125 replies to this topic

[Nordo]

River Run Gondola at Keystone. I was pretty little and couldn't get enough of it! Thinking back, it must have been brand-new at the time...

[skiisme753]

Mine was the Coca Cola Express 6 pack at Seven Springs, PA. It's made by Garaventa CTEC. I rode it at night and I was in awe how fast it went as my home resort doesen't even have safety bars. Also it does not follow a trail, rather it cuts accross many on it's way to the top. Awesome lift, but the new six pack for next season on the north face will be much more appreciated as it services the steepest slopes on the mountain.

[Snoqualmie guy]

HSQ at Summit Central (ski acres) Nice ride over the park!

[mlkrgr]

The Jordan Bowl Express at Sunday River. Yeah, the first time I've ever seen one, the express had a line and a fixed triple right beside it didn't. So, I went on the fixed triple. I was stunned about the express quad chairs passing the triple chairs up continuously.

[Superchairliftfan]

Cat_on_the_Chairlift, on Jan 2 2006, 08:06 AM, said:

Yeah... that Yan... WAS MY FIRST TOO! In 1992, when I was 4, I went on. I watched it crash on the 23rd of December 1995. I hated that steep lift! THAT was my favourite Christmas present!

You're just LOOKING for attention... go sit in a corner.

[k2skier]

First HSL, Squaw Valley Tram 1982/83

First HSQ, Mt Bachelor Summit Triple 1985/86 (?)

First chair, Timberline Pucci, Riblet double (?) 1978/79

[dmaxben]

OLD OLD thread, but I figured Id bump it to the top because I just joined here and the 09 season is starting...

first high speed lift I ever rode on was the Grand Summit Express at Mount Snow in vermont, back I was around 6 I think? So that would have been ~1993.

Of course way back then it was called the Yankee Clipper and still a 100% original Yan design, grips and all....

ben

This post has been edited by dmaxben: 09 December 2009 - 08:16 AM

[AlphaBet]

I think my first high speed lift ride was the Gemini Express at Winter Park, in '97 or '98. It was my first trip to a "real" ski area after skiing for a couple of years at a 300' hill in Iowa.

[monkey]

Eagle Express at Solitude 1991 I believe, We were so scared when it came into the top terminal we thought it was just going to launch us. The first HSQ in Utah

[Andoman]

Mountain Express at Boyne Mountain in michigan not only was it my first high speed but my first six pack.

[zeedotcom]

Mountain Top Express at Cascade Mountain, Wisconsin.

[Bogong]

Quote

Originally posted by Cameron. I grew up skiing at an awesome resort called Mt. Buller in Australia. They installed two Doppelmayr HSQs called "Blue Bullet 1" and "Blue Bullet 2", which shared a common terminal (the top terminal of Blue Bullet 1 was also the bottom of Blue Bullet 2). Sort of like the mid-station on the Whistler Gondola, but the lifts are not linked in any way (as far as I can tell).

It opened for the 1984 ski season (which is June-September), so I guess it was pretty early in the detachable game. I do know that it has grips that don't look like any other Doppelmayr grips I've seen (Buller has newer HSQ's and I've seen several others in Vail).

I remember just being in total awe of the Blue Bullets at Buller when I was a kid .. the terminals had wheels, ropes, rods and belts seemingly going in every direction.

Buller has (well had) some interesting lifts. There were two (parallel) detachable poma (platter) surface lifts, which both had what I'd guess to be a 30 or 40 degree turn half way up. I wish I had pictures of that.. Sadly they have been removed. They also had a double sided poma (you load at both ends, and get off in the middle), part of that poma actually remains (probably more sentimental value than anything!).

Buller also has a Doppelmayr high-speed-quad as an access lift from one of the car-parks. This lift has an interesting mid-loading station, where the carriers do not detach. The sheave train is attached to the tower in such a way that it can be raised/lowered. When the mid-loading station isn't used, the sheaves (and thus the haul-rope) is raised in the air and the lift runs at full speed. In order to use the mid-loading station they lower the sheaves (which lowers the rope and carriers), and slow the entire lift down. I've only watched the transition once, and it takes several minutes (with the chair stopped) for it to whole thing to take place. If they use the mid-load station, it's usually for most of the mid-day .. then they revert to high-speed running late in the day (to get the skiers off the mountain).

Cameron.

Mt Buller's Doppelmayr Blue Bullet detachable quads were amongst the first in the world and as people have said, the grips are very different from anything in use today. It was getting very hard to find parts for them and Buller's maintenance division was having to get many of them specially fabricated by local makers, as they couldn't be bought off the shelf. But when BB.2 was replaced by a Dopp detachable 6-pack, they kept almost everything from it in storage as a supply of parts for BB.1. So they will probably be able to keep it running for another decade.

Buller was the location of the first Dopp chairlift in the world. A local ski magazine recently interviewed the head of Doppelmayr and she said her grandfather hated chairlifts, so when the company bowed to demand from resorts and decided to build them in 1963, they looked for ski resorts futherst from Austria and the old man's ire. Mt Buller was in the market for a chairlift and Dopp got the job, largely because Buller had a lot of trouble with spring boxes on T-bars icing up or breaking and the Dopplemayr ones were far more reliable than anything produced by Australian or New Zealand manufacturers.

Buller also has the distinction of having the fastest ski lift in the southern hemisphere (and as far as I know, in the world). No, it wasn't a chairlift or gondola, but a detachable grip Poma button lift. When it opened in 1964, the Summit Access Poma had a speed of 6.5 metres a second (I'm unsure what that is in U.S. measurement, but for comparison the fastest detachable chair travels at 5.0 m/s.) However skiers were constantly thrown off it, so after a few years it was only allowed to operate at 4.0 m/s, which is still fast for a surface lift. However they still cranked it up to 6.5 m/s for staff access throughout it's 20 year life.

Details of every ski lift ever installed at Buller: http://wikiski.com/w...ctory#Mt_Buller

This post has been edited by Bogong: 11 December 2009 - 06:51 AM

[snowmaster]

Mine was the old PHB Hall Skycruiser Goldola at Loon, maybe 1984. Now the current Doppelmayr is getting old. Makes me feel old. I'd like to go see it again in Minnesota someday.

[SuperRat]

snowmaster, on 17 December 2009 - 07:19 AM, said:

Mine was the old PHB Hall Skycruiser Goldola at Loon, maybe 1984. Now the current Doppelmayr is getting old. Makes me feel old. I'd like to go see it again in Minnesota someday.

Its interesting you should comment on the age of the current Loon Mt gondola, after this winter it will be older than the former Loon gondola when it was replaced (1966-1988 v. 1988-now).

Now I'm feeling old. I remember the old gondola too but I've been working with the new gondola since it was only 5 years old.

This post has been edited by SuperRat: 17 December 2009 - 10:18 AM

[snowmaster]

SuperRat, on 17 December 2009 - 10:11 AM, said:

Its interesting you should comment on the age of the current Loon Mt gondola, after this winter it will be older than the former Loon gondola when it was replaced (1966-1988 v. 1988-now).

Now I'm feeling old. I remember the old gondola too but I've been working with the new gondola since it was only 5 years old.

And they're condiering moving it to Sugarloaf, I hear, on a new liftline near West Mountain to their midmountain restaurant. I assume this would mean a heavier capacity gondola for Loon, but no details yet. I hope they don't build a self contained terminal for it; I can't imagine Loon (or a number of other places) without the ol' gondola barn.

[SuperRat]

snowmaster, on 17 December 2009 - 10:40 AM, said:

And they're condiering moving it to Sugarloaf, I hear, on a new liftline near West Mountain to their midmountain restaurant. I assume this would mean a heavier capacity gondola for Loon, but no details yet. I hope they don't build a self contained terminal for it; I can't imagine Loon (or a number of other places) without the ol' gondola barn.

That was an idea Boyne had two years ago but its not going to happen. Loon should have its '88 Doppelmayr for a while longer.

Sorry for getting off topic.

[Art]

spunkyskier01, on 04 March 2005 - 04:27 PM, said:

my first was the adiroundack express at gore, a 85 von roll high speed triple. extreamly cool lift.

Me too. When I was a little kid i didn't really notice the speed difference but I did notice it detaching. I love how the terminal open so you can see everything that is happening. I loved watching it as a little kid and I love watching it now.

This post has been edited by Art: 15 January 2010 - 05:42 PM

[dh_lift_op]

Mine was the high speed 6 at Granite Peak, WI.

[skier2]

Steamboat Gondola and Thunderhead Express...still two of my favorite lifts of all time And that was back when the gondola was still called the Silver Bullet

This post has been edited by skier2: 16 January 2010 - 10:30 AM