Blackjack – Copper Mountain, CO

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Upper part of the lift line.
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Middle lift line.
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Lower lift line.
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Lower terminal with portal tower.
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This lift was relocated from the front side with hydraulic tensioning added.
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View up from the base.
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Return terminal overview.
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Nearing the summit.
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Unique drive support structure.
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Unloading area and motor room.
As part of the Three Bears project, the bottom terminal was moved and replaced in 2019.
The new return is based on the Skytrac Monarch design.
New bottom terminal location.
Upper half of the line seen from Tucker Mountain.

16 thoughts on “Blackjack – Copper Mountain, CO

  1. sufghia December 19, 2017 / 3:27 pm

    Due to the Y-Crossarms, I believe that Yan helped with the relocation of this lift in 1995. It must have been one of their last relocation projects.

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    • Max Hart December 19, 2017 / 3:44 pm

      If that were the case, Yan probably also supplied the hydraulic tensioning. The chairs and “Y” lifting frames are defintely not of the same vintage, so they were probably added by Yan during the relocation. All the Yan lifts that I have ever seen with this style of chair don’t have any lifting frames.

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      • pbropetech August 9, 2021 / 12:05 pm

        Yan did not supply the tension- it was purchased new from Doppelmayr and installed as part of the lift’s relocation from old I-lift. The same happened at Mountain Chief the previous year and Sierra the following.

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  2. Michael December 19, 2017 / 5:50 pm

    Blackjack was built using parts left over from old “I Lift” (Motor Room and machinery, sheave assemblies, tower tubes, grips and chairs, return carriage, etc) and new parts (Y cross arms, tension system, new bull wheels, etc) purchased from Lift Engineering. It was installed by Copper’s in-house Installation Team. The lift was designed to be converted to a triple if needed.

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  3. Duncan October 26, 2018 / 8:03 am

    What are cross arms actually used for?

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    • John December 31, 2018 / 10:09 am

      If you’re talking about the Y part, that’s a lifting gantry for changing sheaves or removing and installing sheave assemblies.

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      • snowbasinlocal12894 December 31, 2018 / 11:44 am

        Lifting frames are used to jack up the cable using a winch to lubercate the sheaves. Older lifts dont have them and the towers get real loud.

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        • pbropetech December 1, 2020 / 10:34 am

          That’s not why they get loud. We still lube everything on towers without lifting gantries, it’s just more of a pain.

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  4. John M. October 31, 2019 / 10:48 am

    Are they redoing the bottom terminal of this lift? If you watch the video on Twitter that Copper Mountain posted of the Three Bears Chair, you can see a newer looking terminal next to the new Three Bears one.

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    • jcpierce05 October 31, 2019 / 10:59 am

      They replaced the bottom terminal of Blackjack this summer to make room for the Tucker Mountain Lift. I believe it is similar to the A51 Lift’s bottom terminal at Keystone.

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      • V3 November 7, 2019 / 2:58 pm

        It is indeed getting a Skytrac tension return though slightly refined from A51 as it has more walkways and handrails. I completed concrete for the return, the lift shack and tower 2 in September. I also helped to shorten the existing tower 3 to adjust the profile so as not to overload the assemblies. Tim and Alan set steel in October, so short of some handrails that got misallocated but should arrive soon to the terminal is done and the lift should be load testing the mods soon.

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        • Michael November 7, 2019 / 4:51 pm

          Why is the Tucker bottom terminal concrete projection so tall? I don’t remember making that compensation when we installed original Blackjack bottom terminal.

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        • V3 November 19, 2019 / 10:30 pm

          The location of the new Tucker lift is southeast of the old 4 foundation so to reach the ground the foundations got tall; a tremendous amount of fill was taken from autobahn trailand around the new 4 bottom to get the grade under the tucker terminal.

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  5. skitheeast February 24, 2020 / 8:42 am

    Like all the other lifts in the Copper Bowl, Blackjack has a capacity of 1200. It also has a length of about ~2260 ft.

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