The bottom terminal with CTEC line gear.Bottom station and lift line.Tower 12.View down the line on a powder day.Height-adjustable top bullwheel.This lift only operates at peak times.The bottom terminal with drive and tensioning.
Indeed so. It’s nice that it’s here, as it provides another way for beginners to lap this area. Sunnyside is a bottleneck at Alta, since one high speed triple feeds into two HSQs, along with the beginner terrain pod.
Alta has FS approval to replace both lifts with a single Chondola lift (https://www.alta.com/the-mountain/future-plans). That being said, it appears based on digging through the FS document, Albion would still be left in place after a Sunnyside upgrade. Alta has announced that they will not be running Sunnyside this summer, so either they’re planning on replacing the lift sooner than expected, or something else is going on with the lift.
“Plan on hiking the Albion Basin? Please note that due to construction and infrastructure improvement projects the Albion parking lot will be closed this summer as well as Sunnyside lift-served hiking.” https://www.alta.com/summer
It runs weekends only for the most part even as it is. It’s kind of in an awkward alignment, as it’s a traverse to get over and down to the Supreme and Sugarloaf lifts from the top.
This lift operated once last season on a Friday when all parking was full and it was extremely overcrowded. I decided to take it. It’s a very nice ride but compared to the HST I would rather take Sunnyside than this lift. Still an awesome lift and probably my favorite at Alta. I don’t think I’ll have a chance to ever take it again, but I’ll always remember my experience riding it.
They opened it once this season, December 24th. I’m pretty sure they’ve just given up running this lift, even on the busy days. Despite a 20-30 minute queue for Sunnyside, no one was riding Albion even though it was open.
Here's your chance to slow things down this holiday season—the Albion lift is now open to the public.
Well, it is the lift you take if you need a vacation from skiing, lol. Great views though.
It’s an old-school fixed grip lift running at beginner speed so intermediates & experts aren’t very interested. It’s a looooong ride. The seat is bare bones minimal with no safety bar so beginners are afraid of it. Hardly anyone takes this lift. They sometimes run Albion on busy days but the only time there is a lift line is at the start of the day when the line at the Sunnyside lift right next to it is huge and you’ve arrived late. Even then it’s only a short line. Absolutely nobody laps this lift. You take it once (if at all) and go straight to another lift and don’t come back.
I like that it’s still there and sometimes running for nostalgia, but that’s the only real purpose it serves now.
This lift opened last Sunday because Collins and Sunnyside were both down. Best ride of my life. Pretty long though, about a 16-minute ride. Got a video of the ride too.
I would guess that all of Alta’s Yans were converted from non bullwheel loading to height adjustable, the old Collins double had a similar drive terminal when originally installed.
If you want to ride this lift one more time, it looks like April 12th is the date to do it! I also heard that it might possibly also be open on Frank (first closing day) which is the 17th.
When I skied Alta for my first time in 1990, both Albion and Collins had raised drives and all lifts were center bar double chairs. Albion operated every day and old Sunnyside was backup (it was the only center bar double that was not Yan)…
It will be sticking around to 2023. I’m right now filming a time lapse of the replacement of Sunnyside and the removal of Albion. It will be interesting to see what it looks like at the end of next year.
I truly think removing albion is a big mistake, I recently rode the new six pack and it was a level of crowded I have not seen in years. To add insult to injury they were running it super slow for beginners and it experienced many MANY stops. I have seen the same thing happen at Palisades with Big blue for example, people always say it will get better over time, it never does. I really think the idea of removing backup lifts is a super dumb trend ESPECIALLY when it comes to beginner lifts. Just to add to the problem its a beginner lift that is required to access the rest of that side of the mountain.
I will agree with you on this. Its seems rather stupid to remove Albion. I just find it goofy in a sense as I don’t like going on Sunnyside cause of the lines and how long it can take to get up to the top. Not to mention all the issue it has had recently. Its just like when they combined Supreme and Cecret into one lift. It might of sounded good in the start but now the novelty has worn off. that’s one I still wish was two separate lifts just cause of the super flat sections.
for me so much of it just has to do with combining a beginner lift and an access lift. I have noticed that this is where this problem usually occurs. if anything I would replace albion with a new fgq or something, for packed days.
Lift Blog 
I’m so happy to come across this site. You have great documentation of the ski lifts!
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Does this Lift only run weekends and holidays with the hst near it?
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Indeed so. It’s nice that it’s here, as it provides another way for beginners to lap this area. Sunnyside is a bottleneck at Alta, since one high speed triple feeds into two HSQs, along with the beginner terrain pod.
Alta has FS approval to replace both lifts with a single Chondola lift (https://www.alta.com/the-mountain/future-plans). That being said, it appears based on digging through the FS document, Albion would still be left in place after a Sunnyside upgrade. Alta has announced that they will not be running Sunnyside this summer, so either they’re planning on replacing the lift sooner than expected, or something else is going on with the lift.
“Plan on hiking the Albion Basin? Please note that due to construction and infrastructure improvement projects the Albion parking lot will be closed this summer as well as Sunnyside lift-served hiking.”
https://www.alta.com/summer
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On further thought, this is actually the parking upgrade that they were also given FS approval to complete.
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Seems like Albion would hardly ever run if it was kept.
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It runs weekends only for the most part even as it is. It’s kind of in an awkward alignment, as it’s a traverse to get over and down to the Supreme and Sugarloaf lifts from the top.
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I don’t think this lift has ran at all this season so far
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This lift operated once last season on a Friday when all parking was full and it was extremely overcrowded. I decided to take it. It’s a very nice ride but compared to the HST I would rather take Sunnyside than this lift. Still an awesome lift and probably my favorite at Alta. I don’t think I’ll have a chance to ever take it again, but I’ll always remember my experience riding it.
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They opened it once this season, December 24th. I’m pretty sure they’ve just given up running this lift, even on the busy days. Despite a 20-30 minute queue for Sunnyside, no one was riding Albion even though it was open.
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Well, it is the lift you take if you need a vacation from skiing, lol. Great views though.
It’s an old-school fixed grip lift running at beginner speed so intermediates & experts aren’t very interested. It’s a looooong ride. The seat is bare bones minimal with no safety bar so beginners are afraid of it. Hardly anyone takes this lift. They sometimes run Albion on busy days but the only time there is a lift line is at the start of the day when the line at the Sunnyside lift right next to it is huge and you’ve arrived late. Even then it’s only a short line. Absolutely nobody laps this lift. You take it once (if at all) and go straight to another lift and don’t come back.
I like that it’s still there and sometimes running for nostalgia, but that’s the only real purpose it serves now.
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This lift opened last Sunday because Collins and Sunnyside were both down. Best ride of my life. Pretty long though, about a 16-minute ride. Got a video of the ride too.
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Definitely a lucky one.
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Here’s something interesting Albion use to have a different bottom terminal https://collections.lib.utah.edu/details?id=960459&page=39&q=Alta&fd=title_t%2Ccollection_number_and_name_t%2Cphoto_number_t&facet_setname_s=uum_map_usa
I’m guessing that the new bottom terminal is from sugarloaf(when it was a double befor it was converted to a triple)
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I would guess that all of Alta’s Yans were converted from non bullwheel loading to height adjustable, the old Collins double had a similar drive terminal when originally installed.
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If you want to ride this lift one more time, it looks like April 12th is the date to do it! I also heard that it might possibly also be open on Frank (first closing day) which is the 17th.
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Goodbye Albion, thank you for being there for us. You will be missed and you served us well.
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Maybe not yet…
https://liftblog.com/2022/08/05/news-roundup-292/
Second-to-last bullet on the list.
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When I skied Alta for my first time in 1990, both Albion and Collins had raised drives and all lifts were center bar double chairs. Albion operated every day and old Sunnyside was backup (it was the only center bar double that was not Yan)…
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As found a little history over the past few weeks the new drive came in at 1999.
R.I.P.
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I drove by there yesterday and abion seems to remain until the new sunnyside lift is complete
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It will be sticking around to 2023. I’m right now filming a time lapse of the replacement of Sunnyside and the removal of Albion. It will be interesting to see what it looks like at the end of next year.
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I truly think removing albion is a big mistake, I recently rode the new six pack and it was a level of crowded I have not seen in years. To add insult to injury they were running it super slow for beginners and it experienced many MANY stops. I have seen the same thing happen at Palisades with Big blue for example, people always say it will get better over time, it never does. I really think the idea of removing backup lifts is a super dumb trend ESPECIALLY when it comes to beginner lifts. Just to add to the problem its a beginner lift that is required to access the rest of that side of the mountain.
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I will agree with you on this. Its seems rather stupid to remove Albion. I just find it goofy in a sense as I don’t like going on Sunnyside cause of the lines and how long it can take to get up to the top. Not to mention all the issue it has had recently. Its just like when they combined Supreme and Cecret into one lift. It might of sounded good in the start but now the novelty has worn off. that’s one I still wish was two separate lifts just cause of the super flat sections.
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for me so much of it just has to do with combining a beginner lift and an access lift. I have noticed that this is where this problem usually occurs. if anything I would replace albion with a new fgq or something, for packed days.
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RIP Albion
Photos of the removal https://flic.kr/s/aHBqjAPr8f
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