Yes! After searching old youtube videos, I stumbled upon this beauty. Lots of video clips of the old Poma quad, and at 0:48, you get a good view of the top terminal of the Spirit of Alyeska lift.
Also, here’s a pic of the bottom terminal of this lift.
How did the bubbles get to look so worn? It looks like they were one of the few ski areas in the US to invest in indoor parking. Did they just not use it? The DS series bubbles weren’t well designed, but somehow there are quite a few in Europe that despite being a little worn, look better than the ones in the 3rd pic. Also, why would a lift as new as 1988 have a separate drive terminal not integrated in the CLD-260? Especially when that very next year, Doppelmayr came out with the Uni.
After closer inspection, I don’t think the bubble lift in the 3rd pic is Alyeska. That lift has 90s era bubbles, which are rounder on top than 80s era bubbles. It is also running in a different direction than the other pics that are clearly Alyeska.
Chair 1 was a Poma double from 1960-79. Replaced by a Riblet in 79. They tore it out in 2017. Chair 1 was be best damn lift there was. Night skiing isn’t the same without it. It’s a shame they replaced it night skiing isn’t the greatest now without it. Hopefully they run a chair from midway or gearjammer up to round house. We did thousands of midway laps. And between towers 5-6 the chair was about 80 feet off the ground there were breakover towers 6-7-8 and between that span when the lift stopped you would bounce 30+ feet you’d go higher than the downloading chairs and you would drop and swing. One hell of an adrenaline rush. Chair 2 from what history I got was taken out by an avalanche at the bottom terminal in 73. They rebuilt the bottom but moved it up where teds express ends. You’ll see concrete remains. Chair 2 was replaced by the old chair 6 spirit of Alyeska. Tram and chair 4 quad replaced chair 4 double in 92. Chair 4 riblet was installed in 76. And ran right up along side chair 1. I was never alive to see chair 2 or old chair 4. It’s sad they don’t use Tanaka anymore use to ride up it and hit the alders far side of the mountain. Good powder skiing. Hopefully arctic valley or somebody else buys it. I grew up skiing Alyeska love it to this day still even though chair 1 is long gone the only memories of that chair that remain are the lift line trailwhere it once stood and the towers with lights on them.
it also seems like it could make a good gondola. From the looks of it they could develop the base area there and add a gondola on that alignment to supplement their tram.
All they need to do is run a hsq from where midway of chair one was at because I grew up skiing Alyeska and night skiing midway laps wasCONVENIENT AF. Or you throw in a hsq from bottom to top with a midway in the same spot. Night skiing went to hell when chair 1 was ripped out. Midway laps kept you on top of the mountain especially when it was raining down below and snowing real hard up top. I night ski chair 1 every year from 2003-2013 last time I rode chair 1 was 2014 when they only had the top of the mountain open because it was a crap winter. That was the last time I ever rode it was 11th grade.
Does anyone know when the bubbles were removed from Chair 6? A trail map from 2007 shows the lift with bubbles on most of the chairs. They looked to be in pretty rough shape at that time.
Lift Blog 
any pictures of the old 6 Spirit of Alyeska top terminal
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Yes! After searching old youtube videos, I stumbled upon this beauty. Lots of video clips of the old Poma quad, and at 0:48, you get a good view of the top terminal of the Spirit of Alyeska lift.
Also, here’s a pic of the bottom terminal of this lift.
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And, at 0:04 on this video, if you pause it, you can see a full view of the top terminal.
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the front of the top terminal for alyseka
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Another top terminal shot (with bubble chairs)
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Are there any pictures of bubbles on the old Spirit of Alyeska lift? All of the pictures I found are without bubbles.
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Found one!
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Actually, I found a whole bunch of Spirit of Alyeska bubble pictures on Alamy. Here’s a few of them:
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How did the bubbles get to look so worn? It looks like they were one of the few ski areas in the US to invest in indoor parking. Did they just not use it? The DS series bubbles weren’t well designed, but somehow there are quite a few in Europe that despite being a little worn, look better than the ones in the 3rd pic. Also, why would a lift as new as 1988 have a separate drive terminal not integrated in the CLD-260? Especially when that very next year, Doppelmayr came out with the Uni.
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After closer inspection, I don’t think the bubble lift in the 3rd pic is Alyeska. That lift has 90s era bubbles, which are rounder on top than 80s era bubbles. It is also running in a different direction than the other pics that are clearly Alyeska.
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I think your right. That 3rd bubble lift looks like it’s somewhere in Europe.
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heres another good photo of bubbles
https://lh5.googleusercontent.com/p/AF1QipNND4J8o9KjpiLHkiTlLSeSoeTt9d4fugzWDfiu=h1440
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Chair 1 was a Poma double from 1960-79. Replaced by a Riblet in 79. They tore it out in 2017. Chair 1 was be best damn lift there was. Night skiing isn’t the same without it. It’s a shame they replaced it night skiing isn’t the greatest now without it. Hopefully they run a chair from midway or gearjammer up to round house. We did thousands of midway laps. And between towers 5-6 the chair was about 80 feet off the ground there were breakover towers 6-7-8 and between that span when the lift stopped you would bounce 30+ feet you’d go higher than the downloading chairs and you would drop and swing. One hell of an adrenaline rush. Chair 2 from what history I got was taken out by an avalanche at the bottom terminal in 73. They rebuilt the bottom but moved it up where teds express ends. You’ll see concrete remains. Chair 2 was replaced by the old chair 6 spirit of Alyeska. Tram and chair 4 quad replaced chair 4 double in 92. Chair 4 riblet was installed in 76. And ran right up along side chair 1. I was never alive to see chair 2 or old chair 4. It’s sad they don’t use Tanaka anymore use to ride up it and hit the alders far side of the mountain. Good powder skiing. Hopefully arctic valley or somebody else buys it. I grew up skiing Alyeska love it to this day still even though chair 1 is long gone the only memories of that chair that remain are the lift line trailwhere it once stood and the towers with lights on them.
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Would building a HSQ in the alignment of the old Chair 1 be a good idea? It would provide direct access to upper tram terminal.
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It wouldn’t even be that redundant.
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Let’s take a look:
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If I were to build it I would get rid of the mid station. There is still blue terrain accessed from the top of chair 1.
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it also seems like it could make a good gondola. From the looks of it they could develop the base area there and add a gondola on that alignment to supplement their tram.
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I agree, a gondola would work well. Plus, the top terminal could be integrated with the Upper Tram Terminal building.
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All they need to do is run a hsq from where midway of chair one was at because I grew up skiing Alyeska and night skiing midway laps wasCONVENIENT AF. Or you throw in a hsq from bottom to top with a midway in the same spot. Night skiing went to hell when chair 1 was ripped out. Midway laps kept you on top of the mountain especially when it was raining down below and snowing real hard up top. I night ski chair 1 every year from 2003-2013 last time I rode chair 1 was 2014 when they only had the top of the mountain open because it was a crap winter. That was the last time I ever rode it was 11th grade.
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Does anyone know when the bubbles were removed from Chair 6? A trail map from 2007 shows the lift with bubbles on most of the chairs. They looked to be in pretty rough shape at that time.
Click to access 1220707568.pdf
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Anyone know what happened to the lift on the Alyeska Glacier?
http://www.alsap.org/AlyeskaGlacier/AlyeskaGlacier.htm
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photos of old chair 2 during construction http://www.alsap.org/VintagePhotos/Alyeska.htm
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