53 replies to this topic

[SkiBachelor]

The Snowshed HSQ was built by Yan in 1987 and later retrofitted by Poma. What I've noticed about some Yan HSQs is once they have been retrofitted, they don't drop in a new electric motor so the lift travels the same speed as it did when it was a Yan.

[liftmech]

It's not so much the electric motor as it is the drive and the software that runs it. If Poma or Doppelmayr or whoever is doing the retro decides that the drive is fine, they don't like to mess with it. As long as the design weight of the carriers is the same, and the number thereof, there is no reason to change the drive parameters.

[iceberg210]

Sugarloaf @ Alta

(It might just be that the wind is always blowing

[SkiBachelor]

Yea, I just checked in my Garaventa CTEC book and it runs at 5.08 mps.

[coskibum]

the fastest lifts i've ridden operate at 5.59 m/s and are the new Poma quads at vail. the newer lifts at breck and keystone operate at this speed too (ie the summit express/santiago and ruby lifts)

[Eric]

Another fast HSQ is the GATE HOUSE EXPRESS at Sugarbush.

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This post has been edited by Eric: 15 January 2004 - 07:35 AM

[Zage]

The Goats Eye expess @ Sunshine is fast, a 1995 Poma I forget the speed

[poloxskier]

FG- A dopp in Kitzbuel (I don't know the name) which was run much faster than any other FG ive been on buy slower than HS lifts, I'm guessing about 700-800ft/s. As a suplement it had conveyor loading that brought you from the waiting area to the load area and you loaded at about half the speed that the lift traveled. At the top you just had to unload really fast.
HS- Probably the new poma's at Breck, Vail or the Ruby at Keystone.

[Durrrant]

Dr Frankenstein, on Nov 28 2003, 07:26 PM, said:

I think the Green Mountain Flyer @ Jay Peak is faster.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The flyer or "freezer" ---... is really fast. Jay claims it as the fastest lift in eastern North America...

Its fricken long too, over 7500'. at the end, you come over a hump, and you just get blasted by the wind. its cold. really really cold.

[mcjones55]

How fast can a lift run? I've heard numbers like 1100fpm for a HS and 400 for a FG? how are these numbers determended? I've heard it's regulated by the tram board here in utah but how fast could they go if the tram board wasn't regulating it?

[SkiBachelor]

We had another thread about this issue a while back and I think we said that he fastest a high-speed quad could run was like 9 m/s, but maybe more. Fixed grip lifts can easily go like 18 m/s (Eskimo Lift Destruction baby).

[snowboardguy]

So FG can run faster than HSQ's it would just be impossible to load and unload?

[floridaskier]

An FG running 18 m/s would be deadly, you'd be flying around the bullwheel, it would destroy itself before anyone could ride it. It could probably only get nearly that fast in a rollback (i.e. Eskimo)

[snowboardguy]

What if you had like 2 half bullwhells that only turn 45 degrees.

[liftmech]

Wouldn't make a difference. Plus 2x45 degrees is only half the turn
ANSI table 4.1 Maximum fixed-grip lift speeds:
Single: 600 FPM
Double: 550 FPM
Triple: 500 FPM
Other: 475 FPM

Way back when, when the engineers were figuring out how fast to run their new toy (Sun Valley, 1935) 500 was determined the optimum speed. I personally don't think loading a faster lift would be all that comfortable.
Those ingenious guys referenced above came up with 500 FPM by welding a rig to the side of a truck, attaching a chair to it, then driving at various speeds trying to pick up a volunteer on roller skates. I kid you not.

[liftmech]

I forgot to add that maximum detachable lift speeds are not governed by ANSI; rather, they leave it up to the manufacturer to design the lift to what they feel is fast enough.

[jessevanneo]

The fastest lift i've ever been on is the Mile One Express @ Panorama Resort in BC, Canada

I live in Calgary.

[CAski]

Ooo, physics!

A lift moving at 18 m/s with a bull wheel of radius 3 m (a guess), would have a centripetal acceleration of 108 m/s^2! My god! With that acceleration, the force for a 200 lb chairlift (~200/2.2=90.1Kg) would be 9730.8N! That is equal to 2,187 pounds of force!

A lift traveling at 3 m/s in the same scenario would only experience 270 N of force, or 60 lbs.

In order for a lift at 18 m/s to have a force of 270 N, the bull wheel would need to be 108 m in radius! That is one huge bullwheel.

This is, of course, assuming my calculations are correct.

[liftmech]

Mine weren't as detailed by half, but you are correct.

[sseguin613]

The fastest fixed grip chair i've been on is the old YAN double chair at Edelweiss. You'd get on and it would swing like crazy for almost the first minute of the 8 minute ride. One time, i saw a couple get on and they got thrown off right after the chair started going up. The operator had to use the emergency brake.

They removed it and installed a Quad this year in it's place.

The fastest Detachable Quad i've been on is the Fleche D'argent doppelmayr at Saint-Sauveur. I think it's only 3 years old or so. Short terminals.

This post has been edited by sseguin613: 16 January 2005 - 07:15 PM