Fresh off replacing both major lifts on the Warm Springs side of Bald Mountain, Sun Valley today announced its next lift project will enhance the guest experience on Seattle Ridge. Following the debut of new four and six place lifts just last week, Doppelmayr will return to Baldy in 2024 to replace the Seattle Ridge detachable quad with a detachable six pack, increasing capacity by 20 percent. Interestingly the lift will not be a D-Line like the just-opened Challenger but rather a UNI-G à la Flying Squirrel and Broadway. The project is currently under Forest Service review alongside a future Christmas replacement as Sun Valley works to retire its entire fleet of seven Yan detachables built in the 1980s and 1990s.
“Seattle Ridge is home to some of Sun Valley’s most beloved intermediate, family-friendly terrain and more recently with the Sunrise expansion, some of its best off-piste terrain,” said Pete Sonntag, Vice President and General Manager of Sun Valley Resort. “Over the last five years, we’ve been able to increase the skiable terrain serviced by Seattle Ridge chair by over 200 acres, and we believe the chairlift upgrade is coming at the perfect time as we continue our investment in the mountain experience at Sun Valley,” he noted. Construction is expected to begin in April with the new Seattle Ridge six place opening to skiers late next year.
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WOOHOO!! Go Sun Valley!! Great news!
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I wonder if the reason they’re going with a UNI-G for Seattle Ridge 6 is because they want some parts commonality with the UNI-G high speed quads.
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I have to think that getting parts for Uni-G or whatever Doppie or Poma is building these days wouldn’t be much of a problem. Could it simply just have been cheaper to go with a Uni-G?
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People on this site really go crazy for D-Lines but all Doppelmayr (and LPA!) products are top-notch. It’s like nitpicking between a 3-series and a 5-series BMW.
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With the previous project, they built one D-Line and one UNI-G. Seattle Ridge was originally announced with Christmas. If they did the same thing, then Christmas is the D-Line, while Seattle Ridge is the UNI-G.
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I was surprised to see it won’t be a D-Line, but I’m guessing they don’t need something that fancy for Seattle Ridge. It’s not that long of a lift, so they don’t need the added speed. The added capacity should be enough to cut the wait time, which can be long by Sun Valley standards, but is laughable at a lot of other resorts.
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I bet the reason why challenger was a d-line is because of how huge of a lift It is (by huge I mean how it’s one of the tallest chairlifts in the world)
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How do you figure?
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few chairlifts service 3000 vertical or more. Gondolas and trams sure but then you got to take your skis off.
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Seattle Ridge has a hard time at the base of the lift with no space. It’s just a guess, but I assume they needed a small footprint. Plus if it’s just a replacement lift in the same alignment, the Forest Service sees that as regular maintenance and not really a new installation. But man, I wish they had a better plan or option for the base of that lift, it was impacted by an avalanche too. Obviously not this year, low snow, as the lift was scheduled to open today… and is delayed. I don’t recall ever, even on low snow years, when Seattle Ridge hasn’t opened the weekend before Christmas.
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The delay was because of an issue with the Broadway Lift, not because of anything with Seattle Ridge. Even if it opens on Friday, it looks like there won’t be many runs to choose from. This winter has been brutal so far in Idaho and it sounds like it may be the end of January before things really improve.
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