Skilifts.org / SORT Forum

I went to grouse today, and I asked one of the people who worked there why they removed the three lifts and replaced them with one. She told me because the three lifts were condemened, by safety inspectors, and would of been illegal to run any longer. The inferno was the worst chair. so bad, that last year some lifties refused to work on it because it was so unsafe. The inferno, by the way is a 1976 mueller centre pole double, anyway, the peak chair's engine house and all the towers with sheaves are still standing, although the sheaves are slanting either forward or backwards because of the weight, Blueberry is still standing with cables on the line but no chairs. (blueberry hasn't been condemened yet but she said it would probably be soon, so for now they can still run and, during Christmas Break they probably will.) I thought this was pretty scary because for years I suspected the inferno chair was unsafe, but i thought they wouldn't run it if it was unsafe, guess i was wrong. Unfortuneatly I coudn't get near, or see any of the new leitner Poma HSQ, which is under construction to replace inferno, peak and Blueberry, it was too foggy. Anyway i thought I should clear up the fact that this just wasn't a stupid marketing decision, it was for safety.

Vancouverguy, could u please post your inferno pics? thanks.

The inferno pics are already on the site, although I think when we switched hosting companies the link disappeared.

Here's the link: http://canada.nw-ski...m/bc-grouse.htm

Thats nice and comforting

That is something new. Although, it doesn't say much for their maintainence department.

How bad was it? Like what made it unsafe? (I know we've been over this before, but I forget)

While I never saw the Blueberry or Peak chairs as being unsafe, the Inferno was visably rundown.
This post has been edited by vancouverguy: 15 December 2003 - 04:54 PM

if the inspection process is similar to colorado, then the lifts are inspected each year by an engineer. i would hope that the inferno chair would have not operated if it was so unsafe. had they used it, knowing its bad condition, they would be setting themselves up for a huge lawsuit.

smart guys

It's hard to believe that a lift could ce considered safe one year and not the next- you'd have to blow off all maintenance and possibly break a few things to do that. Unless she meant the the lift design was unsafe- that would be a state or provincial decision. I'm glad Grouse didn't hire me now- I'd hate to be working on lifts that were enough to be condemned... :help:

Let's not criticize Grouse too much here, We don't know all the surcumstances yet.

How often do lifts get inspected?

They are inspected everyday the lift runs. But a full check goes down in the summer.

I went to Grouse yesterday, rode the new chair and i can say it is pretty much a clone of their other HSQ. Same color, about the same length, and same terminal The Inferno chair is completly gone, except for about 4 towers near the top of where the lift used to end, both loading/unloading areas are completely gone. The peak chair's towers, still with the shaeves, are still there, except for the unloading area wich is completley gone. The Blueberry is still there, with cables on the line but no chairs. They can still run Blueberry if they want too, it hasn't been condemened. I also got a chance to ride the old Habbegger blue tram. They were using both because the line-ups were big.

Is the new HSQ as scary as the old Inferno?

No, its very smooth and it goes to the right of the old inferno line. Their is some pretty high towers though, one tower has three tubes bolted together to make one
long tube. (I hope you get what i mean, It's kinda hard to explain.)

Yeah, you're making sense. Those are called stage towers, and that's what you do when you build one that's really tall. I believe every 10 meters of height you want to add diameter to the tubes to carry the extra leverage a tall tower can produce.
I wasn't criticising Grouse, just making the observation about condemned lifts. I still hold to my statement that it was the design that was deemed unsafe, not the lift and its related maintenance. Talking to the guys that work on those lifts, and riding them, I believe that they maintained them to the best of their ability. Of course, we'll never know unless we ask either Grouse or the BC Ministry of Transportation.

LiftMech said:

12 meters.

I stand corrected.

wow! im glad i looked back through the forum. Do you think you could upload the grouse pictures which you have SkiBachelor?

Blueberry Chair

 enginehouse.jpg (186.02K)
Number of downloads: 68  habeggersheavetrain.jpg (147.22K)
Number of downloads: 60
 liftline.jpg (195.49K)
Number of downloads: 53  tower.jpg (172.56K)
Number of downloads: 64
 unloadingplatform.jpg (196.47K)
Number of downloads: 48