It’s official: Snowmass will construct two lifts simultaneously this summer for the first time since 2006. Leitner-Poma will replace the Elk Camp detachable quad with a six pack and Skytrac will install a T-Bar to replace the Cirque platter. The projects are part of an $80 million capital improvement summer for Aspen Snowmass. Other projects include a new Ullrhof restaurant, snowmaking upgrades and forest health work. “We have a huge summer ahead for on-mountain developments here at Aspen Snowmass,” said Geoff Buchheister, CEO of Aspen Skiing Company. “These projects represent Aspen One’s commitment to ongoing investment in delivering the most exceptional guest experience possible.”
The Elk Camp chair dates back to 1995, tied for the third oldest lift at Snowmass. Elk Camp services popular intermediate terrain in the winter and hauls bikes to the top of the Snowmass Bike Park come summer. Winter throughput will increase from 2,020 skiers per hour on the current quad to 2,800 while bike haul capacity will nearly double. The lift’s alignment will shift slightly away from the Elk Camp Restaurant.
At the top of the mountain, the curved Cirque platter will be retired in favor of a straight Leitner/Skytrac T-Bar. Capacity here will increase from 450 guests per hour to 1,000. Similar to the new surface lift at Champan Hill, Colorado, Cirque will combine specialized Leitner parts from Europe with American made towers, controls and operator houses from Skytrac.
“The areas of terrain served by these lifts are some of the most popular on our mountain,” said Susan Cross, Mountain Manager at Snowmass. “These updates allow for guests to more smoothly access Snowmass’ classic wide-open slopes and sweeping vistas at Elk Camp, and the incredible variety of high-alpine terrain we have off The Cirque. I am proud that we continue to invest in making this mountain the best that it can be, and having high-speed, higher capacity lifts is critical to the Snowmass experience,” she continued.
Lift Blog 
I knew the Cirque was getting replaced but just heard about Elk Camp yesterday. I can’t speak to any capacity issues because I rarely ski there, but that lift has got to have some high hours. Add to that the part-sourcing issues with the TB grips and it’s probably about time.
These two would be the third and fourth lifts I’ve spun some last laps on in the last two weeks. There are all sorts of machines getting retired this year.
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Elk Camp has about 35k hours on it. It is one of our busiest pods and one of only 3 lifts that consistently have a full maze.
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That’s up there.
Professional curiosity- where did you get the coloured grip springs? I saw all sorts of different colours yesterday. I only ever got black replacements when I ordered them.
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We repaint our sun faded springs during NDT. Some of the guys over the years have been creative
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10-4.
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I wondered about that! When I first saw that I thought they were replacements for bad grips.
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Very exciting. I’ve loved to explore the Cirque every day, but the lines are definitely a pain. I can’t wait to see those gone. Then again, I assume I will see more tracks on those glorious powder days. I’m still looking forward to it, though.
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I think Elk camp and Alpine springs should be combined to make Burnt mtn.
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That is a really dumb idea. Elk Camp is incredibly long & flat, and Alpine serves mostly intermediate / advanced runs. They do not need to be connected, it would just complicate things.
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That’s not what was suggested. The suggestion is to combine the two retired chairs to make a new one on Burnt Mountain. Elk Camp is not flat either with 1,554 vertical feet.
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Eric G, have you skied Snowmass before?? Elk Camp’s main purpose is to service a small lodge and hundreds of homes that line the trail. Just because it’s long and has vertical doesn’t mean people want to ride it often. Again, it’s meant to get people out of a base area.
Alpine Springs services upper mountain terrain, and has a lot of lapable terrain (mostly blues and black diamonds), not sure what you’re getting at by suggesting how much vertical Elk Camp has when people don’t ride it often.
Besides, Loveland already tried a two-section lift (Lift #2), and it ended up creating a lot of miss-loads & off loads, with 4 points of entry/exit. They eventually got rid of Lift 2’s upper half, and made the Ptarmigan lift to the same point. The same logic applies here, you don’t always need to kill two birds with one stone.
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That’s hilarious. Alex, have you skied Snowmass? Elk Camp is an upper mountain lift running from the top of the Gondola to the top of Dead Horse Park, just below Burnt Mountain peak. You must be thinking of Two Creeks.
Alpine Springs is a mid-mountain lift serving primarily blue terrain with one sort-of black under the lift line. It is also used to access High Alpine (Gwen’s) restaurant and the High Alpine lift.
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@Alex, as Eric already said, Mishers was not talking about replacing Elk Camp and Alpine Springs with one lift (which is not possible, or at least makes little sense given their locations), you misinterpreted the comment, which is understandable if you don’t know what Burnt Mountain is. The comment is referring to building an expansion lift in the Burnt Mountain area (skier’s right of Elk Camp) using the soon-to-be retired Elk Camp and Alpine Springs HSQs.
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So they would combine the two HSQs? Similar to how Red mountain combined two triples from Blackcomb to form the Motherlode chair.
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To clarify I meant to use parts from Elk camp and Alpine springs to make a new one up burt mtn.
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Yes, I have skied Snowmass. I skied it 49 days this season. I would recommend you familiarize yourself with the mountain.
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The poma should be relocated above Elk Camp up to Burnt trails to eliminate the hike up.
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I agree!
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