227 replies to this topic

[RibStaThiok]

jaytrem, on 08 December 2014 - 06:48 PM, said:

Three Kings was upgraded to a triple, and the new Crescent HSQ is missing. I think that might be it. Missed one, Ski team is gone.

Thanks. When was Three Kings upgraded and what was used? Existing lift? New lift?

[skidude2]

A lot of good discussion here. As someone who skis these two resorts I love this! And SkiDaBird you are absolutely right Canyons doesn't ski how it looks. It's funky. BUT AWESOME. :)

One more thing though, I forgot to bring this up earlier: is it just me or shouldn't there be a gondola that goes from the very bottom of PCMR (By First Time) to the Summit just like it used to be?

First of all, that would eliminate the need to ride multiple lifts to get to the top. Secondly, they could open up higher terrain during the early season and have skiers upload and download. (Just like Canyons does, during the early season, the snow is SO much better at Canyons with Saddleback than at PCMR with Payday) And lastly, First Time is always SLAMMED with tons of people taking it to get up from the lower parking lot to Payday area. Sure you can take Eagle to get on the mountain when it's open but not that many people do.

Doesn't anyone think that's a good idea?

[floridaskier]

RibStaThiok, on 10 December 2014 - 02:26 PM, said:

Thanks. When was Three Kings upgraded and what was used? Existing lift? New lift?

Believe they did Three Kings (now painted on the lift with "3" instead of "Three") in 2011, with a loading carpet and the bottom terminal moved up the hill. It's pretty cool to ride - the towers are all painted with murals of PC snowboarders. Doppelmayr, brand new. Crescent is a CTEC Uni-GS HSQ new for 2008 (conveniently has the same grips as Tombstone/Iron Mountain/Bubble, the new gondola and 6 pack will surely have torsion bar grips too - DV has coil springs). They took out Ski Team terminals in 2010, and the towers a year later

Eagle is my favorite way to start the day - you can drive right up there and avoid Payday until late in the day. First Time really is a mess, but they can't really do anything else with it. Three Kings is all terrain park yahoos, and the new location reinforces that

[DonaldMReif]

I always think "Three Kings" is a better spelling than "3 Kings". I mean, any number below 11 should be spelt out in a lift name.

[RibStaThiok]

3 Kings still a FG or HST?

[DonaldMReif]

It's a triple chairlift with a loading carpet.

[snoloco]

I have heard that one of the biggest issues with Park City is the way the lifts are laid out. It takes minimum 5 lifts and an hour and a half to get to the top of Jupiter and 4 lifts to get to the top of McConkey's. It isn't how it appears on the map. The Crescent lift looks to solve these issues, but it is not in the base area, it is actually measured 200 vertical feet out of the base area. The Thaynes Lift looks to end right at the top of Silverlode, but in reality, it actually ends significantly higher up. It looks like the lifts at The Canyons really need an upgrade. There were many lifts that were planned as detachable that went in as fixed grips.

For the discussion about the King Con/Motherlode upgrade, I think it would be impossible to use King Con to replace Motherlode since it is shorter. They could probably reuse the towers and get new everything else. If King Con needs an upgrade, I say that the towers should be reused on a 6-pack that replaces it and it be reinstalled on the towers of one of The Canyons fixed grips to upgrade that.

[DonaldMReif]

So the PCMR side of the mountain could use some new lift alignments as badly as the The Canyons side does?

[skier2]

The trouble with PCMR is that the terrain has so many undulating ridges and valleys that having one long lift as opposed to several shorter ones becomes a problem. As someone that prefers longer lifts with more vertical feet served, I always thought it would be nice to see PCMR do a six pack running from the base of King Con all the way to the top of Thaynes. It would serve all the terrain currently served by Silverlode, Motherlode, Thaynes, and King Con. The McConkey's/Pioneer side of the mountain is nice, no change really needed there.

[floridaskier]

In PCMR's defense:

- The Thaynes Canyon run that goes from Jupiter base all the way to the bottom of King Con is many miles long, flat most of the way, and something to avoid. One lift replacing Motherlode and Thaynes would be really painful - those alignments are good as they are with an HSQ for Motherlode. Silverlode has its own pod - replacing it with something down to King Con would just dump hundreds of people on the already crowded Broadway.
- Crescent is right out of the Payday base area. It's a 50 yard walk from the resort plaza - not in the greatest location but it takes 30 seconds to get there. From the First Time parking lot, you would have to ride First Time or Three Kings to get there, I'll give you that
- Thaynes and Pioneer end a couple hundred yards uphill from the Summit House, which is where Bonanza, Silverlode, and Motherlode end. There isn't much room at the top of there. A Pioneer HSQ would go a long way, but it's not terrible how it is
- Someone suitably motivated could start their day at Crescent and ski down to Pioneer in one run, and then be at Jupiter in two lifts

The only lift alignment I don't like is Bonanza, since it doesn't really follow the fall line. I wouldn't change anything else about the layout of PCMR, especially compared to its neighbors to the north.

[SkiDaBird]

I know Crescent Looks like it's uphill but it's no worse than Payday is due to the queue layout. From Crescent, you can get to Pioneer and McConkey's and from Pioneer, Jupiter is just a skate. Not too bad if there isn't a line at Crescent. Personally, with Motherlode and King Con getting the necessary upgrades this year, PCMR just needs Pioneer to become High Speed and Town to get sorted out.

[floridaskier]

PCMR released a rendering of the new Snow Hut and gondola terminal. Hard to tell if the Snow Hut will be farther down the hill, since the area it looks like they're showing is where the Silverlode maze overflows onto the run. The picture shows a Uni-G gondola terminal with what looks like a manual cabin parking rail

http://www.parkcitym...er-web/fullsize

[floridaskier]

Article in the Park Record today that answers a bunch of questions about the PCMR-Canyons interconnect. It sounds like Vail will be keeping the current PCMR branding and colors, with silver and red cabins on the new gondola that look like the ones in the picture (implying that The Canyons orange will be gone soon). Presumably will be a Doppelmayr with CWA 8-passenger cabins as shown. 27 towers with the tallest one at 61 feet. The name will be "Interconnect Gondola," or at least that's what they told the county (doesn't really fit the image of one resort and I wonder if they'll give it a real name). The town council meets on Feb 25 to approve it.

http://www.parkrecor...ugh-basin-panel

[TheEpicPancake]

Just another side bit to the PCMR Canyons connection - I've had confirmation from a source that James Niehues is indeed working on a brand new joint map of the entire new resort. Should be sweet.

[Peter]

floridaskier, on 11 February 2015 - 06:33 PM, said:

The name will be "Interconnect Gondola," or at least that's what they told the county (doesn't really fit the image of one resort and I wonder if they'll give it a real name).

How about the Epic Gondola...they already have Epic lift tickets, Epic burgers, EpicMix and Epic Discovery...

[RibStaThiok]

Epic Express? Interconnect Express?

[floridaskier]

TheEpicPancake, on 12 February 2015 - 02:05 PM, said:

Just another side bit to the PCMR Canyons connection - I've had confirmation from a source that James Niehues is indeed working on a brand new joint map of the entire new resort. Should be sweet.

Best news I've heard all day. Vail, Beaver Creek, and Breck have the three worst maps in the country

[TheEpicPancake]

floridaskier, on 13 February 2015 - 08:18 AM, said:

Best news I've heard all day. Vail, Beaver Creek, and Breck have the three worst maps in the country

Breck's is by far the worst though. I don't know how anyone in the marketing team over there can honestly look at that map and think it looks good. Mt. Bachelor and Copper also use that same 3D satellite image nonsense that just looks horrendous.

So yes, I'm thrilled that Vail has stuck with Niehues for the new PCMR/Canyons map, this couldn't be better news.

[floridaskier]

Confirmed on the map front, PCMR's facebook page has a picture today of James Niehues taking aerial shots from a plane for the new map. Sign me up for a poster

[Peter]

First sketch of the new James Niehues map...

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