Lower station and tower 2.Combo tower #8.Loading area.Riding up.Tower 9.Approaching the top.Lower part of the lift line.Skytrac Monarch drive station.Lift overview.The former lift had a lattice tower utilizing the same foundation.The final tower and top terminal.Side view of the return terminal.Breakover towers.View down the lift line.Middle part of the lift line.Lower station area.
Could be, although I’ve not seen any other full Skytrac lifts (just mods). It does look like they reused the terminal footer from the old Hall so that could be part of it.
It’s a custom return terminal mounted directly onto the original footing. The bolt patterns are the same. If memory serves, they actually lifted this return terminal into place at the same time the old lift was being dismantled. It sat in place for several months over the summer awaiting the rest of the new lift.
indeed. I can’t argue that they aren’t becoming more popular, but I will say that the Skytrac quad at Berkshire East, MA sometimes has frequent problems. It includes a loading carpet in which the gates are not in sync when they open. Granted that is not skytrac, but a lot of people blame it on the lift. Another problem is sometimes the lift can have lengthy stops due to mechanical problems, some reaching up to an hour. This is a 2015 install. Granted this could just be lack of maintenance, but Berkshire east doesn’t usually cut corners like that. Hopefully they have improved a little over the past years. Also I do not think they make detachables, only fixed grip.
The riblet here was originally named Chair 6 and was only renamed to “High Campbell” circa 1998. If I had to guess, they probably renamed it back to Chair 6 somewhat as a throwback.
Crystal’s chairs were always numbered. Names came later- I have an old map from the early 80s (you can find it on Skimap.org as well) that has both names and numbers by the lifts. They were used interchangeably for several decades, with the majority of us using the numbers. Rainier Express was 10 on my check-in sheet for operators in the 90s. Once lifts started being replaced the company seems to have dropped the numbers- Forest Queen instead of 9, Green Valley instead of 3, et cetera. Calling it 6 is definitely a throwback now.
Somebody, 6/High Campbell was never a Ribet. It was a Hall with a Riblet drive terminal.
Was this lift reinstalled in the same alignment? Or was there something else they did to mitigate the avalanche danger? I wouldn’t think they would want the same mistake to happen twice.
Same alignment. Nothing done about the slope that failed and hit the last lift, but they installed some Gazex Exploders at the top of Powder Bowl. I think they simply plan to bomb Campbell Basin (the slope that failed) more often.
Some housekeeping things: The slope that slid was skiers’ left of the Throne Chutes, with the start zone hand-charge-distance below the ridge. (It was a hand charge that kicked the whole shebang off, after all.) Campbell Basin is a catchall for the zone, not any specific spot. In fact, if you say “Campbell Basin”, at CM, most folks will just hear “bougie new lodge at the top of 9.” 2nd, there isn’t anything to be “done” beyond what the very skilled and experienced Patrol already does after every snow or wind event, which in some years is daily control routes for 8 weeks straight. 3rd, patrols don’t “bomb”, they control. Bombing kills, whereas controlling seeks to avoid injury and death. 4th, skipping the tin-hatter interpretations of the situation I’m about 75% sure are at least 66% possible, I’ll just go with the generally held belief that the slide that took out Old Chair 6 (High Campbell was never its name, no matter what the maps said) was a one-off. Nobody I know (including long-time lift mechanics, cat drivers, instructors, and patrollers) had ever seen the Throne go that big or that far. It hasn’t since. There is much skier compaction, a well-studied, practised, and refined control route, and therefore very minimal chance of a repeat. Three pronounced benches collect slide debris and/or slow its travel well before it can hit the line. The Throne Chutes are skied to death. Most control results peter out on the mellowing pitch of Hamburger even before the first bench. Naturals are almost non-existent. Obviously, if it happens once, it can happen twice, but I don’t think the exact extenuating circumstances that lined up for Kim’s and Michelle’s big boom to take it to the house will happen again under the new regime. (Didn’t quite stop short of the tin-hatter part. Sorry.)
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Is this SkyTrac’s only double chair? Haven’t seen any anywhere else.
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Stagecoach at Big Sky but it has Doppelmayr chairs.
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Isnt the return terminal design different than those used on a typical SkyTrac installation?
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Could be, although I’ve not seen any other full Skytrac lifts (just mods). It does look like they reused the terminal footer from the old Hall so that could be part of it.
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It had a Riblet Terminal, not a Hall.
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Riblet drive, Hall return.
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It’s a custom return terminal mounted directly onto the original footing. The bolt patterns are the same. If memory serves, they actually lifted this return terminal into place at the same time the old lift was being dismantled. It sat in place for several months over the summer awaiting the rest of the new lift.
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Skytrac is becoming a more popular company for sure. They definitely make good lifts.
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indeed. I can’t argue that they aren’t becoming more popular, but I will say that the Skytrac quad at Berkshire East, MA sometimes has frequent problems. It includes a loading carpet in which the gates are not in sync when they open. Granted that is not skytrac, but a lot of people blame it on the lift. Another problem is sometimes the lift can have lengthy stops due to mechanical problems, some reaching up to an hour. This is a 2015 install. Granted this could just be lack of maintenance, but Berkshire east doesn’t usually cut corners like that. Hopefully they have improved a little over the past years. Also I do not think they make detachables, only fixed grip.
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I have built numerous skytrac lifts starting in 2013 at Bridger Bowl and have heard of few if any problems in terms of reliability.
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I wonder why this lift wasn’t named High Campbell since that was the name of the lift it replaced.
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The riblet here was originally named Chair 6 and was only renamed to “High Campbell” circa 1998. If I had to guess, they probably renamed it back to Chair 6 somewhat as a throwback.
LikeLike
Crystal’s chairs were always numbered. Names came later- I have an old map from the early 80s (you can find it on Skimap.org as well) that has both names and numbers by the lifts. They were used interchangeably for several decades, with the majority of us using the numbers. Rainier Express was 10 on my check-in sheet for operators in the 90s. Once lifts started being replaced the company seems to have dropped the numbers- Forest Queen instead of 9, Green Valley instead of 3, et cetera. Calling it 6 is definitely a throwback now.
Somebody, 6/High Campbell was never a Ribet. It was a Hall with a Riblet drive terminal.
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Was this lift reinstalled in the same alignment? Or was there something else they did to mitigate the avalanche danger? I wouldn’t think they would want the same mistake to happen twice.
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Same alignment. Nothing done about the slope that failed and hit the last lift, but they installed some Gazex Exploders at the top of Powder Bowl. I think they simply plan to bomb Campbell Basin (the slope that failed) more often.
LikeLike
Some housekeeping things: The slope that slid was skiers’ left of the Throne Chutes, with the start zone hand-charge-distance below the ridge. (It was a hand charge that kicked the whole shebang off, after all.) Campbell Basin is a catchall for the zone, not any specific spot. In fact, if you say “Campbell Basin”, at CM, most folks will just hear “bougie new lodge at the top of 9.” 2nd, there isn’t anything to be “done” beyond what the very skilled and experienced Patrol already does after every snow or wind event, which in some years is daily control routes for 8 weeks straight. 3rd, patrols don’t “bomb”, they control. Bombing kills, whereas controlling seeks to avoid injury and death. 4th, skipping the tin-hatter interpretations of the situation I’m about 75% sure are at least 66% possible, I’ll just go with the generally held belief that the slide that took out Old Chair 6 (High Campbell was never its name, no matter what the maps said) was a one-off. Nobody I know (including long-time lift mechanics, cat drivers, instructors, and patrollers) had ever seen the Throne go that big or that far. It hasn’t since. There is much skier compaction, a well-studied, practised, and refined control route, and therefore very minimal chance of a repeat. Three pronounced benches collect slide debris and/or slow its travel well before it can hit the line. The Throne Chutes are skied to death. Most control results peter out on the mellowing pitch of Hamburger even before the first bench. Naturals are almost non-existent. Obviously, if it happens once, it can happen twice, but I don’t think the exact extenuating circumstances that lined up for Kim’s and Michelle’s big boom to take it to the house will happen again under the new regime. (Didn’t quite stop short of the tin-hatter part. Sorry.)
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what is with that blag bag on the top of tower 8?
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It’s an extra long Chairlift evacuation rope, because the tower is so high.
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