Correct. Partek entered into a non-compete agreement with Doppelmayr in 2005, making this the last lift built before that happened. This agreement lasted until 2010 if I’m correct, and I’m pretty sure Partek still operates independently to this day. The deal is pretty fuzzy and there isn’t much information available to the public. I’ve heard from someone who works in the resort industry that Partek is in fact still operating independently. I believe him, and I have to imagine that if Doppelmayr did own Partek and used it as a low-cost alternative, they would be a more competitive brand, trying to compete with SkyTrac (Partek has one lift in the west and Skytrak has 5 lifts in the east with another likely planned this season) and putting out more than one lift per season.
It’s clearly ramping up, however. Two of those 5, the Sunway Quad at Gore and the Falcon lift at Whiteface were both built in 2020. Correcting what I said before, they actually have another two planned this year, with Gore’s new Bear Quad and Berkshire East’s new Thunder lift both likely being SkyTracs. This is without even mentioning that SkyTrac has 5 lifts planned for the West and Midwest this season, while Partek’s one project is a new quad at Trollhaugen. Partek is a much smaller operation than Borvig was in the 80s, likely after seeing how being pushed to the limit killed Borvig in the early 90s.
If im correct, this was Partek’s last install before it halted production after it was absorbed into Doppelmayr.
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Partek still exists. https://liftblog.com/apex-west-mountain-ny/ 2019
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The non-compete has expired.
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Correct. Partek entered into a non-compete agreement with Doppelmayr in 2005, making this the last lift built before that happened. This agreement lasted until 2010 if I’m correct, and I’m pretty sure Partek still operates independently to this day. The deal is pretty fuzzy and there isn’t much information available to the public. I’ve heard from someone who works in the resort industry that Partek is in fact still operating independently. I believe him, and I have to imagine that if Doppelmayr did own Partek and used it as a low-cost alternative, they would be a more competitive brand, trying to compete with SkyTrac (Partek has one lift in the west and Skytrak has 5 lifts in the east with another likely planned this season) and putting out more than one lift per season.
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Skytrac only has 5 in the east? Yikes
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It’s clearly ramping up, however. Two of those 5, the Sunway Quad at Gore and the Falcon lift at Whiteface were both built in 2020. Correcting what I said before, they actually have another two planned this year, with Gore’s new Bear Quad and Berkshire East’s new Thunder lift both likely being SkyTracs. This is without even mentioning that SkyTrac has 5 lifts planned for the West and Midwest this season, while Partek’s one project is a new quad at Trollhaugen. Partek is a much smaller operation than Borvig was in the 80s, likely after seeing how being pushed to the limit killed Borvig in the early 90s.
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Assuming you mean Bear at Whiteface, not Gore?
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I really should read through what I’m writing before I post it…yup
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The red light poles are in fact towers from Mount Tom’s Roebling double.
https://newenglandskihistory.com/lifts/viewlift.php?id=121
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