Snowbasin Resort will construct its seventh detachable lift next summer, replacing the Becker triple in a new alignment. The detachable quad, to be constructed by Leitner-Poma of America, will load closer to the Wildcat Express and unload in a simlar location to the current triple. Becker is a 1986 Stadeli triple, one of just 21 Stadeli-built lifts remaining in the United States. When the replacement is complete in 2025, Snowbasin will operate just one fixed grip chairlift, another Stadeli triple called Porcupine. Snowbasin has been on a roll lately, adding the Wildcat Express in 2017, Middle Bowl Express in 2021 and DeMoisy Express in 2023. Snowbasin’s owner, the Holding family, has been on a similar improvement push at its Sun Valley Resort in Idaho. Between the two mountains, the Holdings have purchased eight detachable chairlifts in nine years.
The new Becker will span more than 5,800 linear feet with a vertical ascent of approximately 1,300 feet, serving a variety of terrain and providing access to the Strawberry area. The new lift will transport 1,800 skiers per hour and cut ride time in half from 12 minutes to six. In conjunction with the lift installation, Snowbasin will widen and re-grade Bear Hollow, Snowshoe and Slow Road to improve flow and safety.
Snowbasin also announced a refurbishment of the Needles Gondola‘s 86 cabins, which are nearing 26 years old. The first third of cabins will receive new mechanisms, windows and seats this summer with the rest to follow over the next two years.
Lift Blog 
RIP Becker. Fond memories of riding it as a kid. Hang in there Porkie!
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This will do a lot to redistribute skiers by making more people inclined to use Becker to access DeMoisy rather than go up to Needles Lodge via the gondola or Wildcat and Middle Bowl. It’s a little more direct and there isn’t any traversing.
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One thing I find interesting is that Snowbasin has gondola parking, but rarely, if ever uses it. Not sure why they keep those gondola cabins on the line at night.
But also really impressed with them spending the time and money to replace the cabins. They are pretty beat up on Needles.
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I am surprised they are not simply replacing the cabins vs refurbishing them.
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given the lifts age, I think refurbishing seems about right, and will save money in the long run. They’ll likely replace this thing within the next 10 years anyway. It does run summer and winter.
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I noticed that Steamboat doesn’t seem to store their cabins for the Steamboat Gondola as much as they did in years prior as well. Usually they’d pull them off if a big storm was foretasted or high winds. I think I only counted once this past season when I saw all the cabins off the line. and it was for a very short time too.
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The indoor parking get used way more in the summer than the winter i noticed. I bet its because of wasp nests.
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I remember riding Stadeli , fixed grip, double chair lifts at Brodie Mountain, which has long been closed, in the Berkshires of Massachusetts. I’m thinking that Stadeli lifts are no longer in business or were they bought by another company? Were Stadeli lifts made in Switzerland?
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I Believe so, they made quads and even high speed lifts there
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I think Doppie or CTEC purchased Stadeli not too long after 1986.
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Städeli was indeed a Swiss company located in Oetwil am See near Zürich. It manufactured during its history pretty much every type of monocable systems. It was aqguired by Garaventa in 1991.
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Thanks very much for the info. 👍
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Now if Waterville would just replace the Stadeli lifts they still have… The Green Peak triple serves nice cruiser terrain but is soooo sloooow. I knew is was running <400fpm and the liftie confirmed – 390fpm.
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I am sad. I learned to ski off of this lift (and littlecat) a year after this lift was installed. Becker and Porky are smooth operators. I knew they were going to replace her, but had hoped it would have at least been a Doppie. It seems SB is happy now using LP instead. Not saying LP lifts are bad. Just.. eh.
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yeah, I wish Becker was going Doppie so it would match nearby Wildcat and Littlecat.
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But since they went with LPA for the last two lifts, it makes sense for them to stick with LPA.
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The one thing I will not miss about old becker is the non stop slowing and stoppage of the chairlift. I dont think I ever been on this chairlift without it slowing or stopping.
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You would think that with a loading carpet, it wouldn’t need to slow down so much.
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I dont think the carpet helped at all, but thats just me. They have it set up so the chair reaches you right as you get the end of the carpet. The first time I went to becker after snowbasin added the carpet I thought I was gonna roll off the end of the carpet.
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I’m sure they have a reason to go quad after the three sixes, but I’m curious why not a six here. I would think that the family lift would benefit from the wider bench, even if the capacity was the same as a quad.
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Nearby wildcat express probably already provides enough uphill capacity. I usually ski by myself or one or 2 friends and i prefer a quad chairlift over the six pack anyday.
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Way late to the whole reply. My best guess would be due to the fact most of Becker’s trails are fairly narrow and don’t have the most amount of capacity. The main part of the reason for its upgrade is just for the ride time. That would be my guess.
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given it’s importance to help get people over to the Strawberry area (along with Needles) it was bound to happen. I’m glad it’s only going to be a HSQ and not HSS.
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Agreed. It’s also meant to be a new (to many folks since OH NO SLOW TRIPLE) access to Strawberry side and Bear Springs is the only run from the top. Even with old Becker, slow and stoppy as many have pointed it out to be, there were some crowded moments. High-speed people-slalom is fun at 19 when you want the challenge and the pissing off of tourists and you got a open cup of coke in one hand and a open burger in the other you’re eatin on while teachin yerself balance and pressure on them teles, but it ain’t the best policy for a fahncee joint like Snowbasins.
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I would say that the increase in people using the lift to access DeMoisy is the bigger reason for upgrading Becker.
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I personally think that if they replace this they should go full out making it a dedicated beginner lift. Having it unload on the ridge seems to just make all the beginners go down this big catwalk and never quite seemed to be the best long beginner lift out there. Maybe build a triple that goes up the ridge for Strawberry access?
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I think they should realign the unload point if they replace it. I never thought this unload made much sense for a beginner lift as it seems to be. It seems to me that unloading near the bottom of middle bowl would make more sense as it means you don’t have a lot of ski school sessions going down a narrow catwalk. I would think adding a second triple lift to get to strawberry would make more sense.
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The lift isn’t really a beginner lift.
Also, having it end near the base of Middle Bowl would make the lift kinda redundant with Wildcat nearby. Keeping the end point as is is preferable, since Becker provides a more direct route over to Strawberry and DeMoisy that bypasses Needles Lodge.
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the main reason I said beginner lift is that usually when I am skiing there the main groups that are on this lift are people going to Strawberry or ski lessons, I was very surprised at how many ski lesson kids were riding this as it didn’t seem like the best learning terrain. There aren’t really any convenient ways for ski school groups to go from the top of wildcat to the green bear hollow run.
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Also to clarify is that I mainly wonder what the purpose of this lift was to begin with since it never seemed to really access any terrain that you couldn’t get to from Wildcat and Middle Bowl. I think after Strawberry expansion it kinda is just an access lift. I just wonder if there is any way to make a new lift aligned in a way that would open up some better usage.
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Something like this
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Also I haven’t been skiing much this year with my schoolwork but I noticed that on google maps you can see that they actually cut the new lift line alignment in the trees already. There is a noticeable lifeline here https://www.google.com/maps/place/41%C2%B012'29.5%22N+111%C2%B051'22.5%22W/@41.2082085,-111.8585085,1036m/data=!3m2!1e3!4b1!4m4!3m3!8m2!3d41.208205!4d-111.856257?entry=ttu&g_ep=EgoyMDI1MDEyMi4wIKXMDSoASAFQAw%3D%3D
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