Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

St. Johns at Keystone - the ride had to be at least half an hour. No matter how long the line was at Montezuma, it was better than riding this old hunk of junk.
Lionshead Gondola at Vail - as an April '96 visiter I was one of the last people in the world to ride it. It was slow and uncomfortable, although I thought the old-school catapult ribbon launcher thingy it used to launch cabins from the terminal to the lift line was pretty cool.
Checkerboard at Keystone - I learned on this lift, and I hated the near-vertical unloading ramp
Lariat Rope Tow at WP - it's good that they finally put surface lift access from the bottom of the hill to Sunspot, but a freaking ROPE TOW?! What is this, 1930? Surely WP could shell out the extra cash for a poma lift or at least a rope tow with those plastic carrot thingies. On the plus side, my arms are stronger and my hands more calloused from riding that thing.

"carrot thingies". Yes, well technically they are called disks on platter lifts, or handles on the ropetows.

And in terms of "all-time least favorite lifts":

I like all of the Breckenridge chairlifts and I think the ones that exist are good as they are in their current configurations, with the exception of Lift A. It's a good thing Lift A only runs sporadically, because when it does run, that ride is extremely long - almost a 1/4 hour ride, 15 minutes. On a day with no lines, that would be the amount of time it takes to ride the Mercury SuperChair and ski down one run to it. Lift C is also a very long lift ride, and I've sometimes used it to transition from Peak 8 to Peak 9, at 12 minutes. Thankfully it's got more vertical than Lift A does.

Teocalli at Crested Butte - it's a centerpole Riblet, and I had a misload on it. That was six years ago, and I've never been on it since. When I went to Crested Butte last year in February and did the trails under Teocalli, I went to the East River Express lift instead.

I agree with A-Chair at Breck. I was with my 4-year old and he wanted to ride it. My leg got a cramp (I was riding) and my kid was ready to bail by tower 27. There are 33 towers on that lift.

Checkerboard (now Discovery) was slowed down to 350 fpm. This allowed the ramp to be made shallower and easier for new skier to unload off of.

For me I would have to say Chair 2 at Loveland. It's so long and always brutally windy near the top, not to mention that with the three stations you're guaranteed at least a couple stops during the ride. Also the old H lift at Copper. Thank goodness they finally replaced it. It always took so long to go nowhere.

skierdude9450, on 26 March 2013 - 11:43 AM, said:

It used to be ten minutes with High Point. Now it's a 5 minute 30 second ride with Union Creek (that time also counting time in the terminals).

Old H was ten minutes for the operators in the morning. They got off the lift, did safety checks, and immediately slowed it to 400 FPM. I tried not to ride it unless it was in the work chair in the summer.

My least favourite lifts to ride are the ones that break down while I'm riding them on the clock

Yeah, should you be FIXING them?

liftmech, on 27 March 2013 - 04:45 PM, said:

So High Point was Copper Mountain's Lift A? I mean, Lift A is still a pretty slow ride, to the point that I think that is a lift you should always bail out at midway on.

West Mountain Chair at Sugarloaf. Unbelievably long and slow, and serves one not-very-interesting trail and a bunch of rich people's houses. And it's a one-sided double-double (double-nothing?), kind of amusing to think they thought they'd need the extra capacity when it runs 95% empty most of the time.

2milehi, on 27 March 2013 - 07:02 PM, said:

Probably, eh? We don't usually ride lifts during operation unless there's enough coverage anyway. There are days (especially this spring) where we only have a couple of mechanics and one electrician on the hill. Gotta love mandatory vacation time.

skierdude9450, on 26 March 2013 - 11:43 AM, said:

I'd have to second that (or third it). Having been a passholder at Loveland for 2 years now and having skied there frequently since 1981, it seems like a nice lift change would be to shorten the current lift 2 to have the lower terminal at the current midway reload and install a quad chair designed for families with footrests and the works with the lower terminal adjacent to the lift ticket building and the top terminal adjacent to E-Tow cabin. This would reduce beginner traffic on lift 1, provide other beginner terrain besides Tango road for those new to the sport, and make it possible for advanced skiers to remain on the upper mountain eliminating some of the traffic from that dangerous intersection near #2 reload and bottom of #6 where several trails merge. Not to mention reduce the misloads drastically since most of the beginner traffic would ride the hypothetical new chair. I do also realize this costs $$$ however, Loveland has a master plan mentioned somewhere which includes three new lifts, not sure the exact details but the next 10 years could be interesting. I know one of the lifts is a new triple chair near the current lift #7 at the Valley, not too exciting but probably needed given how crowded it looks over there on the weekends.
This post has been edited by boardski: 30 March 2013 - 02:41 PM

At Aspen Highlands, I like the Cloud Nine chair but have always wished the lower terminal was located where the lower terminal of Grand Prix poma once was, it is a pain having to ski or ride all the way to the base when skiing Deception, No Name, Moment of Truth and other favorites in the Olympic area.

liftmech, on 30 March 2013 - 07:33 AM, said:

Really? Mandatory vacation during the ski season? At Keystone there is about 12 mechanics and 3 electricians 7 days a week (give or take a couple) during the ski season. Vail has even more for coverage.

Check your PMs, Mike.

The Paradise double at White Pass and the Quicksilver Chair at Crystal are two lifts that I dislike. Paradise chair does not exactly access Paradise. And the lift itself is a pretty long one, and has no seat cushon. Eight minutes sitting on a piece of plywood, sometimes a good 70 feet up. And the "Quicksilver" is not quick at all. It is longer than most of Crystals' high-speed lifts, and probably the slowest lift I have ever ridden. The ride must take a good 20 minutes.
This post has been edited by Liftnut: 16 May 2013 - 03:45 PM

The Summit Local at Mount Snow. A 7,700 foot triple servicing only 1,600 vertical feet. Worst part was the fact that you got to see the HSQ, Grand Summit Express speeding by you! The exposed summit also wasn't the best either...

yan lover14, on 12 May 2013 - 04:57 PM, said:

...And I thought Quicksilver was bad!


My least favorite lifts are the ones that have long lines.

boardski, on 30 March 2013 - 02:45 PM, said:

I agree that the Cloud Nine chair would be better with a lower terminal. FYI, you can ski those olympic runs and still get back to the Cloud Nine chair via catwalk.

nathanvg, on 17 May 2013 - 07:21 AM, said:

The cat walk is very flat though. It is more fun to continue down Robinsons or Moment of Truth but then, one must go all the way down to the base instead of catching Grand Prix poma like the old days.

SidBurn, on 23 March 2013 - 04:13 PM, said:

I tend to agree. I grew up riding rope tows, and even maintained one early in my mechanic career, but seeing that go in was a bit of a shock. My former employer finally got rid of the last one (of the original 4) several years ago in favour of a handle tow.