43 replies to this topic

[lastchair_44]

Spring skiing today, mashed potatoes down low, still pretty good up high. It's puking here now...looks to be around 4" of snow so far, hopefully it continues...I'd like to get into Christmas Tree bowl on my skis. a

[Kicking Horse]

It's snowing here in The Roaring Fork Valley right now. I just talked to a buddy that is grooming and he's saying its' coming down at 2 inchs an hr right now on the Knob... :)

Looks like I'll have to bring out the shovel and maybe even the snow blower again!

anyway Jimmi enjoy your time at Steamboat and dont get hurt!

[DonaldMReif]

My reccomendations for next year:

If you are lucky enough to be in Steamboat after a snowstorm, you might get lots of white trees all over Storm Peak and Sunshine Peak.

Start out with the Christie Peak Express and Thunderhead Express instead of the gondola.

[DonaldMReif]

Some of my recomendations for skiing Steamboat:

1. Don't take the Gondola up in the morning. It takes longer, but is a lot more scenic, to ride the Christie Peak Express lift and then the Thunderhead Express lift. You also get a nice warmup run in.

2. When going from Storm Peak to Sunshine Peak, take the Daybreak run from Four Points Hut down to the Sundown Express lift.

3. When lapping Storm Peak, stay on the Storm Peak Express lift, even if there are fixed grip lifts that get you back up to where you want to go.

4. The upper mountain can be difficult to navigate if its snowing.

[skier2]

DonaldMReif, on 17 February 2011 - 07:15 PM, said:

Some of my recomendations for skiing Steamboat:

1. Don't take the Gondola up in the morning. It takes longer, but is a lot more scenic, to ride the Christie Peak Express lift and then the Thunderhead Express lift. You also get a nice warmup run in.

2. When going from Storm Peak to Sunshine Peak, take the Daybreak run from Four Points Hut down to the Sundown Express lift.

3. When lapping Storm Peak, stay on the Storm Peak Express lift, even if there are fixed grip lifts that get you back up to where you want to go.

4. The upper mountain can be difficult to navigate if its snowing.

My advice: The Sunshine pod is great now that there is a HSQ there, but the HSQ has made the problem of beginners at the top of the mountain that much worse. So has the addition of the new green trail from the top of Sunshine, because it cuts across tomahawk, and some beginners just take the top pitch of tomahawk instead of continuing on the green run, thereby creating a bottleneck of inexperienced skiers. These skiers then stand at the bottom of the first pitch, typically on the underside of the first roller, and are invisible to skiers above. Hence, it's no surprise that this is one of the most dangerous places on the mountain.

[DonaldMReif]

skier2, on 20 February 2011 - 11:33 AM, said:

My advice: The Sunshine pod is great now that there is a HSQ there, but the HSQ has made the problem of beginners at the top of the mountain that much worse. So has the addition of the new green trail from the top of Sunshine, because it cuts across tomahawk, and some beginners just take the top pitch of tomahawk instead of continuing on the green run, thereby creating a bottleneck of inexperienced skiers. These skiers then stand at the bottom of the first pitch, typically on the underside of the first roller, and are invisible to skiers above. Hence, it's no surprise that this is one of the most dangerous places on the mountain.

I actually find the hardest bit to be the area right before Tomahawk. People like to use that area that's to your right after you unload the lift as a place to congregate, and it's really hard to go through there.

Heavenly Daze can also be challenging at the end of the day with the mass migration of skiers back to the base slopes. I can remember colliding with at least one person at close to 3:30 PM on that run (not to mention that part of the run was in snowy conditions, the least ideal to see in).


Some of the other things I think Steamboat could improve with:

1. Constructing a lift on the defunct Arrowhead lift's line so that at peak times, there is a lift that allows skiers to go from the lower mountain to Storm Peak and Pioneer Ridge without having to go through Thunderhead.

2. Replacing both Elkhead and Burgess Creek with high speed quads, and possibly extending Burgess Creek down to the bottom of the Pony Express lift, to allow easier access out. Elkhead would receive some additional trails and a more convenient way of getting into the area from Thunderhead.

3. Adding additional seating at Rendezvous and Thunderhead, both of which are really packed at peak lunch times.

4. Constructing the second phase of the Pioneer Ridge expansion, and adding a high speed quad to Morningside Park, plus the cutting of additional runs in the Morningside area, to further spread skiers out.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 23 February 2011 - 04:13 PM

[missouriskier]

DonaldMReif, on 23 February 2011 - 04:05 PM, said:

I actually find the hardest bit to be the area right before Tomahawk. People like to use that area that's to your right after you unload the lift as a place to congregate, and it's really hard to go through there.

Heavenly Daze can also be challenging at the end of the day with the mass migration of skiers back to the base slopes. I can remember colliding with at least one person at close to 3:30 PM on that run (not to mention that part of the run was in snowy conditions, the least ideal to see in).


Some of the other things I think Steamboat could improve with:

1. Constructing a lift on the defunct Arrowhead lift's line so that at peak times, there is a lift that allows skiers to go from the lower mountain to Storm Peak and Pioneer Ridge without having to go through Thunderhead.

2. Replacing both Elkhead and Burgess Creek with high speed quads, and possibly extending Burgess Creek down to the bottom of the Pony Express lift, to allow easier access out. Elkhead would receive some additional trails and a more convenient way of getting into the area from Thunderhead.

3. Adding additional seating at Rendezvous and Thunderhead, both of which are really packed at peak lunch times.

4. Constructing the second phase of the Pioneer Ridge expansion, and adding a high speed quad to Morningside Park, plus the cutting of additional runs in the Morningside area, to further spread skiers out.

I agree, Heavenly Daze does get very crowded in the afternoon.

I don't really see that BC will be replaced for a long time. It is a pretty new lift, and never even had a line while I was there, even on a Saturday. The ride time didn't seem too long either. Elkhead mabye because of its age should be replaced with the Thunderhead lift if they ever put a six-pack in there, although a lift along the Arrowhead line instead would send less people through the Thunderhead peak area.

I do wish they would expand with the rest of Pioneer Ridge, but I have a feeling that is a ways off yet.

[missouriskier]

DonaldMReif, on 23 February 2011 - 04:05 PM, said:

I actually find the hardest bit to be the area right before Tomahawk. People like to use that area that's to your right after you unload the lift as a place to congregate, and it's really hard to go through there.

Heavenly Daze can also be challenging at the end of the day with the mass migration of skiers back to the base slopes. I can remember colliding with at least one person at close to 3:30 PM on that run (not to mention that part of the run was in snowy conditions, the least ideal to see in).


Some of the other things I think Steamboat could improve with:

1. Constructing a lift on the defunct Arrowhead lift's line so that at peak times, there is a lift that allows skiers to go from the lower mountain to Storm Peak and Pioneer Ridge without having to go through Thunderhead.

2. Replacing both Elkhead and Burgess Creek with high speed quads, and possibly extending Burgess Creek down to the bottom of the Pony Express lift, to allow easier access out. Elkhead would receive some additional trails and a more convenient way of getting into the area from Thunderhead.

3. Adding additional seating at Rendezvous and Thunderhead, both of which are really packed at peak lunch times.

4. Constructing the second phase of the Pioneer Ridge expansion, and adding a high speed quad to Morningside Park, plus the cutting of additional runs in the Morningside area, to further spread skiers out.

I agree, Heavenly Daze does get very crowded in the afternoon.

I don't really see that BC will be replaced for a long time. It is a pretty new lift, and never even had a line while I was there, even on a Saturday. The ride time didn't seem too long either. Elkhead mabye because of its age should be replaced with the Thunderhead lift if they ever put a six-pack in there, although a lift along the Arrowhead line instead would send less people through the Thunderhead peak area.

I do wish they would expand into the rest of Pioneer Ridge, but I have a feeling that is a ways off yet.

[DonaldMReif]

missouriskier, on 23 February 2011 - 09:49 PM, said:

I agree, Heavenly Daze does get very crowded in the afternoon.

I don't really see that BC will be replaced for a long time. It is a pretty new lift, and never even had a line while I was there, even on a Saturday. The ride time didn't seem too long either. Elkhead mabye because of its age should be replaced with the Thunderhead lift if they ever put a six-pack in there, although a lift along the Arrowhead line instead would send less people through the Thunderhead peak area.

I do wish they would expand into the rest of Pioneer Ridge, but I have a feeling that is a ways off yet.

One thing the resort could do at the very least is fix the very large and very ugly gaps in chairs on their Doppelmayr high speed quads. They don't look good. Lifts like Christie Peak Express don't have this gap issue. I hate these giant gaps.

What Intrawest did to the base area in 2007, however, is nice:
 Steamboat - Base Area lift layouts (old in pink, new in red).jpg (165.72K)
Number of downloads: 35

[skier2]

DonaldMReif, on 24 February 2011 - 06:59 PM, said:

One thing the resort could do at the very least is fix the very large and very ugly gaps in chairs on their Doppelmayr high speed quads. They don't look good. Lifts like Christie Peak Express don't have this gap issue. I hate these giant gaps.

What Intrawest did to the base area in 2007, however, is nice:
Steamboat - Base Area lift layouts (old in pink, new in red).jpg

What do you mean by gaps? Storm Peak and Sundown had middle armrests when they had bubbles, which may since have been removed, if that's what you're referring to.

[liftmech]

Donald-- I see what you're getting at, but in the grand scheme of things their maintenance department has more pressing issues than that. We (mechanics as a whole, at any resort) have a list of items every year that are cosmetic in nature. Some of them we get to, some we don't.

[DonaldMReif]

skier2, on 24 February 2011 - 08:33 PM, said:

What do you mean by gaps? Storm Peak and Sundown had middle armrests when they had bubbles, which may since have been removed, if that's what you're referring to.

On Storm Peak, chairs #144 and #1 are spaced so far apart that the lift could easily fit two more chairs.

[lastchair_44]

On some detachable chairlifts, there is an "end gap" between the first and last carrier. It can be nice to have when spacing issues arise.

[DonaldMReif]

lastchair_44, on 25 February 2011 - 05:02 PM, said:

On some detachable chairlifts, there is an "end gap" between the first and last carrier. It can be nice to have when spacing issues arise.

Now that you mention it, I've seen some high speed quads at other resorts that have this, including the Wildwood Express and Pride Express lifts at Vail, (although the end gap on the Wildwood Express was more prominent until about a year or so ago, as the distance between chair 76 and chair 1 is normal now).

[floridaskier]

The Quincy HSQ at Deer Valley used to have a really long gap between 90 and 1, big enough for at least 2 more chairs if not 3. When they shortened the lift by a couple hundred feet in 2004, they kept the same number of chairs, so the gap is more normal now

[LiftTech]

We use our end gaps for grooming; park chair 1 on the top of the ramp and it keeps the chairs out of the way for groomers at night, came to work one day and found a note on my door that said, bumped a chair at the top of 9, you might want to check it. Found it facing the rear leg, bumped? I guess so. Gaps are good.

[DonaldMReif]

I think we're going a little bit now.

[lastchair_44]

LiftTech, on 26 February 2011 - 12:26 PM, said:

We use our end gaps for grooming; park chair 1 on the top of the ramp and it keeps the chairs out of the way for groomers at night, came to work one day and found a note on my door that said, bumped a chair at the top of 9, you might want to check it. Found it facing the rear leg, bumped? I guess so. Gaps are good.

That was (probably still is) common practice at the resort I worked at previous. On the newer DoppCTEC stealth models, the groomers could still manage to tag our stop gates however. We had to throw an orange cone over them to make them more visible.

[DonaldMReif]

Bringing the thread back on topic: you probably know about how the Storm Peak Express and Sundown Express lifts were repainted around 2006 or 2007, the Thunderhead Express in 2009, and the Pony Express lift in 2010, so they are all painted red and gray. Before this, they were all painted blue.

My question is: did you like the blue paint scheme better? Or the red and gray paint scheme better? The red and gray paint scheme, I think, is very unique. For the Storm Peak and Sundown lifts, the stacks on the terminals are red, and the rest of the terminal is gray. On Thunderhead, the area around and above the windows is red, and same for Pony Express.

[skierdude9450]

DonaldMReif, on 26 February 2011 - 03:03 PM, said:

I think we're going a little bit now.