Killington’s first quad chair was retired circa 2008.Breakover towers.The top station is now used for private functions.View down the line.Lift line seen from Sunrise Village.View up the line.Lift line overview with comm line up but haul rope down.Rope spooled up and left nearby.Rare quad leg Yan return station.Counterweight removed.Bullwheel and operator house with controls gone.Another view of the bullwheel carriage.Yan nameplate.Chairs idle nearby.Yan hubcap sheaves.
Poor old lift, wish someone would save it. I love how they converted the top drive into a minibar, really funny and cool. I guess it will just sit here and rust away for now…
This was not a very smart installation in the beginning. The original intent was for it to be a way to the rest of the mountain for people coming out of Sunrise and Parkers Gore without having those crowds slam the then Bear Mountain Triple. That’s why it started in that weird location. When that got cancelled, it left this oddly placed lift that was inaccessible from the lodge and only directly served two trails. It rarely ran for many years before finally being taken out of service in 2008. I doubt this lift would’ve been able to run for much longer even if it was needed as it was a bad-era Yan. Powdr chose to scrap the Skye Peak Quad rather than relocate it and it was one year newer but with higher hours than this lift.
passed by it last weekend. its kinda cryptic, laying there abandoned, with the name Devils fiddle. Thin trees are growing near the base of the lift, and the chairs are there like in the photo. it would be cool to have one. The bear mountain quad isnt very crowded most of the time because most people dont want to go on Bear’s double blacks so they just go on Skye Peak Quad.
The Bear Mountain Quad used to be more crowded. The old Skye Peak Quad was a long slow windy ride and most people just took the Bear Mountain Quad instead. When it would get a full queue, you could take the Space Walk traverse to the Devil’s Fiddle Quad and avoid it. When the Skye Peak Quad was replaced, the new detachable became the main lift at Bear, greatly reducing the popularity of the Bear Mountain Quad, and completely eliminating the need for this lift. It was intended as an egress lift from Parker’s Gore, but since that never came to be, it was never anything more than a weirdly placed backup for the Bear Mountain Quad.
I think the uphill side of Tower 14 (pics 1 & 2) might have the largest Yan catwalk/rocker assemblies ever – 12 sheaves instead of 8 or 6 like the other assemblies of that style.
It looks as though they may finally remove the base terminal of this lift with the new Base Camp at Bear Mountain real estate development. Construction is slated to begin this summer.
I really doubt it. It really has few trails that can be lapped, and they can all be accessed from neighboring Bear Mountain. It was built for the Parker’s Gore expansion that never happened, so it was pretty useless for its entire life.
The top terminal has been converted into the Motor Room Bar, so if that is what you saw painted, that is why.
Idk what it is about Killington but they seem to be a bit of a mess of ripped out lifts and unrealized expansions, more so than a lot of resorts. Why the heck is that?
Pres Smith’s ambition, and Les Otten saying “no” to a lot of it.
Pres Smith’s strategy was to keep moving the boundary further and further southeast from the main base. He was always thinking an expansion ahead of where they were building. A lot of what Pres Smith built ended up working pretty damn really well. Eventually though, they had gone too far. The result was a few lifts that just didn’t make sense, since they were built with the anticipation of Parker’s Gore. Otten looked at these lifts in the middle of nowhere and not only put a stop to it, but started cutting back.
To be fair to Otten, lifts like Northeast Passage and Devil’s fiddle were probably never going to make sense in the 21st century. Parker’s Gore was never going to happen in the 2000s. The era where you could easily just keep building and building was over by then.
These cheap yan’s are a product of a different time, when “this lift will make sense in 5 years after we build one further out” was still a real thing. The end of yan was the end of that era.
With all that I’ve said, Otten’s one unexplainable, unforgivable sin was Ramshead. Why????? Why did he shorten that? Wtf was he thinking? That one made no sense whatsoever. Felt like he just shortened it because he felt like it.
Thank you for your excellent explanation! I really appreciate it! Part of me wishes the era of keep building and building was still around, although I understand why it’s not. I hope to ski Killington someday and pay a visit to the motor room bar!
Wind was also a contributing factor in Ramshead’s case. I could see that terrain reopening, however, if Ramshead gets the six pack treatment / the Pico interconnect is ever built.
The problem with Devils Fiddle and it looks like they are finally trying to rectify it, is that it just does not hold snow. The trail was cut way too wide and when that nasty cold wind comes it just blows it all away. Recent G-Earth images show mgt is allowing the left. side to grow back. In 2o years they will have a helluva run,
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Poor old lift, wish someone would save it. I love how they converted the top drive into a minibar, really funny and cool. I guess it will just sit here and rust away for now…
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This was not a very smart installation in the beginning. The original intent was for it to be a way to the rest of the mountain for people coming out of Sunrise and Parkers Gore without having those crowds slam the then Bear Mountain Triple. That’s why it started in that weird location. When that got cancelled, it left this oddly placed lift that was inaccessible from the lodge and only directly served two trails. It rarely ran for many years before finally being taken out of service in 2008. I doubt this lift would’ve been able to run for much longer even if it was needed as it was a bad-era Yan. Powdr chose to scrap the Skye Peak Quad rather than relocate it and it was one year newer but with higher hours than this lift.
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The award for smallest lift shack goes to…
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passed by it last weekend. its kinda cryptic, laying there abandoned, with the name Devils fiddle. Thin trees are growing near the base of the lift, and the chairs are there like in the photo. it would be cool to have one. The bear mountain quad isnt very crowded most of the time because most people dont want to go on Bear’s double blacks so they just go on Skye Peak Quad.
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The Bear Mountain Quad used to be more crowded. The old Skye Peak Quad was a long slow windy ride and most people just took the Bear Mountain Quad instead. When it would get a full queue, you could take the Space Walk traverse to the Devil’s Fiddle Quad and avoid it. When the Skye Peak Quad was replaced, the new detachable became the main lift at Bear, greatly reducing the popularity of the Bear Mountain Quad, and completely eliminating the need for this lift. It was intended as an egress lift from Parker’s Gore, but since that never came to be, it was never anything more than a weirdly placed backup for the Bear Mountain Quad.
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I think the uphill side of Tower 14 (pics 1 & 2) might have the largest Yan catwalk/rocker assemblies ever – 12 sheaves instead of 8 or 6 like the other assemblies of that style.
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It looks as though they may finally remove the base terminal of this lift with the new Base Camp at Bear Mountain real estate development. Construction is slated to begin this summer.
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I went by this lift a couple of weeks ago and it was painted black and looked new ish. Are they bringing it back into service?
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I really doubt it. It really has few trails that can be lapped, and they can all be accessed from neighboring Bear Mountain. It was built for the Parker’s Gore expansion that never happened, so it was pretty useless for its entire life.
The top terminal has been converted into the Motor Room Bar, so if that is what you saw painted, that is why.
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Was this Yan’s first quad?
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Yes, together with Discovery at Mountain High.
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Idk what it is about Killington but they seem to be a bit of a mess of ripped out lifts and unrealized expansions, more so than a lot of resorts. Why the heck is that?
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Pres Smith’s ambition, and Les Otten saying “no” to a lot of it.
Pres Smith’s strategy was to keep moving the boundary further and further southeast from the main base. He was always thinking an expansion ahead of where they were building. A lot of what Pres Smith built ended up working pretty damn really well. Eventually though, they had gone too far. The result was a few lifts that just didn’t make sense, since they were built with the anticipation of Parker’s Gore. Otten looked at these lifts in the middle of nowhere and not only put a stop to it, but started cutting back.
To be fair to Otten, lifts like Northeast Passage and Devil’s fiddle were probably never going to make sense in the 21st century. Parker’s Gore was never going to happen in the 2000s. The era where you could easily just keep building and building was over by then.
These cheap yan’s are a product of a different time, when “this lift will make sense in 5 years after we build one further out” was still a real thing. The end of yan was the end of that era.
With all that I’ve said, Otten’s one unexplainable, unforgivable sin was Ramshead. Why????? Why did he shorten that? Wtf was he thinking? That one made no sense whatsoever. Felt like he just shortened it because he felt like it.
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Why was Ramshead shortened?
1) Wind up top too strong for a HSQ
2) Ramshead was to be (and is) a low-intermediate pod. The uppermost parts of the tails above the current top for the Ramshead HSQ were harder
3) They were to be part of the Pico Interconnect, which to this day is still on the table once (read: if) the village is built.
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Thank you for your excellent explanation! I really appreciate it! Part of me wishes the era of keep building and building was still around, although I understand why it’s not. I hope to ski Killington someday and pay a visit to the motor room bar!
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The reasoning that I heard for shortening Ram Head was to make it more beginner friendly, as the steepest pitches were on the sections they abandoned.
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Wind was also a contributing factor in Ramshead’s case. I could see that terrain reopening, however, if Ramshead gets the six pack treatment / the Pico interconnect is ever built.
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The problem with Devils Fiddle and it looks like they are finally trying to rectify it, is that it just does not hold snow. The trail was cut way too wide and when that nasty cold wind comes it just blows it all away. Recent G-Earth images show mgt is allowing the left. side to grow back. In 2o years they will have a helluva run,
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