507 replies to this topic

[Peter]

Ok, anyone know of new lifts for next Summer? Here are a few possible ones:

1 Crystal Mountain, Washington DoppelmayrCTEC Triple Northway
2 Tamarack, Idaho DoppelmayrCTEC High Speed Quad
3 Whistler, British Columbia DoppelmayrCTEC High Speed Quad Crystal Express
4 Lookout Pass, Idaho Double Northstar
5 Beaver Creek, Colorado DoppelmayrCTEC High Speed Quad Rose Bowl
6 Burke Mountain, Vermont Leitner-Poma High Speed Quad Willoughby Express

Both Crystal Mountain and Whistler are starting their trams, but they are 2 year projects.

[floridaskier]

PCMR - Town lift?
Deer Valley - Deer Crest Express?
Snowbird - Little Cloud Express?

Just guessing, but all 3 would be DoppelmayrCTEC HSQs

[Lavalamp]

The Northway lift at Crystal is back to being a HSQ.

[Peter]

that makes sense since it will be the longest and tallest lift at Crystal. What about Park and Ride and the Tram? Are they happening too?

[Lavalamp]

I haven't heard anything new on the Tram or Park and Ride. I would assume that the Tram is still on schedule.

[skier2]

***Not Guaranteed***

Lutsen Mountains, MN: FIS/Upper Eagle Mountain Lift: Riblet Double (used, may be going in this summer)
Lutsen Mountains, MN: Caribou Express: Leitner Poma High Speed Six... or...
Lutsen Mountains, MN: Bull Run Express: Leitner Poma HSQ
Buck Hill, MN: Beginner: Hall Double (used)
Indianhead Mountain, MI: Mountain Express: (no brand specified) High Speed Quad
Welch Village, MN: Back Bowl: (no brand specified)(no type specified)
Keystone, CO: River Run Gondola: (leitner Poma or Doppelmayr CTEC)(6 or 8 person cabins)
Steamboat, CO: Christie Express: Leitner Poma High Speed Six
Jackson Hole, WY: Tram: Garaventa CTEC?

[Lift Kid]

Breck might replace 6 chair with a hsq. But this is not very likely.

[Allan]

We might replace Silverlode with either a FGQ or HSQ, yet to be decided... I'll know the answer soon.

[WBSKI]

Why wouldnt they just install a HSQ with a mid load/unload point? It probably would be cheaper..

[Peter]

Why Silverlode and not Motherlode?

[liftmech]

Skier, on Jun 13 2006, 11:07 AM, said:

that makes sense since it will be the longest and tallest lift at Crystal. What about Park and Ride and the Tram? Are they happening too?

What are the dimensions of the Northway lift? Rex is already 1710' tall; it would be hard to beat that.

[Peter]

1680 x 4450, so about the same

[Lavalamp]

I have it at 1860' x 5500'; I think you have the dimensions for the Morning Glory alignment.

[Peter]

Yeah you're right, I forgot they switched it. Lavalamp, do you know anything about the tram? Is Superior Tramway really the builder? I can't imagine them doing such a large project. I guess we'll see. Who is building the Northway Express. Is Park N Ride a go for next summer too?

[Lavalamp]

My bad: the dimensions for Northway Express should be 1860' x 5200'; 5500' is the slope length.

My understanding is that Superior Tramway was going to design the Tram and either purchase or manufacture the components, but won't actually be building it. Crystal will build it in-house and subcontract whatever they can't do, like concrete, helicopters, etc. There's a news story from somewhere in the Spokane area that has some details. Amazingly, Crystal got Superior Tramway to agree to do it for $6.5 million (Crystal will spend an additional $1 million or so to actually install it).

Northway Express will probably be a Doppelmayr CTEC; I'd be surprised if it wasn't, but I don't know for sure.

I don't think Park and Ride is going to happen next summer; the lower terminal is supposed to go on the (unused) tennis courts, but they'd need to cut the return trail above the Elk and the maintenance areas, which is quite a job since they have to A) Move a lot of dirt to grade the trail properly and B) Build another bridge over the creek. Between the Tram and Northway, I just don't think they'll be able to deal with it in 2007, so I think it gets done in 2008. But I could be wrong and they might go ahead with it. As always, I'm keeping my ear open.

~Jason

This post has been edited by Lavalamp: 15 June 2006 - 06:37 PM

[Peter]

Quote

Amazingly, Crystal got Superior Tramway to agree to do it for $6.5 million (Crystal will spend an additional $1 million or so to actually install it).

Well, Superior bid 6.5 million, but that doesn't mean it will actually happen. I am somewhat suspicious. It seems like bidding half the proce of the big companies is crazy. I could see Superior goning bankrupt with this project. It just seems like too much for a tiny company.

Heres the news article:

Superior lands two jobs to add lifts at ski areas
Crystal Mountain, Lookout Pass hire company here to do $6.5 million of work
By Rocky Wilson

Superior Tramway Co., of Spokane, has been awarded contracts totaling about $6.5 million for projects at Crystal Mountain, a ski resort near Mount Rainier in Western Washington, and at the Lookout Pass Ski & Recreation Area along Interstate 90 near the Idaho-Montana border.
Superior will do design, engineering, fabrication, and component purchasing, under a $6 million contract, for a new two-cabin, enclosed, gondola-style ski lift at Crystal Mountain, says John Kircher, Crystal Mountain Inc.’s president and general manager. He says he believes the lift will be the first of its type in Washington state and one of only five or six such lifts in the U.S.
At Lookout Pass, Superior was awarded an about $500,000 contract to do engineering work and to supply and install a used chairlift that will serve five new ski runs at the ski area.
Engineering work already is under way at Crystal Mountain and will last into next summer, says Kircher. He says some construction work at the resort, which currently accommodates about 380,000 skiers annually with 10 chairlifts, will begin next year. Yet, the bulk of the construction for the new gondola-style lift will be done in 2007 and 2008, with the goal of having the cars operational for the 2008-2009 ski season.
Kircher says installation of the new lift, which will be designed to carry about 100 passengers at a time and will provide skier access to about 60 percent of the ski terrain at Crystal Mountain, will cost about an additional $800,000. The ski resort will act as general contractor on the work, and will subcontract for concrete, helicopter, steel, and other services. Superior will remain on the job as a supervisory engineer during installation, he says.
The ski lift will include about 7,000 feet of cable and will raise skiers—who will carry their skis with them inside the gondola—about 2,450 feet in elevation. Kircher says the maximum speed of the cars will be about 2,000 feet per minute, or about 23 miles an hour.
The gondola-style cars work well at moving big groups of people up steep terrain, says Kircher. He says the enclosed cabins, which likely might be built in Switzerland, will be equally well-suited for scenic summer rides, which the resort will offer.
Crystal Mountain is located along state Route 410 about 11 70 miles southeast of Seattle. It’s one of six ski areas owned by Boyne Resorts Inc., of Boyne Falls, Mich., of which five are in the U.S and one is in Canada.
Superior engineers also have begun work at Lookout Pass, gathering on-site information, such as a profile of the grounds, and height and elevation data for the towers, says Phil Edholm, president and general manager of Lookout Pass. He says that will allow Superior to design a used chairlift for that resort. Edholm says after that work is done, the Spokane company will find and buy the towers, motors, and other pieces of equipment needed for that used chairlift.
The chairlift will be the third at Lookout Pass, which currently has two lifts and a rope tow. Superior provided similar engineering work and supplied a used chairlift for Lookout Pass two years ago, when the ski area added its second chairlift.
The new chairlift will provide access to new ski runs that have been logged and prepared recently for use, says Edholm.
Lookout Pass has served as many as 47,000 skiers in one year, and is owned by Lookout Associates LLC, of Lookout Pass, Idaho, Edholm says. It is the only ski resort owned by that company, he says.
Construction of Lookout Pass’ chairlift is expected to begin next summer and to take about four months to complete, Edholm says. He says the chairlift will serve about 100 acres of skier terrain, and will be ready for use by the 2006-2007 ski season.

[Allan]

Skier, on Jun 14 2006, 07:52 PM, said:

Why Silverlode and not Motherlode?

Silverlode is used for access to Motherlode as well as access to the new (not built yet) and existing beginner terrain as well as mountain biking, which is why it's going first.. The new lift will be around 4000 ft long, and in a totally different alignment. We very seldom have lineups on Motherlode with the 1200pph triple.

[Peter]

On second thought about Superior Tramway, it would be really cool if they could pull it off. They could prove themselves as a third manufacturer of lifts for North America. We’ll just have to wait and see how it works.

[skierdude9450]

Some Colorado stuff. Chair 6 at Breck seems likely, but I'm not sure if it will happened in 2007. The River Run Gondola is possible, but I haven't heard a word at Keystone about it. I'm guessing that it would be LP because that was their last one. Steamboat's 6pack seems likely, I've been anticipating the day. It would be cool if it went to the top of the Gondola with a midway at Christie summit. It doesn't seem like anyone would use it if you can't get anywhere except Thunderhead Express. Liftmech, is there any word of the gondola or the replacement of H lift at Copper?

[liftmech]

No word on either yet. Supposedly we have bids out for the gondola but nothing for H-quad yet. We will see.