Beavers lift will be flown in next summer as well. I don’t think they’ve picked a brand yet for the Pali and Molly Hogan replacements. The Len chair is rated so that the chairs could be changed to four person fixed grip chairs.
Seems very likely, but I only work there in the winter and not with lifts, so I never heard the final word on that. It sounded like the two replacements will be the same brand as Beavers. If Molly and Pali don’t happen next summer, definitely the following summer. I will miss that iconic Yan Pali double and taking Norway instead of Len! Replacements will all be fixed grip and the same speed as their predecessors.
They’re just building the concrete for the terminals this summer (maybe) and leveling the ground at the top by PHQ for the PHQ expansion and Beavers top shack. It will all be hike-back terrain for 17-18. No actual lift parts will be installed until summer 2018. The helicopter was to deliver supplies to build the Beavers trails, since there’s no road that goes all the way back there. Lots of rocks to drill, explode, etc. Stopped by work and hiked it yesterday.
What if they replaced Black Mountain with a 6 chair, took the quad on Black Mountain and replaced Lenawee with it, and then took Lenawee triple and replaced Pali
That plan sounds good to my untrained ears, but I have a few theories as to why that won’t happen. A)lines aren’t all that long on Black Mountain (But its getting up there) and B) Most importantly, A-Basin is a local’s resort. Pretty big, but still local. It’s been independent since vail dropped it after people got mad they were getting too big. A little place like this could never afford to purchase a big lift like that while relocating two others just after massively expanding their ski area.
The sheet is missing the original (Heron-Wright) Molly Hogan double that became our Pitchfork lift. I learned some new dates about it today; it was built between 1974-76 (Superior Tramway wasn’t sure if that meant the planning began in ’74 or the construction, but the lift was completed in ’76) and removed in 1978 after an avalanche.
Is the Alpha terminal going to be the way of the future or is it reaching the end of its run. Also why would they get rid of the old Lenawee alpha terminal when replacing it with 3 new alphas since its removal?
The Alpha design has been around for over 40 years as both fixed and detach drive/tension…it’s not going anywhere.
Lewanee wasn’t designed to be a phased retrofit. There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to reusable machinery from one lift to another, there truly isn’t one that’s 100% alike. In many ways, it’s more economical to sell/reinstall an entire machine than retrofit a 3x fixed to a 6x detach.
However, someone could still purchase an alpha detach (initial install or phased retrofit), one was installed about a decade ago in Europe.
Lift Blog 
The Norway Lift has been removed.
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End of an era.
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Not really, there’s still the Pali chair, also a yan double
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not anymore there isn’t
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No, Norway will not be removed until Summer 2018. I work at A-Basin.
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Thanks, I should have known if it wasn’t on Al’s Blog, it probably didn’t happen yet.
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Beavers lift will be flown in next summer as well. I don’t think they’ve picked a brand yet for the Pali and Molly Hogan replacements. The Len chair is rated so that the chairs could be changed to four person fixed grip chairs.
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Did Beavers go to L-P?
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Seems very likely, but I only work there in the winter and not with lifts, so I never heard the final word on that. It sounded like the two replacements will be the same brand as Beavers. If Molly and Pali don’t happen next summer, definitely the following summer. I will miss that iconic Yan Pali double and taking Norway instead of Len! Replacements will all be fixed grip and the same speed as their predecessors.
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If they go to Skytrac, the Alpha really is on the way out.
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Thanks. I went there surprised the lift was not removed. I asked a lift operator in 16-17 season and they said the lift would be removed.
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Lift operators are usually the last to know!
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Actually Al did discuss parts being delivered to the Beavers section of the mountain this summer. It didn’t specify whether they were lift parts or not. http://arapahoebasin.blogspot.com/2017/06/helicopter-work.html
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They’re just building the concrete for the terminals this summer (maybe) and leveling the ground at the top by PHQ for the PHQ expansion and Beavers top shack. It will all be hike-back terrain for 17-18. No actual lift parts will be installed until summer 2018. The helicopter was to deliver supplies to build the Beavers trails, since there’s no road that goes all the way back there. Lots of rocks to drill, explode, etc. Stopped by work and hiked it yesterday.
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What if they replaced Black Mountain with a 6 chair, took the quad on Black Mountain and replaced Lenawee with it, and then took Lenawee triple and replaced Pali
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That plan sounds good to my untrained ears, but I have a few theories as to why that won’t happen. A)lines aren’t all that long on Black Mountain (But its getting up there) and B) Most importantly, A-Basin is a local’s resort. Pretty big, but still local. It’s been independent since vail dropped it after people got mad they were getting too big. A little place like this could never afford to purchase a big lift like that while relocating two others just after massively expanding their ski area.
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Also, the Montezuma expansion and Black Mountain purchase wasn’t that long ago, either.
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It is ironic that A-basin’s only detachable lift is their shortest one (not including the tiny Molly Hogan beginner lift).
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Why did they make Molly hogan a quad? It is shirt enough for a carpet. Is it because of capacity issues?
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The reason it’s not a carpet is probably because they want you to be able to ski under it.
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Is it going to have an lpoa alpha drive?
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There are already 2 carpets on the Molly slope. Does anyone know if the new Molly chair will follow the same line?
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They made it a quad so that they could load 3 ski-schoolers per instructor.
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Belleayre installed their Doppelmayr fixed grip quad Lightning last year to replace a double-double for this same purpose.
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Pali opened today. Really happy they kept it a double, although I do miss all the half towers.
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So the oldest lift at A-Basin is from 2001 now. And all lifts but the single detachable use Alpha drive stations. Quite a homogeneous lift fleet.
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The second single chair is missing in the list: https://arapahoebasin.blogspot.com/2019/09/a-basin-single-chair.html
Both were made by Heron.
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The sheet is missing the original (Heron-Wright) Molly Hogan double that became our Pitchfork lift. I learned some new dates about it today; it was built between 1974-76 (Superior Tramway wasn’t sure if that meant the planning began in ’74 or the construction, but the lift was completed in ’76) and removed in 1978 after an avalanche.
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Will the new Lenawee lift end in the same place or will it end high enough to access Zuma without using the rope tow?
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Same place
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Small news but hey happy news. A-Basin opened first this year. Welcome to the 2022/2023 season, ladies and gentlemen!
https://kdvr.com/news/local/photos-arapahoe-basin-opening-day/
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Nice to see that the basin removed the rfid gates for Len x.
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The Molly Hogan quad runs at 250 fpm not 350
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350 was probably the design specs, and 250 is probably what they run it at
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There is a YOC 2017 LPOA rope tow called “Lazy J Tow” that takes you from the lenawee lift to the Montezuma bowl that needs to be photographed
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The Lenawee Double had a midstation.
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Is the Alpha terminal going to be the way of the future or is it reaching the end of its run. Also why would they get rid of the old Lenawee alpha terminal when replacing it with 3 new alphas since its removal?
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The Alpha design has been around for over 40 years as both fixed and detach drive/tension…it’s not going anywhere.
Lewanee wasn’t designed to be a phased retrofit. There is much more than meets the eye when it comes to reusable machinery from one lift to another, there truly isn’t one that’s 100% alike. In many ways, it’s more economical to sell/reinstall an entire machine than retrofit a 3x fixed to a 6x detach.
However, someone could still purchase an alpha detach (initial install or phased retrofit), one was installed about a decade ago in Europe.
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