18 replies to this topic

[trtam]

Well, I was just thinking...

If the cabins detach from the haul line, why can't they run the lift at really really really fast speeds, but still have the cabins slow down at the terminals? Is there a limit on the technical issues, etc?

This post has been edited by trtam: 22 April 2005 - 07:57 PM

[SkiBachelor]

Detachable lifts can easily run up to 9 m/s, but since ski resorts have to fallow certain codes, they can't run their lifts faster than that specific speed during public use. It's also uneconomical to run a lift at higher speed since it causes a lot more wear and tear than a detachable lift running at normal speed. I personally wouldn't want to spend $10,000 extra a month just to run the lift 3 meters faster.

[Aussierob]

If you run a detach really fast you need very long and expensive terminals to do the accel/decel. Wind dynamics start to become a factor at speeds much higher than currently used. Also wear rates on line equipment start to increase dramatically. I guess if you had enough money, you could get a lift that goes significantly faster. A tricable gondola or funitel does 7m/s.

[Zage]

With gondolas, and the extra weight of the cabins, if the lift goes at 6 m/s the accelerator tires and decelerator tiers would wear out really fast as pposed to if it wear going 4 m/s. Sunshine Village's gondola can run at 6 m/s, but they never do unless it is REALLY busy. Same with other lifts, they start them out at 4 m/s and as they day goes on more skiers come and they bump it up to 5 m/s.

[SkiBachelor]

I guess I stated that kind of wrong, but I believe lifts have to have a loading carpet for higher speeds. If you search through the forum, you should find a post that John made about how carpets are required for increased lift speeds.

[djones]

formerliftforeman, on Apr 29 2005, 09:14 PM, said:

in my 15 years of working in the industry i have never seen or heard of a code saying how fast you can run a lift. It is left up to each resort.
Yes if you want to have more wear and tear on a lift fixed or detach, then ya go ahead runn her full speed.
The other other reason lifts are not run to full speed is the safty of the skiing public. Would you want skiers dropping off tat the unload every 5 seconds, falling , frailing, not getting out of the way of the next chair, just 5 seconds away. 860-1,000 ft per min. is a good comfortable speed.
I challenege, please show us the code where it says lift can only run at a certain speed.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

In Canada, the CAN/CSA Z98 gives us the criteria on lift speed based on minimum and maximum deceleration rates of .45 - 1.5mps squared. This applies to fixed or detachable lifts, chairs or gondolas, also known as circulating passenger ropeways. Other criteria which is taken into consideration is the stopping distance which according to our code cannot exceed the distance between carriers. The maximum speed indicated on the code appendix which outlines maximum and minimum stopping times and distances is 5.5 mps. This means that the maximum stopping distance would be 33.61 meters at a time of 12.22 seconds. Thats a long distance and quite a long time.

I hope this helps.

[liftmech]

SkiBachelor, on Apr 29 2005, 09:20 PM, said:

I guess I stated that kind of wrong, but I believe lifts have to have a loading carpet for higher speeds. If you search through the forum, you should find a post that John made about how carpets are required for increased lift speeds.
<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

Unless you're referring to a different John, I never made that statement. I once posted the maximum speeds for fixed-grip lifts, but that's all. As TR says, there is no code requirement for maximum detachable speeds. Those are left up to the designer and individual ski areas.

[vons]

the question becomes how long of a terminal do you want and how many parts do you want to replace. I think it is interesting to note that in the last SAM lift survey most if not all detachables where designed for 1000 fpm and few if any for 1100 so it would appear that the extra 100 fpm is not worth the extra expense to the consumers and is a hard sell for the manufacturers in fact if you look at doppelmayr's spec sheets for the G and GS detachables they list 1000 as max when a year ago 1100 was the limit. Gondolas due to length and other factors still seem to be around 1200 fpm but they also are a premier capital idem where as the hsq and hss are rapidly becoming the work horse, run of the mill at medium to large resorts. So ,after my rant, price (to aquire) and cost (expenses of operation) are more likely to determine what in the future is going to be the max carrier speed.

spell check sucks some times

This post has been edited by vons: 30 April 2005 - 09:12 AM

[SkiBachelor]

Sorry John, you're correct, your post was about carpets for fixed grip lifts and not detachables.

[Jonni]

I know that in here in New England that there isn't any code that specifys the speed of any ski lift. At Wildcat in Jackson, NH their HSQ has a capacity of 1100 fpm and they usually run it at that speed. I believe that the Slide Brook Express runs at around 1,000 to 1,50 fpm mostly because of the long ride on the line. When I was foreman of Sunapee's HSQ depending apon the conditions that day I would run the lift at around 1,000 fpm, if it wasn't too busy. Usually when it gets busier we slow it down to around 950 fpm to allow for easier unloading since the unload ramp is set 10 feet back from the "normal" position.

[Dr Frankenstein]

There are no maximum permitted speeds on line, but the loading speed can't be faster than 3 m/s (according to Quebec rules). The loading speed for a gondola, is I recall correctly, must be 0.3 m/s or less.

[skier2]

well if that's true in the US, Keystone really need to work on the River Run gondola. It is too fast through the terminal, and too slow on the line... The anagin. maybe it's the fact that the lower terminal is WAY too short for that lift.

[poloxskier]

Ive never had a problem with loading 6 people in one of those cabins except for being cramped in the cabin. Vails is not much longer and its a 12 pax. It does help that vails is one that you can stand up in though.

[Dawson]

Dr Frankenstein, 3m/s maximum load speed on a fixed grip?? That is blisteringly fast for a static load - do you know of any fixed grips running at that speed?

[liftmech]

That's 590 FPM, so it is a bit fast for a fixed grip. ANSI states somewhere that a single may run at 600, though.

[Allan]

Our t-bar runs at 3 m/s and it's a fixed grip

[Kicking Horse]

yea but Allan that is a t-bar... Not a double or triple chairlift....

[Allan]

I know, I was just kidding :) However, back in the day, the Granite chair ran an 2.9 m/s.

[Zage]

I recall one day at Castle Mountain, the Tamarack chair was running at 3 m/s. They had a big lift attendant to hold back the chairs.