36 replies to this topic

[skierdude9450]

It's an impressive machine. The new Doppelmayr-CTEC gondola runs in about the same line, but starts in River Run Village, and then crosses the creek. There's the mid-station which is nice, but due to full cars going up, it is very hard to get on there during early season. They let every fourth or fifth car go to allow people to load at the middle station. Being the only lift open, it's needless to say that the line at the bottom was huge. As of now, it is more of an inconvenience to have the bottom station across the river, because you end up crossing the bridge twice to get to the station: once to get to the back of the line, and again while going through the line. However, it is still a much needed improvement. The capacity was greatly increased and the ride time was cut down by almost two minutes when compared to the old gondola. (Summit Express is still faster, though.) The gondola uses the A-108 grip instead of the DT-108 which is what I had originally thought. It is uses the first UNI-G Viper terminal in North America.

Characteristics of the gondola:

• Manufacturer: Doppelmayr-CTEC
  
• Length: 9586 ft (2922 m)
  
• Vertical Rise: 2308 ft (703 m)
  
• Ride Time: About 11 min.
  
• Passengers per Cabin: 8
  
• Capacity: 2400 p/h
  
• Line Speed: 1000 f/m (5.08 m/s)
  
• Number of Towers: 32
  
• Number of Cabins: 125 (maybe a couple more that weren't on line)
  
• Type of Terminals: UNI-G Viper
  
• Driving Station: Top (Vault Drive)
  
• Tension Station: Bottom
  
• Type of Grip: Agamatic A-108C
  
• Type of Cabin: CWA Omega III LWI

Photos:

Bottom Station:




The enormous lift line:


Lower Part of the Line:




Mid-station ahead:


Mid-Station:

This post has been edited by skierdude9450: 09 November 2008 - 01:48 PM

[skierdude9450]

Upper Part of the Line:






Top station approaching:


Top station:


The distinctive front of the UNI-G Viper:

[Kicking Horse]

That is one sexy Terminal.

[RibStaThiok]

Well I suppose its a good way of breaking her in.

[skiersage]

I wonder why summit ex wasn't open. It looks to me like the lines were long enough to justify opening it. The new gondola looks nice though.

[Kicking Horse]

Sage,

Could be that they just wanted to break her in good? Could be Summit Ex is not ready yet?

Could be that they did not plan on that large of a crowd? Which I highly doubt is the case.

I think it was just breaking the new girl in and Summit Ex not ready.

[skierdude9450]

Well they only had one trail open, so they wouldn't have been able to handle double the capacity on the slopes.

[vonrollskyway1]

i allways wondered,why cant they time the gondolas so they are closer together?as many of the members know,im a die hard vonroll type 101 lift fan.the closest ive seen gondolas spaced is 9 seconds apart.the new gondola looks pretty interesting...thanks...

[Skiing#1]

One question

I noticed at the bottom, there is lack of snowing. I just wonder when people ride up to the top and ski there... Are they ride down to the bottom? Or ski or snowboard all the way down to the bottom?

By the way, the pictures are very nice and the gondola is cool.

[coskibum]

based on those pictures, glad i didn't ski today!

[skier691]

I have not, and will never stand in a line that long to go skiing. Suckers. Horse, look at the pics, the Summit looked ready, if needed, the ramps were done....

[floridaskier]

I still don't get why they went with white and orange when the rest of their lifts are all dark green.

[skiersage]

floridaskier, on Nov 8 2008, 10:18 PM, said:

I still don't get why they went with white and orange when the rest of their lifts are all dark green.

The pictures on skilifts are old. Most of the lifts there are now gray with beige terminals. However summit ex and ruby have green towers. The bottom terminal on ruby is also green but the top matches the others. Argentine is black. Other than that the rest of the lifts have the new colors. Check on colorado ski history for newer pics of the lifts.

[skierdude9450]

Skiing#1, on Nov 8 2008, 07:06 PM, said:

One question

I noticed at the bottom, there is lack of snowing. I just wonder when people ride up to the top and ski there... Are they ride down to the bottom? Or ski or snowboard all the way down to the bottom?

By the way, the pictures are very nice and the gondola is cool.

You could ski down to the bottom, just not under the lift. Here you can see the trail on the right:


As for the line, it wasn't horrendous because it moved along quite quickly but still, that's why I called it a day after 4 runs.

[2milehi]

Because Keystone only has one run open, it is better to keep the mass of people on the lift and in the maze, NOT on the run. Hence why Summit is not running.

vonrollskyway1 - The old RRG had a 10 second carrier interval at 4.0 m/s. If I understand right, gondola cabins cost A LOT more than chairs, so that should answer your question. Plus if you look at the drive/return terminal, cabins are a foot or so apart, so there is really not much more room for additional cabins.

skierdude9450 - I believe that there are 32 tower, not 33

This post has been edited by 2milehi: 09 November 2008 - 12:28 PM

[Lift Kid]

Wow, it looks great! I'm jealous. So 2milehi, do you get to work on her this season?

[skierdude9450]

2milehi, on Nov 9 2008, 01:25 PM, said:

skierdude9450 - I believe that there are 32 tower, not 33

You're right. It's corrected.

[vonrollskyway1]

thanks for the info on the gondola spacing.ive allways wondered that.

[2milehi]

Lift Kid, on Nov 9 2008, 02:23 PM, said:

Wow, it looks great! I'm jealous. So 2milehi, do you get to work on her this season?

No, I transferred to Breckenridge 3 weeks ago so I don't get to put my finder prints on her. I was looking forward to working on her, but things change in life.

This post has been edited by 2milehi: 10 November 2008 - 11:35 AM

[Lift Kid]

2milehi, on Nov 10 2008, 01:34 PM, said:

No, I transferred to Breckenridge 3 weeks ago so I don't get to put my finder prints on her. I was looking forward to working on her, but things change in life.

Oh darn. Breck has some great skiing though, on the plus side!