Unloading area.Midstation and upper lift line.Mid-load area and turn.The angle station.Another view of the mid-station.Garaventa CTEC Stealth III bottom terminal.Stage I lift line.Riding up stage II.Garaventa AK grip.The top terminal from below.Another view of the base terminal.Top station from above.Just above the mid-station.Angle station seen from above.Section 2 and the top of section 1.Side view of the bottom station of stage 1.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.
When did they renumber the towers? You have a picture of 17 (I think) that shows 9 on it, as well as 10 and 11 right after the mid station showing 1-2. I skied Alta from 07-15 and never saw that number configuration.
This (and all three of Alta’s CTEC detachables) now has the nice wooden terminal underskin like the last few years of Leitner-Poma lifts. Did L-P install these when they built Supreme a few years ago? Seems like a nice throw-in for L-P to win the contract to build their first new lift in Utah since the Canyons gondola in 1997. I’ve never seen this on other CTEC lifts (and they weren’t originally built that way) but it looks really sharp and a great way to freshen up two-decade-old Stealth terminals.
It also looks like they aren’t loading anyone at the angle station all season to simplify life during Covid. Does anyone know what other mountains are doing with mid-loading stations?
Both Chair 4 (Jackass) at Silver and Prospector (1/A) at Showdown are operating their midstations in a normal fashion this year. It’s more important on both of those lifts than it is for Collins, and Covid related precautions have been “less intensive” in Montana and especially Idaho.
Mid unloads at Bridger Bowl, Lost Trail, and Showdown have all run normally as well, but all of them need to, given the terrain layout.
Alta did not offer loading at the angle station at any point during this past ski season. I wonder what they’ll end up doing for next season. I would not be surprised if this turns into a permanent change. It seems Alta needs all the capacity they can get out of the base area, and so I could see them making everyone wait in line at the bottom instead.
It could be a cost-cutting move (though even if the midstation is closed to loading, you do still have to staff the lift shack there. Source: see Red Pine Gondola, or the Peak 8 SuperConnect during early season).
The capacity thing could be mitigated partially by upgrading Wildcat to a detachable, but you’d still have to take the upper part of Collins to get anywhere else.
The mid station is always staffed at Alta, usually by multiple people since that is where the drive equipment is. They also had loading/unloading for employees working at the Watson Shelter that would just ride the lower stage. As to upgrading Wildcat to a detachable, it may allure more people off of Collins yes. Alta does have USFS approval to replace Wildcat, so we may see something there sooner rather than later. Wildcat is an underutilized lift, something that many Alta locals like. The center pole chairs with no bars, along with the long ride make it less desirable to ride.
Has it ever been considered to replace Collins with a 3200 pph gondola on the same alignment and use Collins to replace wildcat. If so then they could build a tram from the top of the gondola to the top of baldy mtn (similar to Big Sky’s base to summit).
Probably won’t ever happen, there isn’t enough demand to justify 3200 pph on Collins. I could see Wildcat replaced in the near future but probably with an entirely new lift considering that Sunnyside was sold off rather than relocated. The tram proposal to the top of Baldy has been mentioned on Alta’s master plan but it probably won’t happen anytime soon (hopefully never).
If I remember correctly the tram was to only be used by ski patrol to get them up to Baldy to do avy control so it wouldn’t impact the hiking experience.
According to Peter’s analysis, “The tram would allow Alta Ski Patrol to retire the Howitzer and Avalaunchers they currently use for control work on Baldy. But the tram would also be open to the public with a limited capacity of 150 skiers per hour.”
I’m all for a ski patrol only tram up Baldy similar to Bridger Bowl’s ski patrol only Doppelmayr platter, but not if they open it to the general public regularly.
For starters, it is not all that ugly. It is actually quite nice looking. Looks even better when you don’t have a zoo of cars and buses trying to fight to get up the canyon too!
The whole argument that lifts/gondolas/trams ruin views is so ridiculous. The Alps are arguably the most gorgeous mountain range on Earth, and they are littered with more ski lifts than anywhere in the US. In this particular case, Alta is proposing a tram to the top of one (1) peak in an area designated for ski operations. However, if you really want to go hiking in the area without viewing ski lifts, I guess 2,614 acres at Alta would be out of bounds among the total *checks notes* 2,169,596 acres of Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest containing hundreds of other mountain peaks.
I don’t really see any reason why wildcat would need more capacity. I went on an extremely busy day yesterday and there was zero line whatsoever. I doubt it would really change anything. If any lift needs some changes I would think sugarloaf should be a 6 or more as it had a massive line.
From when I post photos I use websites that are online (EX flicker, mountainscalor, and the U ski archives site). If your trying to post some from you drive I’m not sure how to do that one, I’d think you would haft to post them on a google doc or use Imgur or flicker. But I’m not the most tech skilled person out there!
Is it possible for them to upgrade this lifts chairs to 6 person chairs? I am 99% sure this thing has 6 pack line gauge. I dont think it is strictly necessary but this lift can build up a decent crowd
Collins is six pack line gage ,done so for wind tolerance reasons, but driveline, line equipment, profile, etc. were not designed for a six pack so at this lifts age it would probably be more cost effective to replace it with completely new equipment.
its not exactly old, I could imagine it would be rather easy to make it function as a six person. Honestly the more I think about it the big issue is how badly the queue management at most resorts here in the US is. They really need loading gates at a bare minimum
It’s not that old (20years) but it’s also not a currently produced and is a limitedly supported product. To build it into a six would require upgrading numerous components. Up fitting old lift into a bigger lift rarely makes economic sense that is why when lifts do get reused they usually are lower capacity, vert or shorter than their original.
Queue management dose work but in my experience loading gates cause more issues than they solve. A well trained lifty actually engaging guests at the wait and load boards works better.
Lift Blog 
When did they renumber the towers? You have a picture of 17 (I think) that shows 9 on it, as well as 10 and 11 right after the mid station showing 1-2. I skied Alta from 07-15 and never saw that number configuration.
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This (and all three of Alta’s CTEC detachables) now has the nice wooden terminal underskin like the last few years of Leitner-Poma lifts. Did L-P install these when they built Supreme a few years ago? Seems like a nice throw-in for L-P to win the contract to build their first new lift in Utah since the Canyons gondola in 1997. I’ve never seen this on other CTEC lifts (and they weren’t originally built that way) but it looks really sharp and a great way to freshen up two-decade-old Stealth terminals.
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It also looks like they aren’t loading anyone at the angle station all season to simplify life during Covid. Does anyone know what other mountains are doing with mid-loading stations?
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Both Chair 4 (Jackass) at Silver and Prospector (1/A) at Showdown are operating their midstations in a normal fashion this year. It’s more important on both of those lifts than it is for Collins, and Covid related precautions have been “less intensive” in Montana and especially Idaho.
Mid unloads at Bridger Bowl, Lost Trail, and Showdown have all run normally as well, but all of them need to, given the terrain layout.
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Alta did not offer loading at the angle station at any point during this past ski season. I wonder what they’ll end up doing for next season. I would not be surprised if this turns into a permanent change. It seems Alta needs all the capacity they can get out of the base area, and so I could see them making everyone wait in line at the bottom instead.
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It could be a cost-cutting move (though even if the midstation is closed to loading, you do still have to staff the lift shack there. Source: see Red Pine Gondola, or the Peak 8 SuperConnect during early season).
The capacity thing could be mitigated partially by upgrading Wildcat to a detachable, but you’d still have to take the upper part of Collins to get anywhere else.
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The mid station is always staffed at Alta, usually by multiple people since that is where the drive equipment is. They also had loading/unloading for employees working at the Watson Shelter that would just ride the lower stage. As to upgrading Wildcat to a detachable, it may allure more people off of Collins yes. Alta does have USFS approval to replace Wildcat, so we may see something there sooner rather than later. Wildcat is an underutilized lift, something that many Alta locals like. The center pole chairs with no bars, along with the long ride make it less desirable to ride.
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The mid load station has reopened this year.
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Has it ever been considered to replace Collins with a 3200 pph gondola on the same alignment and use Collins to replace wildcat. If so then they could build a tram from the top of the gondola to the top of baldy mtn (similar to Big Sky’s base to summit).
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Probably won’t ever happen, there isn’t enough demand to justify 3200 pph on Collins. I could see Wildcat replaced in the near future but probably with an entirely new lift considering that Sunnyside was sold off rather than relocated. The tram proposal to the top of Baldy has been mentioned on Alta’s master plan but it probably won’t happen anytime soon (hopefully never).
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If I remember correctly the tram was to only be used by ski patrol to get them up to Baldy to do avy control so it wouldn’t impact the hiking experience.
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According to Peter’s analysis, “The tram would allow Alta Ski Patrol to retire the Howitzer and Avalaunchers they currently use for control work on Baldy. But the tram would also be open to the public with a limited capacity of 150 skiers per hour.”
I’m all for a ski patrol only tram up Baldy similar to Bridger Bowl’s ski patrol only Doppelmayr platter, but not if they open it to the general public regularly.
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how does an ugly tram not impact the hiking experience (winter and summer alike)
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For starters, it is not all that ugly. It is actually quite nice looking. Looks even better when you don’t have a zoo of cars and buses trying to fight to get up the canyon too!
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The whole argument that lifts/gondolas/trams ruin views is so ridiculous. The Alps are arguably the most gorgeous mountain range on Earth, and they are littered with more ski lifts than anywhere in the US. In this particular case, Alta is proposing a tram to the top of one (1) peak in an area designated for ski operations. However, if you really want to go hiking in the area without viewing ski lifts, I guess 2,614 acres at Alta would be out of bounds among the total *checks notes* 2,169,596 acres of Uinta-Wasatch-Cache National Forest containing hundreds of other mountain peaks.
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I don’t really see any reason why wildcat would need more capacity. I went on an extremely busy day yesterday and there was zero line whatsoever. I doubt it would really change anything. If any lift needs some changes I would think sugarloaf should be a 6 or more as it had a massive line.
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Would anyone be willing to tell me how to post pictures?
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From when I post photos I use websites that are online (EX flicker, mountainscalor, and the U ski archives site). If your trying to post some from you drive I’m not sure how to do that one, I’d think you would haft to post them on a google doc or use Imgur or flicker. But I’m not the most tech skilled person out there!
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You will haft to use a site to post them you can’t unfortunately just take them off your drive and put them on here.
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I use Imgur to post them. However, it will need to be approved in order for them to show up on the website.
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How do you bring them from Imgur to lift blog?
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Just copy and paste the link into this box
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Is it possible for them to upgrade this lifts chairs to 6 person chairs? I am 99% sure this thing has 6 pack line gauge. I dont think it is strictly necessary but this lift can build up a decent crowd
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Collins is six pack line gage ,done so for wind tolerance reasons, but driveline, line equipment, profile, etc. were not designed for a six pack so at this lifts age it would probably be more cost effective to replace it with completely new equipment.
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its not exactly old, I could imagine it would be rather easy to make it function as a six person. Honestly the more I think about it the big issue is how badly the queue management at most resorts here in the US is. They really need loading gates at a bare minimum
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It’s not that old (20years) but it’s also not a currently produced and is a limitedly supported product. To build it into a six would require upgrading numerous components. Up fitting old lift into a bigger lift rarely makes economic sense that is why when lifts do get reused they usually are lower capacity, vert or shorter than their original.
Queue management dose work but in my experience loading gates cause more issues than they solve. A well trained lifty actually engaging guests at the wait and load boards works better.
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The original Collins was a bi-cable single chairlift.
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