4 replies to this topic

[DonaldMReif]

Having only posted this on www.coloradoskihistory.com, I haven't gotten a chance to hear what other people have thought of the new lift. What is your opinion? Better or worse?

[liftmech]

I'm sure it'll alleviate some of the wait times back there. I think the terrain will be tracked out sooner, though, and in my book that's never good. I don't ski Vail very much though so my opinion isn't very informed.

[Kicking Horse]

ARe they planning on running at 1000 or gonna run it slower?

[DonaldMReif]

liftmech, on 26 November 2010 - 01:21 PM, said:

I'm sure it'll alleviate some of the wait times back there. I think the terrain will be tracked out sooner, though, and in my book that's never good. I don't ski Vail very much though so my opinion isn't very informed.

Actually, it might also alleviate wait times at the Northwoods Express lift as well: people tend to stick to detachable lifts whenever possible, right? That means that people migrating to the west part of the Front Side after skiing in the China Bowl and Blue Sky Basin can have two route choices upon leaving the Teacup Express lift. They can either ski down Whiskey Jack to Flapjack and take the Northwoods Express lift like before, or go down through the Sun Up Bowl, down the runout, and up the High Noon Express lift.

Still, it kind of would be nice if Vail built a lift that ran from the bottom of the runout up to Wildwood. That would alleviate lines at the High Noon Express, and also make it easier to lap the west part of the Sundown Bowl (currently, to lap the west Sundown Bowl, after riding the High Noon Express, one must ski down to Mid-Vail and ride the Wildwood Express lift back up).

[skierdude9450]

The question is do you really want to be able to lap that? That whole area is one of the last unspoiled gems on Vail because there isn't direct lift access. So for those reasons I hope to never see a Sundown Bowl lift. It'll be interesting to see if the terrain does get tracked out any quicker than with the triple. Sunup/Sundown Bowls have always been the first truly skiable terrain once you get to the top of the mountain, so I don't think that the lift will attract that many more people into the area, but rather just get them out quicker.