Jump to content


Lifts with an Odd Carrier Out


  • You cannot reply to this topic
32 replies to this topic

#1 NHskier13

    Established User

  • Member
  • 567 Posts:
  • Interests:Yes

Posted 09 February 2015 - 06:26 AM

So I've noticed some lifts have a carrier that usually doesn't fit in. I find most of the time it was placed to mark a special time. For example, Crotched mountain's West Lift (which was the only lift from the former Crotched mountain to be reused) has a special 10th anniversary chair with the classic wooden slats for the seat:
Attached File  10th anniversary chair.JPG (482.11K)
Number of downloads: 287

Also, some lifts such as the Pioneer Express have a different type of chair. If I remember correctly it was placed because they couldn't rebuild an arceaux chair:
Attached File  Pioneer Competition Chair.png (180.06K)
Number of downloads: 288

Any others you can come up with? (And yes, feel free to correct me about the Pioneer Express one, you probably know more about it than me)

#2 liftmech

    lift mechanic

  • Administrator II
  • 5,906 Posts:
  • Interests:Many.

Posted 09 February 2015 - 07:06 AM

The photo's fuzzy on my phone, but I assume you mean Winter Park's Pioneer. If so, then you're correct. We can no longer get all of the parts for the French-built carriers so we end up building entirely new ones. I'm trying to keep the Flyer as original as possible but sooner or later I won't be able to :(
Member, Department of Ancient Technology, Colorado chapter.

#3 DonaldMReif

    Established User

  • Member
  • 1,980 Posts:

Posted 09 February 2015 - 07:25 AM

Save for that one Competition chair, all of the Pioneer Express lift's chairs the Arceaux design.
YouTube channel for chairlift POV videos and other random stuff:
https://www.youtube....TimeQueenOfRome

#4 DonaldMReif

    Established User

  • Member
  • 1,980 Posts:

Posted 09 February 2015 - 08:21 AM

Minor case: the Independence SuperChair was opened with 113 chairs in 2002. Six chairs were added in 2008 when the bottom terminal was moved to tie the lift into the Peak 7 base. The new chairs have number stickers with the Leitner-Poma logo that the lift terminals have while the original chairs have number stickers that have the 1990s Poma logo.
YouTube channel for chairlift POV videos and other random stuff:
https://www.youtube....TimeQueenOfRome

#5 snoloco

    Established User

  • Member
  • 444 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing
    Ski lifts
    Ski areas

Posted 09 February 2015 - 08:31 AM

Mountain Creek's Bear Peak Express was installed in 1998 and uses EJ chairs. However, chair 40 looks like a newer EJ chair. I have no clue why they have this. First I thought it had to do with the accident in January 2013. Ski patrol loaded a toboggan on with the handles forward instead of back. The handles dug in throwing the chair into the underside of the terminal which ripped off two uphill most metal covers. Another chair got jammed in the covers after they fell, but that was chair #6 and the one that the patrollers were on was 3 or 4 I think, not 40.

#6 NHskier13

    Established User

  • Member
  • 567 Posts:
  • Interests:Yes

Posted 09 February 2015 - 09:10 AM

Vail's Gondola one has a special Gold cabin to commemorate their 50th anniversary:
Posted Image

#7 liftmech

    lift mechanic

  • Administrator II
  • 5,906 Posts:
  • Interests:Many.

Posted 09 February 2015 - 09:26 AM

Snoloco-- Doppelmayr's replacement EJ bails look slightly different than their older ones, but everything fits. Our '94 has around a quarter of its carriers built with the replacements. All were rejected during the 5-year inspection.
Member, Department of Ancient Technology, Colorado chapter.

#8 snoloco

    Established User

  • Member
  • 444 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing
    Ski lifts
    Ski areas

Posted 09 February 2015 - 10:11 AM

What issues would cause a carrier be rejected anyway?

#9 vons

    Established User

  • Industry II
  • 940 Posts:

Posted 09 February 2015 - 10:50 AM

Minor indications (tiny cracks, only found with the aid of NDT equipment) found in any of the major components of the chair will cause that part to be rejected. Most modern chars allow the replacement of the failing part, older chairs where welded together so the entire chair is rejected.

#10 DonaldMReif

    Established User

  • Member
  • 1,980 Posts:

Posted 09 February 2015 - 03:19 PM

I personally don't think Gondola One's gold cabin counts as an "odd cabin out" since it's the same cabin model as all of the other cabins on the line.
YouTube channel for chairlift POV videos and other random stuff:
https://www.youtube....TimeQueenOfRome

#11 Allan

    Maintenance Manager

  • Administrator I
  • 2,733 Posts:

Posted 09 February 2015 - 07:40 PM

We've got one carrier on our Thiokol that's got a different (more rounded) bail than the rest. No idea on the story on that one!
- Allan

#12 NHskier13

    Established User

  • Member
  • 567 Posts:
  • Interests:Yes

Posted 10 February 2015 - 05:24 AM

So, for those that don't know, Crotched used to be a small ski area that shut down in the mid-nineties. Most of the lifts still stood until the ski resort was rebuilt in 2003. (The Summit Quad was moved to Jiminy Peak) I think that the 10th anniversary chair on the west lift came from the old valley chair:
Valley Chair
Posted Image
West Chair
Posted Image

#13 Conrad

    Established User

  • Member
  • 152 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing, Hockey

Posted 10 February 2015 - 08:26 AM

This Partek replacement chair sticks out Double Runner East at Sugarloaf.

Posted Image

#14 floridaskier

    Established User

  • Administrator I
  • 2,814 Posts:

Posted 10 February 2015 - 08:56 AM

Tea Cup and Skyline lifts at Vail have different numbers on the last couple dozen chairs, which were presumably added later like on Independence at Breck

If we're counting special paint jobs, Park City painted chair number 50 gold on Thaynes, Motherlode, and Jupiter last year for the anniversary too. They left them gold this year
- Tyler
West Palm Beach, FL - elev. 9 feet

#15 DonaldMReif

    Established User

  • Member
  • 1,980 Posts:

Posted 10 February 2015 - 09:46 AM

Last I heard, what happened is that the Teacup Express and Skyline Express were built with 105 and 118 chairs respectively. The extra chairs were added in 2000 to increase uphill capacity to 2,400 pph.
YouTube channel for chairlift POV videos and other random stuff:
https://www.youtube....TimeQueenOfRome

#16 SkiDaBird

    Established User

  • Member
  • 509 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing

Posted 10 February 2015 - 10:17 PM

Wilbere received what I think were old Gad 2 chairs this year. The tube was circular, not the usual square. I've actually only been on it twice all year, so I'm not sure if they replaced them all or just the one's I managed to be on.
Shame though, I should ride it more, great few runs there.

#17 NHskier13

    Established User

  • Member
  • 567 Posts:
  • Interests:Yes

Posted 28 March 2015 - 07:40 AM

Alpauris chairlift has a couple non- Arceaux chairs on the line. I think they are competitions but I am not sure.
Posted Image
Posted Image

#18 liftmech

    lift mechanic

  • Administrator II
  • 5,906 Posts:
  • Interests:Many.

Posted 28 March 2015 - 05:28 PM

They are, for the same reason I mentioned above.
Member, Department of Ancient Technology, Colorado chapter.

#19 snoloco

    Established User

  • Member
  • 444 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing
    Ski lifts
    Ski areas

Posted 28 March 2015 - 05:47 PM

The Mansfield Gondola at Stowe has mostly the older CWA Omega cabins which have glass on the upper half and seats that do not fold up. However, there are two cabins on the line that are newer CWA Omegas which have floor to ceiling glass and the seats that fold up. I read somewhere that these two cabins were added because they are more easily handicap accessible due to the folding seats.

The Over Easy Gondola also at Stowe was installed in 2006 with 16 cabins. In summer of 2014, it had 5 cabins added so it now has 21 cabins. This was because of the elimination of parking on the Spruce Peak side to build a base village. Everyone who is going to the Spruce Peak side now has to take the gondola, unless staying at the slopeside hotel, so more people using the transfer gondola which means more cabins were added. I didn't notice when I rode it today, but I'm sure the new cabins look somewhat different from the originals.

#20 Mike12164

    Established User

  • Member
  • 54 Posts:
  • Interests:Skiing, skiing, skiing... skiing?

Posted 18 August 2015 - 05:01 PM

Lake Louise's Summit Platter has (or at least did have last season) this interesting oddity:

https://www.youtube....h?v=-7FVbGCSh2k

Didn't think to ask the operator at the time whether 2 people were allowed to load on that particular carrier.

Also would be curious if anyone knows the story behind this.





1 User(s) are reading this topic

0 members, 1 guests, 0 anonymous users