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New Vail lift pics!


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#21 Backbowlsbilly

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Posted 19 February 2014 - 03:09 PM

An interesting note about the grips, the Mountain Top Express has Doppelmayr Agamatic grips (not sure if thats the official correct term) like Keystone's River Run Gondola does but the Harmony 6 Express in Whistler, which was also built this year, has the DT Series grip. Both of the new lifts appeared in the January issue of Doppelmayr's Wir Magazine.

#22 Peter

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Posted 19 February 2014 - 04:14 PM

View PostBackbowlsbilly, on 19 February 2014 - 03:09 PM, said:

An interesting note about the grips, the Mountain Top Express has Doppelmayr Agamatic grips (not sure if thats the official correct term) like Keystone's River Run Gondola does but the Harmony 6 Express in Whistler, which was also built this year, has the DT Series grip. Both of the new lifts appeared in the January issue of Doppelmayr's Wir Magazine.

Customers have had a choice between DT and Agamatic grips on Doppelmayr lifts ever since the merger. For awhile there were 2 grip options, 3 chair options and 2 terminal options for detachables.
- Peter<br />
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#23 DonaldMReif

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Posted 19 February 2014 - 06:23 PM

Here's another before-and-after, showing the location of the old lift line compared to the new lift line:


Before:
Posted Image


After:
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You can see that the new lift line below the cliff is a bit wider due to the bottom terminal being relocated 90 feet east. It's much more noticeable of a move than when High Noon was replaced with the High Noon Express because there, the move was only 20 feet sideways. Also, with the High Noon Express, there was no lift for reference point. With the Mountaintop Express, the Wildwood Express lift provides a reference point. The one thing that still bothers me is that they could redesign the line to make use of some of the space the bottom terminal of the original lift utilized, which currently sits unused.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 20 March 2014 - 07:51 AM

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#24 missouriskier

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 05:06 PM

Nice new pictures, thanks! I kind of like the trail maps on the lifts. It's easier to look at them than it is to get out a paper map, especially in the snow or wind.

#25 SkiDaBird

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Posted 20 February 2014 - 10:32 PM

View PostPeter, on 19 February 2014 - 04:14 PM, said:

Customers have had a choice between DT and Agamatic grips on Doppelmayr lifts ever since the merger. For awhile there were 2 grip options, 3 chair options and 2 terminal options for detachables.

3 Chair options? The EJ and whatever the CTEC was called but what am I missing? Also, wouldn't there have been 3 different terminals in 2004, UNI-G, UNI-GS and Stealth 3.

#26 DonaldMReif

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Posted 16 March 2014 - 08:15 AM

I think the most interesting thing about the Mountaintop Express lift's design is that the lift has two different types of lifting frames. If you notice, towers 9 and 14 have a different lifting frame design from the rest of the towers. They appear to use the type of lifting frame that used to be the standard lifting frame for Doppelmayr gondolas and high speed six packs in the early 2000s, while at some point in the last year or so, Doppelmayr managed to adapt the high speed quad lifting frame and modify it for high speed six pack usage.

For comparison, tower 9:
Posted Image

and tower 15:
Posted Image





Also another update; another "Which way are you going?" sticker has been added, this one at tower 14 underneath the standard issue yellow "Check for loose clothing and equipment" sticker.

Posted Image


Unrelated to the update: the Mountaintop Express is the first Doppelmayr lift at Vail to have catwalks/walkways on all of its lift towers, just like all of the Poma and Garaventa CTEC high speed quads. On Vail's Doppelmayr high speed quads, they use the Poma-pass on all lift towers except for breakover tower assemblies, which do have the catwalks to connect the towers (towers 21, 22 and 23 of the Northwoods Express; towers 14 and 15 of the Game Creek Express; and towers 27 and 28 of the Orient Express lift).

I think the only thing I wish Vail had done differently about the lift is paint the caps at the ends of the terminals blue rather than leave them gray, resulting in something that looks like this (courtesy of Photoshop):
Posted Image
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#27 DonaldMReif

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Posted 11 November 2014 - 09:51 PM

I almost forgot to mention that sometime in late February/early March an additional "Which Way are you going?" sticker appeared on tower 14, below the yellow "Check For Loose Clothing And Equipment" sign.

Posted Image

And I have better videos showing the carpet:
https://www.youtube....h?v=zeUkbLiwx8Y

https://www.youtube....h?v=gLY2BfpF694

Of course, it's kinda good they didn't call this Elsa's Express even though this lift opened the same day as Frozen. It's a joke, but I mean, we knew all along that the new lift was always going to be called the Mountaintop Express, just like its predecessor. The same goes with how when Breckenridge upgraded the Colorado SuperChair this year to a six pack. The name's the same, the type of lift is different.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 12 November 2014 - 07:20 AM

YouTube channel for chairlift POV videos and other random stuff:
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#28 DonaldMReif

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Posted 27 November 2014 - 08:50 PM

2014 photo update:

Some small changes have been made to the Mountaintop Express lift this year. They mostly come in the form of new gates, and a reconfigured queue.

Well, I think the gate mechanism is the same but it appears that there is a small sleeve over each gate.
Posted Image

Additionally, the queue appears to have been modified. Last year, the only way to enter the Mountaintop Express lift's queues was to intermingle with the people headed for the Wildwood Express lift's queue. Now the south queue can be entered from the same way as before (also your way of entering the queue for the Wildwood Express lift if you're coming from anywhere south or east of that lift), but now you can enter the south queue without having to make that gooseneck turn after coming off trails like Christmas or Cappuccino. It does seem to make better use of the space where the original quad's bottom terminal was situated:

Posted Image

Posted Image

Also, every lift on the mountain now appears to have a "This lift may require reverse operations" sticker. On the Mountaintop Express, it's on tower 2:
Posted Image
YouTube channel for chairlift POV videos and other random stuff:
https://www.youtube....TimeQueenOfRome





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