264 replies to this topic

[DonaldMReif]

floridaskier, on 19 July 2015 - 07:25 AM, said:

Would CTEC still make the old chairs to match the originals, or do they have some spares sitting around? King Con had 116 closely-spaced chairs and Motherlode should get a lot less traffic than the King Con line did, at least for the first few years until people figure out they can avoid the line at Silverlode. They might not need any extras. Also wonder if Vail will spring for footrests. The other detachables at PCMR all have them, but only the bubble chair does on The Canyons side.

Actually, one detachable on the PCMR lacks footrests, and that is First Time.

[SkiDaBird]

DonaldMReif, on 19 July 2015 - 01:58 PM, said:

Actually, one detachable on the PCMR lacks footrests, and that is First Time.

They went cheap with the First Time chairs though, they are by far the least comfortable detachable chairs I have ever been on.

[Backbowlsbilly]

I bet they'll go with footrests since I don't think I've seen a Vail Resorts new lift in a while built without footrests, if there is one. But that's off topic, Purgatory has a blog with posts of the construction on the new chair 8 Legends Express (which personally I think is a pretty cool name). Looks like they've begun taking apart the old lift but I would guess they would use some parts from the old Legends on Needles, a very similar Poma triple on the frontside of the mountain.

http://www.purgatory...rt/mike-s-take/

[liftmech]

If you read the blog they mention putting the lift back up somewhere on the front side.

[RibStaThiok]

I like how the blogger said something to the effect of in 1985 when Legends was installed, it was considered cutting edge technology.. assuming that a basic FGT was the newest and neatest thing in the world. Sorry to say but Breckie had the cutting edge technology thing beat by a few years when Breck installed the world's first HSQ in 1981, may the original Quicksilver rest in peace. Or in whatever she was recycled into :)

[matt9915]

Today up in Park City they were flying rebar cages for the new gondola. Got some OK shots of he helicopter flying around.

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[silence]

Update from Sugarbush's Facebook page:

Quote

This week our mountain ops team poured the cement for the new lift towers that will support the Valley House Quad.

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[floridaskier]

First Time has hard rough plastic chairs that I think are designed to keep little kids from sliding off. They might also have those magnetic backrests that pull on the vests the little ski schoolers wear. Footrests would get in the way with little kids, and it's only a 2 minute ride.

First Time itself is another capacity issue - mixing the beginners with the main access route out of the better parking lot leaves a big line there in the early mornings since they rebuilt Three Kings further up the hill. I'm sure Vail will bulldoze that parking lot and the entire base area eventually. For now, I like to take Eagle up to start the day on King Con

[Peter]

Teton lift pics: http://liftblog.com/...the-teton-lift/

[DonaldMReif]

So there's at least 15 towers on Teton?

[Peter]

DonaldMReif, on 22 July 2015 - 05:15 PM, said:

So there's at least 15 towers on Teton?

15 towers, 80 chairs.

[DonaldMReif]

So that means it's a low-capacity HSQ, then?

[DonaldMReif]

Finally, some more updates on progress of the Avanti Express lift on one of Vail Mountain's Twitter feeds:

The terminals appear to be gone completely, although the towers of the old lift are still standing:
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I almost am inclined to think that Vail might reuse the tower tubes from the original lift, if not just the concrete bases for the towers, but there are no photos showing if any excavation work has been done on the lift line.


Parts for the chairs:
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And parts for the lift towers. Looks like they're sticking to the design used with the Mountaintop Express lift, as opposed to the tower design that the Centennial Express Chondola and River Run Gondola use:
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This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 23 July 2015 - 10:09 PM

[matt9915]

The photos are grainy, but in case anyones interested they are flying towers for the new Motherlode Lift!!

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[matt9915]

Here are some more (and better) pictures of the helicopter flying the Motherlode towers. I went up to the PCMR parking lots this morning to watch. A lift mechanic I was talking to said that there are going to be 13 or 14 towers on the new lift. It was quite interested to watch from closer up!!

In case anyone is interested the operator also said that both the parts for both the King Con HSS and the new gondola were manufactured in Austria and shipped to the U.S. via Houston and Long Beach.

PS: If you look at the first photo, it is clear that the King Con towers and sheaves have already been flown up to the lift line!!

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[NHskier13]

RibStaThiok, on 21 July 2015 - 10:22 AM, said:

Sorry to say but Breckie had the cutting edge technology thing beat by a few years when Breck installed the world's first HSQ in 1981, may the original Quicksilver rest in peace. Or in whatever she was recycled into :)

That, by the way, would be the Lake Chair at Owl's Head.
https://www.youtube....h?v=NeCa3Ud5cps

This post has been edited by NHskier13: 25 July 2015 - 04:33 PM

[vons]

In case anyone is interested the operator also said that both the parts for both the King Con HSS and the new gondola were manufactured in Austria and shipped to the U.S. via Houston and Long Beach.

Having worked for Doppelmayr I can tell you yes some parts came that way (grips, haul rope, terminal skins) but a large amount of these lifts were built in SLC (towers, sometimes drive platforms) and St. jerome (terminals, Rocker assemblies)

[Peter]

vons, on 25 July 2015 - 07:59 PM, said:

In case anyone is interested the operator also said that both the parts for both the King Con HSS and the new gondola were manufactured in Austria and shipped to the U.S. via Houston and Long Beach.

Having worked for Doppelmayr I can tell you yes some parts came that way (grips, haul rope, terminal skins) but a large amount of these lifts were built in SLC (towers, sometimes drive platforms) and St. jerome (terminals, Rocker assemblies)

Up here in Jackson we got terminal skins/windows from Austria the rest from SLC and St. Jerome.

[SkiDaBird]

DonaldMReif, on 22 July 2015 - 07:35 PM, said:

So that means it's a low-capacity HSQ, then?

Little Cloud is 14 towers, 65(?) chairs, so no, that sounds about standard to me.

Peter, if you mentioned it, I missed it, but how long is the Teton lift? About 4000'?

[matt9915]

Anyone have any pictures of the parts being staged for Park City's new gondola? I am interested to see whether towers heads will be of the European-style like on Keystone's River Run Gondola and Beaver Creek's Centennial Express.

This post has been edited by matt9915: 26 July 2015 - 08:48 AM