Timberline’s quest to become an all-detachable mountain will become closer to reality this fall with the replacement of Pucci by a new quad chair. Already approved by the Mt. Hood National Forest, the project will see the retirement of Timberline’s oldest operating chairlift, a Poma triple dating back to 1987. Another Poma fixed grip lift built the same year, Bruno’s, is slated to be replaced with a conveyor in the near future.
Timberline’s sixth high speed quad will re-use most of the existing towers and maintain the same 1,800 passenger hourly capacity. Ride time will decrease to just 4.5 minutes. The new lift will enhance the beginner and intermediate experience at the next lift guests progress to after Bruno’s. Timberline did not announce a manufacturer, though Doppelmayr built the area’s last four new lifts.
Lift Blog 
Seems like all of Timberline’s detachable chairlifts, newer and older have pretty low capacities, and a lot of them reuse towers of the former lifts which I assume is one of the big reasons why capacity is lower. Kind of a bummer, but I guess that’s how they upgrade their lift fleet and run lifts at a lower cost while impacting the environment as little as possible, since they’re pretty tight about that up on Mt. Hood.
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I don’t ski Timberline much anymore, do they have much of a problem with lines like Meadows does? I always thought the lower capacity was okay/they didn’t have much of a crowding problem.
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Judging by this video I would say more capacity would certainly help them:
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For the most part, lines aren’t bad on weekdays all throughout the season, though peak season weekends can have some lines. Not on the level of Mt. Hood Meadows, but I’ve definitely been stuck in some lines on Jeff Flood Express and Stormin’ Norman that wouldn’t be too bad for a traditional 2,400pph detachable quad, but are a slog with all but one of Timberline’s detachable quads having the same capacity as a double, triple or in between.
I’m more concerned about the future, because Timberline’s master plan calls for a gondola from Government Camp to the lodge, following the line of the old tramway and connecting to the Summit Ski Area. More parking will be added in Government Camp, and there’s the potential idea of a second base with parking at the Molly lift. There will definitely be more people on the slopes and I wonder if they’ll be ready for it with their current lift capacity.
And then of course, President’s Day Weekend as Teddy’s Lift World shared below, that’s a nightmare anywhere!
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Were any of the detachables designed so additional chairs could be added down the road?
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I’m guessing here, but I’m assuming that most, if not all existing detachable quads at Timberline weren’t designed for additional capacity. I’m factoring the lower horsepower yet full 1,000fpm speed on all of the lifts, and they’re all decently long, so the give is in the weight on the line being lighter with less chairs and people moving up the mountain at once. Plus, two or three (not sure about Palmer, I thought I heard it reused the towers of the old lift but it visually doesn’t look like it) of the detachables use towers of the former Riblet double chairlifts, so I’m assuming you couldn’t put much more weight on those. And of course, the new Pucci Express will use the towers of a fixed grip triple from the 1980s with the same hourly capacity as the original lift.
Timberline is pretty awesome for having 100% detachable chairlift accessed terrain and it is very nice because it is a much more vertical than wide resort, so the runs and lifts are long and I in no way want to sound too critical of the lift system, but their detachables are definitely on the more economical side in terms of design and frills. I’m also pretty sure a detachable with only 300 horsepower and 1,500pph capacity saves a lot more on the power bill than a detachable with 500 or more horsepower and six seconds between every chair.
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Definitely understand the gondola concerns. I’ve been skiing Hood for 20 years and can’t imagine how much more popular Timberline will get with that gondola. I don’t think their lower capacity lifts or Government Camp’s current infrastructure can handle that yet. The hwy 26 / Govy business loop (the current Summit parking lot) intersection is a nightmare on peak days already, especially when the weather is bad.
I’ve heard rumors that the rest area next to Summit will eventually be moved to the Snow Bunny area to free up more parking in that area. Hopefully those are true, as parking cars on the side of the Govy business loop isn’t exactly a long-term solution.
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I would say on most days lines are not a huge problem compared to meadows or Tahoe. Ten to 15 minutes wait does happen occasionally and is probably increasing slightly every year.
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Timberline does not have a problem with lift lines because they DO have parking capacity problem. On peak days, good luck if you’re not in the parking lot by 8:30. Exception is on peak days with weather when Mile and/or Norm are closed and everybody’s skiing Flood. Lift lines got slightly worse after they added bus/parking shuttle services (to help solve the parking problem), but if/until the Gondola is built (hopefully in my lifetime), lift lines won’t be anything near Meadows simply because people can’t get there.
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I think the main reason they upgrade their lifts to detachable (aside from age of the replaced equipment) is that it allows for easier loading and unloading. The current Pucci lift has a very tall and steep unloading ramp and because the loft mostly serves beginners the lift has to stop quite often. The effective hourly capacity of the current lift is lower than 1800 because of this. So this will be a capacity upgrade because it will be easier to load and unload. Though I think this pod could probably handle a 6pack.
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The Mile chair seems to run slow, especially for an alpine and exposed lift.
Peter, the database says 1100pfm, 600hp, and 3000 capacity, but always seems to run much slower than Flood, Stormin, and Palmer, even in calm conditions.
Looking at the length and # of carriers = spacing:
Palmer 5564/88=126
Mile 5472/76=144
Stormin 4325/58=149
Mollys 4962/52=190
Flood 6784/ ?= ?
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