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How do high speed lifts turn? Like Snow Flake at Breck but in High speed form. If you do know or have ridden one, please describe it. If there are any pictures that someone is able to get I would be happy to see them. The only High Speed lift with a turn that I have ridden is the Peak 8 Superconnect. I know there are others and I would really like to see them!

Usually there are 2 seperate detachable lifts. When the chairs detach, rather than turn around completely, they go around the turn and reattach on the second high speed lift. Another setup has 2 bullwheels what simply turn the haul rope, while the chairs detach go around the curve, and reattach.

CTEC has been using a different set up for the last few years where the lift just turns a few degrees over a few towers. The setup is usually three towers, the middle one as a depression tower, with the sheaves angled a little bit to one side

Interesting thoughts! Does anyone know how the Riva Bahn Express at Vail works? It is a Garaventa CTEC high speed.

If I am not mistaken it is a single rope set up where a series of sheaves are used to turn the rope in the detach terminal, the same way peak 8 connect at breck turns.

Yeah I guess there are 3 designs. The Collins Express at Alta is basically 2 lifts.

they can do it either way. I know that like stated, the peak 8 sc has a single drive unit. telluride's gondola has a drive unit for each section. just depends on what the lift's terrain is like and typical use.

On the Riva Bahn, as shown in the picture, it is a mid-station terminal where the cable turns about 5 degrees on a set of sheaves. The chair detaches, allows for people to unload, turns and then re-attaches to the haul rope. On this midway, both lines detach because of the turn, whereas on my avatar, only the uphill line of Village Express detaches.
This post has been edited by skierdude9450: 21 February 2006 - 07:01 PM

At Sunshine Village in Alberta , the gondola has 3 direction changes. The first is a 90 degreee turn while the second twist has a 20 degree turn. I am pretty sure there are 3 separate lines with the gondolas being linked through the slow down stations.

Nope, the Sunshine gondola does not have another rope section, it's all one peice. In the Curve station there are 3 bullwheels and in the Goat's Eye station there is 1 bullwheel and deflector sheaves.

The gondola at mammoth is two separate gondola systems that meet at the mid station. If the mountain is open top to bottom, they can link the two systems together, and a car goes from the bottom to the mid station, slows down, makes a slight turn, then re-attaches to the cable of gondola 2. If the top is closed becuase of a storm, the gondola cars can just turn around at the mid station. Here is a pic of the mid-station with G-1 and G-2 linked together. The red sheaves are the ones that turn slightly and connect the two systems.
This post has been edited by heavenly_romer: 28 February 2006 - 11:31 PM

Actually the red sheaves are the belt pulleys that drive the tires for the cabin conveying system, if you want to get technical about it. This looks like Whistler's Village Gondola except that system has a chain rather than tires.

Garaventa CTEC and Doppelmayr CTEC have done for angled detatchable lifts without angle stations, The Canyons, Deer Valley, and Snowbird in Utah and one at Moonlight Basin in Montana! They should try one with two angles, in opposite directions, zig zag it up the hill!

I have heard jokes in lift contruction where lifts unintentonally zig zaged up the hill due to porly placed foundations look carfully at some 70s era yans and riblets and you might see this.

The Six-Shooter Express is an example of that. Halfway up the mountain, the installation crew realized that the lift was going to end up on Big Sky's property and Big Sky wouldn't allow the lift to terminate there. So the curve added, but Doppelmayr CTEC wasn't sure how well it would work with a high-speed six-pack running over 1000 FPM.

pcat, on Mar 3 2006, 06:34 PM, said:

If I remember correctly I think the Cabriolet at The Canyons does kinda zig zag