- MND raises more money to continue growth plans.
- Palisades Tahoe opens Red Dog, Mount Baldy, Ontario opens the chairlift it worked years to build.
- Vail aims to open Sun Down Express this weekend.
- Sunnyside at Alta will open tomorrow, two months late.
- Cascade Mountain’s delayed lift also spins tomorrow.
- Granite Gorge, New Hampshire reopens after a multi-year closure.
- Loup Loup temporarily closes its lone chairlift to remove hazard trees identified by the Forest Service.
- Children are injured falling from lifts at Boyne Mountain, Bristol Mountain and Mt. Snow.
- Vail Resorts reports a 12.5 percent increase in skier visits but cautions extreme weather and airline disruptions hurt holiday performance.
- Unionized lift mechanics at Park City prepare to negotiate their first contract with Vail Resorts.
- Whitewater’s Silver King lift will be down for up to a month.
- Crystal Mountain, Michigan’s main lift to be down all weekend.
Lift Blog 
Having Clipper down all weekend seems like a disaster, it’s the only lift accessing the backside slopes. They are running shuttles but people aren’t happy since they can’t lap 2 of the three terrain parks. They said it’s gonna take multiple days, hoping it’s not the gearbox and something related to the lift’s new computer installed this Summer. I’m not sure if they did a rope evac, without that knowledge I can’t say for sure what the issue might be. Hoping they get it fixed soon, it’s got a lot of life left.
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Definitely not good. I was at crystal earlier this season and clipper opened a couple hours late then as well. Makes me wonder if a clipper 6 is something they’d consider soon, they could definitely use the increased capacity too.
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I think when the time comes in 7-8 years definitely, or maybe a full refurb. They don’t plan on removing it for a bit hence why they upgraded the computer for the lift this summer, and it got a new haul rope in April of 19′. Omegas are very reliable and this is the only severely major thing that’s happened during its lifespan. It did get hit by lightning during August of 21′ which killed the tower safties and spacing relays but the lift was fixed and running for lift rides 2 days later.
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Sorta curious what’s up with Whitewater’s lift. At least if it’s mechanical Murray-Latta is still making parts; they should just have to find their old prints and tool up, which would explain the monthlong closure WW is anticipating.
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From their Twitter account, it’s a bearing replacement on the bottom bull wheel and additional inspections.
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Fun. Bullwheel bearings are a lengthy process in the summer, it’ll be even better with snow on the ground!
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Would be interesting to know if Murray-Latta will be involved with this bearing. They haven’t made ski lifts for decades but remain a significant machine shop in BC. Also makes me wonder… are bullwheel bearings like this standardized sizes that Whitewater can source quickly, or is each one a custom job that needs to be turned on a lathe from scratch?
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The bottom terminal is a Yan. So parts should be no problem.
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LH- Bearings are manufactured, not turned on a lathe. Usually, they are spec’d to match a certain shaft diameter. The lift manufacturer normally would use a shaft diameter that meets their specifications and can use a common size bearing. That being said, bearings are made in groups by size with larger diameters being made less frequently. So, finding a bearing with a 6″ inside diameter might take longer than one for a common, small diameter.
If the bearing failure has damaged the inside surface of the center hub, then you are into machine work to rebuild the hub to its original diameter.
Hope this helps.
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At least they have 2 things in their favour… the bottom terminal will give much easier vehicle access than the top, and it is the return terminal rather than the drive.
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I hope MND ropeways is successful, north America needs another detachable manufacturer
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