6 replies to this topic

[WBSKI]

Ive got a question about the height of Olympic Chair Top Terminal at Grouse (L-P HSQ 2003)

So i was up at Grouse and there was a huge dump of snow so they could open the chair up. First they had to built a really high snow unloading ramp. Probably a meter high. I wondered why they would spend the whole morning trying to get the ramp high enough. I thought they should just dump a pile of gravel there in summer so they could just cover it with a couple inches of snow instead. Why did they build the terminal a little too high?

Sorry this might be a stupid question but i thought i would ask anyways.

[Lift Dinosaur]

I guess the first question is "Is this a lean, typical, or abundant snow year?" I'm sure the height of the terminal was designed with a "required snow depth" at the unload station. I would assume that if the incorrect depth was initially given by the area, they could have made adjustments (gravel, etc) since 2003.
It also sounds from your comment like this is the first time the lift has opened this year. Perhaps this has always been done in the past prior to opening, but they got caught by the "huge dump of snow".

[WBSKI]

No, it was open several weeks ago. It is a lean snow year comparing to 2003 but now it is pretty typical to have limited operation.

[Lift Dinosaur]

Don't know about Grouse, but mosy areas in Colorado figure they need 6-18" of snow for their top ramp. It's generally covered by the terminal (for snow load) and the big consideration is the slope of the runout from the unload board.

[WBSKI]

I see, i suppose it helps prevent pile ups if the area in front of the loading area is flat.

[Lift Dinosaur]

WBSKI, on Jan 11 2006, 10:16 PM, said:

I see, i suppose it helps prevent pile ups if the area in front of the loading area is flat.

Sometimes there are extenuating circumstances at the unload area (Rock, buried utilities, etc.) that make getting the proper grade for the unloading ramp impractical. That could be why they have to add the 1M of snow to get the correct ramp design. Just a possibility.

[Jonni]

Here at Sunapee, we have all of our ramps built for about 8 inches of snow and the ramp is banked by gravel and dirt to be steep to be sure that people get out of the way. On our HSQ the ramp starts 12 feet back so that it starts before the chair has completely slowed down in order to give people a push off of the chair. I have never seen a ramp here in the east filled up with that much snow intentionally, unless they are working on the lift to the point of having to bring heavy machinery over it.