Loveland Ski Area has closed its two oldest chairlifts – Lifts 1 and 6 – following discovery of similar problems at each. Lift 6 is a 1977 Lift Engineering double chair that closed in the middle of the day on Sunday, January 15th due to a problem at the top terminal. Lift 1 is a 1981 Lift Engineering triple that operated until an inspection found the early stages of a similar issue today (interestingly, Lift 1 opened as a double chair before being upgraded with larger chairs a few years later.)
“We are dedicated to safe lift operations and have decided to close Lift 1 to immediately perform the necessary repairs,” Loveland said in a statement this evening.
While Loveland’s social media posts do not specify what is wrong, they say repairs to Chair 1 should take about two days with Lift 6 taking longer. Both chairs are bottom drive/bottom tension, so the list of things that could go wrong up top is limited. In the meantime, the mountain is offering $51 discounted tickets.
Update 1/20/17:
Lift Blog 
Actually Lift 5 (1975 Poma FGD) is the oldest lift at Loveland that is still standing. However – it has not carried passengers since about 2003 and has not had a permit to carry passengers since that time. I do believe Maintenance does run the lift occasionally though, just to keep things spinning as I can swear that the chairs have moved positions every time I drive up Loveland Pass, which is about once a year.
LikeLike
The Sherwood Express quad, a relatively new Dopplemayr express quad at Alpine Meadows, was closed for two days for a mechanical issue too.
LikeLike
It happens all the time but I thought this one would be of particular interest because it affects two different lifts of the same make and vintage.
LikeLike