Loading area with tension.One of the reasons this lift was never replaced with a detachable is the two separate loading areas on either side of the village road.Loading area and lift line.Elkhorn is the only major fixed-grip lift left at Beaver Creek.Tower 13 with newer CTEC lifting frame.CTEC relocated this lift from Strawberry next door.Loading areas on both sides of a major road.Looking up from the base.View towards Beaver Creek Village.Riding up the line.Top station with fixed drive.
The bottom station and the mid load is a tight squeeze and a huge vertical difference. Also, this lift doesn’t serve a whole lot of lapable trails so it’s not high priority to replacing.
It’s only got three or four trails. It’ll no longer be Beaver Creek’s sole long fixed grip lift beginning next season when the McCoy Park Egress lift is built. Of course, the McCoy Park egress lift will be the most used fixed grip lift on the mountain since most people will be using it to get back to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, or to return to Beaver Creek Village on the Strawberry Park Express trails.
Beaver Creek has been owned by Vail since the very beginning and they have been sister resorts this whole time, so on its own it isn’t too surprising, but seems odd when you look at dates. Vail didn’t appear to adopt a logo until 1987 (at least on trail maps) and this lift was originally installed in 1981 (albeit at Strawberry park).
So this lift likely got a new counterweight at some point. Possibly during the 1995 re-location, or maybe after.
It did get a new counterweight. Counterweights are purpose-poured for a specific installation, and cannot be used on a different lift (not to mention moving a 15-ton rock is sorta hard). As far a tension requirements go, changing the lift from 12 to 14 would necessarily have changed the profile, tower loading, all that.
“Elkhorn is the only major fixed-grip lift left at Beaver Creek.” Well that caption is outdated now that Reunion has been built as part of the McCoy Park expansion.
As of this weekend, it was running from 9am-11am. No afternoon starts allowed for folks in these condos :)
A lot of BC’s lift hours have been curtailed to some extent. Though I’m unsure how many have changed in the past year or two. For instance, Upper BC Mtn Express still has a sign saying it opens at 8:30am, but Lower BC and Bachelor Gulch have screwed-on addendums saying they open at 9am. Nearly every lift, including key out-of-base connectors, close at 3:30pm (Centennial and Strawberry Park are exceptions). I think this is also somewhat new since the lift signs say “3:30pm” in a slightly different color than the original font.
I could keep going about lack of grooming and food quality … but it’s hard to complain when BC seems to be the only Epic mountain without insane lift lines and shuttered lifts. It’s a long way from New Hampshire or Stevens Pass. And to be fair, we all paid 20% less this year …
How so? At the time I wrote that comment, Fail Resorts was paying their employees $15/hr. Meanwhile the Wendy’s in Edwards had a sign all season that their starting wage was $18/hr. If my math is correct, that would’ve been a $3/hr difference.
It’s still a long ways away (I would imagine), but it’s interesting to think about a potential replacement for this lift. A high speed with a midstation is likely too pricey for this lift with its low ridership, plus it would be a challenge to fit a detachable terminal into the bottom terminal footprint. As someone mentioned above, a skier bridge is likely impractical due to the vertical distance between the sides of the road. A creative option would be a very short fixed grip or pulse gondola to cross the road, then a detachable up the original alignment. Combine that with snowmaking and increased grooming, and I think it could create a nice little pod to ease traffic on Centennial and Strawberry Park.
I think that might be a pipe dream though, and a major retrofit/upgrade is the route Beaver Creek will eventually go. Very low priority too, my guess is that it is behind 12, 17, 16, and 2 in that order.
I’m not sure why it would need replacement, other than age. Most of the lift dates back to 1981, so while there are definitely older lifts in service, it isn’t exactly a spring chicken. I’m not really sure why it would need to be upgraded to a detachable at all. I would guess that if they were going to upgrade it, they might make it a quad, but I’ve never had to wait in line for the lift.
I don’t see it being replaced soon, either. It doesn’t serve many trails and seems to be mainly a homeowner access lift. Granted, I haven’t ridden it with the intent to lap so I haven’t looked at the map to see what’s over there either. I like it because it’s the same age as my lift and also serves high-dollar homes. It’s a nice contrast :)
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Why are there the 2 areas by the road
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so that people loading the lift don’t have to cross the road, there is real estate on both sides of the road that might access the lift
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I’m surprised a bridge couldn’t be built across the road to combine the load areas, like PCMR did with Town lift.
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Or a tunnel
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The bottom station and the mid load is a tight squeeze and a huge vertical difference. Also, this lift doesn’t serve a whole lot of lapable trails so it’s not high priority to replacing.
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It’s only got three or four trails. It’ll no longer be Beaver Creek’s sole long fixed grip lift beginning next season when the McCoy Park Egress lift is built. Of course, the McCoy Park egress lift will be the most used fixed grip lift on the mountain since most people will be using it to get back to Bachelor Gulch and Arrowhead, or to return to Beaver Creek Village on the Strawberry Park Express trails.
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Why is there a Vail logo on the counterweight at the bottom station?
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Beaver Creek has been owned by Vail since the very beginning and they have been sister resorts this whole time, so on its own it isn’t too surprising, but seems odd when you look at dates. Vail didn’t appear to adopt a logo until 1987 (at least on trail maps) and this lift was originally installed in 1981 (albeit at Strawberry park).
So this lift likely got a new counterweight at some point. Possibly during the 1995 re-location, or maybe after.
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It did get a new counterweight. Counterweights are purpose-poured for a specific installation, and cannot be used on a different lift (not to mention moving a 15-ton rock is sorta hard). As far a tension requirements go, changing the lift from 12 to 14 would necessarily have changed the profile, tower loading, all that.
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Will Elkhorn LIft be opened this season?
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“Elkhorn is the only major fixed-grip lift left at Beaver Creek.” Well that caption is outdated now that Reunion has been built as part of the McCoy Park expansion.
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I’ve got the same question as Michael–why isn’t Elkhorn Lift open? We stay at the Charter and that is our so called “ski out”.
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I would guess staffing issues.
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As of this weekend, it was running from 9am-11am. No afternoon starts allowed for folks in these condos :)
A lot of BC’s lift hours have been curtailed to some extent. Though I’m unsure how many have changed in the past year or two. For instance, Upper BC Mtn Express still has a sign saying it opens at 8:30am, but Lower BC and Bachelor Gulch have screwed-on addendums saying they open at 9am. Nearly every lift, including key out-of-base connectors, close at 3:30pm (Centennial and Strawberry Park are exceptions). I think this is also somewhat new since the lift signs say “3:30pm” in a slightly different color than the original font.
I could keep going about lack of grooming and food quality … but it’s hard to complain when BC seems to be the only Epic mountain without insane lift lines and shuttered lifts. It’s a long way from New Hampshire or Stevens Pass. And to be fair, we all paid 20% less this year …
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Elkhorn is clearly low priority for Beaver Creek
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Fail Resorts currently pays lifties $3 an hour less than fast food in the valley, so they can’t find anyone wanting to work for them.
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well thats just flat out false
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How so? At the time I wrote that comment, Fail Resorts was paying their employees $15/hr. Meanwhile the Wendy’s in Edwards had a sign all season that their starting wage was $18/hr. If my math is correct, that would’ve been a $3/hr difference.
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That was my bad actually, you were right at the time since they hadn’t raised the minimum wage to $20/hr until later that year
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Looks like autocorrect got you twice 😉
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It’s still a long ways away (I would imagine), but it’s interesting to think about a potential replacement for this lift. A high speed with a midstation is likely too pricey for this lift with its low ridership, plus it would be a challenge to fit a detachable terminal into the bottom terminal footprint. As someone mentioned above, a skier bridge is likely impractical due to the vertical distance between the sides of the road. A creative option would be a very short fixed grip or pulse gondola to cross the road, then a detachable up the original alignment. Combine that with snowmaking and increased grooming, and I think it could create a nice little pod to ease traffic on Centennial and Strawberry Park.
I think that might be a pipe dream though, and a major retrofit/upgrade is the route Beaver Creek will eventually go. Very low priority too, my guess is that it is behind 12, 17, 16, and 2 in that order.
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I’m not sure why it would need replacement, other than age. Most of the lift dates back to 1981, so while there are definitely older lifts in service, it isn’t exactly a spring chicken. I’m not really sure why it would need to be upgraded to a detachable at all. I would guess that if they were going to upgrade it, they might make it a quad, but I’ve never had to wait in line for the lift.
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I don’t see it being replaced soon, either. It doesn’t serve many trails and seems to be mainly a homeowner access lift. Granted, I haven’t ridden it with the intent to lap so I haven’t looked at the map to see what’s over there either. I like it because it’s the same age as my lift and also serves high-dollar homes. It’s a nice contrast :)
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PROPETECH has a point. If you don’t have the patience to ride a fixed-grip lift, don’t ski.
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