Emigrant is a lone fixed-grip in a sea of six-packs on this part of the mountain.Bottom terminal with tensioning and drive.View back leaving the drive.View up the line.Looking back part way up.Tower 12 and the top bullwheel.Fixed return.Entire lift line visible.Re-enforced Yan tower with lifting frame.Tower 3.Both the first tower and bottom station are height adjustable.
This lift is fairly useless. It’s worse than Siberia/Gold Coast in every single way except that it services funnel. In my opinion they should not replace this lift, and if they do have to, it should be with a surface lift (possibly running the last 1,000 feet or so, from the traverse to the summit). There’s no point in installing a 2,700 foot High Speed Quad for one run.
Are there rumors of them upgrading this lift to an HSQ? I agree an upgrade here would be essentially useless, especially due to high winds. Squaw has a long list of lifts that need upgrades before this: red dog, granite chief, KT22, etc. I have always wanted to see a surface lift from the top of Gold Coast to the top of mainline pocket though.
There’s no rumors quite yet, but considering that this is the third oldest major chairlift on the mountain (and one is already planned to be replaced in the next few years), it wouldn’t surprise me if we start seeing Emigrant replacement rumors in the next few years.
Why KT22? that is a high speed chair I’d swap that on the list with Squaw creek. Red dog, granite chief and especially Squaw creek are what are in most need of a replacement.
Kt 22 definitely needs an upgrade soon, it gets massive nearly hour long lines on peak days. The current lift is not old enough to be scrapped and as Ben said it would work well on granite chief or squaw creek
@JULESTHESHIBA, the connector gondola they’re building will have a midstation at the top of KT, so there’s already a big increase in uphill capacity coming without any need to touch the KT-22 lift itself. Once that’s in place I wonder if they’ll relocate or remove Olympic Lady though.
This lift is more helpful than it looks at face value since it services intermediate terrain similar to shirley which often had long line and more importantly provides access to the granite cheif area via main backside. The real killer with upgrading this lift would more likely be wind holds as this chairlift is always the first to go on wind hold.
Yup, just barely though, with a lot of lifts coming just short. Here are the highest lift elevations at Squaw (taken from google earth):
– Emigrant: 8,755 feet
– Sibera: 8,680 feet
– Headwall: 8,640 feet
– Granite Chief: 8,630 feet
It’s somewhat ironic that of these four, Emigrant is the highest, considering that its main face is a blue run. It definitely feels high up, but it lacks the steepness of Headwall, epic feeling of Siberia (that last breakover) and remoteness of Granite Chief.
thats kind of interesting. I thought that headwall and sibo would be higher cuz squaw peak is 8900 IIRC. I didn’t think the hike from top of sibo to the palisades is 220ft
This lift has remained closed the entire season as far as I’ve seen it. Not once have I even seen it spin. Seems the mechanical issue may be worse than what was originally mentioned (a broken tower switch).
It’s operational/managerial. From what I could tell, the crew there does not operate anything at full speed. This lift in particular was painful to ride, but I noticed that aside from WaSheShu (which felt and sounded exactly like its late twin at Copper) everything ran around 60-80% of what I would think is rated speed. Headwall was empty but still ran at 750-ish.
It seemed to be running faster this year (2025). As I pass by the chairs while riding, I count off seconds between chairs. Emigrant used to be close to 8 seconds but now it seems to be the normal 6 seconds for a fixed grip.
Really surprised nobody’s gotten offended by this lift’s name. Meanwhile Winter Park has to change the name of the Eskimo lift because it’s too controversial.
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This lift is fairly useless. It’s worse than Siberia/Gold Coast in every single way except that it services funnel. In my opinion they should not replace this lift, and if they do have to, it should be with a surface lift (possibly running the last 1,000 feet or so, from the traverse to the summit). There’s no point in installing a 2,700 foot High Speed Quad for one run.
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Is Funnel a good run? Also This lift access the Emigrant Ridge and Emigrant Face too.
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Are there rumors of them upgrading this lift to an HSQ? I agree an upgrade here would be essentially useless, especially due to high winds. Squaw has a long list of lifts that need upgrades before this: red dog, granite chief, KT22, etc. I have always wanted to see a surface lift from the top of Gold Coast to the top of mainline pocket though.
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There’s no rumors quite yet, but considering that this is the third oldest major chairlift on the mountain (and one is already planned to be replaced in the next few years), it wouldn’t surprise me if we start seeing Emigrant replacement rumors in the next few years.
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Why KT22? that is a high speed chair I’d swap that on the list with Squaw creek. Red dog, granite chief and especially Squaw creek are what are in most need of a replacement.
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Perhaps if KT-22 does get replaced, the Doppelmayr HSQ could be relocated here.
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Kt 22 definitely needs an upgrade soon, it gets massive nearly hour long lines on peak days. The current lift is not old enough to be scrapped and as Ben said it would work well on granite chief or squaw creek
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@JULESTHESHIBA, the connector gondola they’re building will have a midstation at the top of KT, so there’s already a big increase in uphill capacity coming without any need to touch the KT-22 lift itself. Once that’s in place I wonder if they’ll relocate or remove Olympic Lady though.
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This lift gives access to the funnel, mainline pocket, the attic, the backside of Granite Chief. Yeah.. its defiantly useless alright! lolol
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This lift is more helpful than it looks at face value since it services intermediate terrain similar to shirley which often had long line and more importantly provides access to the granite cheif area via main backside. The real killer with upgrading this lift would more likely be wind holds as this chairlift is always the first to go on wind hold.
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It is not just for Funnel. It is also for the Attic, Arete, Break It Out, Magoos, etc. I am not aware of any plans to upgrade it any time soon.
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You all forgot Silverado it is the best lift at squaw
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With a summit elevation just over 8,700′, The Emigrant Chair is actually the highest lift at the resort.
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Yup, just barely though, with a lot of lifts coming just short. Here are the highest lift elevations at Squaw (taken from google earth):
– Emigrant: 8,755 feet
– Sibera: 8,680 feet
– Headwall: 8,640 feet
– Granite Chief: 8,630 feet
It’s somewhat ironic that of these four, Emigrant is the highest, considering that its main face is a blue run. It definitely feels high up, but it lacks the steepness of Headwall, epic feeling of Siberia (that last breakover) and remoteness of Granite Chief.
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thats kind of interesting. I thought that headwall and sibo would be higher cuz squaw peak is 8900 IIRC. I didn’t think the hike from top of sibo to the palisades is 220ft
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This lift has remained closed the entire season as far as I’ve seen it. Not once have I even seen it spin. Seems the mechanical issue may be worse than what was originally mentioned (a broken tower switch).
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Why does this lift always run at super slow speed? Perhaps it just needs a new motor?
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It’s operational/managerial. From what I could tell, the crew there does not operate anything at full speed. This lift in particular was painful to ride, but I noticed that aside from WaSheShu (which felt and sounded exactly like its late twin at Copper) everything ran around 60-80% of what I would think is rated speed. Headwall was empty but still ran at 750-ish.
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It seemed to be running faster this year (2025). As I pass by the chairs while riding, I count off seconds between chairs. Emigrant used to be close to 8 seconds but now it seems to be the normal 6 seconds for a fixed grip.
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did the Emigrant lift survive the storm last night? 190 MPH winds!
I love that rickety old chair, hope it’s ok.
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I can imagine that there is quite some controversy over this lift’s name
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Really surprised nobody’s gotten offended by this lift’s name. Meanwhile Winter Park has to change the name of the Eskimo lift because it’s too controversial.
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