65 replies to this topic

[SkiBachelor]

Anyway idea what cabin design will be used on the Silver Queen Gondola for next year?

[boardski]

Does anyone know where the new HSS Fanny Hill replacement is supposed to load? Is it in the exact same spot as the Fanny Hill HSQ did? Also, does anyone know if the cabriolet connecting the two villages will unload high enough to reach Burlingame or Coney Glade lifts? So far I know about Fanny Hill and Wood Run lifts being removed this year, are there any others?

[liftmech]

It appears the sixpack loading terminal will be in the parking lot below the old Fanny Hill terminal. Could be wrong, but there's an awful lot of dirt work there over and above the usual equipment parking mess.

[mblacky1051]

I've been reading threads on this board for a while, first time poster. We make an annual trip to Snowmass every year and are looking forward to the improvements they are making, especially eliminating the 3 lift ride to the top of Big Burn and finally putting in a Gondola. Aspen/Snowmass has finally put in a page with the new improvements on their website:

The New Snowmass

This post has been edited by mblacky1051: 14 July 2005 - 07:38 AM

[Lift Dinosaur]

highspeedquad, on Mar 18 2005, 06:55 PM, said:

Wow, they really are putting in a lot of stuff. This is quite a large expansion compared to some other projects.

I'm assuming the lifts will be Leitner-Pomas. Anyone care to confirm or deny?
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Six-Pack and the Mall Connector are Leitner-Pomas.

[Lift Dinosaur]

poloxskier, on Apr 6 2005, 05:47 PM, said:

I found out this weekend that there are actually two different makes of cabins on display at Snowmass.  They have a CWA omega 8 at the base of the fanny hill lift and it is presumably for the elk camp gondola.  In the Snowmass mall area has a 6 or 8 passenger diamond cabin on display that I was told would probably go on the mall cabriolet/gondola.  From what I could find out they will probably both be a traditional gondola design but no one could tell me which cabins will be on each gondola or if both will be the same and they are still trying to decide which cabins they will use.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

The Mall Connector is actually a 6 passenger PULSE gondola and will not be a cabriolet, but will use the Diamond 6 cabin. The Elk Camp Gondola is actually an extension of the Base Village Gondola, through an angle station, and will use the CWA Omega 8 cabins.

[skiersage]

If you guys are still wondering where the bottom of the six person lift will be located, according to a futuristic map of snowmass the lower terminal will be where the bottom of the old wood run lift used to be.

If you want to see this map, go to the aspen snowmass.com and on the right side of the screen there should be a link that says "whats new at snowmass" or something like that.

[Tin Woodsman]

Interestingly enough, while the Snowmass project gets all the press and attention, my understanding is that the new lift at Highlands is the only thing people are talking about in town. People are chomping at the bit to check it out when the snow flies.

[skiersage]

Tin Woodsman, on Aug 2 2005, 03:41 PM, said:

Interestingly enough, while the Snowmass project gets all the press and attention, my understanding is that the new lift at Highlands is the only thing people are talking about in town.  People are chomping at the bit to check it out when the snow flies.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

I agree that new high temerity lift is more exciting to the locals. the highlands bowl and steeplechase runs are going to be much better without the long and skinny catwalk overshadowing them.

yes, I know

By the way, the picture is of myself hiking up the highlands bowl to prove that i skied it and my credibility on the subject.

Attached File(s)

•  JJclimbingHighlandBowl.JPG (35.64K)
  Number of downloads: 29

[Tin Woodsman]

skiersage, on Aug 2 2005, 06:56 PM, said:

I agree that new high temerity lift is more exciting to the locals. the highlands bowl and steeplechase runs are going to be much better without the long and skinny catwalk overshadowing them. 

yes, I know

By the way, the picture is of myself hiking up the highlands bowl to prove that i skied it and my credibility on the subject.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

That last little rise you've just come over is a crusher. At least at 12,000 feet it is for this flatlander.

[skiersage]

I think that this is the final document that they are going to release for a while. the cabins are going to be interesting if they are like they are pictured.

Attached File(s)

•  SMUpdate_082505.pdf (1.71MB)
  Number of downloads: 57

[SkiBachelor]

Yep, the Leitner-Poma Diamond cabins will probably be appearing at more and more resorts in North America in the future. With Doppelmayr/ Garaventa owning CWA, every gondola that Leitner-Poma sells that has the CWA cabins, Doppelmayr/ Garaventa make money. Of course it's up to the resort to choose the cabin model they want, but maybe L-P offers their cabins for a cheaper price.

I'm not sure what's going to happen to Gangloff with Leitner-Poma and Doppelmayr/ Garaventa owning their own cabin manufacturers.

[coskibum]

i've never ridden the shear bliss lift at snowmass. i always take big burn instead since it runs pretty much parallel

[boardski]

Big Burn & Sheer Bliss are mostly parelell, however, the bottom terminal for Sheer Bliss is lower than Big Burn so if you ski the Cirque or many other expert or extreme runs off the Burn/ Bliss, you will end up at the bottom of Sheer Bliss and too low to catch the Burn without a hike and a lot of people telling you "you're going the wrong way" and thinking they are comedians. Word has it, however, that the Bliss & Burn may be replaced with a HSS in the coming years so that may help.

[SkiBachelor]

It's true that Big Burn is being replaced but I wonder which lift will be replaced by the new one? If Sheer Bliss is, that ski bridge there will have to be replaced with a bigger one.

[coskibum]

its too bad, big burn is a unique poma terminal. i always make sure that im high enough for burn or i ski down to another!

[boardski]

You can also ski down to Coney Glade HSQ when skiing the Bliss's trails but it sounds as if this option will be eliminated also after next season if the Coney Glade is to be removed (this is not indicated on snowmass's website, however.) I have heard that both the Burn and the Bliss would be removed to make way for the new HSS. Again this is not mentioned on the Aspen Snowmass website, however, and could be a few years off still.

[SkiBachelor]

When I was with Craig Loop up at Mission Ridge in August, he called Snowmass seeing if there were any parts from the Fanny Hill lift he could salvage and use on the HSQ at Mission Ridge. The mountain manager said that a lot of the stuff was scrapped and the stuff left over might be reused on the other lifts, but he also said that Coney Glade is coming out too along with Big Burn.

However, I think Coney Glade should be left where it is.

[boardski]

I definately agree about Coney Glade. I think if any change is made, they should remove the rest of Burlingame (since it is also a slow lift which stops and slows all the time) and relocate the bottom terminal of Coney Glade where the lower terminal of Burlingame is currently. This would make an efficient way for intermediate and advanced skiers and riders to reach the Burn or Sam's Knob without skiing all the way to the bottom of the new HSS and create a huge bottleneck with skiers of all abilities including beginners who traverse all the way accross the hill making it difficult to get past them. Also with the midpoint where the Fanny Hill used to unload is going to cause the lift to need to stop and slow very frequently. Beginners don't do well on six-packs. The Quicksilver Super 6 at Breckenridge is a prime example. Even with load gates, that lift stops and slows all the time. Removing Coney Glade will be a HUGE mistake, unless they are planning on having the base terminal of the new Burn chair be located where the base terminal of Coney Glade is. That would be an efficient possibilty, not sure if that is part of the plan though. Snowmass is a great place to ski and ride, I just hope they don't end up consolidating the lifts to the point where there are huge lines at all of them like the I-70 corridor areas.

[skiersage]

First, If you saw that map that shows the improvements on snowmass, you'd see that it doesn't show the big burn, coney glade, or sheer bliss lifts being removed. it shows that part of burlingame, wood run, and naked lady are, or will be gone but that is it. it also shows the new mountain express as well as the planned gondola, elk camp ski school icluuding a new lift that goes from the middle of two creeks to around the top of elk camp. my point is that the coney glade, big burn, and sheer bliss lifts and their removal has not been announced to the public meaning that they might not be removed. I think the resort people have to figure out how the new six pack changes the flow of the skiers on the mountain before they can make a truly educated decsion on the matter. although, I can not be sure on this.

second, with regards to the burlingame lift, I dont think that they should do any thing with it since they shortend it. of course this is just my opinion, but it may have a use if they do indeed remove the coney glade lift. you could use it to get to the existing sams nob express if you dont want to use the six pack. other than that, it was used to help control the crowds on fanny hill, and it did that. that is really all that can be said about it since it hasn't been VERY practical since the fanny hill and coney glade lifts were installed.

lastly, it might be good if the bottom of coney glade were moved to the bottom of burlingame but that would be worse in some ways. this is because ehen coming down from the cirque or high alpine it is hard to get back up for another run quickly beause you have to go down to coney glade to get back up when sheer bliss is not running. to extend that lift even further down would mean that that loop would be even longer. However, it may work if either they started running sheer bliss again or if they moved the big burn terminal down to where the bottom of sheer bliss is then that would fix that problem.