4 replies to this topic

[hiddenmeadows]

I road a J-bar at a local terrain park. 850 ft run but not that steep. I have been looking and noticed that while you see T-bars that have a steep vertical rise you never see J-bars that are steep. Why is this? Is there something about the design of a j-bar or how it "handles" that doesn't allow it to be placed on a steep run. I have a hill that at one point has a steep pitch of about 28 percent, the rest is about 20 percent. Disregarding for a moment things such horsepower and other mechanic is there anything about the j-bar that precludes it from running up a slope like that?

Thanks

[ski89]

We run poma platters up a 38 percent slope. I they are stable and easy to ride.

[skierdude9450]

In France, there are Poma lifts with slopes greater than 60%. They don't appear to have any problem. They are marked with Teleski Difficile (or difficult Poma lift). I think that a J-Bar would be a bit uncomfortable at that slope due to its design where the bars do not extend at all.

Here we see that the slope is greater than 60%


This looks to be about the steepest part of the line:


*Photos credit to Rodo-AF.

[skiersage]

hiddenmeadows, on Jan 19 2009, 07:35 AM, said:

I road a J-bar at a local terrain park. 850 ft run but not that steep. I have been looking and noticed that while you see T-bars that have a steep vertical rise you never see J-bars that are steep. Why is this? Is there something about the design of a j-bar or how it "handles" that doesn't allow it to be placed on a steep run. I have a hill that at one point has a steep pitch of about 28 percent, the rest is about 20 percent. Disregarding for a moment things such horsepower and other mechanic is there anything about the j-bar that precludes it from running up a slope like that?

Thanks

I think this has more to do with the fact that there just aren't many J bars around. You don't see many on steep slopes because there aren't many currently in service. It is important to keep in mind that mechanically J bars are the exact same as any other fixed surface lift (t bar, platter). The only real difference is the actual carrier. Everything else is essentially the same although there will be some variation with different manufacturers.

[Jonni]

Perhaps the installation of a T-Bar is a better option due to the fact that using carriers with twice the capacity of that of a J-Bar (using Ts rather than Js) is more cost effective. The extra cost is so minimal for the T rather than the J that most ski areas would rather just have the T.