A detachable chairlift will join Ski Santa Fe, New Mexico’s lift fleet for the first time next year. The Forest Service recently completed analysis of the new lift, which will replace the 1988 Santa Fe Super Chief fixed grip quad. “The project is needed to upgrade declining infrastructure, ensuring efficient operations and improved user satisfaction,” the Forest Service wrote in an October 13th decision. Ride time will improve from 10 minutes to just over four minutes.
The new lift will be called Santa Fe Express and be built by Leitner-Poma, the manufacturer for most of Ski Santa Fe’s existing chairlifts. The high speed quad will run just over 4,000 linear feet and serve 865 vertical feet of beginner, intermediate and advanced terrain.
Construction will begin in April 2024 and is expected to be completed in time for the 2024-25 ski season.
Lift Blog 
A smart upgrade, perhaps the Peak with get one next to replace the triple?!
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Tesuque Peak would be an ideal lift line for a high speed quad.
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Super Chief has a loading carpet. I wonder why they would replace this instead of the Sierra chair? They could replace Sierra with a HSQ and extend it up the hill past Saddle. That would give them more out of base capacity.
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This lift serves a ton of beginner riders and even with the loading carpet the current lift stops incessantly so the detach is a good fit, Sierra doesn’t run much and has a mid station that helps ski school by doubling the capacity serving easy street trail. Sierra’s base is also in a poor spot, uphill of the entire lodge and base area. I could see the old Super chief lift recycled into the proposed beginner lift planed north/north east of the base lodge seeing as the lift would be less than half the size of the current lift.
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I hope it gets relocated, like Lift 4 at Taos is doing at China Peak
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How was the Santa Fee Express photo configured and how can I configure a LPA terminal myself?
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