Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

There were a lot of Riblets with that 'fan tower' (so named because the towers look like the ribs in one of those Japanese paper fans) setup back in the day. Check out Seventh Heaven and Big Chief at Stevens.

The forum title bar used to be a picture of 7 Riblet breakovers in a row

Those were from BLUE at MOUNT HOOD MEADOWS.

Here is the pic:

Mt Alyeska had a riblet with at least 6 towers before it was removed to put in a High speed quad similar to American Flyer @ copper

Also thanks to Chairlift.org for the photo!
This post has been edited by edmontonguy: 18 October 2004 - 09:25 PM

I wonder if this was the lift that was hidden at Aleyeska, according to old posts from the forum more than a year ago.

The HSQ at Alyeska is a Doppelmayr with bubbles.

whoops! my bad!

The Quad they have is a poma.
The Doppelmayr HSQ is similar to alpha drive pomas and was most likely installed around the same time as many HSQ's in quebec porbably 1984-86

That's kind of strange that it has the style of a Poma alpha drive hsq, because this lift was built in 1988, when drives were already integrated into the terminal, not to mention that this lift has a storage facility for its carriers too.

It's been a while since Alyeska has purchased a new lift, but then again, all they need is a base to mid mountain hsq and it's set for a good time.

The HSQ is in a pretty bad spot, you have to take FGs to get to it.
Maybe it should have been a base lift

From the pictures I have seen of this lift when it was a double, it got pretty backed up quite a bit. More people tend to ski the runs off of this lift then anywhere else on the mountain do to the fact that it services a bowl which gets filled with POWDER.

But yea, it will probably be soon when one of those base lifts gets turned into a HSQ.

I would have to say that the steepest lift I have ever been on was a dopp t-bar at Zermatt. I cant recal the name but noticed when I was there that they were building a tram over the same area. The Gant-Hohtälli tram has now replaced this t-bar. The incline of the line was so steep there were places where I was being lifted verticaly. Kinda scary experience. One of the highest places off the ground for a HSQ in the US has to be at the very top of Vail's Riva Bahn the gulley under the lift really sneaks up on you especially if you dont have the bar lowered.

T-bars are never too much fun, that must have sucked
Is there a law in the US that controls how high above the ground an open lift can be?

I hate any lift that suddenly goes over a valley the first time. The first time I road the mammoth gondola when I was like 8 I flipped out!

snowboardguy, on Oct 21 2004, 06:52 PM, said:

I got quite a suprise when I first rode up that lift and got over the valley, I lowered the bar for the first time in over ten years! When I've ridden over it again there have even been tourists that have commented that they thought it was too high.

Riding Highlifts downhill is even worse.

The Riva Bahn is even worse since its technicaly an up and over then up again. It replaced the golden peak riblet double which was up and over. The new Grav/CTEC quad travels up the mountain further and its used to take riders back to the top of golden peak so you ride over the valley traveling both ways.

floridaskier, on Oct 21 2004, 04:01 PM, said:

No, just common engineering practises which place towers for the most efficient profile. To avoid having lots of up and down on a lift, most engineers will draw a straight line over the terrain the lift will run over and build towers accordingly; this leads to some short towers and some tall ones. Keep in mind that this is the simplified version and there are many other factors involved.

poloxskier, on Oct 21 2004, 09:29 PM, said:

Same for the Flight of the Canyons gondola for the first time when I was about 8. They have a sign right before you can see over the edge that says 'WOW!" on it, thats how everyone else in there seemed to feel too

The steepest HSQ i have rode on was Northwest Express @ Bachelor

As for the steepest sections of fixed-grip lifts, I am torn between three:

1. Very top section of Blue (before the "fan" towers) @Mt. Hood Meadows

2. First third of Heather Canyon Lift, also @ Meadows.

3. Last half of High Campbell @ Crystal Mtn.

:) Cole K. :)
------

"Give your ski carrer a lift, ride one!"
~Cole K.

floridaskier, on Jan 18 2004, 07:09 AM, said:

Not exactly the steepest, but that little section on 9990 was tough to navigate. That was the steepest face we have dug on with our Schaeff walking excavator to date. About 53 degrees to remember the pucker factor number.
New around these parts...how you guys doin?