14 replies to this topic

[nathanvg]

I've been looking at the lift survey and it shows that many lifts have been replaced after as little as 5 years while other lifts have be running for over 40 years. So how long will a lift really last? Do fixed grip lifts last a lot longer that high speed lifts? Thoughts?

This post has been edited by nathanvg: 08 January 2006 - 01:49 PM

[WBSKI]

Not always, note some of the lifts (For Example Greenline and Redline at Whistler (both HSQ Yans) were replaced several years after with Doppelmayrs as the Yans were somewhat accident prone with the grip design. The Dopp HSQs on Blackcomb (installed in the late 80s are still running fine now and i dont see that they will need to be replaced for another 10-15 yrs although they have alot of hours and may run into big trouble sometime.

Others such as the T-bar at Manning Park which was installed in 69 is still running and their chairs also as there is no demand to replace them and if they maintain them they can run for ever until there are no spare parts.

Big resorts often built a FG and then a couple years later decided to replace them when HSQs became more popular and would make the resort look better and allow people to do more runs.

This post has been edited by WBSKI: 08 January 2006 - 02:10 PM

[SkiBachelor]

I think it's safe that a lot of the early high-speed quad detachables built in North America are now starting to be removed and replaced with new ones or high-speed six-packs. Aspen was really the first to completely rip out a HSQ and replace it with a brand new one with the same lift stats 18 years after it was installed. I think we are going to start to see a lot of the older detachable lifts replaced in the near future with new ones. I presume one of the main reasons for this is because the technology used in the old detachables is pretty well outdated and is expensive and hard to maintain while the new ones is a lot easier and cheaper to run. Quite a few resorts are making the switch to AC drives since they are so much cheaper to run and maintain compared to the DC drives.

However, fixed grips arn't that costly to run and maintain and a lot of the old lifts are still in great shape so there is no need to replace them unless of course higher capacity is needed. There are still several old Riblet's and Hall's still turning and will probably continue until their useful life is used up which is hard to determine.

[skier691]

We run a '64 riblet, she likes it 12 hours a day, a little grease and bushing here and there, still good to go

[coskibum]

loveland's chair 4: a 1964 heron double. still runs great!

[aug]

skier691, on Jan 8 2006, 09:00 PM, said:

We run a '64 riblet, she likes it 12 hours a day, a little grease and bushing here and there, still good to go

speaking of riblets we have one that was originaly installed in 1954 and it is the " old reliable"

[liftmech]

Same at Baker, chair 1 was built in 1952 and still runs today. It has had some modifications, most notably the last-model Riblet sheave assemblies, but for the most part they keep it running just fine.

A lift will 'last' as long as it can be maintained properly. The longer I work in the industry, the more I notice that detachables tend to have more worn-out parts due to the higher speeds and loads they experience. Fixed-grips just continue to go around in circles, so they don't get the same wear and tear. There are other contributing factors, such as Yan's aluminum sheave assemblies that only lasted for a decade or so before failing.

[hyak.net]

I think poor design can also bring an early end to a lifts life. Dino at Hyak lasted just over 20 years before the towers started to become unstable. My thought is that it could be due to poor design causing undue stress, but that's just a guess on my part. Thunderbird at West lasted almost 50 years before it was removed and I think that was just due to economics, it was slow and also they (booth) wanted to change the flow of people.

[WBSKI]

I like that Mt Baker lift. Its really cool looking. The bottom station is crazy with all the metal latticing and the mid station is so high, its probably the oldest running lift ive seen along with my favorite.

This post has been edited by WBSKI: 10 January 2006 - 09:22 PM

[SkiBachelor]

That bullwheel almost looks Hallish.

[liftmech]

hyak.net, on Jan 10 2006, 08:05 PM, said:

I think poor design can also bring an early end to a lifts life. Dino at Hyak lasted just over 20 years before the towers started to become unstable. My thought is that it could be due to poor design causing undue stress, but that's just a guess on my part.

That's not design- that's construction engineering and profile layout. Most likely the ground itself was unstable and/or the concrete tower footings weren't properly built. Other Murray-Lattas have stood the test of time for much longer than chair 1 with no problems.

Nice photo of Chair 1 at Baker, WBSKI- that's the '52 Riblet I mentioned in an earlier post. The bullwheel, Cameron, is two parts bolted together around the drive shaft. It does kind of look like a Hall with the brakes on top and bottom of the flanges.

[Peter]

Heres another old Riblet double at White Pass, at 1 time there was another one parallell to it. Not sure on the exact year.

Attached File(s)

•  White_Pass.jpg (1.08MB)
  Number of downloads: 30

[ceo]

Granddaddy of them all is the Single at Mad River Glen, installed in 1948 (when singles were already fast becoming obsolete). I am told that the old girl will finally need replacement soon, and that the cooperative plans to replace it with a new single, even though that'll be a lot more expensive than a more standard lift.

[spunkyskier01]

mad river glen is replacing the lift in the next 2 years, all new chairs, terminal, drive, only thing to be saved is the towers, but the lift should look the same as it does now, just very modern. its almost like how car builders are making cars retro, this is a retro chair

[liftmech]

Skier, on Jan 11 2006, 04:50 PM, said:

Heres another old Riblet double at White Pass, at 1 time there was another one parallell to it. Not sure on the exact year.

I want to say that one is a '58. Chair 1 (the one that was next to it) was a '56 but it had a newer-style tension terminal for whatever reason.