7 replies to this topic

[Benbosnow]

Qestion to all you lifty's and mech. How does a normal day start? Who comes first an what do you have to do before the lift can be opened to the public? how long does it take?

[Jonni]

As far as normal winter operations goes here at Sunapee, from the time that we get there to the time the public is allowed on the lift is usually about 1+1/2 hours. Lift Maintenance starts the process by riding the line (or clearing the line) on snowmobile to be sure that there aren't any trees or ice build-up on the cable, chairs or towers that would hinder the operation of the lift. During this time, lift operations is usually busy transporting return operators to the top shacks of the lifts so they can start there morning routine.

Once the lift has been cleared by maintenance it then recieves permission to power-up. All lifts are shut-off at their main disconnects every night to prevent any power surges or anything else that may harm the drive machinery. Once the lift recieves permission to power-up from maintenance the foreman at each lift performs his/her checks at the drive terminal.

The foreman's checks depend on the lift, but usually entail checking the terminal for anything out of the ordinary, checking the motor room, starting the lift and performing stops (we have to test every slow and stop button as well as the safety gates each morning). The top guy also performs his stop tests and checks as well during this time. While the foreman is performing the checks on the lifts the rest of the crew usually shows up about a half hour later and begins to do ramp maintenance, as well as set up corrals, clean chairs/flip chairs, etc.

Once all of those tests have been done Ski Patrol is allowed to ride the lift to check the line of the lift. This is more of an insurance thing than anything else as the ski patrollers don't have a clue of what is ordinary looking on the cable and towers and what is out of the ordinary. After all this the lift basically sits and runs for the next 45 minutes or so while ski patrol does it's sweep of the hill. We also run the auxillary engine for at least 5 minutes every morning to give it a chance to run and to make sure that it will start in the event that we actually need to use it. We are supposed to couple the auxillary up to drive and run it on aux at least once a week, but it usually only happens about once every two or three weeks.

The extra 45 minutes of run time, although not needed gives the lift a chance to warm up on a cold day and get all the moving parts working well for the day's crowds or lack thereof. The 45 minutes of time usually goes by pretty fast just because if it's forecast to be a busy day we are working hard enough to get the corrals and signs up as well as do a quick bathroom break or breakfast break before the day officially starts.

I'm not sure if this is how it goes at other ski areas, but this is usually how we do it here at Sunapee. Many times we are faced with issue of lift operators not showing up on time, as well as frozen controls, or shacks that didn't get unlocked or even lifts that just won't start. This system seems to work pretty well for us.

[Benbosnow]

Sounds fun, question who is the Foreman?

[Jonni]

There's usually a foreman and two or three operators or attendants at each lift as well as a top guy. The foreman is in charge of the lift for the day. Meaning that s/he performs all the morning checks at the drive, is in charge of the attendants, and is basically the boss of the lift.

[Benbosnow]

Also if say a quad express is open, then half way through the day they put it on standby (closed to public) do they take the chairs off the line or not? And who makes the call saying if were open, closed or going on standby?

[SkiBachelor]

At Mt. Bachelor when the Summit Express is on standby, it's usually still running. That gives the top operator of what the chairs are doing at the top where its windy and if it's too windy, it's time to put the chairs away and close the lift for good for the day.

[Peter]

On the subject of mechanics/foreman/operators, what is involved in training for basic lift ops. They seem to be pretty clueless about howw the lifts actually work. What are they trained in?

[liftmech]

That depends upon the area. Here at Copper the operators are trained in startup procedures, basic mechanical knowledge (not to fix things, you understand, but so they will at least know when something's not right), emergency procedures, and basic loading/unloading. The foremen may know basic fixit stuff, but they usually aren't authorised to repair a lift unless they have been trained by us as to what needs to be done. For instance, we usually change tyres in the terminal, but several foremen asked us if they could to save time so we started keeping the proper-sized wrench in the terminal. At Baker we trained the ops only in loading and unloading. They were not allowed in the motor room at all. We did all the startus/shutdowns, and if the ops couldn't restart the lift during the day it was an automatic breakdown while we responded.

Our morning routine is somewhat simpler than Jonni's over at Sunapee. We don't check the lines ourselves, mostly because at least half the mountain is not sled-acessible. Instead, an operator or ski patroller must ride the lift first thing and do a fly-by inspection. Mechanics start up all main lifts, unless they are bottom-drive and the operators can get there, and then turn the lifts over to operations people once they arrive. We run diesels once a week for fifteen minutes, usually while the operators are riding up so that it's out of the way before public.
Startup may take half an hour on a detachable, simply because there is so much to be inspected before the lift can turn. A fixed-grip takes much less time but there is still a detailed checklist that must be done before operation.