Afton Alps, MN

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21 thoughts on “Afton Alps, MN

  1. powderforever45 January 18, 2020 / 3:47 pm

    The only thing Vail has really done since they bought Afton was remove chair 8.

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    • Joe Blake January 18, 2020 / 10:34 pm

      Well, as everyone knows, 18 is waaaaaay too many, but 17 is just right. Vail is all about just right.

      Liked by 2 people

  2. Max Hart January 18, 2020 / 4:44 pm

    Wow that’s a lot of Halls! And I thought Smuggs had a lot of them.

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    • reaperskier January 18, 2020 / 5:26 pm

      Its hall heaven

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      • skier72 January 18, 2020 / 10:45 pm

        This place must have been a real gold mine for Hall back in the 70s…

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      • cfglick January 19, 2020 / 8:17 pm

        Just like its sister resort Mt.Kato

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  3. Joe Blake January 18, 2020 / 10:38 pm

    I’ve always been fascinated by the sheer amount of lifts at midwestern and eastern ski joints. Almost to the point of one per run.

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    • Andrew F. January 19, 2020 / 5:32 pm

      And yet, on a weekend with good snow and good temps, a place like Afton can develop pretty substantial lift lines.

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  4. gavin January 19, 2020 / 2:03 pm

    Theroretically they could this down to 6-7 quads, right?

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  5. cfglick January 19, 2020 / 8:12 pm

    In my opinion #3, #5, #9, #13, #15 and #16 should all be upgraded

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  6. cfglick January 24, 2020 / 8:55 am

    According to the Vail Resorts app all 17 lifts are open

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  7. New England Chairlifts & Skiing May 2, 2020 / 10:29 am

    Why was chair 8 removed? Difficult to source parts for?

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  8. Detroit Skier May 3, 2020 / 12:29 am

    It’s like a Hall museum! After some additional research using various sources for overhead photos (including historical) for lengths, as well as topo map overlays, against the SAM survey data you show above, I believe a few chairs should have their data swapped. Your data for Chair 17 should be assigned to Chair 6, Chair 6 data should be assigned to Chair 5, and Chair 5 data should be assigned to Chair 17. Impressive work on assigning the rest! Also, I think the SAM survey got the stats wrong on Chair 2 (the quad chair replaced a Constam double on the same line that had a 240 ft vertical rise, and it should be at least as much as Chair 1) and potentially on Chair 12 (I think the length is more like 574 ft than 674 ft from my calculations but that is splitting hairs a bit).

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  9. Robb September 17, 2020 / 5:05 pm

    In the spreadsheet above, removed Chair 2 is listed as Constam. I thought it was a Hall, similar vintage to chair 6. I remember riding it in the 89/90 season and it had a few tall towers.

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  10. Resolve.Action.Love (@Snowman55403) January 12, 2022 / 12:13 pm

    For whatever it’s worth, it sure seemed like Chair 1 was running at 450 fpm yesterday. Either that or all the other open lifts were running closer to the 340-345 that is the indicated speed for a few on the spreadsheet above & Ch.1 was at 400.
    I’ve always liked Afton, but having been away a couple years, these lifts seemed extra-slow.
    I have heard that they’re short staffed and pulling instructors and other non-ops staff onto lifts (with training, of curse). Maybe the slower rope speed reduces stoppages?

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    • Charlie January 12, 2022 / 12:51 pm

      Does anyone know if something is wrong with chair 2? It seems like chair 1 is almost never used but it’s been used almost every day this year instead.

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  11. ski man January 12, 2022 / 7:41 pm

    WHO!! A Ton of hall LIFTS!!

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  12. ranma8285 January 13, 2024 / 1:49 pm

    Chair 2 was a hall double chair before the early 2000s when the quad lift was installed

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  13. Charlie March 10, 2024 / 9:48 pm

    Chair 18 has been removed. The area is being converted to tubing.

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