49 replies to this topic

[Peter]

I heard there was a fire at the top of Flying Squirrel last night. Hope the damage is not too extensive.

[Peter]

http://www.mtexpress...21#.Uu1axni9LCR

Fire damages Baldy ski lift
Parts of ski area closed during cleanup operations

By :GREGORY FOLEY


A fire early this morning caused significant damage to the top lift stations of the Flying Squirrel chairlift on Bald Mountain and forced the temporary closure of part of Sun Valley's primary ski area.

Sun Valley Co. issued a statement this morning that said the fire also did extensive damage to a snowmaking and wireless communications facility. The statement said the fire occurred at the 8,200-foot level of the ski mountain, causing "extensive damage to Lift 9, including separation of the main ski lift cable." The statement said the damaged snowmaking facility housed air compressors used in the snowmaking process.

The statement said: "Impacts to ongoing operations are expected to be minimal, as Lift 9 was rarely used and the majority of snowmaking facilities remain intact."

The incident forced mountain operators to close areas on the Warm Springs side of the mountain as crews cleaned up. Sun Valley Co. said the closures would be temporary and noted that most of the ski runs on Bald Mountain would remain open today. A ski race event scheduled to take place today on the Warm Springs side of the mountain was canceled.

The Ketchum Fire Department and Sun Valley mountain personnel responded to the fire. It was reported that the fire caused no injuries and the cause of the blaze has not been determined. An investigation into how the fire started is under way.

The Flying Squirrel chairlift (Lift No. 9) starts at the bottom of the Lower Picabo's Street ski run and goes to the top of the Picabo's Street ski run, on the Warm Springs side of the mountain. It is adjacent to the Flying Squirrel ski run.

[Peter]

Found a couple pictures on Twitter...

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[floridaskier]

http://www.skilifts....ingsquirrel.htm

Wow, it looks like the whole drive terminal building is gone. Can't imagine it will be cost effective to repair a classic Staedli double with that much damage. Too bad, that's a dying breed

[DonaldMReif]

I wonder if Doppelmayr might come in to build a replacement terminal.

[Peter]

I saw some other pictures showing chairs hung up on towers and many more on the ground.

[Peter]

More pictures

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[RibStaThiok]

it's enough to make a grown man cry. Not sure how many Stadeli lifts are left in the USA at this point. All I know of are the Becker and Porcupine tripples at Snowbasin and I believe one 70s vintiage somewhere back east.

[vons]

Taos, NM still has 5 doubles and a triple by Stadeli. Two of the doubles don't run very often but are well maintained the rest run daily. They are good solid lifts from what I have heard.

This post has been edited by vons: 02 February 2014 - 10:52 AM

[RibStaThiok]

They may just remove it and not replace it. Challenger serves that area, and Sunnyside also. I'm guessing they are going to replace Sunnyside with a HSQ or better seeing how Sunnyside is being advertised for sale in the for-sale section on here. I guess if they really wanted to, they could re-locate the old sunnyside to where FS is now. It is certainly long enough.

[Compuboks]

I went out and looked this afternoon from the base, it certainly looks bad. The lift appears mostly derailed, chairs/rope on the ground, looked like a few chairs hung up in tower assemblies too.

That terminal was also an important comm site for that side of town. My cell phone had no service at the base (typically full), so it's a bit of a public safety problem now too.

Unfortunate to see, certainly a classic lift. Spent a good number of hours working in that building too (snowmaking side) . Oh well.

This post has been edited by Compuboks: 02 February 2014 - 02:23 PM

[Peter]

They could probably just remove Sunnyside and Flying Squirrel and not replace either one. I don't think SV has an uphill capacity problem.

For those wondering, there are still 23 operating Stadeli lifts in the US.

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[DonaldMReif]

I'm reminded a lot of the Eskimo lift destruction tests looking at those photos, given that they set the motor on fire.

[DonaldMReif]

RibStaThiok, on 02 February 2014 - 10:55 AM, said:

They may just remove it and not replace it. Challenger serves that area, and Sunnyside also. I'm guessing they are going to replace Sunnyside with a HSQ or better seeing how Sunnyside is being advertised for sale in the for-sale section on here. I guess if they really wanted to, they could re-locate the old sunnyside to where FS is now. It is certainly long enough.

Flying Squirrel does have one run exactly off of it, and that is Picabo Street on the lift line. Also, it was the only alternate way off that part of the mountain to Challenger Express if you were on that lift or the Gray Hawk Express.

[snowmaster]

Waterville Valley's original lifts were all Stadelis. Most are still operating. There are a few others smattered around the east including Sugarloaf.

[iceberg210]

RibStaThiok, on 02 February 2014 - 10:33 AM, said:

it's enough to make a grown man cry. Not sure how many Stadeli lifts are left in the USA at this point. All I know of are the Becker and Porcupine tripples at Snowbasin and I believe one 70s vintiage somewhere back east.

There are two Stadeli's real close by to Sun Valley to at Soldier if you're into that particular ilk of lift. Both were recently upgraded electrically with the EMAX system so they'll be around a long time to come, so Stadeli's beyond the SV ones will be a fixture in southern Idaho skiing for a long time to come.

So glad everyone was okay, here's hoping the clean up and rebuild goes quickly and easily to the extent it can...

[boardski]

How does a lift which is rarely used catch fire enough to fall to the ground in the middle of the night when it is not running? Not to speculate but I smell a rat. Maybe an ELF, although I don't know what point they would be trying to prove this time. It will be interesting to see what is determined to be the cause. I am glad no one was hurt.

This post has been edited by boardski: 03 February 2014 - 05:38 PM

[boardski]

Another question: How do they go about setting the lift back up. Will they try to re-stretch the haul rope with all the chairs on it or do they need to manually gather up the chairs and spool up the rope?

[vons]

The building also contained a snowmaking compressor which had been running from what I understand so there is numerous sources in the building that could have caused the fire.
In terms of putting the lift back up the chairs will have to be collected from the hill and inspected (if the they are to be reused) the rope will most likely will be cut up and recycled it just doesn't work well to try to reuse it the rope has been damaged much more extensively then you would think. I wonder what condition the return station is in.

[Peter]

boardski, on 03 February 2014 - 05:41 PM, said:

Another question: How do they go about setting the lift back up. Will they try to re-stretch the haul rope with all the chairs on it or do they need to manually gather up the chairs and spool up the rope?

It doesn't sound like it will be repaired. From SV's Facebook Page: "RIP Flying Squirrel Chair. For decades you saw the evolution of the mountain and the sports of skiing and snowboarding from ski bum roots to freestyle innovation. Your mean bullwheel that required a veteran liftie to bump your chair will be deeply missed."

boardski, on 03 February 2014 - 05:37 PM, said:

How does a lift which is rarely used catch fire enough to fall to the ground in the middle of the night when it is not running? Not to speculate but I smell a rat. Maybe an ELF, although I don't know what point they would be trying to prove this time. It will be interesting to see what is determined to be the cause. I am glad no one was hurt.

If you look at the below picture, you can see all of the antennas that were mounted to the building. Apparently the upper terminal housed 6 different cell phone carriers and included 900 square feet of space for cellular equipment.
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