Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

liftmech, on Jun 22 2007, 01:24 PM, said:

I'd post a link to the info on it but skilifts.org is down again for some reason so I'll have to wait till she comes back up.

Here are the pics of the remains of chair 3 at White Pass. As you can see, the type of towers it has indicates that it was installed in or before 1964. This means the lift was at least 46 years old (but likely older) when it was removed in 2000, and therefore it would be very impractical to even consider re-instaling it. which is probably the reason it was scrapped.

LSA Lift at Stevens that I was referring to

Clicky Click Click here
This post has been edited by JustJeepIt: 23 June 2007 - 11:45 PM

This one is really heartbreaking. One of you guys said that she is still there and rusting.

Click here

"She" was never built right and had a terrible accident. Still rusting away...

Skier, on Jun 24 2007, 03:16 AM, said:

And "She" should stay that way....

I personally enjoy studying vintage lifts that are out of commission or dis-functional! I think they hold a lot of history. By tearing them down, there is no more history to study, and no more to learn..... It is pictures like these that make me miss the Miner Double at Buck Hill, MN. I wish I had taken some good pictures of it before it was scrapped.

JustJeepIt, on Jun 24 2007, 12:43 AM, said:

All lifts that were at Yodelin have been removed and re-sold or re-installed (Stevens Pass), the lifts you see are remains of lifts removed at Stevens Pass when the HSQ were installed. They are old Riblets.

What type of accident took place?

I'm of the type that if its not going to be used, get it removed instead of letting it rust. The thing has been sitting unused since the early 80s.

The emergency brake was applied and it failed, resulting in a rollback.

I thought Tye Mill was the RIblet from Yodelin?

Yes, thats the re-installed one, the re-sold was C-6 at Crystal.

Still trying to learn here, what happens during rollback?

JustJeepIt, on Jun 25 2007, 12:26 AM, said:

Depends, if it’s empty nothing, if its loaded with some vertical, all hell, if it does run. Fast.

One expense not mentioned here is transport - we're talking tens of thousands of dollars to transport a moderate sized lift. This is a reason you'll see many resorts out west with old lifts laying around, whereas out east (where ski areas are relatively close to each other), more lifts are salvaged.

There's a lot to do with code too that makes reinstalling certain older lifts not worthwhile. For instance, Yan chain tensioning cannot be reinstalled in many places. There are also a lot of Riblet grips out there that need to be overhauled per a recent recall of sorts.

If you're fortunate enough to be able to do a relatively cheap take down (ie you don't need a chopper, for instance), you're still talking in excess of 100k if you're really lucky. All of this for a decades old lift, which in many cases will have an owner who thinks its worth more than it really is. This is why you see so many rusting away.