This lift follows a new alignment from Snowmass Village to The Cabin and eventually Banzai Ridge.The bottom terminal is located near the Village SkyCab and parallel with the Village Express.View up the lower part of the lift line.Tower 1.LPA return station.Loading area with queueing gates.One third of the chairs feature red head rests while the other two thirds are gray.Arriving at the intermediate station, which features a slight angle change.Loading area at the mid.View riding up the second half of the line.Riding up the line near the former Coney Glade lift line.Upper lift line.Arriving at the drive terminal.Drive station on Banzai Ridge.Unloading area.View from the summit.Leitner comfort chair.Looking up at the top terminal and breakover.View down near the summit.Upper lift line.In addition to the angle station, this lift also changes angle slightly at towers 7 and 8.Lower station and tower 1.Bottom terminal and lift shack seen from the Village Express.Side view of the angle change with canted sheaves.Mid-station seen from the Village Express.Side view of the top terminal.Side view of the mid terminal.View up at tower 17.Another view of the intermediate station.Mid-station with loading only.Another view of the angle station.View down from the mid-station.One of only a handful of LPA mid stations in operation.Lower lift line in Snowmass Village.Towers 14 and 15 just below the mid.Tower 17.T21.Breakover towers.Mid-station alongside the Village Express.View riding into the line turn.Tower 7 with canted assemblies.The line turn.View back down above the middle station.Arriving at the summit with Big Burn in the background.Lift line over a water treatment plant.Another view of the line turn zone.Towers 6, 7 and 8.View down near the village.T7 and T8.
Personally, I think they should’ve just stuck to calling this lift Coney Glade like the lift it replaced, like was the case with the upgrades of Sheer Bliss, High Alpine and Big Burn.
Pretty sure this lift is an entirely new lift line and doesn’t follow the old one at all other than where the drive terminal is. The lift used to load left of tower 9.
That’s not entirely correct, above the mid station is not the original Coney Glade lift line, the top station location is the only thing that Snowmass kept the same between the new lift and the original.
I like Doppelmayr for the aesthetics. I think Uní-G and D-Line look so sleek with their big windows and modern design. LPA has some very nice terminals at breck I will say. This is purely an aesthetic opinion and has nothing to do with the mechanics. I don’t dislike LPA terminals and I think their seats are way more comfortable than Doppelmayr. Super Angel LX at Sunshine Village and Challenger 6 at Sun Valley have simular Colors and I think Challenger wins by a landslide there.
Last I heard the Direct Drives can’t fit in the quad terminals, as they’re just too big, so I doubt there is one. Maybe they’ll put one on Elk Camp next summer.
Ah that makes some sense. Also explains the mixture of D-Line/non-D-Line going in at Deer Valley. Peter has the upcoming Elk Camp and Alpine Springs 6-packs listed as direct drives.
yes that and alpine springs will be upgraded to 6 packs next summer and in 2026 respectively. The Big burn got that treatment during covid and the village express did in 2005 so why not do it here to help alleviate congestion?
I mean this is sort of an auxiliary lift TBH … it runs basically parallel to Village Express, which serves all of its terrain and more. The fact that they extended it downhill to the Mall means its entire existence is about relieving congestion (as opposed to just park laps). And they’re only running it on weekends.
yes at least for now i mean i am sure they’ll do so on weekdays eventually. But yes the whole purpose of this was to take some of the load off on village express so people in the mall wouldn’t have to go to the base to get on village express they can just take this cross diagonally from the mall easing up those that are on the side like at mountain chalet, shadowbrook, etc or anywhere in the base and ofc the ski school classes and all that rely on the village express to start and end their days
yea they did have to cut down lotta trees on that little hill there off fanny hill which was near private property to make room for that new chair without messing with the village express and i suppose more monstrosity type work would’ve been needed to execute such a thing.
looks like a pretty cool chair. Obviously we will all miss the previous version but a change was due cause of the age of the old one and the fact that the old one stopped just short of the mall and with the population growing as fast as it has, having it go slightly lower to serve the mall where the Burlingame lift previously began was a smart move to take some of the load off on village express. Ofc the current pack village express chair we’ve had since 2005 can definitely handle a lot but there are always limits especially in AM and PM rush hours with all the kids going in and out of ski school and with this new coney chair some of that can be eased off for those in the mall and not having to go down to the bottom and start there. Can’t wait to hop on this new chair for the first time in the near future.
Peter, the building this lift flies over just past tower 9 is a Town of Snowmass Village water treatment plant, not a snowmaking pump house. However, if you look to the right as you pass tower 23 you’ll see the snowmaking control building
A local told me yesterday that the red chairs will be for foot traffic. Ski Co really wants people up at The Cabin, so once the lift is open to foot traffic, the foot traffic will have priority on the red chairs.
The in-line turn on the lower half is so subtle that you only really can see it when looking downhill from above it and noticing the lift does angle slightly away from the Village Express. One also definitely notices that the lift has a bit more varied profile than Coney Glade did, as Coney Glade lacked combis of any sort in favor of tall support towers.
So awesome to see Coney on the blog! Can’t wait to ride it this winter!
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The lower half of the lift is tracing the path of the Burlingame double, and the midstation is where Burlingame was shortened to end at in 2005.
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In the master plan this lift was called ConeyGame.
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Personally, I think they should’ve just stuck to calling this lift Coney Glade like the lift it replaced, like was the case with the upgrades of Sheer Bliss, High Alpine and Big Burn.
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i wonder why they decided to put the “express” in there instead of the “glade” ?
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Pretty sure this lift is an entirely new lift line and doesn’t follow the old one at all other than where the drive terminal is. The lift used to load left of tower 9.
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The lift line below the midstation is the old Burlingame lift line. The lift line above the midstation is original.
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That’s not entirely correct, above the mid station is not the original Coney Glade lift line, the top station location is the only thing that Snowmass kept the same between the new lift and the original.
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Those red headrest comfort chairs look sick!
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as someone who usually prefers doppelmayr this lift is so pretty
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Just curious, why would you prefer a Doppelmayr over a Leitner Poma? I don’t really prefer either, just why would you prefer a Doppelmayr lift?
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Mostly cost, but some mountains have mostly Poma family or Doppelmayr family lifts beforehand, so that might be considered too.
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I like Doppelmayr for the aesthetics. I think Uní-G and D-Line look so sleek with their big windows and modern design. LPA has some very nice terminals at breck I will say. This is purely an aesthetic opinion and has nothing to do with the mechanics. I don’t dislike LPA terminals and I think their seats are way more comfortable than Doppelmayr. Super Angel LX at Sunshine Village and Challenger 6 at Sun Valley have simular Colors and I think Challenger wins by a landslide there.
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Is this not Direct Drive? Bit surprising Ski Co isn’t opting for that yet.
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Last I heard the Direct Drives can’t fit in the quad terminals, as they’re just too big, so I doubt there is one. Maybe they’ll put one on Elk Camp next summer.
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Ah that makes some sense. Also explains the mixture of D-Line/non-D-Line going in at Deer Valley. Peter has the upcoming Elk Camp and Alpine Springs 6-packs listed as direct drives.
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yes that and alpine springs will be upgraded to 6 packs next summer and in 2026 respectively. The Big burn got that treatment during covid and the village express did in 2005 so why not do it here to help alleviate congestion?
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I mean this is sort of an auxiliary lift TBH … it runs basically parallel to Village Express, which serves all of its terrain and more. The fact that they extended it downhill to the Mall means its entire existence is about relieving congestion (as opposed to just park laps). And they’re only running it on weekends.
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yes at least for now i mean i am sure they’ll do so on weekdays eventually. But yes the whole purpose of this was to take some of the load off on village express so people in the mall wouldn’t have to go to the base to get on village express they can just take this cross diagonally from the mall easing up those that are on the side like at mountain chalet, shadowbrook, etc or anywhere in the base and ofc the ski school classes and all that rely on the village express to start and end their days
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I believe not a 6 because the rightaway over private property (towers 5 and 6) isn’t wide enough.
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yea they did have to cut down lotta trees on that little hill there off fanny hill which was near private property to make room for that new chair without messing with the village express and i suppose more monstrosity type work would’ve been needed to execute such a thing.
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Every 4th chair is red. 1,5,9…
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I really like the all black color scheme that aspen Skiing Co has gone with on their recent HSQ’s
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From their website, it looks like at least for now, they’re only running this on weekends. Can anyone confirm?
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Correct.
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Coney Express should now be open daily for the season
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looks like a pretty cool chair. Obviously we will all miss the previous version but a change was due cause of the age of the old one and the fact that the old one stopped just short of the mall and with the population growing as fast as it has, having it go slightly lower to serve the mall where the Burlingame lift previously began was a smart move to take some of the load off on village express. Ofc the current pack village express chair we’ve had since 2005 can definitely handle a lot but there are always limits especially in AM and PM rush hours with all the kids going in and out of ski school and with this new coney chair some of that can be eased off for those in the mall and not having to go down to the bottom and start there. Can’t wait to hop on this new chair for the first time in the near future.
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This lift looks really sharp!
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In pic 34 you can see the turn.
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Peter, the building this lift flies over just past tower 9 is a Town of Snowmass Village water treatment plant, not a snowmaking pump house. However, if you look to the right as you pass tower 23 you’ll see the snowmaking control building
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A local told me yesterday that the red chairs will be for foot traffic. Ski Co really wants people up at The Cabin, so once the lift is open to foot traffic, the foot traffic will have priority on the red chairs.
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The in-line turn on the lower half is so subtle that you only really can see it when looking downhill from above it and noticing the lift does angle slightly away from the Village Express. One also definitely notices that the lift has a bit more varied profile than Coney Glade did, as Coney Glade lacked combis of any sort in favor of tall support towers.
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These chairs look a lot like old the old Competition chair. If you put them side by side, you can see the resemblance.
Competition Chairs:
Comfort Chairs:
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