6 replies to this topic

[RibStaThiok]

Take a look at the lower station. What was the thinking behind this design, why not go with a traditional lower terminal with the loading/drive all at the same place?
http://www.skilifts....r12/chair12.htm

[Sacdelic_Skier]

snow depth would be my best guess

[Emax]

RibStaThiok, on 06 October 2016 - 07:39 AM, said:

Take a look at the lower station. What was the thinking behind this design, why not go with a traditional lower terminal with the loading/drive all at the same place?
http://www.skilifts....r12/chair12.htm

In 1972, that was not the tradition.

[Lift Dinosaur]

RibStaThiok, on 06 October 2016 - 07:39 AM, said:

Take a look at the lower station. What was the thinking behind this design, why not go with a traditional lower terminal with the loading/drive all at the same place?
http://www.skilifts....r12/chair12.htm

As Emax stated,in 1972 "traditional design" was evolving from Vault Drives and Floating Bullwheels...
Mammoth is also know for having 15'-30' of base During their winter. If you look at the load area picture you may or may not be able to see that its height adjustable. Both the operator house and hold down assembly can be raised to account for more snow.
Yan was one of the pioneers in adjustable height terminals- both drives and returns.����

[Kelly]

 Yan-adj.jpg (99.25K)
Number of downloads: 114
Pic shows details Dino mentioned.
Hold-down sheave assy is shown, it connects to the crossarm which cannot be seen from this view.
Also notice lift shack is at ramp height, there is no ladder, Shack connects to crossarm (signs on roof hide this connection detail) so shack is always at correct height from ramp.
Loading/ramp area can also be easily groomed with this configuration.
Riblet had similar designs built in high snow regions a decade later…
Some drawbacks occurred with adjustable drive terminals as an auxiliary source of hydraulic pressure was needed…snocats were necessary if the owners did not purchase the “optional” self-contained hydraulic units. So rather than just skiing down to a terminal and raising the crossarm with a chain hoist you had to coordinate the move with a snowcat…hopefully with the correct hydraulic fittings…hopefully with full hydraulic oil tank…to connect with the hoses that were hopefully not being used on Jimmy’s spiffy new wood splitter.

[RibStaThiok]

Thank you for the education here, this makes sense to me now. Aside from the adjusting method, were there any other drawbacks to this?

[julestheshiba]

Squaw used to have three of these but now they only have two. Meadow and Olympic Lady.