Lower station with counterweight.Loading area from above.View up the line.Side view of the return station.Riding up in winter.Heron-Poma lift line.View back down the lift line.Tower 22 just below the summit.Vault drive.View down the lift line.Tower 12.Lower lift line.
You contradict yourself here. On the Looking Glass lift page you say that you want it replaced, but the lift that is 8 years newer is historic and shouldn’t be replaced. 1974 isn’t really that historic for a lift and neither is 1966 either. There are plenty of lifts that old that still operate.
Why do you want more traffic on Challenger? It’s the best part of the mountain and it’s best when people who have no business being on it stay away from it
i agree, but disagree. I think wp should replace this lift with a new double identical in capacity, similar to palivichini at a basin because if wp upgrades the capacity, the bumps on the c chair side will become terrible, making a lot of loyal jane skiers leave.
What’s to say the bumps aren’t already terrible? Super Gauge services all the terrain and goes twice as fast as Challenger. Eventually it will become time for a replacement, but the resort will know what the best replacement is for this terrain.
I disagree a detachable lift here will ruin Mary Jane, or make the bumps terrible. As it is today with Super Gauge, the most accessible bumps can suffer from being over-skied when it has not snowed in a while. Hidden or off-the-beaten-path bumps have no issues. A detachable Challenger will only continue these trends.
However, if you are really concerned about uphill capacity, remove Pony Express as well when a detachable quad is installed here so 2400 pph capacity replaces 2400 pph capacity.
almost doesn’t matter. WP and even MJ have become prime destinations. I visited a few times over the past 2 seasons and noticed a few things.
Almost everyone else was an out of state destination skier, and as a result there were persistent lines for Pano, Super Gauge and even Sunnyside. All of the terrain in Mary Jane, every inch, had been massively skied off. Every 6 pack chair on each of those lifts was full for about 4 hours a day. That kind of capacity & demand simply doesn’t retain snow. I was there during weekdays in mid Feb to late March. Storms led to pow day crowds, and then a few days after storms there was a constant hammering of the terrain by a ton of folks.
Still a fun mountain, and Challenger and it’s little separated terrain zone is still the best place to park and the last to get truly skied out, but WP in general is highly trafficked enough now there isn’t much point in trying to preserve the past. Which is why they look to crowd flow and expansion instead of nostalgic decisions.
Winter Park’s Master Plan calls for Pony Express and Iron Horse to be replaced with a HS6 with a Mid-Station 2/3 of the way up. The new lift would really take pressure off Super Gauge, so I don’t think upgrading this lift is necessary. Maybe, when the time comes, they can replace it with a Fixed-Grip Triple or Double so they can maintain it easier, but not a HSQ.
Skiing for the first time at WP this winter. I love taking the occasional ride on lifts like this or Looking Glass. A change of pace from all the high speed lifts.
it didn’t operate yesterday when i was there , only super guage. it seems like WP is operating the older lifts as little as possible, are they having problems with maintenance and parts?
SGX serves all of Mary Jane, so it makes little sense to operate the Herons unless demand warrants it. From what I’ve been hearing they’re in fine shape with no maintenance or parts issues.
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This and/or Iron Horse are overdue for high speed quad upgrades.
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No, no, no! These lifts are VERY historic. Well, at least Challenger lift is (iron horse is practically never open).
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The problem with ‘historic’ lifts is that they become increasingly difficult to find parts for.
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Literally every remaining SLI out there…….49 Degrees North & Telluride feel that one!
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You contradict yourself here. On the Looking Glass lift page you say that you want it replaced, but the lift that is 8 years newer is historic and shouldn’t be replaced. 1974 isn’t really that historic for a lift and neither is 1966 either. There are plenty of lifts that old that still operate.
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i am so in love with this lift, replace one of them with a quad if they must but not challenger:(
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Challenger getting replaced would siphon more traffic from Super Gauge than replacing Iron Horse would.
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Why do you want more traffic on Challenger? It’s the best part of the mountain and it’s best when people who have no business being on it stay away from it
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Because it would alleviate crowding at Super Gauge.
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i agree, but disagree. I think wp should replace this lift with a new double identical in capacity, similar to palivichini at a basin because if wp upgrades the capacity, the bumps on the c chair side will become terrible, making a lot of loyal jane skiers leave.
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What’s to say the bumps aren’t already terrible? Super Gauge services all the terrain and goes twice as fast as Challenger. Eventually it will become time for a replacement, but the resort will know what the best replacement is for this terrain.
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I disagree a detachable lift here will ruin Mary Jane, or make the bumps terrible. As it is today with Super Gauge, the most accessible bumps can suffer from being over-skied when it has not snowed in a while. Hidden or off-the-beaten-path bumps have no issues. A detachable Challenger will only continue these trends.
However, if you are really concerned about uphill capacity, remove Pony Express as well when a detachable quad is installed here so 2400 pph capacity replaces 2400 pph capacity.
LikeLiked by 1 person
almost doesn’t matter. WP and even MJ have become prime destinations. I visited a few times over the past 2 seasons and noticed a few things.
Almost everyone else was an out of state destination skier, and as a result there were persistent lines for Pano, Super Gauge and even Sunnyside. All of the terrain in Mary Jane, every inch, had been massively skied off. Every 6 pack chair on each of those lifts was full for about 4 hours a day. That kind of capacity & demand simply doesn’t retain snow. I was there during weekdays in mid Feb to late March. Storms led to pow day crowds, and then a few days after storms there was a constant hammering of the terrain by a ton of folks.
Still a fun mountain, and Challenger and it’s little separated terrain zone is still the best place to park and the last to get truly skied out, but WP in general is highly trafficked enough now there isn’t much point in trying to preserve the past. Which is why they look to crowd flow and expansion instead of nostalgic decisions.
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If you could change anything about this lift, what would it be and why?
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I would upgrade it to a quad, because it would help the crowding in super gauge.
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Winter Park’s Master Plan calls for Pony Express and Iron Horse to be replaced with a HS6 with a Mid-Station 2/3 of the way up. The new lift would really take pressure off Super Gauge, so I don’t think upgrading this lift is necessary. Maybe, when the time comes, they can replace it with a Fixed-Grip Triple or Double so they can maintain it easier, but not a HSQ.
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Yes I agree. The crowds at Super Gauge can become enormous so a HSQ would really help. Same with Iron Horse, but Challenger may be a bigger problem.
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Skiing for the first time at WP this winter. I love taking the occasional ride on lifts like this or Looking Glass. A change of pace from all the high speed lifts.
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They have plans to replace Challenger and Iron Horse with a six-pack and an angled mid station
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Not Challenger, but Pony and Iron Horse.
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Oh, right. I get them mixed up because they are both Heron-Poma and very similar.
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Yeah, easy to mix all of them up because basically every lift on Mary Jane side except Super Gauge is a Heron-Poma.
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Super gauge serves the same terrain, so why does challenger operate more then iron horse or pony express?
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it didn’t operate yesterday when i was there , only super guage.
it seems like WP is operating the older lifts as little as possible, are they having problems with maintenance and parts?
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SGX serves all of Mary Jane, so it makes little sense to operate the Herons unless demand warrants it. From what I’ve been hearing they’re in fine shape with no maintenance or parts issues.
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Makes sense, thanks.
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they run the doubles as needed, which seems to be most Thursday-Sundays.
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