I’m really glad Crystal didn’t go the cheap route by installing a yan detachable in 1988. The Poma detachable may have bankrupted the original company, but it surely prevented an accident like the Quicksilver one, considering how steep the lift line of REX is.
Yes, but Quicksilver was only one incident before all Yan detachables got retrofitted. If it was installed, it most likely would not have had issues, and then a better company like Doppelmayr would have refurbished the grips
Why was the Bullion Basin lift removed without a replacement? It doesn’t sound like Crystal to abandon a good amount of terrain for a smaller expansion.
It was removed in ’82 or ’83, if I recall. The decision was driven by a combination of low skier numbers and poor snow coverage on the bottom of that pod. Others have noted the poor financial condition of CMI before the sale to Boyne, which is why it was never replaced. Of course, skier numbers rebounded and then skyrocketed, and although I haven’t skied there in a few years, I don’t recall seeing bare patches there much before the rest of the area if at all. When I worked there in the 90s we used to hike the pod from the Gold Hills road. Solid intermediate skiing- would be fun to lap off of a lift.
So Crystal Mountain had 2 lifts from Mt. Pilchuck and they didn’t install any of them at Bullion Basin after the triple was relocated? I would think that with a Riblet on a mountain with more Riblets there would have make one of the lifts from Mt. Pilchuck a great fit. It wouldn’t have been too hard to re-install one of those lifts there because If I’m correct, the footings from the old Bullion Basin are still there.
Not sure why that didn’t happen. By the time I started there everyone from that era was either retired or had moved on. As far as the footers go, Riblets were direct-embedded towers in those days so modifications would have had to happen to use them.If CMI wasn’t keen on spending the money to install one they probably wouldn’t have wanted to add to those costs.
A couple of CM’s old lifts are still spinning at other areas. Iceberg Ridge is now at Antelope Butte, WY and the Midway Shuttle is now at Loup Loup, WA. Probably others I’m forgetting…
Chair 5 went somewhere as well. I know when we replaced 9 with Forest Queen, the removal crew was very careful pulling out both lifts and the foreman told me where 5 was headed. I vaguely recall that it was Antelope as well, but I could be mistaken.
Chair 2. Iceberg Ridge was just a dumb marketing name. Better by quite some many degrees than Forest Queen, but still. That is an awesome pic, though, irregardless. Wait. Apple thinks “irregardless” is a word. WUT
I’m really glad Crystal didn’t go the cheap route by installing a yan detachable in 1988. The Poma detachable may have bankrupted the original company, but it surely prevented an accident like the Quicksilver one, considering how steep the lift line of REX is.
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Yes, but Quicksilver was only one incident before all Yan detachables got retrofitted. If it was installed, it most likely would not have had issues, and then a better company like Doppelmayr would have refurbished the grips
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Why was the Bullion Basin lift removed without a replacement? It doesn’t sound like Crystal to abandon a good amount of terrain for a smaller expansion.
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It was removed in ’82 or ’83, if I recall. The decision was driven by a combination of low skier numbers and poor snow coverage on the bottom of that pod. Others have noted the poor financial condition of CMI before the sale to Boyne, which is why it was never replaced. Of course, skier numbers rebounded and then skyrocketed, and although I haven’t skied there in a few years, I don’t recall seeing bare patches there much before the rest of the area if at all. When I worked there in the 90s we used to hike the pod from the Gold Hills road. Solid intermediate skiing- would be fun to lap off of a lift.
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So Crystal Mountain had 2 lifts from Mt. Pilchuck and they didn’t install any of them at Bullion Basin after the triple was relocated? I would think that with a Riblet on a mountain with more Riblets there would have make one of the lifts from Mt. Pilchuck a great fit. It wouldn’t have been too hard to re-install one of those lifts there because If I’m correct, the footings from the old Bullion Basin are still there.
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Not sure why that didn’t happen. By the time I started there everyone from that era was either retired or had moved on. As far as the footers go, Riblets were direct-embedded towers in those days so modifications would have had to happen to use them.If CMI wasn’t keen on spending the money to install one they probably wouldn’t have wanted to add to those costs.
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A couple of CM’s old lifts are still spinning at other areas. Iceberg Ridge is now at Antelope Butte, WY and the Midway Shuttle is now at Loup Loup, WA. Probably others I’m forgetting…
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Rendezvous was relocated to Big Sky as Cascade.
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Chair 5 went somewhere as well. I know when we replaced 9 with Forest Queen, the removal crew was very careful pulling out both lifts and the foreman told me where 5 was headed. I vaguely recall that it was Antelope as well, but I could be mistaken.
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Old photo of the Iceberg Ridge lift:
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Chair 2. Iceberg Ridge was just a dumb marketing name. Better by quite some many degrees than Forest Queen, but still. That is an awesome pic, though, irregardless. Wait. Apple thinks “irregardless” is a word. WUT
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