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).
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.
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?
During the 21/22 season chair 2 had a chair fall off the line. It was near the terminal so there were only minor injuries but a lengthy investigation followed, leading to the long closure. The following season the chairs were repainted and some were removed from the line
Chair 1 used to only run for races back in the 90s. It was slightly faster than the rest of the chairs at afton, except the old triple that was 8, as that was the only speed adjustable chair.
Chair 5 is the largest bottleneck on the hill and probably should be upgraded. Wouldn’t be surprised if chair 1 is removed next, unless there are issues with chair 2. Chair 2 was offline majority of 21/22
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The only thing Vail has really done since they bought Afton was remove chair 8.
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Well, as everyone knows, 18 is waaaaaay too many, but 17 is just right. Vail is all about just right.
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chair 2 has not been there since the 70s. It was put there in the mid 2000s to replace a double hall lift
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Wow that’s a lot of Halls! And I thought Smuggs had a lot of them.
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Its hall heaven
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This place must have been a real gold mine for Hall back in the 70s…
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Just like its sister resort Mt.Kato
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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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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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Theroretically they could this down to 6-7 quads, right?
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In my opinion #3, #5, #9, #13, #15 and #16 should all be upgraded
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According to the Vail Resorts app all 17 lifts are open
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Vail seems to have left the urban resorts out of some technology upgrades. The Afton Alps website (very old school) has the current lift schedule. Four lifts are closed today. https://www.aftonalps.com/explore-the-resort/current-conditions/snow-report
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Thats the Afton Alps I know
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Why was chair 8 removed? Difficult to source parts for?
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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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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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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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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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During the 21/22 season chair 2 had a chair fall off the line. It was near the terminal so there were only minor injuries but a lengthy investigation followed, leading to the long closure. The following season the chairs were repainted and some were removed from the line
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Chair 1 used to only run for races back in the 90s. It was slightly faster than the rest of the chairs at afton, except the old triple that was 8, as that was the only speed adjustable chair.
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WHO!! A Ton of hall LIFTS!!
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Chair 2 was a hall double chair before the early 2000s when the quad lift was installed
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Chair 18 has been removed. The area is being converted to tubing.
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photos of the old heron http://www.chairlift.org/aftonalps.html
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HOW CAN YOU HAVE 16 LIFTS ON A 300 ACRE HILL!!!!!
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It’s crazy. That’s one of my local hills and they only ever run half of them unless it’s a holiday weekend.
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Looking at the new trail map for this year it appears that Afton Alps also removed chair 14 alongside chair 18
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Chair 5 is the largest bottleneck on the hill and probably should be upgraded. Wouldn’t be surprised if chair 1 is removed next, unless there are issues with chair 2. Chair 2 was offline majority of 21/22
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