Leitner-Poma Omega return station.90-degree loading.Riding up the short lift line.Top station mid-mountain adjacent to the Black Mountain Lodge.Drive terminal.Another view of the drive.Top station from below.Lift line.Lower part of the line.Lower station seen from Molly Hogan.
That’s just the last version of the Omega Terminal. It’s really just the same as the third generation of the Omega terminal but with some visual changes (wood underskin panels, smooth plastic side panels, etc…). The technology is identical to that of the previous versions of the Omega terminal.
Yep! The LPA changed a lot in terms of both geometry and layout, all the while inheriting the general concept of the Omega.
This last Omega variant does serve as an appropriate bridge between the two generations of terminal, as there are quite a few designs here that were used onward.
Omegas built in 2010 and 2011 do appear to be halfway between the Omega and LPA era. The same had been seen when Poma was transitioning in the late 1990s from Arceaux chairs and TB-41 grips to the Omega chair and grip, as the Omega chair was introduced a year before the Omega grip was introduced, resulting in all 1997 and some 1998 detachables (like the Mercury SuperChair, Rocky Mountain SuperChair, Sunshine Express, Red Lady Express, Nitro Express, South Face Express, Shooting Star Express, etc.) having Omega chairs but Challenger terminals and TB-41 grips.
And the Omega to LPA transition played out in a variety of ways. You have lifts like the Black Mountain Express here, the Kaatskill Flyer, and Marmot’s Paradise Express where the Omega terminal design was retained but with LPA elements being added like the wood underskin. Then there are lifts like the High Noon Express lift and the Tiehack Express lift, where the transition is that those lifts have LPA grips and terminals but their lift towers still use the 1994 lifting frame design, and in the High Noon Express lift’s case, its terminals and chairs still have the “yellow swoosh with blue text” logo rather than the current “red mountain with black text” logo.
(Arguably, the Omega to LPA transition could be seen as Leitner-Poma transitioning from merely being Poma under a new name, to a company that made chairlifts that have both Poma and Leitner influences. The basic appearance of the sheave trains is what Poma’s used since 1993. The new logo that’s been used since 2011 uses the font of the Leitner logo pre-merger. The lifting frames used on lift towers are primarily based on Poma’s 1994 design, but now have some influence from more angular design of Leitner lifting frames. The LPA grip and hanger arm crosses Leitner’s detachable grip with the Omega grip design. And the LPA chair design used on detachables since 2013 for six packs and 2015 for high speed quads is like if Leitner tried to do their own version of the Competition chair)
I think this was the last Omega grip lift to be built in Colorado, given it debuted the same year as the first LPA lift in Colorado with the construction of the High Noon Express lift.
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This looks like a weird combo of LPA terminal design with Poma Omega terminal design. At first glance, it’s an omega but much of it is LPA design.
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That’s just the last version of the Omega Terminal. It’s really just the same as the third generation of the Omega terminal but with some visual changes (wood underskin panels, smooth plastic side panels, etc…). The technology is identical to that of the previous versions of the Omega terminal.
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Yep! The LPA changed a lot in terms of both geometry and layout, all the while inheriting the general concept of the Omega.
This last Omega variant does serve as an appropriate bridge between the two generations of terminal, as there are quite a few designs here that were used onward.
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Omegas built in 2010 and 2011 do appear to be halfway between the Omega and LPA era. The same had been seen when Poma was transitioning in the late 1990s from Arceaux chairs and TB-41 grips to the Omega chair and grip, as the Omega chair was introduced a year before the Omega grip was introduced, resulting in all 1997 and some 1998 detachables (like the Mercury SuperChair, Rocky Mountain SuperChair, Sunshine Express, Red Lady Express, Nitro Express, South Face Express, Shooting Star Express, etc.) having Omega chairs but Challenger terminals and TB-41 grips.
And the Omega to LPA transition played out in a variety of ways. You have lifts like the Black Mountain Express here, the Kaatskill Flyer, and Marmot’s Paradise Express where the Omega terminal design was retained but with LPA elements being added like the wood underskin. Then there are lifts like the High Noon Express lift and the Tiehack Express lift, where the transition is that those lifts have LPA grips and terminals but their lift towers still use the 1994 lifting frame design, and in the High Noon Express lift’s case, its terminals and chairs still have the “yellow swoosh with blue text” logo rather than the current “red mountain with black text” logo.
(Arguably, the Omega to LPA transition could be seen as Leitner-Poma transitioning from merely being Poma under a new name, to a company that made chairlifts that have both Poma and Leitner influences. The basic appearance of the sheave trains is what Poma’s used since 1993. The new logo that’s been used since 2011 uses the font of the Leitner logo pre-merger. The lifting frames used on lift towers are primarily based on Poma’s 1994 design, but now have some influence from more angular design of Leitner lifting frames. The LPA grip and hanger arm crosses Leitner’s detachable grip with the Omega grip design. And the LPA chair design used on detachables since 2013 for six packs and 2015 for high speed quads is like if Leitner tried to do their own version of the Competition chair)
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I think this was the last Omega grip lift to be built in Colorado, given it debuted the same year as the first LPA lift in Colorado with the construction of the High Noon Express lift.
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The last omega grips are on the paradise express at marmot basin and that was installed in 2011.
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2010 and 2011 were the only years where the 1994 lifting frame design could be seen on lifts with LPA chairs and terminals.
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And Super Glide at Alpine Valley Wisconsin.
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heres a video of it
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Interestingly they’ve replaced the butterfly looking kidstop in the pictures and video here with the new style like on Chet’s Dream at Loveland.
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