17 replies to this topic

[hyak.net]

I was up at Hyak today and saw they had cable and all chairs for the uphill side laying on the ground. Seems they can never get this lift fixed.......

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[Lift Dinosaur]

Looks like maybe they're setting up to do a re-splice.

[Bill]

Didn't they get a new haul rope last year or was that two years ago? If it was last year, the lift has only seen a few days of use on it.

[coskibum]

shouldn't they remove the chairs before doing a resplice?

[hyak.net]

The new haul rope was 2 years ago. (the old one is laying in 50' chunks all over the mtn) It did seem to me like there was excessive sag after the install of the new one. Think they might be taking out some length to rid of some slack? (just a guess)

This post has been edited by hyak.net: 27 October 2005 - 05:32 AM

[Lift Dinosaur]

coskibum, on Oct 26 2005, 07:02 PM, said:

shouldn't they remove the chairs before doing a resplice?

You don't need to remove all of the chairs, just in the area of your rig and the splice.

[hyak.net]

Here is a better close-up shot of the chairs/cable/etc. As you can see, the uphill portion is laying on the ground with the chairs attached.

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[Lift Dinosaur]

Good way to f***up you chairs. Now I'm perplexed!

[Bill]

Yeah, I was a little shocked to see the chairs on the line as well.

[Kelly]

Couple of thoughts on the original posted image.
Haul rope is being readied for a splice.
Pretty common to do this in the late season as it gives you just that much more time for stretch.
Rope has been lowered from towers.
Rather than remove the chairs and clips (about a 4 man hour setup to remove clips) at lower terminal they have elected to remove them later. Much faster and easier this way.
Chair above cat has been removed (clip still there - enlargement of picture needed to see this)
If you remove the chairs and pull to detension the splice area the clips can spin 360 degrees without you noticing – sometimes better to leave the chairs on to prevent this.
Only 1or 2 clips will have to be removed for splice, if "matched marked" the splicer can reinstall them while the rope is detensioned.
Picture shows stage right before pulling any tension.

Other thoughts
I am not familiar with actual carriage travel on this lift.
No "monkey tail" or pipe near lower tie-off to prevent spin at winch sheave.
If COMPLETE TENSION is used to provide all the necessary slack for a splice the winch cable and sheave block are greatly under sized.
If the guide sheave at the bullwheel is the only deviation sheave between the cat and bullwheel I predict a broken sheave and bent sheave axel due to this excessive deviation.
Cat is facing uphill and pulling uphill, all tension will have to be "locked" in the cat braking system and winch system rather than held by gravity and lowering the blade to "lock" the cat from moving.
Forest Service constraints might prevent the cat from being placed "uphill" of the splice area (a better and safer position).
A different and perhaps better way would be to use the old haulrope for a long sling (200' +) and pull slack down hill with the cat in the reverse position (as it is now sitting).
Somebody buy the crew a brush cutter.

[liftmech]

To add to Ryan's post:
-Carriage travel is quite long on this type of lift, it's just that it's a pain to detension the lift (it's a side-pull counterweighted carriage). Quite possibly the crew that did the original splice two years ago made the rope too long and ran out of travel very quickly.
-Having been involved in four splices on Riblet lifts, I can tell you that the rope one generally uses for that application is stretchy. We once pulled a rope in May and were resplicing it in July.
-MW1- it looks like that would screw up your carriers but in spite of their flimsy appearance it takes a bit to bend those chairs. As Ryan mentioned, leaving the carriers on line makes for a great anti-spin device. They are light enough to move around when you need to make room for the actual splice.
-I think Hyak has stopped cutting brush altogether. Every time I drive by there it appears to be returning to nature.

[hyak.net]

Ryan B, on Oct 29 2005, 02:44 PM, said:

Forest Service constraints might prevent the cat from being placed "uphill" of the splice area (a better and safer position).
A different and perhaps better way would be to use the old haulrope for a long sling (200' +) and pull slack down hill with the cat in the reverse position (as it is now sitting).
Somebody buy the crew a brush cutter.

The land this lift is on is private from top to bottom, so I wouldn't think there are regulations by the Forest Service. From what I heard yesterday I'm told that Booth Creek bought a haul rope that was not pre-stretched and they were doing some re-splicing to correct the stretching that had occured in the 2 years since it was installed...does that make sense?

Anyway, that's the word I heard.

This post has been edited by hyak.net: 30 October 2005 - 06:21 AM

[liftmech]

That does make sense. Too bad it's October (okay, almost November) and the splice crew will be working in the rain.

[Lift Dinosaur]

liftmech, on Oct 29 2005, 09:35 PM, said:

-MW1- it looks like that would screw up your carriers but in spite of their flimsy appearance it takes a bit to bend those chairs. As Ryan mentioned, leaving the carriers on line makes for a great anti-spin device. They are light enough to move around when you need to make room for the actual splice.

Yea, after reading Ryan's description, it makes more sense. Not that much Riblet experience working at the Nob.
How's the tire turnaround going? I heard the bottom was finished and you were moving to the top thiis weekend.

[liftmech]

Done, just waiting on the sparkies...

[Snoqualmie guy]

The lift is acting up again this season. It's been down, off and on the last month. One reason was it got a power surge along with Wild Side at Snoqualmie. Then it had a loud clanking sound from the bull wheel area. I think it's time to get a new lift.

[Emax]

Snoqualmie guy, on Jan 22 2008, 02:20 PM, said:

The lift is acting up again this season. It's been down, off and on the last month. One reason was it got a power surge along with Wild Side at Snoqualmie. Then it had a loud clanking sound from the bull wheel area. I think it's time to get a new lift.

If this new noise followed a power anomaly, sounds to me like it could be a simple SCR misfire. That's a poor reason to condemn a whole lift.

[hyak.net]

Emax, on Jan 22 2008, 01:44 PM, said:

If this new noise followed a power anomaly, sounds to me like it could be a simple SCR misfire. That's a poor reason to condemn a whole lift.

The loud sound that was reported came a couple weeks following the power surge problem. Not sure if it is related, but that would not be the reason to condemn the lift. The lift is marked for removal as soon as they decide it is time to install the already approved quad which will follow the path of the dino. One slow double chair has nowhere near the capacity for how many skiers the hill can support. The lift lines have been rather long this year too.... Things at Snoqualmie have pretty much been on hold as far as new lifts go with the sale of the ski areas and change of management.

As busy as the ski area has been the past 3 years, I don't think lack of money or skiers would be much of an excuse to halt the expansion plans. Even the greenies have given the ski area a go-ahead for the approved lifts (which I find surprising) .