85 replies to this topic

[liftmech]

The tower 15-16 span on the Flyer is around fifty feet off the ground. I don't know how high Whistler's Peak gets at the top, but it's up there as well.

[Snowy Ferries]

So, I'm curious: What are some of the highest chairlifts out there? (I'm talking about highest off the ground, not highest in elevation, to specify.) The highest I've been on is the Peak Chair at Whistler: that thing is really high (Don't know exactly how high, but High). I'm really curious as to how high some chairlifts get.

[NHskier13]

Peruvian at Snowbird definitely should be on the list.
Most lifts near me don't get too high, but I'd like to also say
Panorama at Gunstock
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One could argue the the Tiger Chair at Gunstock gets pretty high, but not on the uphill side:
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The Jordan Bowl Express at Sunday River has a fairly high ending, which sadly makes it pretty vulnerable to wind. Both times i've been to Sunday River the lift was either on wind hold or running 800 FPM due to high winds.
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Since I started a topic on lifts crossing over eachother, I became familiar with a couple crossunder lifts that have pretty tall towers, such as
Summit @ Attitash:

Snubber @ Sugaloaf

I'm fairly certain that there are probably much more extreme lifts out there, but those are ones I can think of near me.

[Allan]

We've got a pretty high span on our Poma, 85 feet or so.

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[Yooper Skier]

The "up and over" double at Whitecap Mountains, Wisconsin.

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[NHskier13]

How about the Peak 2 Peak Gondola? That probably is the highest of all?

[DonaldMReif]

The Peak 8 SuperConnect is pretty high off the ground on both the lower section of the lift line and the upper section of the lift line: towers 24 and 25 are pretty tall. Towers 2 and 3 are also tall, but that's so that the lift can cross over the Beaver Run SuperChair. The same goes for towers 8 and 9, where the lift crosses Lift C.

Tower 18 of the Falcon SuperChair is also a fairly tall tower.

[Tramway Guy]

That tower at Whitecap is about 80 feet...

[Backbowlsbilly]

Peruvian was built so that the towers avoided avalanche routes from the steeps of the mountains, that's why it has some large spans. I would add Red Pine Gondola at Canyons to this list where it crosses over the canyon, Eagle Bahn at Vail at tower 4, and Riva Bahn at Vail just before the top terminal, where it spans that short little canyon.

[SkiDaBird]

Peruvian really isn't that bad. The spans are long but it is never that far off the ground.
Coonskin (7) at Telluride is high when it crosses the gondola.

The thread said chairlifts, so we are discounting P2P and all the trams.

[CH3skier]

Middle Bowl at Snowbasin has a very high span. Not sure how high up it is though.

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[teachme]

I got to give it to the Peak on Whistler also. Rather sphincter clenching the first time. Attached is a picture up line just after the former midstation - in the middle of July last year.  2014_0717_152216b.jpg (500.1K)
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[NHskier13]

How about the Mountain Top Express at Vail?

(Photo Source : article.wn.com )

[Backbowlsbilly]

Yep, that's the part that spans Chair 4 Cliffs (which are fun with good snow cover). Portillo's El Plateau fixed quad too has to be one of the highest for a fixed grip lift.

[DonaldMReif]

Well that was the Chair 4 Cliff with the original quad. It's still pretty high up as a high speed six pack. The only difference is that the span of the Mountaintop Express lift where you go over the cliff was between towers 9 and 10 on the original quad and is between towers 8 and 9 on the current lift.

[Conrad]

I would add the Short Cut triple at The Canyons, which for a chairlift goes pretty high up, in spite of descending into the canyon somewhat.

[llamborghinii]

There's a chairlift at Big Bear in SoCal that gets at least 60 feet off the ground. I can't remember the name, but I think it's at snow summit and it's a fixed grip double that's next to a high speed quad. Doesn't help that it has slippery plastic seats, I think it has a safety bar though.

The two-way transfer lift at Sunday River between aurora and Jordan Peak.

The CTEC triple at Snow King gets pretty high right off the bat, I think between tower 1 and 2.

Sublette at Jackson gets pretty high on the downhill side. Same for Chair 1 at Loveland (Anyone know why the uphill half-towers offset each other? One tower faces left, one right if that makes any sense)

Larkspur at Beaver Creek immediately crosses over a river

This post has been edited by llamborghinii: 09 March 2015 - 10:45 PM

[Conrad]

llamborghinii, on 09 March 2015 - 10:44 PM, said:

The two-way transfer lift at Sunday River between aurora and Jordan Peak.

Also, the Eagles Nest Double at Whitecap Mountain, Wisconsin.


Source: http://www.panoramio.../photo/54656992

[DonaldMReif]

If lift lines with partial lift towers on them count, then the upper parts of Red Dog at Squaw, and a good part of Chair 2 at Loveland count. Namely, on Chair 2, from tower 11 to tower 18 on that one. Tower 12 on the lift is tall, but that's because that's the tower where Chair 2 crosses over Chair 6, and Chair 6 also uses that tower. It is also at tower 12 that the uphill and downhill lines have significant profile differences: to elaborate, upon crossing Chair 6, the uphill line descends downhill to ground level, passing first through the mid-unload station, then going uphill a few feet to the mid-load station. The uphill line then runs fairly close to the ground as it rises out of the reload station. The downhill line has sheaves at tower 13. The next tower uphill with sheaves for the downhill line is tower 18. Just looking off the photos on remontees-mecaniques.net, that downhill line must have a lot of rise and fall movement whenever the lift slows or stops.

[skierdude9450]

I don't think there can be much doubt that the Peak Chair at Whistler is one of, if not the highest above the ground. Taking the cliff below the top station at around 100 feet, the line would have to be at least 70 feet above the ground at the highest point. Does anyone on here know the exact figure?