This lift was installed with a mix of new and used components.The former Riblet double continued higher, to the top of Sam’s Knob.View down the line from the top.Top few towers.Middle part of the line.Lower lift line.Poma Z return bullwheel.Lift overview.Riding up.Tower 3.Nearing the top.
Found a nice article on this topic from the Aspen Times. SkiCo officials cited down time during the season and aging first-gen detachable parts as reasons to replace Ajax in 2003. The first Ajax Express was also apparently built as a fixed grip quad then upgraded to a detachable the following year, similar to other Poma high speed quads of this era like the original Falcon at Breckenridge. According to Peter’s spreadsheet, the capacity was increased from 1,700 to 2,400 on the new machine, which also reuses the old tower tubes.
They claim it was down 6 hours for mechanical failures in the entire season. That’s not a “nasty delay” in my opinion. Sunday River’s Barker Mountain Express is sometimes down for days at a time. They also had other detachables that were of similar age and weren’t replaced like the Silver Queen Gondola which runs much higher hours.
For a chair like Ajax Express, 6 hours a season is disastrous. That chair isn’t an integral part of the lift system, it pretty much IS the lift system. With that chair down, there really isn’t much to lap. Imagine if Ursa at Stratton, or lodge at highlands, or Summit express at Solitude (or Pico) went down. Aspen Mountain isn’t that large, under 700 acres. Ajax is the only real pod that people lap. Silver Queen and Barker have backup lifts and aren’t typically lapped too often. SQ going down is a mild inconvenience- take Little Nell to Bell Mountain to either Gent’s or Ajax, and you arrive at your destination, 10-20 minutes late. Having Ajax down is a much worse problem- FIS, Ruthies and Shadow mountain get slammed with crowds, gondola does too, so the only good pod to lap is Gents, but from the bottom of ajax, you spend 10 minutes skiing down, wait in a 15 minute line, hop on the gondola which takes another 10 minutes, and by the time you get to the top of the mountain, it has been almost 40 minutes. Oh, and the Gents Ridge chair is a 12 minute ride. Keep in mind, everybody else has the exact same idea as you, so you’ll only get a few laps in before Gents gets mobbed.
I’m curious why they had the replacement lift only run up to two-thirds of the way up the original lift line, as opposed to run it all the way to the top of Sam’s Knob like the original lift. Was it because of the plans for the Village Express lift?
I do wish Snowmass replaced this lift with a detachable in the original alignment going all the way up to Sam’s. It is a great pod, and needing to take two lifts to properly lap the terrain is a hassle.
The only real space constraint is that the original lift ended right where Sam’s restaurant currently is. Slightly changing the alignment to end 50-100 feet east is not too hard.
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If I recall correctly the used parts- the drive and towers- came from the former Ajax Express.
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Why did they replace it so early? At only 18 years old, it has to have been the newest detachable scrapped besides the Yan ones.
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Found a nice article on this topic from the Aspen Times. SkiCo officials cited down time during the season and aging first-gen detachable parts as reasons to replace Ajax in 2003. The first Ajax Express was also apparently built as a fixed grip quad then upgraded to a detachable the following year, similar to other Poma high speed quads of this era like the original Falcon at Breckenridge. According to Peter’s spreadsheet, the capacity was increased from 1,700 to 2,400 on the new machine, which also reuses the old tower tubes.
https://www.aspentimes.com/news/new-chairlift-should-eliminate-nasty-delays-on-aspen-mountain/
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They claim it was down 6 hours for mechanical failures in the entire season. That’s not a “nasty delay” in my opinion. Sunday River’s Barker Mountain Express is sometimes down for days at a time. They also had other detachables that were of similar age and weren’t replaced like the Silver Queen Gondola which runs much higher hours.
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For a chair like Ajax Express, 6 hours a season is disastrous. That chair isn’t an integral part of the lift system, it pretty much IS the lift system. With that chair down, there really isn’t much to lap. Imagine if Ursa at Stratton, or lodge at highlands, or Summit express at Solitude (or Pico) went down. Aspen Mountain isn’t that large, under 700 acres. Ajax is the only real pod that people lap. Silver Queen and Barker have backup lifts and aren’t typically lapped too often. SQ going down is a mild inconvenience- take Little Nell to Bell Mountain to either Gent’s or Ajax, and you arrive at your destination, 10-20 minutes late. Having Ajax down is a much worse problem- FIS, Ruthies and Shadow mountain get slammed with crowds, gondola does too, so the only good pod to lap is Gents, but from the bottom of ajax, you spend 10 minutes skiing down, wait in a 15 minute line, hop on the gondola which takes another 10 minutes, and by the time you get to the top of the mountain, it has been almost 40 minutes. Oh, and the Gents Ridge chair is a 12 minute ride. Keep in mind, everybody else has the exact same idea as you, so you’ll only get a few laps in before Gents gets mobbed.
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it says they have a 41 lift fleet in the article? are they counting removed lifts and conveyors or something?
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Huh, never thought about this, but why didn’t they refurbish the high speed and put it here instead of buying new components for a fixed grip?
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I’m curious why they had the replacement lift only run up to two-thirds of the way up the original lift line, as opposed to run it all the way to the top of Sam’s Knob like the original lift. Was it because of the plans for the Village Express lift?
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Probably that, and that it would be faster to route skiers up to this point and up the faster Sam’s Knob chair than to have this chair keep going.
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Okay, it seems as though plans had already been in the making for the Village Express when Campground was rebuilt: https://www.aspentimes.com/news/new-chairlift-should-eliminate-nasty-delays-on-aspen-mountain/
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This is the only fixed grip in Snowmass to not be a learning lift.
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I guess the Skycab is also fixed grip.
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I do wish Snowmass replaced this lift with a detachable in the original alignment going all the way up to Sam’s. It is a great pod, and needing to take two lifts to properly lap the terrain is a hassle.
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There are space constraints up at the top.
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The only real space constraint is that the original lift ended right where Sam’s restaurant currently is. Slightly changing the alignment to end 50-100 feet east is not too hard.
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Is snowmass not running this lift this season? Does that mean a new lift is coming?
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They were running it in March 2021.
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Was there a campground near this lift at one point?
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yes
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This lift has used parts right? It dosen’t look all new. Like Assay Hill.
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Correct
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Everything’s from the old Ajax lift save for the chairs.
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if anyone cares there are 95 chairs on the lift(i found out myself)
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Why is this lift names “campground”
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There used to be a campground there.
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