Lift Construction

What $50 Million Looks Like at Park City

Peter Landsman3 Comments

Tomorrow will mark 11 months since Vail Resorts announced their massive $50 million project to connect Park City Mountain Resort with Canyons to create the largest ski resort in the country.  A significant chunk of that investment went to Doppelmayr USA to build two new detachable lifts and relocate another.  All three projects are nearly finished before there’s even much natural snow on the ground.  In addition to the three new lifts, Park City built a huge new restaurant called Miner’s Camp, added significant snowmaking and did a lot of painting & re-branding.

The Quicksilver Gondola is a month away from uniting Canyons with Park City.

When I visited today the new King Con six-pack was spinning and the Motherlode Express was also finished with chairs on the line.  Crews were pulling com-line at the Quicksilver Gondola and finishing up the angle station.  Check out pictures of all three projects below.  Park City is making snow on both sides of the mountain under sunny skies this weekend and all three new lifts are scheduled to open by the holidays.

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Squaw Valley’s New Siberia Express Six-Pack

Peter Landsman3 Comments

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Squaw Valley has removed ten of its lifts since 2007 while building only four new lifts in the same period.  What’s going on?  Squaw is strategically removing redundant/older fixed grips like Cornice II and replacing first-generation detachable quads with newer technology.  This summer’s project replaces the Siberia Express (a 1985 Poma) with an all-new Leitner-Poma six-pack.  The new Siberia will be Squaw’s second lift with LPA grips and terminals.  The first was the Big Blue six-pack, which replaced not one but three Yan lifts in 2012.  The LPA grip is now used worldwide by both Leitner and Poma but terminals used in North America are designed and built in Grand Junction, Colorado.

The original Siberia was a workhorse at Squaw for thirty years, operating in a harsh above-treeline environment.  It had an old-school Alpha drive building and chain-driven contours.  In addition to upgraded technology, the new Siberia should be less subject to wind closures with heavier chairs.  In a press release announcing the project, Squaw Valley CEO Andy Wirth noted, “upgrading the Siberia Express lift to a high-speed six-passenger chairlift is guaranteed to have a positive impact on the skier experience on the upper mountain at Squaw.  In addition, the lift has been designed in a way that will improve its ability to operate during inclement weather.”  Because its line is so exposed, the new lift has parking for all 56 chairs at the drive terminal.

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The first leg of a unique tower 13 is lowered into place.

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Building a Six Pack at the Hermitage Club

Peter Landsman2 Comments
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Tower footing for the new six pack at the Hermitage Club.

Just south of Mt. Snow in southern Vermont, $75 million is being spent to redevelop the former Haystack Mountain into the Yellowstone Club of the east.  Jim Barnes, founder and CEO of the Hermitage Club, purchased 1,400 acres back in 2011 and has sold 250 memberships at $65,000 a pop  (up to 250 residents of nearby towns can ski for $85 each day.)

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View down the line of the new base-to-summit six pack.

The ski area last operated as a public mountain in 2009 when it was jointly owned with Mt. Snow.  Both mountains were part of the American Skiing Company empire from 1991 until 2007.  When Jim Barnes purchased the property, it had two Poma triples and a CTEC triple.  The club expanded with two SkyTrac quad chairs serving the lower mountain built in 2012 and 2013.  This summer, the Barnstormer triple (Poma) was removed and a Doppelmayr six pack with heated seats and bubbles will take its place.

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Terminal location on the top of Haystack Mountain.

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Okemo’s Two New Lifts

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Leitner-Poma is busy this summer at Okemo Mountain Resort installing one new lift and turning the Jackson Gore Express into Quantum Four, Vermont’s fourth lift with bubble chairs.  The new Sunshine Quad will have 11 towers and provides access to a new real estate development called South Face Village.  As of this week, all concrete footings are finished and steel is going up.  It will have a bottom drive/tension Alpha terminal with a fixed return up top.

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Top bullwheel with support structure in place.
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Tower head #10 still needing a tube.
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Footings for the Alpha drive terminal are ready to go along with the haul rope.

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Sugarbush’s New Valley House Quad

Peter Landsman1 Comment
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Support structure for the Doppelmayr Tristar drive terminal.

New England ski areas are building three new lifts this summer and all of them happen to be in Vermont.  At Sugarbush, the Valley House double (a 1960 Carlevario-Savio) is out and a Doppelmayr fixed-grip quad is going in.  At some point the old lift got a new Poma Alpha drive terminal and Borvig chairs.  The perfectly good Poma terminal is off to West Mountain on the other side of Lake Champlain in New York.  Sugarbush’s new lift looks like it’s going to have the Tristar-model terminal like many other recent Doppelmayr lifts in New England.  The bottom terminal has been moved downhill to be much closer to the Super Bravo Express than the old lift.  This will be Sugarbush’s 8th quad chair between Lincoln Peak and Mt. Ellen.  Doppelmayr still has a ways to go on this project with just a couple towers and sections of both terminals standing but all the important concrete work is done.

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Loading carpet and gates are already installed.

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Finishing Three Lifts at Once in Park City

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Finally the relocated King Con got some new paint for its new home.
Finally the relocated King Con got some new paint.  Haul rope is on too.

Doppelmayr is on a roll at Park City with haul ropes spliced and tensioned for the new King Con Express and Motherlode Express lifts.  In case you’ve been living under a rock, King Con is a brand new Uni-G model six pack with a loading carpet while Motherlode is a recycled Garaventa CTEC detachable quad moved from the King Con line.  Both are nearly finished 50 days before opening day.

King Con Express with a new haul rope and freshly-painted tower tubes.
King Con Express with a brand haul rope and freshly-painted tower tubes.

Over at the Quicksilver Gondola, which connects Park City to the former Canyons Resort, the drive terminal is getting a loading platform and what looks like a small cabin maintenance building.  A bunch more cabins have arrived from Switzerland; the highest number I saw on a gondola was 61.  The angle station is going up now with a crane setting bullwheels today.  This station is going to be massive and I imagine the large tire sections will follow this week.

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Top of King Con with the new gondola in the distance.

In other news, Payday Express, the last of Park City’s detachables with white paint received its new red and silver paint job last week along with Flat Iron next to the new gondola.  Just about every lift at the combined resort has been painted this summer with the exception of a few fixed-grip lifts on the Park City side.  Check out more pictures of the construction after the jump.

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Chairs Going on the Teton Lift

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The Teton lift got its haul rope and commline in the last few weeks and Doppelmayr started launching chairs on Saturday.  Agamatic grips were being attached to each chair before going onto the maintenance rail at the bottom terminal.  Doppelmayr was launching chairs in groups with the lift running slowly in reverse.  All 80 chairs should be on by this afternoon.  Next up: adjustments and load test.  Impressive to see this project nearly finished two and half months before its scheduled opening (which is December 19th.)

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Chairs going on in reverse.
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Towers 13-15 just below the top terminal.

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Pomerelle Mountain Gets a SkyTrac

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The beginnings of the bottom drive terminal for Pomerelle's new triple chair.
The beginnings of the bottom drive terminal for Pomerelle’s new triple chair.

SkyTrac, the new American lift builder based in Salt Lake City, is building two complete lifts this summer including one at Pomerelle Mountain near Burley, Idaho.  SkyTrac seems to be gaining a following with smaller, independent resorts that need new lifts but are price-sensitive.  By the end of this summer SkyTrac will have built 19 complete lifts in 12 states.  Only two of those were purchased by companies that own multiple resorts (Boyne went with SkyTrac for the latest lifts at The Summit at Snoqualmie and Crystal Mountain.)

Looking up at newly erected towers. Eight of ten are already up.
Looking up at newly erected towers. Eight of ten are already up.

Pomerelle originally had Stearns-Roger and SLI double chairs, built in 1964 and 1975, respectively.  The longer of the two was replaced by a CTEC triple in 1988 and now a SkyTrac triple will replace the shorter double chair.  Work didn’t begin until late July but the SkyTrac crew has already installed most of the lift.  Because of the mellow terrain, towers are being set without a helicopter and only numbers 7 and 10 are left to go up.  The top terminal is finished and the bottom station just needs a motor room.  I didn’t see a haul rope or chairs yet.  The lift also apparently still needs a name!

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Park City King Con Express September Update

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Like the Quicksilver Gondola, Park City’s new King Con Express is just about ready for a haul rope.  Both terminals are nearly complete and all the towers have been ready to go since August.  The chairs are still down in the base area waiting to be assembled.  As far as I can tell, grips and operator houses have not been delivered yet.  I’m guessing Park City is getting the pre-fabricated CTEC-style houses for both King Con and the Gondola.

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The bottom terminal just needs some end caps and an underskin.
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The pit in the lower left is for the loading carpet.

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Cabins and Towers for Park City’s Quicksilver Gondola

Peter Landsman4 Comments
The first Uni-G terminal at Park City looks mighty nice in red and silver.
The first Uni-G terminal at Park City looks mighty nice in red and silver.

The most anticipated new lift of the year is starting to look like the really big gondola that it is. The drive terminal for Park City’s Quicksilver Gondola is largely complete and all 27 towers were set last weekend.  Doppelmayr opted to use the same K-Max heli they’ve been using for other projects even though gondola towers are huge.  The biggest towers – 23 and 24 – were actually set by crane.  In fact, a two-mile long road was built just to access T21-23 on the edge of Thaynes Canyon.

Tower 24 on the edge of Thaynes Canyon is a big one.
Tower 24 on the edge of Thaynes Canyon is a big one.
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There are now 4 lines over Thaynes Canyon, none of which are the final ones.

The towers that were flown were split into in as many as six pieces because of the limited capability of the K-Max at 9,000 feet.  At least two towers have 16-sheave trains that must weigh a ton.  Some towers were flown without catwalks and railings just to make weight.  I was surprised Doppelmayr did not use a heavy-lift helicopter like the Chinook but I’m sure it all came down to price and what was available.

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