Bottom return terminal.Most towers were re-used from Harmony Express.Looking down the lift line.Tower2.Lower station with parking rail.Bottom station overview.The combo towers got new Leitner-Poma crossarms and lifting frames.Top drive station.Top and breakover towers.One of two new Leitner-Poma towers.View down the long lift line.Middle part of the line.Another view down.Looking up the line.View up at tower 9.
Yes, the former Harmony Express high-speed quad that was replaced by a high-speed 6 pack the same year. I believe Leitner Poma did do a bit of work on this lift when they relocated it as well, such as the wooden undercover and replacing some of the sheave assemblies.
This lift was a bottom-drive lift in its original location as Harmony Express. Now it’s a top-drive lift. I doubt the parking rail sees as much use as it used to in the Harmony configuration, given the lesser amounts of exposure in the Crystal Ridge area.
Any reason why Whistler went with Poma for the original Harmony Express? It’s the only non-dopp detach chair at the resort and I’ve always wondered why, I don’t think they purchased it used from somewhere else.
Harmony HSQ was installed by Whistler prior to merger with Blackcomb. Pre merger Whistler was partial to Yan and Poma detachables. Today creekside and Whistler Village gondolas are Pomas.
Whistler was already familiar with Poma (Village Gondola) and Poma’s detachable lifts proved to be more reliable than the YAN detachable lifts that Whistler already had in place from previous projects, so Whistler went with Poma when building Harmony- which was built brand new where it existed until moved to Blackcomb.
Same as normal tension, for all intents and purposes. The passive tensioning is to allow for rope stretch, as these terminals don’t have as much carriage travel as a normal detach. When the active end is near the back stop, we can pull the passive end back and reposition the active end for another round of rope stretch. When both terminals are maxed out we’ll shorten the rope.
I saw somewhere that it costed 18 million Canadian Dollars to reinstall this lift from Harmony. That seems like a little much for a reinstall. What do you guys think?
A few thoughts on this lift. First, I wish this lift had a half mid-station atop Fraggle Rock. It serves some great expert terrain. Second, I wish that the original Crystal lift had stayed in. It would help when this lift went down and creating an alternate route to the top of the Crystal area in case of crowding on Crystal Ridge. Finally, (this would absolutely never happen) but I wish they would run a lift to the top of the Grey Zone from the top of this lift.
This lift is incredible but unfortunately the last couple of hills under the original crystal chair are now defunct. That is some great blue and beginner terrain right at mid mountain. Valuable given climate change – almost always avoids the rain at lower elevations. Blackcomb has a crowd distribution problem and notoriously poor selection of beginners terrain. In my opinion they could have a great opportunity to create a learning area by putting a small lift from the btm of old crystal up to where top of excel lift is or a touch higher. There is capacity here and would provide for great early season terrain. Would also put 10pp excal gondola to glacier Creek Lodge.
Lift Blog 
Rob – Do you know what the length and vertical of this chair is?
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The tourism whistler site lists it as 5604 ft length with 1755 ft vertical.
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It still has the same number of chairs as it did on Harmony.
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Was this lift relocated from somewhere else?
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Yes, the former Harmony Express high-speed quad that was replaced by a high-speed 6 pack the same year. I believe Leitner Poma did do a bit of work on this lift when they relocated it as well, such as the wooden undercover and replacing some of the sheave assemblies.
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Towers 9 and 18 are the ones with new lifting frames.
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This lift was a bottom-drive lift in its original location as Harmony Express. Now it’s a top-drive lift. I doubt the parking rail sees as much use as it used to in the Harmony configuration, given the lesser amounts of exposure in the Crystal Ridge area.
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I find these Poma alpha models to be really rough and uncomfortable, while the new Leitner-Poma models are really smooth!
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On the other hand, the TB-41s have this nice whooshing sound when entering and exiting the terminals.
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This isn’t an Alpha. That’s the terminal model for all their fixed-grip lifts.
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Did Leitner-Poma supply whistler with new wood Underskin for the terminals?
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You also see the wood underskins on Flat Top Flyer and TGV, also lifts with refurbished Challenger terminals..
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Any reason why Whistler went with Poma for the original Harmony Express? It’s the only non-dopp detach chair at the resort and I’ve always wondered why, I don’t think they purchased it used from somewhere else.
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Harmony HSQ was installed by Whistler prior to merger with Blackcomb. Pre merger Whistler was partial to Yan and Poma detachables. Today creekside and Whistler Village gondolas are Pomas.
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Whistler was already familiar with Poma (Village Gondola) and Poma’s detachable lifts proved to be more reliable than the YAN detachable lifts that Whistler already had in place from previous projects, so Whistler went with Poma when building Harmony- which was built brand new where it existed until moved to Blackcomb.
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Dual tensioning? how does that work? Sounds interesting!
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Same as normal tension, for all intents and purposes. The passive tensioning is to allow for rope stretch, as these terminals don’t have as much carriage travel as a normal detach. When the active end is near the back stop, we can pull the passive end back and reposition the active end for another round of rope stretch. When both terminals are maxed out we’ll shorten the rope.
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I saw somewhere that it costed 18 million Canadian Dollars to reinstall this lift from Harmony. That seems like a little much for a reinstall. What do you guys think?
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A few thoughts on this lift. First, I wish this lift had a half mid-station atop Fraggle Rock. It serves some great expert terrain. Second, I wish that the original Crystal lift had stayed in. It would help when this lift went down and creating an alternate route to the top of the Crystal area in case of crowding on Crystal Ridge. Finally, (this would absolutely never happen) but I wish they would run a lift to the top of the Grey Zone from the top of this lift.
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This lift is incredible but unfortunately the last couple of hills under the original crystal chair are now defunct. That is some great blue and beginner terrain right at mid mountain. Valuable given climate change – almost always avoids the rain at lower elevations. Blackcomb has a crowd distribution problem and notoriously poor selection of beginners terrain. In my opinion they could have a great opportunity to create a learning area by putting a small lift from the btm of old crystal up to where top of excel lift is or a touch higher. There is capacity here and would provide for great early season terrain. Would also put 10pp excal gondola to glacier Creek Lodge.
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why did vail close the waffle house on top of this lift it was a great waffle house and warming hut so you don’t have to leave the area to get warm?
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Huh? The Crystal Hut is still open – I had waffles with a view the other day….
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Oh my bad last I was there it was closed
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