Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

While I was looking around for pictures of the lifts at Whistler Backcomb, I found 3 strange detachable lifts.

One of them I don't not have a picture of currently, but it looks like a combination of a CLD-260 and a UNI (I assume it was the model in between). I believe there is one like this at a resort in the US, but i do not remember where.

The second one was the Blackcomb Excalibur Gondola. Here is a picture:

 Blackcombs Excalibur Gondola.jpg (291.18K)
Number of downloads: 335

The final one is the Peak chair at Whistler. Here's the picture:

 Whistler_peak_chair.jpg (84.53K)
Number of downloads: 311

If you have any information about model numbers/names, intstalation dates, etc., please reply.

The Excalibur Gondola and Excelerator were built in 1994. I think the gondola was just a custom design and the Excelerator was built to match. The Peak, built in 1998, has service walkways on both the inside and outside of the tire banks which is why it needed to be bigger.

Here are some pictures of the other lift that I was comparing Excelerator to, which is the Skyliner Express at Mt. Bachelor:

 SkylinerExpressSide.jpg (50.1K)
Number of downloads: 205  SkylinerExpressFront.jpg (53.42K)
Number of downloads: 208

As you can see, the front of the terminal looks like a UNI, as is the same in the Excelerator chair, however, from the side view, it looks more like... well it doesn't really look like a CLD-260, but it looks like a custom model.

Excalibur is a standard 8-MGD but with custom terminals as they wanted something low profile in the village station. Excelerator is a CLD 260, In my opinion the the best laid out machine room we have. I wish it had the full terminal cover over the turn arounds as the flat roofs leak. Off the top of my head I can't rmrmber the model designation of the peak chair. Don't think its a UNI though..

Aussierob, on 16 November 2009 - 10:27 PM, said:

So the Excelerator lift is a CLD-260, but it's a later version so that's why it looks different? Cause it definitely doesn't look like a traditional CLD-260.

Does Excelerator look like this? This is also a '94, I have no idea what model, we just call it the redheaded stepchild.

Excel is pretty similar in shape, just larger as it has the full walkway outside the aceel/decel lines. Also has the same blue cladding as Wizar/Solar/7th. Unfortunately I have no photos here at home.

edit: Found a pic of the inside of the machine room.
This post has been edited by Aussierob: 18 November 2009 - 08:43 PM

liftmech, on 18 November 2009 - 07:56 PM, said:

Haha, I believe that's the second generation UNI. The Excelerator looks fairly similar. Here's a picture I found on the web:

 Excelerator Whistler.jpg (164.8K)
Number of downloads: 123

As you can see, the end of the terminal looks like the UNI, but the rest looks like a combination of a CLD-260 and the custom Excalibur model.

Checked at work. Its a CLD260-ET-B but never got the bubbles.

Peak Chair at Whistler had custom terminal skins but mechanically it is of the UNI-M design. Skyliner Express at Bachelor is a UNI-A (first generation) with hydraulic height adjustment for snow depths.

Peak Express at Whistler is UNI-M with custom terminal skins. Excalibur Gondola at Blackcomb is UNI-A (first generation) with a custom terminal skin at the tensioning station. Skyliner express at Bachelor is also UNI-A but with hydraulic height adjustment at the lower station for snow depths.

What exactly is a UNI-A? We've discussed this (to death, IMHO) before, and the best we could come up with is that all terminals of that vintage are UNI, with -L, -M, or -S for long, medium, or short.

Maybe NAC is referring to UNI-A as UNI-acronym?

The Excalibur Gondola actually was not a custom design. The terminal design was used widely in Europe before the later generations of UNIs came out (the ones that were used in North America from 1995 onward).
This post has been edited by Skier123: 30 August 2010 - 01:25 PM

How do you know what the model of a lift is, and where do you find it? what do the UNIs or what ever stand for?

SkiLiftsRock, on 30 August 2010 - 05:46 PM, said:

This site used to have a great lift identification section the associated pictures of terminals and other lift parts with their appropriate model names/numbers. However, I've been having trouble getting to it lately, as the link doesn't function correctly. Can anyone post a direct link to the Doppelmayr and Poma identification pages?

Okay, I found the links:
Doppelmayr CTEC Identification Page
Leitner Poma Identification Page

Skier123, on 31 August 2010 - 04:49 AM, said:

Thanks for those links. Makes it easier to understand the different models. Do you know when that page was last updated?

SkiLiftsRock, on 31 August 2010 - 07:39 AM, said:

Its been awhile. We haven't done any major updates on the website. We are in the process and its a BIG process of re-doing the whole website. As of recently, we have made strides forward on getting it done, but I do not have a date of when it will be done. Its requiring quite a bit of programming to do what we want the site to do.

So in the short run, the info you see is all we have online at the moment.

Bill, on 01 September 2010 - 12:44 PM, said:

Can't wait to see the new site.

Thanks for the info :)