According to old trail maps, Goldmine was actually a base-to-summit lift until 1991. The Bear Mountain Express was built parallel to it in 1990, and the both Goldmine and BMEx operated base to summit that year. The following season (1991), Goldmine was shortened to about half of its length. Additionally, a small double chair that crossed under the BMEx was removed that year
An interesting remnant of this situation is the first few towers of the express lift had to be built extra tall to cross over the lift. Even though the lift was to be removed the next year, the tall towers will stay. They do give a nice view of the halfpipes though.
I believe there was a Roebling brand t-bar on this hill up until likely 1981 when chair 3 was built. It roughly followed the path highlighted in blue in this picture. https://i.imgur.com/YQy5jwq.jpg
I have heard stories of the existence and location of this t-bar and there are some clues that back it up.
First, scraps of Roebling com wire have been found around the housing developments that it would’ve gone through. (The older condos were not built until the mid 80s). https://i.imgur.com/U1M4AI4.jpg
Second, where the t-bar was supposed to take first a left turn, go across a bridge, then take a right turn at the base of current chair three, there are still foundations where the bridge supposedly was. The wall to the left as you load chair 3 is one end, and the other end is in the valley to the right. I’m not vouching for an entry to be made or anything, I just think it’s a neat archeological theory.
I think a couple lifts may have gotten swapped in the spreadsheet for this resort…
-Goldmine (Chair 1) is actually the lift listed as Bear Mountain on the spreadsheet. It was a Hall double that initially ran from base to summit, but was later shortened to end at the bottom of the Showtime run once the Bear Mountain Express was installed. This was the area’s first lift, installed when they opened as Goldmine Mountain and operating until it was removed in 2017. Older trail maps list the shortened lift as being 3,450 ft. long with 744 ft. of vertical.
-The 1978 Riblet double is instead a lift named Big Bear and later Gold Meadow (the Bear Mountain Express was called the Big Bear Express until Bear Mountain and Snow Summit merged, at which point it was renamed and the other lifts officially dropped their names). It was removed when the Gold Rush quad (Chair 5) was installed, but the latter was not a replacement and serves different terrain.
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Showdown is a Hall? Looks a lot like a Ribblet with Doppie upgrades to me..
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Good catch, thanks.
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Terminal structure upgraded by Yan after Landers earthquake in June 1992.
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What’s happened to chair 1?
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It was removed last year as part of a regrading project.
https://www.bigbearmountainresort.com/winter/home/bbmr/2017/11/28/resort-remodel-2017
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According to old trail maps, Goldmine was actually a base-to-summit lift until 1991. The Bear Mountain Express was built parallel to it in 1990, and the both Goldmine and BMEx operated base to summit that year. The following season (1991), Goldmine was shortened to about half of its length. Additionally, a small double chair that crossed under the BMEx was removed that year
1990:
1991:
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Whoops, I mixed the dates up. The top trail map is from 1989 (not 1990), and the bottom one is from 1990 (not 1991). The ACTUAL 1991 map is here:
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An interesting remnant of this situation is the first few towers of the express lift had to be built extra tall to cross over the lift. Even though the lift was to be removed the next year, the tall towers will stay. They do give a nice view of the halfpipes though.
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I believe there was a Roebling brand t-bar on this hill up until likely 1981 when chair 3 was built. It roughly followed the path highlighted in blue in this picture. https://i.imgur.com/YQy5jwq.jpg
I have heard stories of the existence and location of this t-bar and there are some clues that back it up.
First, scraps of Roebling com wire have been found around the housing developments that it would’ve gone through. (The older condos were not built until the mid 80s). https://i.imgur.com/U1M4AI4.jpg
Second, where the t-bar was supposed to take first a left turn, go across a bridge, then take a right turn at the base of current chair three, there are still foundations where the bridge supposedly was. The wall to the left as you load chair 3 is one end, and the other end is in the valley to the right. I’m not vouching for an entry to be made or anything, I just think it’s a neat archeological theory.
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I think a couple lifts may have gotten swapped in the spreadsheet for this resort…
-Goldmine (Chair 1) is actually the lift listed as Bear Mountain on the spreadsheet. It was a Hall double that initially ran from base to summit, but was later shortened to end at the bottom of the Showtime run once the Bear Mountain Express was installed. This was the area’s first lift, installed when they opened as Goldmine Mountain and operating until it was removed in 2017. Older trail maps list the shortened lift as being 3,450 ft. long with 744 ft. of vertical.
-The 1978 Riblet double is instead a lift named Big Bear and later Gold Meadow (the Bear Mountain Express was called the Big Bear Express until Bear Mountain and Snow Summit merged, at which point it was renamed and the other lifts officially dropped their names). It was removed when the Gold Rush quad (Chair 5) was installed, but the latter was not a replacement and serves different terrain.
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