“Snowbasin Resort is very excited to announce several improvements to the Wildcat area of the mountain that should greatly enhance the guest’s experience,” said John Loomis, General Manager at Snowbasin. “With the addition of a new Doppelmayr 6 passenger high speed chair lift, we will be able to better utilize this area of the Resort that was the original heart of the ski area. The new lift will service beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain and include new snowmaking on Wildcat Bowl, Blue Grouse, Herberts, Eas-A-Long, Wildcat Traverse and Stein’s. These improvements will improve access to this wonderful terrain with earlier access and better conditions when Mother Nature is not as cooperative as we would like.”
Snowbasin, owned by Sinclair Oil Corporation along with Sun Valley, will have just three fixed-grip chairlifts remaining next season. The Forest Service also recently approved a high-speed-quad for Strawberry Bowl that will be able to run in higher winds than the Strawberry Express Gondola. Snowbasin will hold a Wildcat last chair party and final ride at 4:00pm April 15th.
Lift Blog 
This appears to be the lift the Frozen movie was filmed on, 2010.
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That is correct.
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That is reason enough to retire the lift.
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Did that movie freak ya out a bit?
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That is sad. One more of Snowbasin’s weird Dopp/Thiokol/CTEC lifts gone. I wish someone would buy it.
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Nordic valley would be a nice recipient.
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do you know how expensive it was for them to reskin those terminals? Also will the new lift have the “spaceship” design?
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The re-skinning of Wildcat, Middle Bowl and Little Cat was probably all lumped in with the Olympic contract. Probably a drop in the bucket compared with two gondolas, underground cabin parking, a tram and a high speed quad.
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The new lift will likely look similar to the New little Cat lift.
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Why Wildcat? Wouldn’t Porcupine access better terrain not serviced by a high speed lift?
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This fits the trend at many resorts lately of investing in the beginner and low-intermediate experience. Porcupine is also 13 years newer than Wildcat.
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I’ve been dreading this day ever since the new mountain manager expressed his interest in replacing Wildcat and also adding a lift over in the Strawberry area. As it stands right now, Wildcat only gets used on some Saturdays and holidays and has been the case since about 98/99 when John Paul, Needles, the tram, & Strawberry were built. Back in the 80s I spent a lot of time skiing off of this lift and enjoyed the terrain it served. Given it’s age, it is doubtful it will see life at a new resort, so the chairs will likely be sold off to the public and whatever parts that Powder Mtn & Nordic Valley don’t want for their Thiokols, will be sent to the scrapper. Pretty much the same thing that they did with the old LIttlecat Double. Only I was able to get one of those chairs. I likely won’t be able to get one of the chairs from Wildcat. I am pleased, however- that if it has to be replaced, it is being replaced with a Doppie, although I do wonder if they overdid it with it being a 6-pack. I think a Quad will handle the numbers just fine.
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The chairlift used to have a double adjacent to it. Making wildcat a 5 person lift. Now its gonna be a six person detachable lift.
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I can see why they’re replacing Wildcat with a six pack. The Becker fixed grip chairlift was acquired a loading conveyer belt which didn’t change anything. It slows down alot because its known as a beginner lift. Also the wildcat is the oldest chair there. The Wildcat seats were leaning forward and the chair had no restraining bars which is scary. Also the Wildcat used to have a double next to it which made it a 5 person chairlift, the double was removed and the triple stayed. I think it will be a good improvement for the resort’s beginner area.
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Actually, Middlebowl, which is a 1979 CTEC and essentially a Thiokol in almost all its rights, is a scarier ride up, vs Wildcat. Middlebowl gets a lot of early and late season use, and if they are going to increase snow making around Wildcat, it will provide a great early and late skiing experience top to bottom, and an alternative means of getting up to the top should Needles go down during the early and late ski season, and in general.
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There is a high span on Middle bowl over the trail called “Middle bowl traverse” Vs Wildcat’s leaning seats, I can see your point.
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That’s the spot.. it really freaked me out when I was just 11 or 12 years old. I held on extra tightly to the side of the chair when I would go over that area and pray for no emergency stops!
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I didn’t know they put a loading belt onto Becker.. When did that happen?
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Last summer.
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No kidding! That’s great! I need to go see that. The first and only Stadeli with a loading carpet? Well now there is something that truly sets the Becker/Porky twins apart. (Aside from Porky being slightly longer)
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I think they added it around christmas time but, I might be wrong.
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This is a great move by basin. Be nice to see them upgrade middle bowl next as it would significantly reduce traffic at needles, the bear hollow choke point and provide a great and competitive option for early and late season skiing on the upper mountain. In the meantime, they should add safety bars to middle bowl triple – still amazed that their insurance provider lets them get away with it … sure feels like an accident waiting to happen.
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Yeah ever since they got the high speed six. Middle bowl has gotten lots of skier traffic. I noticed that last season riding middle bowl chairlift. I do think they should focus on replacing becker or a new high speed quad over by strawberry all the way from the base up to dans run to back up Strawberry gondola when it goes on wind hold. It is common for the top of strawberry to get very windy and it hurts when the snow pelts at your face while skinning over to the start of Elk ridge run.
They also should add some bars on middle bowl. (The lift gets high above ground just before the steep section to the top). MB also is one of the first lifts to open for the season along with needles gondola and little cat express on opening day). If becker does end up getting replaced they should relocate the carpet to middle bowl!
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Anything fancy like bubbles or a loading carpet akong with it?
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Probably would have been in the announcement if so. Loading carpets on detachable lifts are very rare in the U.S. – of the eight currently operating, six are at Vail mountains.
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I know Mount Snow would make 7, who’s got #8? Thanks.
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Chairkit’s website lists the Whitetail Express at Whitetail Mountain. But after checking I think it is actually at one of their fixed-grip quads. So there are only seven carpets on detaches in North America, six of them are in Vail-land.
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The other Detachable with loading carpet is at King Kong at Park city.
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Ski Santa Fe’s Super Chief has a one as well.
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One more thing. Wildcat started off with a red/orange paint on it, then green, then they painted it that ugly grayish color. I wish they would have kept it forest green, it looked great that way. Same thing with the old Littlecat. If I get one of the chairs, I’m going to strip it all down to bare metal, prime it, and paint it green.
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That’s my girl :( That was one very neat looking top drive station. I also liked the design of the spokedThiokol/early CTEC sheaves somewhat similar to Hall but they added their own little twist to them. Ever notice that?
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