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Lift Construction Photos 2013


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#241 Peter

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 07:36 PM

View Postfloridaskier, on 21 May 2014 - 06:53 PM, said:

Anyone know why it has European style towerheads?

I don't have an answer, but Doppelmayr has built one or two gondolas/six packs with them each year for the past decade or so. The other places that have them are Tremblant, Mont Orford, Alpine Ski Club, Keystone, Sunday River, Beaver Creek, Mammoth, Durango, Northstar and Heavenly.
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#242 DonaldMReif

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Posted 21 May 2014 - 08:24 PM

View PostPeter, on 21 May 2014 - 07:36 PM, said:

I don't have an answer, but Doppelmayr has built one or two gondolas/six packs with them each year for the past decade or so. The other places that have them are Tremblant, Mont Orford, Alpine Ski Club, Keystone, Sunday River, Beaver Creek, Mammoth, Durango, Northstar and Heavenly.


Not every Doppelmayr lift built since 1999 has them. I think they only appear on the high speed six packs and gondolas. For instance, they're on the River Run Gondola and the Buckaroo Express Gondola, but they're not on the Larkspur Express or the Rose Bowl Express, which are high speed quads. I think there might be some resort preference as to what type of towerheads (or lifting frames if that's the correct term) to have Doppelmayr use, but I note that the Mountaintop Express has the European-style towerheads that the Sea-to-Sky Gondola has on towers 9 and 14, but has towerheads similar in design to the lifting frames of the Avanti Express, Born Free Express and Orient Express lifts on the other 13 towers. I guess it's hard to tell why they didn't use a single lifting frame design for all of the towers:

Tower 14 (European style towerhead):
Posted Image

Tower 15 (the other style of towerhead):

Posted Image
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#243 Peter

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 05:47 AM

View PostDonaldMReif, on 21 May 2014 - 08:24 PM, said:


Not every Doppelmayr lift built since 1999 has them. I think they only appear on the high speed six packs and gondolas. For instance, they're on the River Run Gondola and the Buckaroo Express Gondola, but they're not on the Larkspur Express or the Rose Bowl Express, which are high speed quads. I think there might be some resort preference as to what type of towerheads (or lifting frames if that's the correct term) to have Doppelmayr use, but I note that the Mountaintop Express has the European-style towerheads that the Sea-to-Sky Gondola has on towers 9 and 14, but has towerheads similar in design to the lifting frames of the Avanti Express, Born Free Express and Orient Express lifts on the other 13 towers. I guess it's hard to tell why they didn't use a single lifting frame design for all of the towers:

Tower 14 (European style towerhead):
Posted Image

Tower 15 (the other style of towerhead):

Posted Image


You are confusing the two different American styles with the European ones. Your first picture is just the beefed up version used on more heavily loaded towers. The european ones have a different shape altogether and are used on every tower on the lifts that have them.
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#244 vons

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 12:39 PM

I think it may be that the european tower heads are used when the largest (heaviest) sheave size is used.

#245 Backbowlsbilly

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 04:08 PM

Here's a european tower head on the Purgatory Village Express at Durango. Buckaroo and Riverfront at Beaver Creek have the european tower heads too.
Posted Image

#246 DonaldMReif

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 04:48 PM

Ugh, they look so similar a casual observer wouldn't be able to tell the difference.

Anyone got on-board footage of the Sea to Sky Gondola?
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#247 snoloco

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Posted 22 May 2014 - 05:09 PM

Here's some.

https://www.youtube....h?v=tuv0rGrVgEQ





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