Loaded line with lots of sag.Chair 23 is famous for the steep terrain it accesses and snowshed at the top.Doppelmayr recently replaced tower 2 as of 2017.Bottom station with lots of room to raise for snow load.Counterweight is far, far away.Loading area.T2.Another Doppelmayr tower mod.Arriving up top.It’s cool!Return bullwheel inside.Large doors can close to protect the lift during storms.Steep lift line.Middle part of the line.Combo assemblies.View up the line.Side view of the drive-tension terminal.Far away tensioning.
I love the snowshed part, it’s pretty incredible when you go in it. I was wondering if they could upgrade it to a DTQ and still keep the snowshed since this should be a DTQ sometime around now.
Not likely. Yan Triples typically had a 13 foot line gauge and bullwheel- too narrow for a detach quad at a typical 15 foot. And you’d really need to remove the shed to build the new terminal.
Sorry
There’s no need for an upgrade to 23. As it is, it has a 5-6 minute ride time, and is intended to serve only expert terrain. Given that Mammoth is the most-skied areas in North America, all a detachable will do is encourage people to ride it that have no business being at the top of 40Âş+ runs.
No. Attendance at Mammoth Mt WAY down past 10 years. 2-3 bad snow years 2018-21. Idiotic Covid closures. $208 tickets. $4.50 SD gas. No flights from LAX or SD. Chair 23 is a POS. Mammoth is huge, but so stale. 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 22, 23, 25 are a total joke! These chairs are 30-50 years old.
I’m surprised this hasn’t been converted to hydraulic tensioning like a lot of other Yans out there. I feel like if they would take the time to remove chairs from the line and the haul rope to upgrade the tensioning system too.
All the tension loads are supported by the mast out by the counterweight well away from the terminal, so the terminal’s height adjustable frame and portal legs are not designed to support this type of load making it difficult and expensive to change from a counterweight.
There is nothing wrong with a counterweight they are fairly inexpensive and low maintenance solution
It’s definitely getting its use this season, as mammoth is still open, and it’s one of the five that are running. I definitely see some of the other yans that will be removed to be used as spare parts for this lift
As the Drive terminal is raised up the the Drive carriage moves back. The counterweight moves to to keep the tension the same. (Basically the same action as the haulrope stretching). The hold down assemblies sheave load decreases slightly as the terminal goes up.
Chair 23 is an engineering marvel that guys like Dave and Yan could draw up to access the steep terrain in the middle of a serious avalanche zone. There are lots of days when the upper Gondola won’t run because of wind, and 23 just chugs along delivering folks in 50 mph winds. Fixed grip lifts for the win (you, too 25)!
First time at the mountain today, May 9, 2023 just came there to do a scratch and sniff because I was suspended from work . Extra bitchin chair lift and super awesome corn snow ( not quite set up but there were deep pockets of consistent corn snow fluff that were 3 to 400 feet in length that led to a large amount of GS turns in excess of 50 mile an hour ) I didn’t wait in line so as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to upgrade the lift 🤷🏼‍♂️
If I was going to complain about anything, I suppose the shit underneath the chair lift could have been a little steeper 🤷🏼‍♂️ no, no doesn’t sound like a legitimate complaint yeah the chair is good and so is the mountain. Kind of rides like Siberia at Palisades a.k.a. squaw Valley, USA maybe they should downgrade from double diamond to blue 🤷🏼‍♂️
I was at Mammoth for the first time as well last weekend, and this lift had no lines and was seriously the coolest lift I’ve ever been on, and couldn’t agree more that its fine as a fixed grip
I’d recommend following Vince on Instagram! He’s the caretaker of the top station through the winter he has an apartment up there in the basement, LA times did a profile on him a few years ago:
Lift Blog 
I love the snowshed part, it’s pretty incredible when you go in it. I was wondering if they could upgrade it to a DTQ and still keep the snowshed since this should be a DTQ sometime around now.
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Not likely. Yan Triples typically had a 13 foot line gauge and bullwheel- too narrow for a detach quad at a typical 15 foot. And you’d really need to remove the shed to build the new terminal.
Sorry
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There’s no need for an upgrade to 23. As it is, it has a 5-6 minute ride time, and is intended to serve only expert terrain. Given that Mammoth is the most-skied areas in North America, all a detachable will do is encourage people to ride it that have no business being at the top of 40Âş+ runs.
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No. Attendance at Mammoth Mt WAY down past 10 years. 2-3 bad snow years 2018-21. Idiotic Covid closures. $208 tickets. $4.50 SD gas. No flights from LAX or SD. Chair 23 is a POS. Mammoth is huge, but so stale. 7, 8, 9, 12, 13, 14 22, 23, 25 are a total joke! These chairs are 30-50 years old.
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Wow. Someone has a lot of anger at a lot of people/organizations.
Yeah – let’s go and replace all the old chairs with new, WAY more expensive chairs so we can drive ticket prices even higher!
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You need to chill out these chairs work great and am on one in fact. Can you make it down everything at mammoth there is no reason to hate mammoth.
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i concur Tomas, please don’t make ever make Chair 23 a detachable quad.
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I wonder if the description should be altered to “Yan with Doppelmayr sheaves and a few Doppelmayr towers”.
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I’m surprised this hasn’t been converted to hydraulic tensioning like a lot of other Yans out there. I feel like if they would take the time to remove chairs from the line and the haul rope to upgrade the tensioning system too.
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All the tension loads are supported by the mast out by the counterweight well away from the terminal, so the terminal’s height adjustable frame and portal legs are not designed to support this type of load making it difficult and expensive to change from a counterweight.
There is nothing wrong with a counterweight they are fairly inexpensive and low maintenance solution
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Just seeing this, but I’ll tag in on Von’s comment. Not everything needs to be upgraded. It’s a cliche for sure, but if it ain’t broke, why fix it?
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It’s definitely getting its use this season, as mammoth is still open, and it’s one of the five that are running. I definitely see some of the other yans that will be removed to be used as spare parts for this lift
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Always happy to see a fixed grip get a good workout.
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No detachable ever please.
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This lift is crazy! The snowshed is really cool, and the drive station is massive. That drive is the biggest one I’ve ever seen on a fixed grip
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How does height adjustment work and not screw up the tensioning?
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As far away as that counterweight is, I doubt the angle on the cable would even change.
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The tension isn’t affected by the height of the terminal.
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As the Drive terminal is raised up the the Drive carriage moves back. The counterweight moves to to keep the tension the same. (Basically the same action as the haulrope stretching). The hold down assemblies sheave load decreases slightly as the terminal goes up.
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yes those lifts need to be remove because one time I fell off of chair 12
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Chair 23 is an engineering marvel that guys like Dave and Yan could draw up to access the steep terrain in the middle of a serious avalanche zone. There are lots of days when the upper Gondola won’t run because of wind, and 23 just chugs along delivering folks in 50 mph winds. Fixed grip lifts for the win (you, too 25)!
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First time at the mountain today, May 9, 2023 just came there to do a scratch and sniff because I was suspended from work . Extra bitchin chair lift and super awesome corn snow ( not quite set up but there were deep pockets of consistent corn snow fluff that were 3 to 400 feet in length that led to a large amount of GS turns in excess of 50 mile an hour ) I didn’t wait in line so as far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to upgrade the lift 🤷🏼‍♂️
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If I was going to complain about anything, I suppose the shit underneath the chair lift could have been a little steeper 🤷🏼‍♂️ no, no doesn’t sound like a legitimate complaint yeah the chair is good and so is the mountain. Kind of rides like Siberia at Palisades a.k.a. squaw Valley, USA maybe they should downgrade from double diamond to blue 🤷🏼‍♂️
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When you have 50′ of snow most of the step lift skiing gets much flatter than in an average snow year, example the “Wall” at Kirkwood.
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I was at Mammoth for the first time as well last weekend, and this lift had no lines and was seriously the coolest lift I’ve ever been on, and couldn’t agree more that its fine as a fixed grip
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Imagine riding out one of the massive storms they get here in the snowshed at the top
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The mountain ops folks that reside in the upper gondola building are front and center for storms, sunrises, and sunsets.
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I’d recommend following Vince on Instagram! He’s the caretaker of the top station through the winter he has an apartment up there in the basement, LA times did a profile on him a few years ago:
https://www.latimes.com/environment/story/2021-11-16/he-lives-alone-atop-a-california-volcano
I know that article said he was retiring soon but I still see him posting stuff frequently.
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