10 replies to this topic

[Powdr]

http://www.rsn.com/cams/snowbird/full_size...eSection=RESORT

By fall of 2006, Snowbird’s original Peruvian lift will be taken out and replaced with a new high-speed quad. While the base will stay near the original base shack, the top station will be located below the steepest Chip’s Run pitch, an approximately 2,600-vertical-foot rise. At the top of the lift, a 600 foot tunnel with a magic carpet will provide access to Mineral Basin. This lift will open up more intermediate terrain for skiers and snowboarders. Timeline: Start tunnel construction and top shack earthwork summer 2005, finish grading for bottom shack and remove old Peruvian lift during summer 2006 with an expected completion date in the fall of 2006.


Bizzare, or just typical Dick Bass hyperbole? Discuss....

Powdr

[Peter]

That is one big lift. The tunnel is just plain wierd. I presume Doppelmayr CTEC will get the contract for the lift. Any word on the rumored Little Cloud replacement?

[floridaskier]

That's a pretty impressive vertical
The tunnel seems like a huge waste of money. Wouldn't it be a lot cheaper to run a lift over the top to Mineral Basin?

I remember hearing that Little Cloud was going in this summer a while back, but I guess not. Doesn't sound like next year either

[Peter]

I don't think they had much choice. The environmentalists were worried about the appearance of the ridgeline, so they put the top under the ridge.

[liftmech]

What's wrong with riding the tram up to access Mineral Basin? Or Gadzoom to Little Cloud, in whatever form it ends up?

[floridaskier]

The tram pass costs a little more than a regular lift pass, that could be a turn-off for some people. It seems like tram rider numbers will go down once this is done. One disadvantage with the Gadzoom / Little Cloud option is that more hotels are closer to the tram base, and Little Cloud lets you off not quite at the top of the mountain. I've come to like the Gadzoom and Little Cloud way better

[iceberg210]

Well this suprises me as I would have that that all avliable bodies would be working on the new day lodge in Gad Valley that I can't imagine at this rate will be done before the ski season as it has a long way to go yet. But otherwise this is somewhat of decent news although excuse me while I cry as my second favorite chair of alltime and my favorite existing chair will die.

Anyway the reason they have decided not to replace Little Cloud is they believe that this new lift will take off the congestion that the new Little Cloud lift would and add more capacity to the hill. The tunnel is a big enviromentalist thing as well as Snowbird is hoping people will be able to access Mineral Basin on a windy day which currently is hard if the tram doesn't run and Powder Paradise can be a pain in the wind.

[SkiBachelor]

I guess the Little Cloud lift won't be upgraded to a HSQ at all now. The reason for that is because there will be too much conjestion Snowbird thinks after replacing the Peruvian lift with a detachable.

[boardski]

The Peruvian lift improvement should be nice since it will provide more efficient access to the trails above the current Peruvian on the front side without needing to stand in line and ride the tram. The past few times I have skied Snowbird, I always thought a chairlift running from the top of the current Peruvian to the top of the tram would be nice but a HSQ running the entire length will work too. It might also more evenly dispurse skiers and riders so there are not sooo many people riding in the Gad Valley creating long lift lines on those lifts and hardly anyone riding in the Peruvian area. Does any other ski area have a lift served tunnel? That sounds interesting.

[SkiBachelor]

Yes, there are a few over in Europe that I have seen.

[iceberg210]

Last year I rode up the lift with a good friend of a CTEC engineer who was working on the tower placements at Snowbird and skiing the rest of the day. Anyway he said that it would cost about the same to replace Little Cloud as it would be to do Puruvian due to the new line they were going to take and also I heard that they were into taking a new line on Little Cloud after finding out that many of the current foundations of Little Cloud could not support a full flegded HSQ. There fore I think they figure lets get some people skiing the Peruvian Gulch side and hope that cuts down on congestion on Little Cloud as well as help the Tram out. They probbally will replace Little Cloud at some point but currently it has taken a back seat it looks like.