12 replies to this topic

[MoltzVT]

I have heard that installing a 6 pack is not a wise decision as it is difficult to keep the chairs filled on a busy day. That it’s better to install a high speed quad @ 2400 PPH than a 6 pack at 2400PPH as it will be more efficient. Like to know from those of you with experience what your thoughts are.

[Peter]

It all depends on how good those working the line are at organizing/yelling at people. If no one is counting off, the chairs will be going up half full. If someone is counting people off and encouraging them to hustle, then most chairs will go up full.

[floridaskier]

Park City does an excellent job of packing people onto its six pack chairs. They have loading gates and people directing traffic in the maze to keep things moving, and just about every chair goes up full at peak times. The loading gates have railings to split people into the 12-34-56 spots about three chairs back, which sometimes breaks up big groups, but keeps people in groups of 2 instead of 6

[Jony Fixed Grip]

All I know is that it can be hard to get four people on a HSQ. Some People just will not listen. I have had groups of people that refused to ride with other groups because someone had a runny nose. Doing crowd control can be a pain in the butt. However if you make it fun for the guests you can usually get a full chair.

[Bogong]

I've heard that electric cattle prods work very well with "precious" punters who don't want to ride a lift with anyone but their friends.

[Jony Fixed Grip]

Bogong, on 18 February 2010 - 09:39 PM, said:

I've heard that electric cattle prods work very well with "precious" punters who don't want to ride a lift with anyone but their friends.

Sounds like a great idea, I will have to run that by the boss.

[Kicking Horse]

My suggestion;

Do not install the load as 90 degrees... I know this first hand. Drive Operator at Snowmass on the Village Express 6 pack. A guest sees a chair coming in at 950fpm and they freeze up which means the lift slows or stops. If the crew is good you can load every chair fully and not have any slow / stops...

It all boils down to the training program that you have in place.

Liftmech,

What is the avg Cap on a peak day on the SuperBee?

[skierdude9450]

I think that what it comes down to is how effectively you can get 6 people up to the line before the next chair comes. It also helps to have maze attendees who can count to six to get the people up to the line. Super Bee at Copper is a great example of an effective six pack, and I would say that it is due to how they have their maze set up. They leave room for three or four chairs to line up behind the gates which gives the people in the singles line time to join in. An ineffective example is Keystone's Ruby Express. They have their maze set up so that two lines alternate in to the gates as a group is loading. This makes it very confusing for singles trying to add on to the chairs, and often results in groups of 7.... Jeff, I don't know how your maze is set up, but you might try setting it up so that three groups stand directly behind the loading area with room there for singles to join.

@MoltzVT: If you want a detachable lift with 2400 p/h and the price is not an object, I would go with the six pack, because the greater time between chairs (about 8 sec vs. 6 sec) makes it easier in effective loading.

[floridaskier]

I think the average destination ski resort customer has seen 90 degree loading by now and is accustomed enough to not freak out at the chair coming at you from the side. A lot of resorts have 90 degree loading lifts now, so it's not as strange as it was a few years ago.

[LuvPow]

90 degree loading is necessary mainly for your maze and the amount of real estate you are dealing with at load area. In some area like the Ruby Lift at Keystone you need to have the maze where it is at, thus the 90 deg. load point. I think that a quad detach is the work horse of ski areas and your lift maint. has an easier time w/them than a six pack. If you are doing summer Mtn. biking on a lift, a six pack is easier to load 4 bikes on if you have a bike rack attached on them..
You def need to have a min. of 3 groups of riders at wait here line no matter what type of lift you have for max efficiency.

[zeedotcom]

A good maze and maze worker can eliminate the lines on a triple a lot of the time and becomes even more important on a quad or six. The maze becomes key to keeping the crowds flowing. Setting the maze so that people can't clump up again after they get sorted can be important too. Keeping people in a line and moving forward is a basic crowd control element that many places seem to neglect. Get three groups set and lined up and keep them that way. Don't give one group of three the opportunity to fall back and go up by themselves just because. Having gone through that, keep in mind that if you get 5 people out of six places, that is more efficient than getting 3 out of 4.

[Kicking Horse]

We have room for 4-5 groups to que up before they hit the load gates...... on the six pack.

[liftmech]

Kicking Horse, on 20 February 2010 - 07:14 PM, said:

My suggestion;

Do not install the load as 90 degrees... I know this first hand. Drive Operator at Snowmass on the Village Express 6 pack. A guest sees a chair coming in at 950fpm and they freeze up which means the lift slows or stops. If the crew is good you can load every chair fully and not have any slow / stops...

It all boils down to the training program that you have in place.

Liftmech,

What is the avg Cap on a peak day on the SuperBee?

I personally don't see any issues with 90-degree loading. To me it's no different for skiers than seeing a fixed-grip chair whipping around the bullwheel right next to their shoulder. I've bee trying to get the Flyer converted ever since we got rid of the cadence chains, for the same real-estate reasons others have mentioned (we could eliminate a 180-degree gooseneck loading maze if we did so).
Jeff- The Bee is designed for 2800 PPH, and it achieves this on a regular basis. Compared to the VX, though, it's easier to do since it only serves upper intermediate and advanced terrain. No beginners there. I think if you have mainly beginners, a quad is better as it seems very difficult for six beginning skiers to get their collective acts together enough to board all at once. $0.02