Midstation with many towers.View up at the top station.Looking down the line from the summit.Fixed top station.Breakover side view.Mid-station breakover.Half tower just above the mid-station.CTEC Enterprise drive terminal.Lift line view.Depression tower 1 at the base.
The Notorious SnowboarderDecember 10, 2022 / 8:04 pm
Very late response, but removing a gearbox would indicate a few things, they are replacing the bull wheel, replacing the bearings, or they are having a gearbox issue.
I don’t understand why they are replacing this with a chondola when it’s mostly an expert lift. Unless they plan on launching an expansion from near the top, it just doesn’t make much sense to me that they’d sink so much money into a chondola rather than a HSQ.
For scenic rides in the summer. They sell around 40000 single ride tickets in the summer around at 20 bucks so 800000 in extra revenue say the kid lasts 30 years thats 24 million over the life span in just summer months.
Obviously, the problem with Agassiz Lift is in the planetary gear set in the drive bull wheel. I do not remember who supplied the planetary set, I do not remember it being a Caterpillar unit. That could be part of the hold up in getting it replaced in a timely manner. Planetary gear sets are very demanding on the gear oil. Run it too low or too high on lubricant level or go too long between oil changes and the bearings and gears will fail. The ski area got over 30 years of service from this lift, winter and summer, thankful for that! I think its time for an updated drive terminal, especially considering the critical importance of Agassiz Lift, both winter and summer.
The lift uses a Kissling planetary, I’m guessing that the resort had an idea that it was on the way out as they ordered a new unit almost a year ago. The lead time for this type of kissling gear unit is something like 11 months as it has been out of production for almost 20 years.
May 13,, 2020 10am eastern time . . have a look at Agassiz webcam. Heavy lift crane on site. Big pieces of the lower terminal about to be moved. https://www.snowbowl.ski/the-mountain/webcams/
Heavily rumored to be placed about a half mile south of the bottom of sunset lift and end near the top and would expand the ski patrol boundary but not the lease agreement with the Forrest service
The lift is being moved to Elk Ridge in Williams. Elk Ridge is tiny so hoping to buy one of the unused chairs for my house. I rode Agassiz for 28 years it would be great to keep a piece of that history! BTW I don’t think I’ve ever seen Elk Ridge open.
I checked with Mountain Capital Partners on this and received the following reply: “At this time we do not have any confirmation or certain information in regards to where the old Agassiz lift will be reinstalled, or even that it will be reused at another resort.”
MCP must have a pretty large inventory of used lifts by now. I think the former Hart Prairie Lift, the Riblet top drive double would be better suited to Elk Ridge than the Agassiz CTEC triple.
MCP also has enough random places to drop some old but functional lifts.
& They don’t love center pole riblets for beginner use. I could see some uses in NM or possibly Nordic Valley, but Elk Ridge would almost definitely support the capacity of a triple with snowmaking.
That may be about MCP’s dislike for center post Riblets but Aspen chair, moved from it’s original Agassiz, now Arizona Gondola location (vintage 1962) continues to take beginners up the hill.
It was just designed to be fairly high capacity, as well as serving summer foot traffic.
Ironically it’s heavy weight and heavy usage were a big factor in MCP just replacing it out of near frustration, instead of spending a few more seasons coming up with a more efficient multi-lift replacement.
Lift Blog 
I think part of the problem with why this lift has had so many issues is because it needs a larger drive for something of this length.
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And this definitely looks like the sort of lift line a detachable would be more suited for.
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What size is the drive for this lift? It looks like they are removing the bullwheel, which would indicate to me they have a gearbox problem.
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Very late response, but removing a gearbox would indicate a few things, they are replacing the bull wheel, replacing the bearings, or they are having a gearbox issue.
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Do not need to remove the Bullwheel to service the gearbox on this type of lift. Most likely Bullwheel bearings in the CAT Planetary?
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I don’t understand why they are replacing this with a chondola when it’s mostly an expert lift. Unless they plan on launching an expansion from near the top, it just doesn’t make much sense to me that they’d sink so much money into a chondola rather than a HSQ.
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For scenic rides in the summer. They sell around 40000 single ride tickets in the summer around at 20 bucks so 800000 in extra revenue say the kid lasts 30 years thats 24 million over the life span in just summer months.
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As long as we are talking numbers, what is the return on investment on a lift such as the new Agassiz?
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Obviously, the problem with Agassiz Lift is in the planetary gear set in the drive bull wheel. I do not remember who supplied the planetary set, I do not remember it being a Caterpillar unit. That could be part of the hold up in getting it replaced in a timely manner. Planetary gear sets are very demanding on the gear oil. Run it too low or too high on lubricant level or go too long between oil changes and the bearings and gears will fail. The ski area got over 30 years of service from this lift, winter and summer, thankful for that! I think its time for an updated drive terminal, especially considering the critical importance of Agassiz Lift, both winter and summer.
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The lift uses a Kissling planetary, I’m guessing that the resort had an idea that it was on the way out as they ordered a new unit almost a year ago. The lead time for this type of kissling gear unit is something like 11 months as it has been out of production for almost 20 years.
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Is this lift being parted, scrapped, or reused
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Saved for reuse, unknown where.
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May 13,, 2020 10am eastern time . . have a look at Agassiz webcam. Heavy lift crane on site. Big pieces of the lower terminal about to be moved.
https://www.snowbowl.ski/the-mountain/webcams/
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Heavily rumored to be placed about a half mile south of the bottom of sunset lift and end near the top and would expand the ski patrol boundary but not the lease agreement with the Forrest service
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The lift is being moved to Elk Ridge in Williams. Elk Ridge is tiny so hoping to buy one of the unused chairs for my house. I rode Agassiz for 28 years it would be great to keep a piece of that history! BTW I don’t think I’ve ever seen Elk Ridge open.
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I checked with Mountain Capital Partners on this and received the following reply: “At this time we do not have any confirmation or certain information in regards to where the old Agassiz lift will be reinstalled, or even that it will be reused at another resort.”
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MCP must have a pretty large inventory of used lifts by now. I think the former Hart Prairie Lift, the Riblet top drive double would be better suited to Elk Ridge than the Agassiz CTEC triple.
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MCP also has enough random places to drop some old but functional lifts.
& They don’t love center pole riblets for beginner use. I could see some uses in NM or possibly Nordic Valley, but Elk Ridge would almost definitely support the capacity of a triple with snowmaking.
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That may be about MCP’s dislike for center post Riblets but Aspen chair, moved from it’s original Agassiz, now Arizona Gondola location (vintage 1962) continues to take beginners up the hill.
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The chair lift is great but why so many chairs?
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It was just designed to be fairly high capacity, as well as serving summer foot traffic.
Ironically it’s heavy weight and heavy usage were a big factor in MCP just replacing it out of near frustration, instead of spending a few more seasons coming up with a more efficient multi-lift replacement.
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