This late model Riblet utilizes older chairs and towers.Loading area.Interestingly, the tower tubes appear to be off from the center line of the lift. The crossarms are wider on the heavy side.Quad chair with double clips.View down the lift line.Breakover towers.Unloading ramp.Return bullwheel and guidage.View down from the summit.Lower lift line.Top station.
Most likely to have a larger clearance between riders and the tower tube. Many Riblets aren’t designed for any downhill capacity and anyone who does ride down typically doesn’t have skis/boards.
All of the Riblet quads with the late 60’s and 70’s tower heads were offset. They use the triple tower heads with an extension on the load side for tower clearance. Riblet quads from this era had towers placed very close together to reduce the loads on the towers. All of the Riblet quads at Boyne Highlands and Boyne Mountain were this way as well. The Nubs Green chair originally had center pole quad chairs with the same offset towers. When Nubs renovated that lift they put new, centered, tower heads on the existing towers and therefore had to move the drive terminal over slightly and they installed a new tension terminal also moved over slightly to be centered on the towers.
They had both offerings. Voyager at Indianhead was one of the first quads Riblet built and it had this same style chair. The other early Riblet quads were at Boyne resorts in Michigan and they had the center pole behind the chair. All were built in the same couple of years. This chair may have been the quad from Royal Valley. That resort closed around the time this lift was installed at Alpine Valley.
This appears to have been a 1987 new installation (mis-labeled as a double chair). The SAM stats from that 1987 lift match very closely to its current location. Riblet only built a few quad chairs between 1983 and 1990, and the first I could find of the bail carrier design was the 1990 installation at Mount Baker, WA. The two quads at Devils Head, WI (1988 and 1990) had center pole carriers, and the 1988 installation appears to have the same design as this lift, while the 1990 installation has the ‘seat-back’ mounting. Royal Valley became Ski World and was still operational in 1990 and closed very soon after, so it is unlikely this was removed prior to their closing. This evidence points to these being original carriers and towers.
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I wonder what the mystery behind those cross arms is
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Most likely to have a larger clearance between riders and the tower tube. Many Riblets aren’t designed for any downhill capacity and anyone who does ride down typically doesn’t have skis/boards.
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All of the Riblet quads with the late 60’s and 70’s tower heads were offset. They use the triple tower heads with an extension on the load side for tower clearance. Riblet quads from this era had towers placed very close together to reduce the loads on the towers. All of the Riblet quads at Boyne Highlands and Boyne Mountain were this way as well. The Nubs Green chair originally had center pole quad chairs with the same offset towers. When Nubs renovated that lift they put new, centered, tower heads on the existing towers and therefore had to move the drive terminal over slightly and they installed a new tension terminal also moved over slightly to be centered on the towers.
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at indianhead they have one of the first riblet center pole quads with the same design but they are decommissioning it tho
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I don’t think those are authentic Riblet chairs, authentic Riblet center-pole quad chairs had the pole behind the chair.
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They had both offerings. Voyager at Indianhead was one of the first quads Riblet built and it had this same style chair. The other early Riblet quads were at Boyne resorts in Michigan and they had the center pole behind the chair. All were built in the same couple of years. This chair may have been the quad from Royal Valley. That resort closed around the time this lift was installed at Alpine Valley.
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This appears to have been a 1987 new installation (mis-labeled as a double chair). The SAM stats from that 1987 lift match very closely to its current location. Riblet only built a few quad chairs between 1983 and 1990, and the first I could find of the bail carrier design was the 1990 installation at Mount Baker, WA. The two quads at Devils Head, WI (1988 and 1990) had center pole carriers, and the 1988 installation appears to have the same design as this lift, while the 1990 installation has the ‘seat-back’ mounting. Royal Valley became Ski World and was still operational in 1990 and closed very soon after, so it is unlikely this was removed prior to their closing. This evidence points to these being original carriers and towers.
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