28 replies to this topic

[Peter]

So High Campbell has been down off and on the past few days. Earlier in the year there was some problem with the drive bullwheel making tons of clicking noise that I overheard a mechanic talking about. Now they have this rule that every chair must have 2 people or no people to go up. Something with chair balance or something. Yesterday I was skiing with a group of 5 and we had to find a single before the odd one could go up. They would even stop the lift if a single came up to the load board and wait for an extra person. Does anyone know why technically this would happen? Possibly related to a metal banging noise each time a grip passes over the tall lattice tower? They have really been covering this up with "wind holds" but it's too bad for them when their website has an archive of wind speeds. The highest yesterday during their closure was 23 mph! They claimed that the top station was in an isolated "wind pocket" and that they never can be too careful!

This post has been edited by Skier: 07 January 2008 - 09:53 PM

[Snoqualmie guy]

Is a clicking sound bad? Because both the CTEC lifts at Snoqualmie, their bullwheels click all the time.

[SkiBachelor]

Snoqualmie guy, on Jan 7 2008, 09:54 PM, said:

Is a clicking sound bad? Because both the CTEC lifts at Snoqualmie, their bullwheels click all the time.

With Garaventa CTEC and CTEC lifts, you're hearing the lift's rollback device and that's perfectly normal.

[Peter]

Word from John Kircher thirdhand is that a grip slipped on Saturday at tower 9 (the lattice tower.) So the new policy is no single riders until further notice because tower 9 is "messed up." Sounds scary to me and I sure hope they are being as careful as they need to be with this kind of stuff. I would think that if Washington had a tramway board they would require an inspection.

[Snoqualmie guy]

How would one rider rather than two make a difference on a tower?

[liftmech]

Chair 6 is a Hall with a Riblet drive terminal. The carriers are centre-pole doubles. If a person were to sit on the outside, it's possible (but unlikely) they could cause the chair to hit guidage or tower steel. The drive terminal does not have the CTEC rollback switches that I recall. It has whisker-wand switches that ride in the bullwheel liner groove and are basically silent. I couldn't tell you why the mechanics are requiring two or no people in a chair; it really shouldn't make that much difference.

[skiersage]

Skier, on Jan 8 2008, 01:38 AM, said:

So High Campbell has been down off and on the past few days. Earlier in the year there was some problem with the drive bullwheel making tons of clicking noise that I overheard a mechanic talking about. Now they have this rule that every chair must have 2 people or no people to go up. Something with chair balance or something. Yesterday I was skiing with a group of 5 and we had to find a single before the odd one could go up. They would even stop the lift if a single came up to the load board and wait for an extra person. Does anyone know why technically this would happen? Possibly related to a metal banging noise each time a grip passes over the tall lattice tower? They have really been covering this up with "wind holds" but it's too bad for them when their website has an archive of wind speeds. The highest yesterday during their closure was 23 mph! They claimed that the top station was in an isolated "wind pocket" and that they never can be too careful!

I can't be sure but from the way you described this happening, It sounds like either the sheave assembly(s) on tower nine or the whole tower itself is out of alignment. Misalignment of a tower would cause the sheaves to wear out improperly which would eventually cause the chair grip to come in contact with the metal rim of the sheaves. This would explain the banging unless it was something else. Anther problem with misalignment is that it makes the haul rope want to twist as it rides over the tower. The happening could possibly cause the carriers to swing as they exit the assembly and therefore this could also explain why the mechanics would want the load on the carriers to be even on both sides. And finally, if the tower were to be out of alignment, the haul rope would be more likely to derail than a tower that is perfectly aligned (obviously). And since this is the tall tower we are talking about, this may explain why they will close the lift with any significant wind.

Disclaimer: The ideas in the passage above are all idle speculation and should not be regarded as fact.

[Peter]

So as of yesterday the permanent policy on High Campbell is as follows:

1. No single riders
2. Wind hold if wind gusts go above 25 mph

I had to wait a good 30 chairs yesterday until a single came along, and the lift was on wind hold for hours yesterday when the highest wind was about 35 mph. I think it is great that they are being careful, but it seems like there is an underlying problem if single ridersare causing the grips to slip.

Rumor is that a chair with 1 person on it slammed into tower 9 on Saturday and the grip slipped back to within 6 feet of the chair behind it. No one was hurt. The guideage on tower 9 looked pretty smashed up as of yesterday.

This post has been edited by Skier: 13 January 2008 - 01:17 PM

[SkiBachelor]

They could just add weight to the chairs like Jackson Hole did with its East Ridge lift.

[aug]

Very Interesting.... Does this chairlift use riblet clips or hall grips??? Yes the tram board would help this situation out tremendously........ I would think that the Mountain Manager and the Lift Maint. Manager have enough experience between them to determine if the lift is in a safe state to run. I would not worry too much about it and I am sure the maintenance crew is doing everything they can to remedy the situation.

[Peter]

It has Hall grips, sheaves, and bullwheels.

[Carl]

Skier, on Jan 13 2008, 02:15 PM, said:

Rumor is that a chair with 1 person on it slammed into tower 9 on Saturday and the grip slipped back to within 6 feet of the chair behind it.

aug, if this lift used Riblet clips the haul rope would be trashed.

Years ago at JH at closing time one afternoon a Ski Host walked right into the path of a chair coming around the lower BW of a Riblet double.
The ensuing crash was amazing. The chair got tangled up in the first sheave train after the idler and ended up laying in
the maze about 40 feet away.

We dispatched a driver to Bridger Bowl to borrow some parts and proceeded to rebuild the angle iron "gantry" assembly.
Splicer worked there in those days and he salvaged the rope.
The lift got running again by 09:00 the next morning.
The Ski Host was beat up pretty bad and acquired the nickname "Bride of Frankinstein" for a while.


JMHO,

Carl

[aug]

Just curious because the statement of the grip slipping back was stated to be rumor and if it did have riblet clips ,,, they don't slip unless something substantial gets in their way, and yes the rope would be worse for wear.

[Limelight]

Quote

Rumor is that a chair with 1 person on it slammed into tower 9 on Saturday and the grip slipped back to within 6 feet of the chair behind it. No one was hurt. The guideage on tower 9 looked pretty smashed up as of yesterday.

Is there a more long term fix to this? If this is the case, I would think a chair slipping down the rope within 6 feet of the next chair would be a major deal. It would have scared the out of me! If the lift cannot safely operate with only one rider per chair, then the lift cannot safely operate as designed. So should it be operating at all?

If the grip slipped due to a impact with the tower caused by unbalanced carrier, then I'm not sure if adding more weight to the carrier by requiring double riders is a fix to the problem.

I've use that lift many times, and would not want to find myself in that situation on any lift, let alone on such a steep lift as that. Hate to say it, but I'm staying off that lift for now. I'm sure the MTX crew is doing everything they can, and I have full confidence in them, but it just doesn't sit well with me.

This post has been edited by Limelight: 15 January 2008 - 11:05 AM

[Carl]

aug, on Jan 14 2008, 05:00 PM, said:

Just curious because the statement of the grip slipping back was stated to be rumor and if it did have riblet clips ,,, they don't slip unless something substantial gets in their way, and yes the rope would be worse for wear.

My bad, I probably didn't read the report close enough. You are so very correct!

In the incident I recounted above, the clip sure did slip back a bit before "prang"......

Carl

[aug]

Limelight, on Jan 15 2008, 11:55 AM, said:

Is there a more long term fix to this? If this is the case, I would think a chair slipping down the rope within 6 feet of the next chair would be a major deal. It would have scared the out of me! If the lift cannot safely operate with only one rider per chair, then the lift cannot safely operate as designed. So should it be operating at all?

the key word in that statement is "rumor"

[Limelight]

aug, on Jan 15 2008, 12:58 PM, said:

the key word in that statement is "rumor"

Very true.

[Peter]

What is not rumor is that single riders are banned because it is unsafe. I personally think that if having single riders truly is unsafe, then there having double riders isn't that safe either. It seems like they should fix the problem completely or close the lift.

Take the above speculation with a grain of salt.

[Bill]

Has anybody approached Crystal Mountain for an official word? Rumours and hear-says from lifties can cause misinformation, which can damage reputations of a resort.

?

[aug]

Bill, on Jan 16 2008, 10:39 PM, said:

Has anybody approached Crystal Mountain for an official word? Rumours and hear-says from lifties can cause misinformation, which can damage reputations of a resort.

?

Exactly my point. As is probably true in all circles, rumors spread faster that a common cold bug in a child day care center. Let us try to stick to fact before any judgements of safe operations are speculated.