Bee, or so I am told. So I am assuming that thses are a customer option, correct? Also, does Dopp offer loading gates? How do the gates keep in sync with the lift, like when the operator slows down the lift or stops it?

highspeedquad, on Feb 10 2005, 10:22 AM, said:

I have a dumb question about this.. why are they needed?

dave

I have seen many Dopp fixed grip triples and quads in Australia with loading gates. There are usually switches/sensors around the bull-wheel which detect the carriers and trigger the gates. (One switch for open, and one for close)

As for why they're needed? I guess some resorts feel that they ease loading.

Cameron.

I don't have a problem with gates, sometimes they are good and sometimes they are bad. For example, on the Pine Marten Express at Mt. Bachelor, the gates open ever other second because of the amount of carriers in the terminal. If they stayed open all the time, I presume some people would think it was their turn when it actually wasn't. However, if there is no line for the lifts, the gates are usually left open.

I dont have a problem with them. They are great for people who havent riden a chair before. They are really common in Europe, almost every chair that I rode over there had gates.

They are needed at breckenridges double loader for obvious reasons and they are also used at the Peak 8 Supperconnect at the bottom to load every other chair (or every third or two out of three, etc) because of the midstation load.

Gates, from what I've seen, are very helpful with newer skiers. They are synchronized with the lift with a zone prox switch and the haul rope impulse signal. There are different methods of doing this...One is with timers, another is with counters (I prefer this method)

There were originaly problems with gates at the colorado but they have since been resolved. On most of the lifts at breck they are really nice to have since there are alot of beginner and intermediate skiers that ski there. It has signifigantly reduced lift stopages due to too many people crossing the wait line. Although some of the ones at breck have one gate wider than the others and some new skiers use that gate to allow two people to go through.
This post has been edited by poloxskier: 10 February 2005 - 11:43 AM

The gate @ the mid load on west buttermilk express is done via a photoeye senor as u enter the mid load terminal.

poloxskier, on Feb 10 2005, 12:41 PM, said:

The wider gate is required for the handicaped skiers...The only time I've ever seen two people going through one gate are for the sit-skiers that have someone helping on and off the chair...never seen beginers doing it (but never underestimate the power of stupid people in large groups!)

Mike, on Feb 10 2005, 04:30 PM, said:

I definately concur!

Also at the colorado the larger gate was broken a few sesons back so they just shortened it and bolted it back on so people sometimes slide through before it actualy opens. One of the funniest things I have seen is a person who ducked the gate and then got wacked in the head by a chair because when sliding under the gate he fell.

The loading gates are expecially important on midload terminals so that you don't try to load a chair with some people already in it, and so that the primary load station doesn't hog all the chairs. I have also found that it reduces the number of stops. Kicking Horse, the Superconnect workes in the same way. And for the Superconnect and other lifts with both midstation and loading gates that songle out every 2nd, 3rd chair, can you change that number?

highspeedquad, on Feb 10 2005, 03:42 PM, said:

Yes, you can vary the number depending on what the crowds are doing that day

highspeedquad, on Feb 10 2005, 04:42 PM, said:

Although it makes for a good laugh especially on some old doubles when people try to load into an already full chair.

OK, because I remember about a year ago when I saw the lift not loading every 4th chair yet when I went there a couple of weeks ago it was every other chair.

buttermilk west does not have load gates @ the bottom. they just have a sign that says please wait one chair.

Thats interesting, I would have thought that a new install like that would. Especially at one of the Aspen resorts.

i get the feeling that they may add it later.

I had a bad experience the first time I used them when I was about 7 on the Silverlode HSS at PCMR. I followed the last guy up too far, and when the gate closed, it pushed me into the side of the gate and I fell onto the guy behind me

I'm very suprised that the base of the new BWE has no loading gates. Does the midstation have them?

Kicking Horse, on Feb 10 2005, 04:23 PM, said:

It would get pretty confusing without one for some people