44 replies to this topic

[iceberg210]

IN our lift page it says that thunderbird no longer exists on Summits trail map it says it does. But thats not what I came here to ask about.

As I was looking at all the old lifts that had been removed from the Summit I was wondering if anyone knew where each was located. Thanks

[liftmech]

As an Alpental skier you know where Debbie's Gold (chair 1) was. The platter started at the bottom of Meister/Lower Internationale and went up alongside Lower I until the bottom of Snake Dance.
At Snoqualmie, Thunderbird is inoperable and parts still sit in place. Big Bill (I think it's called Wild Bill on the page) was opposite the Pacific Crest lift from Dodge Ridge. Beaver Lake went down into the bowl north of the top of T-bird.
Alpine and Bonanza were at Acres; Bonanza was about where the Central Express is now and Alpine was more towards Snoqualmie.
Last but not least, Dinosaur is in vertical storage at Hyak as we have discussed in detail :---:
I don't remember exactly where 360 Bowl was , but I sort of remember riding it while at Snoqualmie.

[crazyskier91]

What's up with that dinosaur chair?

[TomK]

The 360 Bowl chair was the other lift that paralleled old Big Bill at Snoqualmie West. It was the further west one and unloaded on the little knoll that you ski next to when accessing 360 bowl.
They took out the two side-by-side slow 2-seaters and installed the fixed-grip 3-seat Pacific Crest in thier place. I seem to recall that they scored a screaming good deal on the PC lift due to a defaulted purchase by somewhere else.


For Dino discussion, search this board for "Dino" http://www.skilifts....p?showtopic=294

Basicly, it's supposed to be removed this summer and the front half is next on Booth Creeks "lifts we want to install" list. No timeline on that though.

[iceberg210]

Yeah I knew about Debbies Gold. My dad (both of my parents grew up in Seattle) would go to collegde and work during the day and ski at Alpental at night especcially Debbies Gold. BTW when did Alpental take out the Poma lift and why was it there in the first place?

Crazy Skier...
The dinasour is a favorite topic around here it never goes away.

Edit: Almost forgot that when I skied at Alpental I wondered what those poles were on lower internationale were for.

This post has been edited by iceberg210: 26 May 2004 - 01:46 PM

[crazyskier91]

Thanks for the info!

[liftmech]

[/I]

iceberg210, on May 26 2004, 01:45 PM, said:

BTW when did Alpental take out the Poma lift and why was it there in the first place? 

I don't honestly know. I only got to ride it a few times, mainly at night when C-2 was closed and that was the 'expert' terrain. I know it wasn't there originally- my dad helped build the area in the summer of '67 and he said they build only chairs 1, 2, and 3. 4 came later, and I bet that's when they built the platter.
Tom K- PC is a quad, I think. I knew I remembered 360 being at Snoqualmie, I just couldn't remember where it was. I've noticed that Booth Creek has kept several, if not all, of the towers from either Big Bill or 360 for night light standards.

[TomK]

PC was listed as a triple on an old lift map, a quad on the current one. Wonder if they replaced the chairs to upgrade, or just mis-labled the old map.

The lightpoles off to the lift-riders' right are the ones that used to support 360.
In addition the those, some of the old Thunderbird towers are still up and being used for light poles as well.

[iceberg210]

What chair is number four again?

My dad also remembers riding the poma a coupple times but preferred Debbies Gold to the poma.

[liftmech]

C-1- Debbie's Gold/Armstrong Express
C-2- Edelweiss
C-3- St Bernard
C-4- Sessel (which is German for 'chair')
There used to be four rope tows named Eins, Zwei, Drei, und Vier. (want to guess what those names mean?) I don't know if they're still up and running or not, though.

It's quite possible Booth bought PC as a triple with quad-guage bullwheels and towers, then upgraded the carriers later. When I-lift was rebuilt a Blackjack, the new bullwheels and tower caps were triple guage for an eventual upgrade. If you've seen the photos of that lift, though, you'll notice it's still a double...

[TomK]

Alpental still has one rope-tow over between the St Bernard lift and lot 3.
At a guess, Ein?

[iceberg210]

Yep there still is one rope tow. With names like that is it that a German started Alpental?

[liftmech]

Nope- it was marketing. A real estate developer from Seattle was quite taken with the German/Swiss/Austrian theme in the late 60s... :---:

[scrutch2001]

Actually, it was the chairlifts that were name Eins, Zwie, and Drei. See the attached picture from my late 1960's book of northwest ski areas.

There was a good deal of controversy surrounding the development of Alpental. There was opposition to development of Denny Mountain by what later became known as "Environmentalists." In particular, the Bavarian theme of the resort came in for criticism - it was viewed as being rather tacky.

When I was in Seattle earlier this year, I ran across a book on the history of Snoqualmie Pass. It showed a map of Alpental with a lift extending up lower internationale. That puzzled me - I didn't remember such a lift when I skied there. Thanks to all of you, the puzzle is solved - it's the old platter lift.

Steve

Attached File(s)

•  OldAlpental.jpg (62.79K)
  Number of downloads: 104

This post has been edited by scrutch2001: 02 June 2004 - 03:47 AM

[scrutch2001]

And in response to the posting that started the thread, here's a map of Snoqualmie Summit from the late 1960's, showing the location of Dodge Ridge, Big Bill, and 360. You'll also note some pomas which have since been removed, and scads of rope tows.

Steve

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•  OldSummit.jpg (51.54K)
  Number of downloads: 83

[scrutch2001]

While I'm at it, here's Ski Acres aka Summit Central, again from 1968.

Steve

Attached File(s)

•  OldSkiAcres.jpg (43.93K)
  Number of downloads: 78

[scrutch2001]

Hyak front......

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•  OldHyakFront.jpg (50.64K)
  Number of downloads: 81

[scrutch2001]

.... and back.

Attached File(s)

•  OldHyakBack.jpg (24.85K)
  Number of downloads: 69

[Bill]

Thanks Steve,

That is really awesome, I have been looking for older maps of the pass for some time.

It amazes me the amount of ropes at Snoqualmie and the the existance of a Poma where Wildside is.

[hyak.net]

Can you believe they actually had a rope tow up the Beaver Lake side? I'd guess it was prob. where the road is rather then the cliff...kinda steep there, but still that would be quite tough...

Snoqualmie had so many lifts, tows, etc. its amazing people had any room to actually ski.