Tower 3 and car 1.The top dock in winter.Tower 1 and the lift line.Moving bottom loading platform.Lower terminal building.Tower 1 and car 1.Uphill side of the bottom terminal.The top tension station.Tower 4 and car 1.Car 1 approaches tower 5.The top dock and lift shack.Top bullwheels.CWA 100-passenger tram cabin number 2.The top terminal and tower 5 seen from the North Ridge.Car 2 passing tower 5.Final span on the lift line.
Thanks! I like to pretend I’m a huge lift nerd, and I am to those around me, but I guess I don’t really know that much in the grand scheme of lift knowledge.
Something seems fishy about the windows on cabin 2. I was up there yesterday and the windows have some sort of plastic behind them or were shattered. https://prnt.sc/lhl2y6
Reminds me when I was at snowbird with my dad and the windshield on his truck got so cold it was cracked. (There was a good 2 feet of snow on it). Sounds like the top dock needs a roof as well.
The bottom dock has a moving platform due to the adjacent buildings. What I am curious about is how much wider the car spacing is on the top dock. To simplify, I can’t imagine that the north and south haul ropes are parallel. I will be out there this winter and confirm.
Why wasn’t the tram replaced with a gondola, seeing how the tram has a third the capacity of the Bridger gondola? I do understand that the extra cost might be worth it to still have a “big red” but, the marketing/historical factor alone can’t explain the choice to give up three times the potential capacity.
Running a normal mono-cable gondola akin to Bridger probably wouldn’t be possible on the tram line. Those cliffs are absolutely enormous. Plus, wind would be terrible. Even if a gondola transported 4x as many skiers as the tram in one hour, it’d transport a similar amount in a season because it would usually be on wind hold.
The only other option was something like a 3s, which would be similar cost.
The whistler peak to peak 3s can move 4,100 people/hr. Assuming a 3s would be about the same cost as a tram, that is a huge difference in uphill capacity. Does JHMR simply not want to cause over crowding?
A 3S can move a lot more than the tram, but overcrowding could always be prevented by ordering fewer cabins. I think the 3S overall cost was also lower. Peter knows best, but I think the tram was ordered purely to preserve aesthetics, marketing, and history.
Trams are way, way cheaper than a 3S. Think of the mechanical, moving parts. For one a tram has no detachable grips. It has no turnarounds in the stations, it has no garages for the gondolas.
Think of it this way: A 3S Gondola combines the rope-side technology of a heavy duty tram, consisting of 2 weight carrying ropes per side plus the running around haul rope with a massively beefed up version of the detachable technology from chair lifts and single cable gondolas. Which means it is expensive as hell, but also has a very high capacity, as well as impressive wind stability. Another big downside of the 3S is station size, Jackson doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of sparse space either at the bottom or the summit.
I think a 3s station could be accommodated for, especial given that there is only a parking lot behind the terminal, it would probably cost a lot though
I think they should just run an alternative chairlift up to the peak starting somewhere a bit below the top of sublette, even though it would kind of worsen the experience. I think the reduced crowding would be well worth it though.
Peter, the tram is currently going back and forth and stopping without making it to the station. It’s been doing this for nearly an hour. What are they doing? Maintenance? A couple times it really sped up before slamming to a stop.
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Why didn’t they just make the bottom terminal full size, instead of having a moving platform like that?
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Space limitations due to surrounding buildings at the bottom terminal.
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Thanks! I like to pretend I’m a huge lift nerd, and I am to those around me, but I guess I don’t really know that much in the grand scheme of lift knowledge.
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You’re not the only one
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That was an uncalled for reply of mine. Whoops.
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Something seems fishy about the windows on cabin 2. I was up there yesterday and the windows have some sort of plastic behind them or were shattered. https://prnt.sc/lhl2y6
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Damaged by ice. Not the first broken windows unfortunately.
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How were they shattered by ice? Did the windows get too cold?
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Falling rime ice at the top dock.
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Reminds me when I was at snowbird with my dad and the windshield on his truck got so cold it was cracked. (There was a good 2 feet of snow on it). Sounds like the top dock needs a roof as well.
LikeLike
The bottom dock has a moving platform due to the adjacent buildings. What I am curious about is how much wider the car spacing is on the top dock. To simplify, I can’t imagine that the north and south haul ropes are parallel. I will be out there this winter and confirm.
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Does this lift really run 9-4 like the website claims?
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9:00 am to 3:30 pm
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Why wasn’t the tram replaced with a gondola, seeing how the tram has a third the capacity of the Bridger gondola? I do understand that the extra cost might be worth it to still have a “big red” but, the marketing/historical factor alone can’t explain the choice to give up three times the potential capacity.
LikeLike
Running a normal mono-cable gondola akin to Bridger probably wouldn’t be possible on the tram line. Those cliffs are absolutely enormous. Plus, wind would be terrible. Even if a gondola transported 4x as many skiers as the tram in one hour, it’d transport a similar amount in a season because it would usually be on wind hold.
The only other option was something like a 3s, which would be similar cost.
LikeLike
The whistler peak to peak 3s can move 4,100 people/hr. Assuming a 3s would be about the same cost as a tram, that is a huge difference in uphill capacity. Does JHMR simply not want to cause over crowding?
LikeLike
A 3S can move a lot more than the tram, but overcrowding could always be prevented by ordering fewer cabins. I think the 3S overall cost was also lower. Peter knows best, but I think the tram was ordered purely to preserve aesthetics, marketing, and history.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Trams are way, way cheaper than a 3S. Think of the mechanical, moving parts. For one a tram has no detachable grips. It has no turnarounds in the stations, it has no garages for the gondolas.
Think of it this way: A 3S Gondola combines the rope-side technology of a heavy duty tram, consisting of 2 weight carrying ropes per side plus the running around haul rope with a massively beefed up version of the detachable technology from chair lifts and single cable gondolas. Which means it is expensive as hell, but also has a very high capacity, as well as impressive wind stability. Another big downside of the 3S is station size, Jackson doesn’t exactly have a whole lot of sparse space either at the bottom or the summit.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think a 3s station could be accommodated for, especial given that there is only a parking lot behind the terminal, it would probably cost a lot though
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I think they should just run an alternative chairlift up to the peak starting somewhere a bit below the top of sublette, even though it would kind of worsen the experience. I think the reduced crowding would be well worth it though.
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Peter, the tram is currently going back and forth and stopping without making it to the station. It’s been doing this for nearly an hour. What are they doing? Maintenance? A couple times it really sped up before slamming to a stop.
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I’m not working today but given the time of day I would guess the mechanics are doing monthly brake tests.
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Does the lift gauge get wider from the bottom since the bottom isn’t full size and the top is?
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Correct.
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Now THAT’S the way to travel – by tram!
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How much was replaced? Were they able to reuse any towers?
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Everything was replaced except the maze area. Completely new lift.
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This tram & the last one was freaking long!
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