32 replies to this topic

[NHskier13]

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:
 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:
 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)

[liftmech]

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 :(

[DonaldMReif]

Save for that one Competition chair, all of the Pioneer Express lift's chairs the Arceaux design.

[DonaldMReif]

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.

[snoloco]

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.

[NHskier13]

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

[liftmech]

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.

[snoloco]

What issues would cause a carrier be rejected anyway?

[vons]

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.

[DonaldMReif]

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.

[Allan]

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!

[NHskier13]

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

West Chair

[Conrad]

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

[floridaskier]

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

[DonaldMReif]

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.

[SkiDaBird]

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.

[NHskier13]

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

[liftmech]

They are, for the same reason I mentioned above.

[snoloco]

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.

[Mike12164]

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.