320 replies to this topic

[skier691]

Peter, on 19 March 2015 - 06:33 PM, said:

"The Backyard" expansion at Crystal Mountain (Michigan) includes a triple chair and 6 new trails.

http://www.mlive.com..._expansion.html

I'm guessing it will be Built by SkyTrac.

They have a 1990 CTEC triple sitting in the lot, it was the former Loki chair that was replaced with a Sky Trac a couple yrs ago.. I imagine it will be the lift that will be installed

[DonaldMReif]

I was at Vail two weeks ago and got a picture of the signs announcing the Avanti Express lift upgrade:


Now, I know I've been gushing about the Avanti Express lift upgrade since it was announced as you can see from earlier in this thread, but I'll gush a little more. Even though I sometimes think the Northwoods Express lift should have been the one that gets upgraded for next year, I think the Avanti Express lift upgrade is just as major a lift upgrade to Vail's lift network as the upgrade of the Mountaintop Express lift last season was.

All that's known for certain is that the Avanti Express lift is going to be a Doppelmayr high speed six pack with loading carpet, UNI-G terminals and EJ chairs, and the same paint scheme that the Mountaintop Express lift uses. This will effectively make Vail not only just the third ski area in Colorado with more than one high speed six pack (the others being Breckenridge with four high speed six packs and Winter Park with two), but also the sole area in Colorado with multiple Doppelmayr-built high speed six packs, since there will only be one Doppelmayr six pack in Colorado not located at Vail: Purgatory's high speed six pack.

I know it's a long shot, but I keep wanting to say the Avanti Express lift might rotate clockwise. I say that since in almost every lift upgrade Vail has done in the past ten years, save for Gondola One, the upgraded lift rotates in the opposite direction of the lift it replaced. The Avanti Express quad rotates counterclockwise, thus, the six pack might rotate clockwise. The offload area and load are are both in spots where it probably makes no difference whether the lift runs clockwise or counterclockwise (and, given how the existing quad has lift mazes on both west and east sides, the replacement probably will have inline loading), as shown here:


Regardless, sounds like 2015 is a slow year for new chairlift construction in the main I-70 corridor and the quad-county area of Colorado comprised of Eagle County, Summit County, Clear Creek County and Grand County, since the Avanti Express lift seems to be the only new lift going up in this part of the state.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 21 March 2015 - 01:24 PM

[Backbowlsbilly]

Some of the Big Sky locals in the tram line yesterday were talking about how Challenger and the Lone Peak Triple have been slated for replacement for a while now, especially Challenger since it had a bull wheel issue that closed it for 5 weeks this season. Last year was going to be a replacement for the triple, but instead Boyne had to replace the lift at Crystal that got taken out by an avalanche. Don't look for any additional new lifts at Boyne mountains, since they had plenty that had below average snow years (Big Sky, Crystal, Cypress, and Snowqualmie) plus whatever needs to be done at Sugarloaf in the wake of that rollback.

[vons]

Backbowlsbilly, on 23 March 2015 - 05:42 PM, said:

Some of the Big Sky locals in the tram line yesterday were talking about how Challenger and the Lone Peak Triple have been slated for replacement for a while now, especially Challenger since it had a bull wheel issue that closed it for 5 weeks this season. Last year was going to be a replacement for the triple, but instead Boyne had to replace the lift at Crystal that got taken out by an avalanche. Don't look for any additional new lifts at Boyne mountains, since they had plenty that had below average snow years (Big Sky, Crystal, Cypress, and Snowqualmie) plus whatever needs to be done at Sugarloaf in the wake of that rollback.

It also doesn't help that CNL is getting out of the ski business, I think almost all of the Boyne resorts are owned by CNL.

[machskier]

vons, on 24 March 2015 - 05:02 AM, said:

It also doesn't help that CNL is getting out of the ski business, I think almost all of the Boyne resorts are owned by CNL.

I don't believe Crystal or Big Sky are however, I believe they are Boyne owned outright.

[liftmech]

Crystal is for sure, Big Sky I'm not certain.
For what it's worth, it's spelled *Snoqualmie*. Only a coincidental resemblance to the English word *snow*.

[Backbowlsbilly]

liftmech, on 25 March 2015 - 06:45 PM, said:

Crystal is for sure, Big Sky I'm not certain.
For what it's worth, it's spelled *Snoqualmie*. Only a coincidental resemblance to the English word *snow*.

Ahh thanks, I guess being a clueless Colorado guy I had no idea, thanks for telling me. :)

[vons]

CNL property list http://www.cnllifest...-2014-FINAL.pdf

[Conrad]

The new Valley House quad at Sugarloaf is official: ***edit: Sugarbush***
http://www.newenglan...php?storyid=248
http://vtdigger.org/...-with-new-quad/

This post has been edited by Conrad: 28 March 2015 - 05:54 PM

[NHskier13]

You mean Sugarbush, right?

[SkiDaBird]

Summit at Solitude is going in this year.

 DM2015SolitudeSummitLift.pdf (643.66K)
Number of downloads: 90

For the record, the second set of public comments are mine, and while the double with carpet may not be an ideal solution, I still don't like the HSQ.

This post has been edited by SkiDaBird: 31 March 2015 - 12:15 PM

[Backbowlsbilly]

Could that be influenced at all by Deer Valley's recent purchase of Solitude or was that scheduled for replacement before DV came into the picture? It looks like it would dump a bunch of people into some pretty nice terrain, especially Honeycomb Canyon, but I think you might need a Solitude Pass to get into Honeycomb Canyon anyways so that might not matter. It might not mean a major increase in capacity but high speed quads do attract people to terrain they wouldn't ski on a fixed grip, take Vail's Chair 5 for example.

[floridaskier]

The better question is when/if Deer Valley will upgrade the Guardman Pass road to be open in the winter, allowing a 15 minute drive between Empire Lodge and the Solitude base

[trj820]

SkiDaBird, on 31 March 2015 - 12:12 PM, said:

Summit at Solitude is going in this year.

DM2015SolitudeSummitLift.pdf

For the record, the second set of public comments are mine, and while the double with carpet may not be an ideal solution, I still don't like the HSQ.

It sounds unneeded, but it's going to be one of the main lifts for One Wasatch access.

[SkiDaBird]

floridaskier, on 31 March 2015 - 07:18 PM, said:

The better question is when/if Deer Valley will upgrade the Guardsman Pass road to be open in the winter, allowing a 15 minute drive between Empire Lodge and the Solitude base

When we get more winters like this one...
I'm not even sure if it is 15 minutes.

[NHskier13]

Goodbye World Cup Triple. This lift was reaaaal good for April 1st Watervillains today.

Attached File(s)

•  SAM_2824.JPG (1.42MB)
  Number of downloads: 180
•  wct bottom last day open.png (1.12MB)
  Number of downloads: 187

[TheEpicPancake]

floridaskier, on 31 March 2015 - 07:18 PM, said:

The better question is when/if Deer Valley will upgrade the Guardman Pass road to be open in the winter, allowing a 15 minute drive between Empire Lodge and the Solitude base

I don't think Deer Valley wants to upgrade the Guard Road, in fact from my understanding they want UDOT to get rid of it and utilize the Twisted Branch road instead, which parallels the Guard Road and is already built to year round standards. Upgrading the Guard Road to Year Round standards would cost around $150 million.

[snowmaster]

NHskier13, on 01 April 2015 - 03:44 PM, said:

Goodbye World Cup Triple. This lift was reaaaal good for April 1st Watervillains today.

I wish they had opened it; the line for the White Peaks chair got weekendish long. I still feel they ought to be moving Valley Run, but undoubtedly that would be more expensive.

[Vincopotamus]

Purgatory just announced on Facebook plans for a Lift 8 retirement party this weekend, as well as plans for a new high-speed quad replacement for it for next season. So long to the lift that moves slow enough to hand feed the birds!

https://www.facebook...skipurg?fref=ts

[boardski]

Is anyone getting the current Poma triple? It would sure look good reinstalled at Copper serving Tucker mountain. The right length and everything.