23 replies to this topic

[DonaldMReif]

Update: they put maps on the Avanti Express in January 2012. The new Colorado SuperChair chairs also have maps.

[skierdude9450]

Interesting topic here. My first encounter with these maps was at Winter Park in maybe the 03-04 season when a few lifts had plastic tubes that went around the bars. Those have since been removed and I think some of their lifts now have the clamp-mounted maps. I personally find the maps quite convenient, and I think that they're starting to become more prominent. (Whistler-Blackcomb has installed maps on a few of their lifts.) Only thing I don't like about them is that being tall, they hit me in the head every time the bar comes down. (That's what a helmet is for I guess! )

[DonaldMReif]

skierdude9450, on 23 December 2012 - 05:26 PM, said:

Interesting topic here. My first encounter with these maps was at Winter Park in maybe the 03-04 season when a few lifts had plastic tubes that went around the bars. Those have since been removed and I think some of their lifts now have the clamp-mounted maps. I personally find the maps quite convenient, and I think that they're starting to become more prominent. (Whistler-Blackcomb has installed maps on a few of their lifts.) Only thing I don't like about them is that being tall, they hit me in the head every time the bar comes down. (That's what a helmet is for I guess! )

The clamp-mounted maps are used on the Zephyr Express and Gemini Express lifts, last I checked. I think they might be used on the Super Gauge Express, but I only know about the first two because of the photos I've seen in your Photobucket gallery.
Here are a few I found of the Winter Park ones you describe, which I found at www.ski-epic.com

Here's a photo of them on the Eskimo Express lift:
http://www.ski-epic....ps1280x1024.jpg

Another image:
http://www.ski-epic....ft1280x1024.jpg

Hard to tell, but they can be viewed here on the Olympia Express lift:
http://www.ski-epic....1_1280x1024.jpg


I think with Vail Resorts, their logic as to which lifts get the clamp maps is based on traffic and what amount of terrain is reached. Mid-mountain lifts get maps if a lot of skiers use them to transition and lap terrain, as do high speed lifts beginning at base areas.

Breckenridge has maps on Quicksilver Super6, the Beaver Run SuperChair, the Peak 8 SuperConnect, and the Colorado SuperChair. Three of these are lifts that start at base areas. The Peak 8 SuperConnect connects skiers from Peak 9 to Peak 8, so having maps is kind of necessary so that people can use the lift ride to plan their runs on the way over. The Rocky Mountain SuperChair doesn't have the bar maps, probably because it doesn't access enough terrain to justify them, whereas the Colorado SuperChair has a full maze about 80% of the time.

Keystone has them on all of the Dercum Mountain high speed quads (Summit Express, Montezuma Express, Peru Express).

Vail has them on the Born Free Express, the Avanti Express, and the Mountaintop Express lifts. The latter two are used by a lot of skiers who are both lapping that terrain and also transitioning across the mountain, so maps are necessary there.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 28 December 2012 - 09:51 AM

[DonaldMReif]

And a few places have actually removed maps in recent years.

I know Crested Butte used to have them on all four of their high speed quads, from photos I've seen, up until about 2010. I was up there last February, and I only saw them on two lifts: the Silver Queen Express and Red Lady Express lifts (the two high speed quads out of the base area). They've removed the clamp-mounted maps from the East River Express and Paradise Express lifts. I have YouTube videos of these lifts, and you'll see that East River and Paradise do not have maps, yet they have maps in photos Brad took for www.coloradoskihistory.com. Though to be fair, the East River Express lift only has about five or six runs off of it.