264 replies to this topic

[trj820]

SkiDaBird, on 25 July 2015 - 10:08 PM, said:

Little Cloud is 14 towers, 65(?) chairs, so no, that sounds about standard to me.

Peter, if you mentioned it, I missed it, but how long is the Teton lift? About 4000'?

Looking at Google Earth, the line's about 1200m long (1209.5m). dividing by 40 chairs to a side, you get the 30m chair spacing that comes with a 6 second dispatch at 5m/s.

[Backbowlsbilly]

liftmech, on 21 July 2015 - 04:06 AM, said:

If you read the blog they mention putting the lift back up somewhere on the front side.

Yep sorry I misread that.

[Peter]

SkiDaBird, on 25 July 2015 - 10:08 PM, said:

Little Cloud is 14 towers, 65(?) chairs, so no, that sounds about standard to me.

Peter, if you mentioned it, I missed it, but how long is the Teton lift? About 4000'?

Haul rope is 8,530' on the spool...obviously there's some extra.

[DonaldMReif]

On a Vail Daily article from July 20th, it said "As of mid-July at [the] Avanti Express [lift], crews have removed the lift terminals and the cross arms of the old lift. Assembly of the new arms for the six-passenger chairs is ongoing, and in the next few weeks, a helicopter will be installing those onto the towers, said Sara Lococo of Vail Mountain communications. Work on Chair 2 is expected to be finished in time for the winter season." So, from the way that paragraph is worded, I think it says that the Avanti Express lift will reuse tower tubes from the original lift. And, the Avanti Express lift is not just the only addition being built: Vail's also building an alpine coaster to the west of the Pride Express lift, and a zipline canopy tour around Game Creek Bowl. There is even a photo on a Twitter feed called @vailliftops that is of the Forest Flyer coaster:
 Vail Coaster.jpg (56.09K)
Number of downloads: 43

It's a bit off topic, but I thought it was somewhat relevant.

[RibStaThiok]

Well Avanti was well taken care of, those tubes should serve quite well. They were installed in 1989..

http://www.skilifts....i/liftline3.jpg

http://www.skilifts....anti/avanti.htm


I regret that I have not had the chance to ski off of that lift, I hope she served them well.

[DonaldMReif]

If I remember right, when the Super Gauge Express was built at Winter Park ten years ago, it reused some tower tubes from the high speed quad it replaced, right?

[Peter]

It's fly day today at JHMR.

[RibStaThiok]

DonaldMReif, on 26 July 2015 - 07:57 PM, said:

If I remember right, when the Super Gauge Express was built at Winter Park ten years ago, it reused some tower tubes from the high speed quad it replaced, right?

You mean the old magnificent Summit Express, now Liberator E at Mission Ridge?

http://www.skilifts..../topstation.jpg

[Peter]

Peter, on 27 July 2015 - 06:06 AM, said:

It's fly day today at JHMR.

The crew got a couple hours of flying in here before wind, rain and snow shut things down. More tomorrow.

I got some decent pics: http://liftblog.com/...-teton-village/

[DonaldMReif]

Looks like Vail's preparing to bring out the helicopters to fly tower heads and tower tubes for the Avanti Express lift into place starting tomorrow (based on their Facebook page). This was on their blog (http://blog.vail.com...express-lift-2/) today:

Quote

Hiking and biking trail closures this week in Vail due to helicopter work on Avanti Express Lift (#2)
Vail Mountain expects to close Gondola One and Mid-Vail, in addition to various hiking and biking trails, as early as Wednesday for helicopter work that will take place as part of the construction for the new high-speed, six-passenger Avanti Express Lift (#2). During this time all hiking and biking trails between Northwoods and the Avanti area, and within the potential flight path of the helicopter, will be closed for the safety of resort guests.

When work is completed on the Avanti Express Lift (#2), Gondola One and Mid-Vail will re-open but helicopter work will continue for construction for the Game Creek zip line tour planned to open in summer 2016 as a part of Vail Mountain’s Epic Discovery experience. This work will also affect hiking and biking trails on Vail Mountain.

“We’d like our guests to understand that as part of construction for these exciting improvements, operations will be impacted this week, and they should use the Eagle Bahn Gondola in Lionshead to access the mountain when Gondola One is closed,” said Elizabeth Howe, senior director of mountain operations for Vail Mountain. “We also want to stress how important it is for everyone to obey all trail closures when they are in place. Our staff will be out to help everyone understand what is open and what is closed. We appreciate our guests’ patience and cooperation as we work on these exciting new projects.”

Unfortunately, the helicopter’s schedule and availability are highly weather dependent, and it is uncertain exactly which days will be impacted. Vail Mountain will provide updates throughout the week via its @VailMtnAlerts Twitter feed and on our Facebook page. Those planning to access the mountain are encouraged to check one of these sources or call the Vail Mountain Information Center at (970) SKI-VAIL (754-8245) for the most current information.

The reason for the closure area to stretch for so far is because the parts for the Avanti Express lift are being staged around the bottom of the Northwoods Express lift, and the disturbed air produced by helicopter blades obviously could interfere with safe operations of Gondola One.

This post has been edited by DonaldMReif: 28 July 2015 - 01:53 PM

[Peter]

DonaldMReif, on 28 July 2015 - 01:47 PM, said:

Looks like Vail's preparing to bring out the helicopters to fly tower heads and tower tubes for the Avanti Express lift into place starting tomorrow (based on their Facebook page). This was on their blog (http://blog.vail.com...express-lift-2/) today:


The reason for the closure area to stretch for so far is because the parts for the Avanti Express lift are being staged around the bottom of the Northwoods Express lift, and the disturbed air produced by helicopter blades obviously could interfere with safe operations of Gondola One.

Vail Resorts loves the hard closures around construction. I get it from a risk management perspective but most places are way less paranoid.

[RibStaThiok]

In this day and age with so many lawsuits for stupid stuff, they are just making sure no one tries to sue them for dust being blown into their eyes.

[Peter]

More heli pics from Jackson:
http://liftblog.com/...flying-part-ii/

[matt9915]

matt9915, on 16 July 2015 - 12:13 PM, said:

Based on what you said, I made a little rendition of what the new logo could be. Think it could be something like this? (See image)

I WAS SPOT ON WITH MY LOGO PREDICTION FOR NEW PCMR!!

Attached File(s)

•  image.jpg (481.48K)
  Number of downloads: 88

This post has been edited by matt9915: 29 July 2015 - 01:39 PM

[DonaldMReif]

This photo on KDVR's Jennifer Broome's Twitter page from yesterday shows what appears to be a helicopter doing Avanti Express construction.

 Avanti construction 07-30-15.jpg (26.36K)
Number of downloads: 18

As shown by the updates to Vail's Blog post about trail closures while the helicopter is doing its work, it sounds like the Avanti Express lift will reuse most of the towers from the original lift, just with wider crossarms:

Quote

Today at Vail Mountain a helicopter assisted with the construction of the new high-speed, six-passenger Avanti Express Lift (#2). Throughout the course of the day the helicopter helped to remove the old crossarms from the lift towers and flew in new crossarms and sheave assemblies, which were secured to the existing lift towers. Construction on the new lift is planned to continue into Thursday and Gondola One, Mid-Vail, and area hiking and biking trails between [the] Northwoods [Express lift] and the Avanti area, and within the potential flight path of the helicopter, will remain closed for the safety of resort guests.

[MNSkier]

They are continuing to make progress at Lutsen.

From the posts on their facebook page it sounds like they had 3 gorgeous days to fly concrete last week. Pictures are taken from their facebook page.

Attached File(s)

•  10012095_10153110808434372_8938128193635522931_o.jpg (170.11K)
  Number of downloads: 90
•  10504820_10153110808454372_1786610104239401373_o.jpg (210.77K)
  Number of downloads: 118
•  10682375_10153110808329372_3039960693324287450_o.jpg (268.14K)
  Number of downloads: 99
•  11059356_10153104055969372_64776166484210868_n.jpg (32.25K)
  Number of downloads: 89
•  11212788_10153104056009372_6031647754411655173_n.jpg (79.73K)
  Number of downloads: 82
•  11218693_10153104056219372_6451734916491556504_n.jpg (51.63K)
  Number of downloads: 79
•  11221670_10153110808294372_9122334224352029387_o.jpg (89.04K)
  Number of downloads: 76
•  11252118_10153110808449372_2387624208681617563_o.jpg (215.35K)
  Number of downloads: 92
•  11705339_10153104056064372_5574758517052600139_n.jpg (112K)
  Number of downloads: 101
•  11709982_10153110808419372_4145930409260677463_o.jpg (20.03K)
  Number of downloads: 80
•  11722319_10153110808324372_7852387137136841842_o.jpg (228.65K)
  Number of downloads: 55
•  11737923_10153104065294372_4584053843642831032_n.jpg (26.29K)
  Number of downloads: 52
•  11741010_10153110808519372_169531707106837816_o.jpg (279.56K)
  Number of downloads: 45
•  11745341_10153104056284372_8926470167320940621_n.jpg (62.81K)
  Number of downloads: 51
•  11753283_10153104056004372_15464280730563960_n.jpg (107.25K)
  Number of downloads: 53
•  11792172_10153110808334372_8404796854811494622_o.jpg (231.22K)
  Number of downloads: 44

[Peter]

Steel going up in JH: http://liftblog.com/...going-vertical/

[DonaldMReif]

From PCMR's Facebook page:

Progress on King Con:
 pcmr King Con 08-06-15.jpg (291.53K)
Number of downloads: 90

Quicksilver Gondola's cabins have arrived on site:
 pcmr gondola cabins 08-06-15.jpg (86.84K)
Number of downloads: 94

[DonaldMReif]

Vail Daily did this video last week on the Avanti Express lift construction. It also shows some footage of the original tower crossarms being taken off:
https://vimeo.com/135012678

From the remarks of the reporter who made the video, it sounds like the Avanti Express lift will still have 25 towers on it, the only difference being that every tower from tower 8 to the top of the lift will have its number advanced by 1, since there is no tower 7A on the new lift, thus, tower 7A will become tower 8, the original tower 8 will become tower 9, and so up.

[matt9915]

Pictures I took at PCMR on the Mid Mountain and Spiro trails on two separate occasions. They are of King Con and Motherlode.

Attached File(s)

•  image.jpg (1020.11K)
  Number of downloads: 98
•  image.jpg (1.38MB)
  Number of downloads: 128
•  image.jpg (1.2MB)
  Number of downloads: 132
•  image.jpg (887.36K)
  Number of downloads: 144
•  image.jpg (1.08MB)
  Number of downloads: 130
•  image.jpg (1.06MB)
  Number of downloads: 116
•  image.jpg (942.85K)
  Number of downloads: 87