17 replies to this topic

[Peter]

http://www.missionridge.com/news_release/l...ator_delay.aspx

Mission Ridge Lift Opening Delayed
Officials at Mission Ridge Ski Area announced that the opening of the Liberator Express chairlift scheduled for Friday, December 16, 2005 has been delayed due to a mechanical problem. The long awaited opening of the country’s first relocated express lift will be momentarily setback until a replacement part is installed.

Thursday evening, December 15th, Mission Ridge lift mechanics were doing the final checks on the lift when a small gearbox failed, making the lift inoperable. The gearbox connects the bottom terminal bull wheel to the spacing chain that controls the chair position on the line. Staff removed the gearbox and has it ready for repair or replacement.

“All of us at Mission Ridge share in our guests disappointment with the delay”, said Mark Milliette, Mission Ridge’s General Manager. “It’s a shame that the anticipation of skiers, riders and resort staff will have to wait until the lift can be repaired”. “The fix is very straight forward and our staff is diligently exploring every option for the quickest turn-around to put the lift back into service. Once the replacement parts are in-hand, the repair can be made in one day”, said Milliette.

Mission Ridge Ski Area is operating daily through January 2, 2006, from 9:00 am to 4:00 pm with Chairs #1, #3 and #4. Once the Liberator Express is on-line, all lifts will operate daily for the period.

For the latest updates and slope conditions, visit www.missionridge.com

[SkiBachelor]

Hopefully Mission Ridge won't keep running into other problems with buying the former Summit Express.

[WBSKI]

It seems to me that Chair 1 would get alot of load in the morning, is it sufficient to supply the quad? I dunno, ive never been there.

[SkiBachelor]

The Liberator Express only has an hourly capacity of 1800 right now while chair 1 is 1200.

[Peter]

Looks like they got it running...

"The Liberator Express ran pretty good for it's first day. We ran into a little difficulty with the RPD or rope distance sensors were tripping but it is an easy fix and will be ready for tomorrow - Monday! "

Attached File(s)

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[liftmech]

WBSKI, on Dec 16 2005, 11:51 PM, said:

It seems to me that Chair 1 would get alot of load in the morning, is it sufficient to supply the quad? I dunno, ive never been there.

The former Chair 2 was a long cold ride; I think that's the main reason a high-speed lift was installed there and not capacity issues.

[SkiBachelor]

More Problems with the Liberator Express?

From Mission Ridge's website today:

Quote

The Liberator Express will be closed for routine maintenance issues until Thursday at which time and update ad the progress will be updated. Until we are in full operation lift tickets discounts will be offered. After January 2nd Mission Ridge will close on Tuesdays and Wednesdays

[Kicking Horse]

Wonder what problems they are having with it?

[SkiBachelor]

The last problem with the Liberator Express was with a gearbox for the cadence chain.

It looks like the Liberator Express ran into some more problems today that were caused by the weather rather than a wind hold. I'm not sure what happened, but a lift mechanic from Winter Park was brought in.

Quote

Libertor has experienced a little weather difficulty today and we have a mechanic from Winter Park in to help! We'll get her up ASAP until then enjoy the discounted lift prices and Chair #3 terrain will keep you somewhat out of the wind.

[coskibum]

that's what happens when you buy used and old technology. look at how aspen dumped their alpha hsq two years ago b/c of reliability problems.

[liftmech]

I wouldn't compare the two. Mission Ridge's mechanics had no experience with detachable technology and probably wanted some on-the-spot advice from someone who knew that lift. Yes, the lift is old, but I think in this case that wasn't the issue.

[Peter]

A Message from the Owner
To: Our Guests

From: Larry Scrivanich

Re: Status – Liberator Express Project


Dear Mission Ridge Guests and Patrons,

It’s Thursday, January 5th, and the beginning of the New Year. We have just completed our Christmas holiday operating period and some of you have had an opportunity to ride the Liberator Express for the first time. Isn’t it wonderful!

Looking back over 2005, it’s hard to believe I took my first ride on this chair a little over 10 months ago….in Winter Park. I heard about this lift becoming available and headed over to Winter Park with a couple of our lift mechanics. We all three liked what we saw and felt it was an excellent solution to our need to upgrade Chair #2 to a high speed detachable chair lift. As we headed home I had decided to buy the lift, but I felt there was a very small chance that we would have it installed and ready for our guests for the 2005/06 season. However, the Mission Ridge staff has proved me wrong and once again has out done themselves. Every time an obstacle arose, someone stepped up and got us through it. You have no idea the lengths some people have gone to in order get it done, truly unbelievable.

The one area that we were disappointed in was the project schedule. Our original schedule allowed us most of November to run the lift and “shake the bugs out” before we opened it up to the public. Unfortunately, the construction schedule stretched out and we had to load test in mid December, which didn’t give us an opportunity to operate the lift and “shake the bugs out” prior to our Christmas operation period. This delay has caused frustration to both our guests and staff. However, we are making progress and the Liberator is much more reliable today than it was two weeks ago, and two weeks from now it will be more reliable than it is today. Rest assured, we won’t stop until we get it to where we all want it.

Thank you for your patience and understanding, and I look forward to seeing you up on mountain.

Larry Scrivanich
Owner
Mission Ridge Ski Resort

P.S. One more thing I nearly forgot, the new snowmaking system is awesome, really awesome and runs like a Swiss watch.

[vons]

looks like it is working the chair spacing is rather large but i gess they only wanted to shorten ride time.

[Lift Dinosaur]

I remember reading somewhere that their initial capacity is only 1800pph, therefore the carrier spacing. I wonder about the load on their entrance sheaves to the terminal once they go to 2400pph. That last tower is a long distance from the terminal.

[SkiBachelor]

Yea, I would have thought that the Liberator Express would be running at 2400 hourly capacity right now just because it killed two birds with one stone. By that I mean that all the runs from Chair 3 can be accessed by the HSQ and people would probably prefer to take that up since the ride time is a lot quicker. However, maybe Chair 3 was never being utilized to capacity so 1800 was the best way to go.

[liftmech]

I don't remember being able to get to all of the chair 3 runs from chair 2. Did Mission change the alignment when it upgraded?

[SkiBachelor]

If you look at the trail map, you can see that there is a cut over trail (the summer access road to the top) which you can cut over to the runs off of chair 3. However, the downside to this is that you can't ski the entire run, but your not missing much of it.

[liftmech]

That's what I remember. I though you meant one could ski the entire chair 3 pod from the top of the runs.