318 replies to this topic

[snoloco]

skiersage, on 16 November 2013 - 09:30 PM, said:

There is a rumor at Stratton that the cabin upgrade at whistler upgrade could happen soon. This was mentioned because Strattons gondola has the same cabins as whistlers gondola. Stratton is doing their upgrade next summer and will be upgrading to the same sigma diamond cabins that Whistler would be using for theirs.

Can someone post a picture of what the new cabins would look or describe them?

[silence]

Looks like Breckenridge is replacing the Colorado SuperChair with a six-pack next summer...

From their Facebook account:

"4 + 2 = Awesome! In 2014 we'll upgrade the Colorado SuperChair to a new six-person high speed chairlift. We hope that this upgrade will alleviate wait times on Peak 8 and positively impact the most skiers possible!"

[Lift Dinosaur]

snoloco, on 08 December 2013 - 05:01 PM, said:

Can someone post a picture of what the new cabins would look or describe them?

www.sigmacabins.com
Look at the Diamond version.

Dino

[DonaldMReif]

I like the Colorado SuperChair upgrade. Hopefully they can reuse the original lift to upgrade a different chairlift on the mountain - like maybe use it to replace Lift E and rename it the Peak 9 SuperConnect .

[boardski]

Is the Rocky Mtn chair staying where it is when Breck upgrades the CO chair?

[DonaldMReif]

Breckenridge's Facebook posters have explicitly said in some of the replies to the original announcement that the Rocky Mountain SuperChair is staying where it is and will not be changed. Only the Colorado SuperChair is getting upgraded.

I presume that they might reuse the original tower tubes on the current lift to save costs (Winter Park did the same with the Super Gauge Express, which uses both new towers and tower tubes from the old Summit Express). I also think that the Colorado SuperChair will probably run anti-clockwise, just like the current lift, given the way the lines are configured and the presence of the Rocky Mountain SuperChair. I'm currently now working on using Photoshop to alter this year's Peak 6 expansion trail map also show off an upgraded Colorado SuperChair.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 09 December 2013 - 09:09 PM

[NoPainNoJane]

Also announced yesterday is that Beaver Creek will be upgrading Centennial to a 6 pack as well.

[vons]

Can we assume that Breckenridge is getting an LPOA and Beaver creek is getting a Doppelmayr or did one of them get the hole enchilada?

[DonaldMReif]

I decided upon hearing the announcement to use Photoshop on the 2013-2014 Breckenridge map to show an approximation of what the trail map will look like with a six pack Colorado SuperChair. This is, however, just a Photoshopped 2013-2014 trail map - as indicated by the descriptions of the five peaks at the bottom of the map and the fact that in the lift information box the word "NEW!" is shown next to the Zendo lift and the Kensho SuperChair, not to mention that when the Colorado SuperChair is rebuilt, it will most likely be moved to below the listings for the Independence SuperChair and Kensho SuperChair, moving the listings for Zendo and the Peak 8 SuperConnect down one spot.

[skierdude9450]

It seems odd that Breckenridge would spend the money for new chairs on Colorado, knowing that it would soon be replaced.

[DonaldMReif]

I thought the same thing. But then again, I believe Lift 4 was built with centerpole chairs in 1978 and those were replaced with the bail-type chairs currently used on Breckenridge's other Riblets only about two or three years before the entire thing was replaced by the Peak 8 SuperConnect.

[boardski]

The two year old bail-style chairs were then used on A51 and Discovery chairs at Keystone. I can't think of what lift they could transplant the newer Colorado chairs on though, unless they might go to one of the areas in Michigan or California.

[boardski]

My bad, I asked about Rocky Mtn before reading original announcement. I had remembered the talk of removing CO and Rocky both and installing an 8-pack which I think would not be a good idea.

[nathanvg]

DonaldMReif, on 09 December 2013 - 09:03 PM, said:

Breckenridge's Facebook posters have explicitly said in some of the replies to the original announcement that the Rocky Mountain SuperChair is staying where it is and will not be changed. Only the Colorado SuperChair is getting upgraded.

I presume that they might reuse the original tower tubes on the current lift to save costs (Winter Park did the same with the Super Gauge Express, which uses both new towers and tower tubes from the old Summit Express). I also think that the Colorado SuperChair will probably run anti-clockwise, just like the current lift, given the way the lines are configured and the presence of the Rocky Mountain SuperChair. I'm currently now working on using Photoshop to alter this year's Peak 6 expansion trail map also show off an upgraded Colorado SuperChair.

This is cool but I'm not a big fan of the six packs. They seem to have more misloads and unfull chairs resulting in little capacity improvements. Maybe the Colorado chair needed to be replaced due to age but I would have rather they put in another HSQ elsewhere to help with spread people out. Maybe upgrade 6 or even put chair 2 back in as a HSQ.

[skierdude9450]

Maybe they'll order a few more carriers and put them on Beaver Run. That would be the next oldest lift without new carriers.

[DonaldMReif]

If you looked at Breckenridge's Facebook page, in response to the announcement of the Colorado SuperChair upgrade, you can see a lot of people wish it is recycled and reused to upgrade Lift 6 on the same 'increase uphill capacity' grounds that upgrading the Colorado SuperChair is being done for. Some of those people also wish that the new Colorado SuperChair's bottom terminal is moved southwards, away from the Rocky Mountain SuperChair and closer to the bottom of Lift 5, or an approximate 150 foot move of the lift terminal south. What results if that is the case is a reduction in cross traffic, also making the lines for the Rocky Mountain SuperChair and Colorado SuperChair more distinctly separate. Looking at it in Google Earth, there appears to be enough space for this to be possible when you factor in the fact that any move in the line would be only limited by the presence of the Rocky Mountain SuperChair to the north, Lift 5 at the bottom to the south, or the presence of the Vista Haus at the top.

I am certain construction of the Colorado SuperChair will progress much faster than the construction of the Kensho SuperChair this year, given its location and importance and it has been the opening day chairlift since 2008.

Attached is a Google Earth photo showing my hypothetical realignment. Given one post from the resort saying the Colorado SuperChair will be "an entirely new chairlift!" (their words exactly), I think that means a different alignment that starts closer to Lift 5 than it does to the Rocky Mountain SuperChair, which would mean they aren't going to be running it up Spruce anymore:

Attached File(s)

•  Colorado SuperChair alignments.jpg (244.66K)
  Number of downloads: 29

[skierdude9450]

I can't imagine that they would cut an entirely new line just to move the bottom terminal over a bit. I agree though that it is somewhat hectic and confusing with both lifts' lines next to each other.

[liftmech]

Remember they bent chair 5 to move it away from the bottom of Colorado when it was built. Wouldn't put it past them to realign the new lift just because.

As for upgrading the lift not long before replacing it, that happened to us with H-lift. Gearbox, controls, aux, and so forth. I'm currently throwing money at the Flyer in hopes that the same thing happens

[DonaldMReif]

On the other hand, if the Colorado SuperChair begins at the old lift's location, it will be able to reuse infrastructure like the tower tubes and the lift shack that the current lift and the Rocky Mountain SuperChair share at the base area.

Whatever the case, making the Colorado SuperChair a high speed six pack (I am pretty certain that Breckenridge plans to reuse the original lift name) will definitely be very beneficial to Breckenridge because:

1. It will be the end of days of lift lines in excess of 30 minutes at that lift on the busiest ski days. Those have generally been the reason why I minimize time on Peak 8 on any day, maximizing time spent on Peaks 10, 9, 7, and 6 instead.

2. This will be especially beneficial in the early season, given Peak 8 is now the central base area at Breckenridge and the old Colorado SuperChair has been the opening day lift for the last five years. I've heard that half hour lines when the Colorado SuperChair has been the sole lift open have not been uncommon.

3. This causes the Colorado SuperChair's uphill capacity to match that of the BreckConnect Gondola. I remember the blog post Vail had made in March last year where they first announced they were going to build the Mountaintop Express lift - they said in that case that replacing the high speed quad with a six pack upped the hourly capacity from 2800 pph to 3600 pph, to match the uphill capacity of Gondola One. I assume that BreckConnect has a 3600 pph capacity (given it is an eight person gondola). By having the Colorado SuperChair's uphill capacity match the gondola's, people move around the mountain much more efficiently.

4. Breckenridge will officially have the most high speed six packs in Colorado, at four (the Quicksilver SuperChair, the Colorado SuperChair, the Independence SuperChair and the Kensho SuperChair), rivaling Park City (four high speed six packs) and Squaw Valley (five) for most high speed six packs. Next year, that will effectively mean that of 13 high speed six packs that will be operating at Colorado ski resorts next year (the Christie Peak Express, the Panoramic Express, Super Gauge Express, Ruby Express, Quicksilver SuperChair, Kensho SuperChair, Colorado SuperChair, Independence SuperChair, Super Bee, Mountaintop Express lift, Centennial Express, Village Express, and Purgatory Village Express), the four at Breckenridge effectively will make up close to a third of that number.

This is speculation, but I also believe that if I am right and they do build the Colorado SuperChair by reusing the original lift line and tower tubes and putting the terminals in the same location, I believe that the lift will run anticlockwise, like the Quicksilver SuperChair, due to the fact that the current lift and the Rocky Mountain SuperChair share an operator's shack at the bottom. I also speculate that Breckenridge might build the Colorado SuperChair with a 90 degree load to save space and separate the lines for the two lifts. My third dose of speculation is that the Colorado SuperChair will use the same custom wood siding that the Kensho SuperChair uses (given it will be a lift with LPA terminals and grips).

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 12 December 2013 - 06:48 AM

[liftmech]

I don't ski Breck very much so I can't speak for the congestion at the base. Knowing how close the two detaches are, though, I would move the base over a bit. I thought the maze setup that Rocky and Colorado share was a bit confusing.