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Hurricane Irma and lifts

_litz's Photo _litz 06 Sep 2017

Hurricanes and cable lifts are not exactly something you'd link together, but the US Virgin Islands has the Paradise Point Skyride, and there's a few other scenic chairlifts scattered here and there.

What kind of winds can these systems withstand?

Anything detachable you can, presumably, store the carriers (and pray the station structures survive) leaving just your rope and towers ... but what about fixed grip lifts?

A direct hit from this thing could mean 185mph sustained winds.
This post has been edited by _litz: 06 September 2017 - 04:16 PM
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Andy1962's Photo Andy1962 06 Sep 2017

View Post_litz, on 06 September 2017 - 04:15 PM, said:

Hurricanes and cable lifts are not exactly something you'd link together, but the US Virgin Islands has the Paradise Point Skyride, and there's a few other scenic chairlifts scattered here and there.

What kind of winds can these systems withstand?

Anything detachable you can, presumably, store the carriers (and pray the station structures survive) leaving just your rope and towers ... but what about fixed grip lifts?

A direct hit from this thing could mean 185mph sustained winds.


On Aug 26, 2009, Georgian Peaks, a ski resort in the Town of the Blue Mountains Ont, was hit sideways by an F2 Tornado with winds of between 180 and 240 km/h .(110mph t0 150 mph )

http://www.owensound...n-the-milions-2

https://www.youtube....h?v=bLHDE9dNM2c

https://www.youtube....h?v=GhKScBcB6Ts

Pretty much everything on the lifts had to have non destructive testing done (as a precaution) . Not much had to be replaced. Everything was up and open for the following ski season.
This post has been edited by Andy1962: 07 September 2017 - 03:57 AM
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_litz's Photo _litz 07 Sep 2017

Interesting ... the key difference here being a tornado is in and gone in very short time ... hurricane is putting those wind loads on your stuff for hours and hours.

Imagine if Disney had finished their gondola construction; they're now dead in the sights of this storm.
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Lift Dinosaur's Photo Lift Dinosaur 07 Sep 2017

Sky Trac is / was just finishing up 2 lifts in St. Martin, which took a near direct hit from Irma. Sources said the lifts were designed to take 200 mph winds.
We'll see how they come out...well, I hope!

Dino
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_litz's Photo _litz 07 Sep 2017

Dino,

Skytrac lifts are fixed grip, are they not?

There's some absolutely frightening video of fixed grip lifts in heavy winds ... and that's nothing like what a hurricane can put out for hours on end.
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Lift Dinosaur's Photo Lift Dinosaur 07 Sep 2017

View Post_litz, on 07 September 2017 - 06:38 PM, said:

Dino,

Skytrac lifts are fixed grip, are they not?

There's some absolutely frightening video of fixed grip lifts in heavy winds ... and that's nothing like what a hurricane can put out for hours on end.

Correct. Sky Trac builds fixed grips only.
While I'm not a meteorologist, it seems like ski area winds come with Fronts, which makes them generally linear. Hurricane winds are circular which means a lift could be affected by winds of the same intensity from different directions as the storm passes.��
Dino
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_litz's Photo _litz 09 Sep 2017

That's very true ... however the sheer size of a hurricane means you get the wind from each direction for hours and hours on end until you move to the other side of the storm, where the winds reverse.

In many cases, the winds from the backside of the storm are often worse

In Irma's case, they're forecasting some parts of Florida (like Key West) to have hurricane force winds for 10-12 hours

That kind of extreme, and seemingly endless, pressure onto some kind of engineered structure has to be concerning ...
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lastchair_44's Photo lastchair_44 12 Sep 2017

I thought I remember someone telling me the Paradise Point skyride had rope retention devices on the sheave assemblies that they would utilize if a hurricane were to pass by the island.
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backyard lift's Photo backyard lift 13 Sep 2017

Yes, that is true. They call them 'hurricane hooks'. Waiting to hear how the lift fared, but really more concerned for all on the island and their future. The tourist business is going to be tough for a long time.
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snoloco's Photo snoloco 29 Oct 2017

I'm sure that they would remove all the chairs in the event of a hurricane because in winds like that they act like sails and could pull the cable off the sheaves as well as be damaged themselves.
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moloch's Photo moloch 12 Jan 2018

https://skytraclifts...-hurricane-hit/

Pretty interesting article about 2 new Skytrac lifts in St. Maarten and how they survived the hurricane.
This post has been edited by moloch: 12 January 2018 - 10:56 AM
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