7 replies to this topic

[Marc Shepherd]

In a July 8 blog post reporting on various summer improvements, Killington announced that it had removed the South Ridge Triple, "as it has reached the end of its service life. A replacement chairlift will be added in the future and this particular terrain will still be accessible via the K-1 Express Gondola."

The South Ridge Triple, which dated from 1977, was clearly not in the best condition. The only question was when, not if, it would be demolished. Still, Killington regulars were stunned by the move. In an April announcement of off-season improvement plans, management had said nothing about the old lift. One wonders if they planned to remove it all along, or if they realized belatedly that it was in worse condition than they had thought. It wouldn't have made sense to invest in rehabilitating it, if it were going to replaced within the next year or two anyway.

The South Ridge Triple was always an impractical chair. It ran on an odd triangle-shaped line, unique in North America, with a sharp right-angle turn halfway up. The original idea of that turn was to provide a mid-mountain loading point, but apparently the idea proved to be impractical, and it was used that way for only a year or two. I always got a kick out of riding that lift, although it could be extremely cold up there.

The persistent rumor is that the Snowdon Quad will eventually be replaced with a high-speed quad, and then the old Snowdon lift would be installed along the South Ridge Triple return line. But there is no announced timeframe for replacing the Snowdon Quad. With management committed to a two-year $7 million project to replace the Peak Lodge, it might not be happening anytime soon. Even better would be a new lift going all the way to the peak, as Killington could use a second route to its highest terrain, but getting that proposal through Vermont's tough permitting process might be more than management has the appetite for.

The more cynical Killington regulars fear that the South Ridge Triple will never be replaced. Their concern is well founded, given that Killington has shrunk, not grown, over the last 20 years. The South Ridge Triple ran only on weekends and holidays, and even on busy days it was never crowded, so management could believe it is superfluous. However, the statement that "this particular terrain will still be accessible via the K-1 Express Gondola" is somewhat misleading. From the bottom of the South Ridge Triple, the K-1 gondola is a considerable distance away, making it somewhat impractical to ski that terrain more than once on a given day. That lift also provided a useful transit point over to the other half of the resort, on days when the Skye Peak Express quad has a long line.

This post has been edited by Marc Shepherd: 11 July 2011 - 06:28 PM

[floridaskier]

That's too bad, glad I got a chance to ride it. One of the more interesting lift rides around. You really needed to hold on if you weren't in the middle of the chair for the turn.

I wonder if they actually removed it, or just took off the haul rope and chairs and left the rest of it to rust away indefinitely. Devil's Fiddle, the bottom two-thirds of the old Northeast Passage, and the Needle's Eye top terminal are all abandoned on the hill. It didn't look any worse than some of the other older lifts at Killington. It didn't have the aluminum sheaves, and dozens of Yan triples from that era are still going strong. The Snowdon quad, which just about every lift manufacturer contributed to, would certainly be a good candidate for replacement, but I can't imagine a heavily traveled lift modified that many times would be in good enough shape to justify moving it. That side of the mountain could use some more lift capacity for big weekends. The lines at Bear Mountain and Skye Peak were spilling way out of the mazes on a random weekend in March.

Would they need to go through the same permitting process to replace the South Ridge triple on the same line? Is Killington on public land?

[Marc Shepherd]

floridaskier, on 11 July 2011 - 04:24 PM, said:

Would they need to go through the same permitting process to replace the South Ridge triple on the same line? Is Killington on public land?

Yes, Killington is on State of Vermont land, and they need permits to do any construction whatsoever. However, replacing the SRT on the existing line would breeze through the permitting process, since it would result in no net change to the environment. Any change, particularly if it involved chopping down trees, would meet with greater scrutiny.

For the new Peak Lodge, they were very careful to remain within the existing footprint for that reason.

[Peter Pitcher]

Marc Shepherd, on 11 July 2011 - 05:31 PM, said:

Yes, Killington is on State of Vermont land, and they need permits to do any construction whatsoever. However, replacing the SRT on the existing line would breeze through the permitting process, since it would result in no net change to the environment. Any change, particularly if it involved chopping down trees, would meet with greater scrutiny.

For the new Peak Lodge, they were very careful to remain within the existing footprint for that reason.

Was this south ridge triple a YAN

[Peter]

Peter Pitcher, on 11 July 2011 - 07:04 PM, said:

Was this south ridge triple a YAN

Yes.

[Jonni]

As goofy as this lift is/was, it is sad to see it go as one of the unique lift rides out there. I've skied past it many times, but never had the honor of riding it. If I can, since I live near by there, I'll see about going up to get some photos of what it all looks like within the next bunch of weeks.

[Lift Dinosaur]

I worked on the Installation Crew for the "Triangle Lift" that became the South Ridge Triple. We flew in from a project in Colorado and worked 86 hours in 7 days setting towers and pouring concrete. Part of the challenge was the local concrete company out of Rutland only had 1 truck that they would allow to go up the hill - an old '66 Mack. They had 4 other "new" trucks that they would only let come to the parking lot.
We would fly towers (which were a bit*h to set because the one sided cross-arm caused them to spin when they were set in the hole) until a concrete truck would show up and then we would quick like switch to flying concrete. Anytime the '66 came down the hill we would batch the next truck into him and back up the hill he'd go. This project required 3 guys in the lot instead of the usual 2.
Someone asked me one night "Have you ever built a lift like this before?" - my answer "I've never even HEARD of a lift like this before!"
I rode it for the first time on a trip to K in '99 - lots of memories.
Dino

[Emax]

I believe that this lift was originally installed with a YAN 4200 drive and control, since 1978 was the first year for Base 10. I spent many long hours on the phone with Oscar Daubenspeck getting the original system to work right (wasn't my design) and then further hours making the upgrade Base 10 function as it should. It worked for 32 years in its original form, so I guess we got it right.

1977 - 1984 were YAN's golden years. Had he not over-reached his capabilities, he'd still be kicking ass (indeed, asses that badly need to be kicked).

Thanks, Jan - it was a good ride.