Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

Yesterday marked the grand opening of Blackcomb's Crystal Ridge Express. I managed to grab a few photos of the relocated Poma HSQ.

A few stats:

Top drive - top/bottom tension (opposite of Harmony Express)
1708m/5604ft length
535m/1755ft vertical rise
2400 p/h capacity
20 towers, 119 chairs
~5.5 min ride time @ 1000 f/m

I also got a couple photos of the Harmony 6 Express. It doesn't have chairs on right now, so I'll post a few more once it opens up.

How many of the towers on the new Crystal are new? Looks like a couple from the pictures. And are they going to park the chairs every night on Harmony?

I believe just two new towers (although perhaps more). I know that Harmony has the capability of launching and removing chairs automatically, so it's possible that they'll do that every night.

From the photos, I could count two Poma towers that are clearly new ones. I mean, it's a lot like when Mission Ridge acquired Winter Park's old Summit Express lift - due to a different line profile, all of the chairs and most of the towers, and both terminals, are the 1980s material and yet there are a couple of towers that clearly have Poma's 1993-2011 tower design.