Poma built two sister ship high speed quads at Tremblant in 1993.Expo, together with Duncan Express, service the north base lodge and parking lots.View back down the lift line.Arriving at the return terminal.The top station.Side view of the upper terminal.View down the line.Middle part of the lift.View up at tower 4.The first few towers.Side view of the lower station.Lift overview.
The Duncan Express was a new construction, so before 1991/1992 the only access out of the North side base was up the ‘Expo corridor’. It began with one single chair (around 1950), which was then supplemented by two double chairs by 1970, as the popularity of the North side base increased.
The installation of the Duncan Express relieved the three lifts and provided a much needed direct-to-summit lift, but it became quickly evident that there needed to be another out-of-base lift to supplement Duncan. The Expo lifts were all replaced by the single Expo Express.
Same thing was true on the South Side with the Tremblant Express. It used to be the only way up was via one of 2 lifts on the Flying Mile slope and then you had to transfer to one of 2 lifts in the TGV vicinity to reach the top. When a one-seat-ride was achieved with the Tremblant Express (now Telecabine) the need for the redundant lifts decreased.
I always park on the North Side when I ski at Tremblant, so I ride Duncan and Expo a ton. One day when Duncan was closed, they ran Expo at 1100 and I recorded it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2DkWWbrdXk. Normally it is run at 1000, the same speed as Duncan.
Yep, that’s true! That also means that upgrades for TGV and Flying Mile aren’t as urgent as for the Telecabine. I hope a 10-person D-Line lies in the near future.
The North Side tends to be a safer bet, for both lift lines and conditions, than the south side (at least earlier in the day). And yes, Expo and TGV usually run 5 m/s, but Expo was run at 5.5 m/s that day to compensate for the closed Duncan Express. LTE also ran 5 m/s, its design speed, if I recall correctly.
Also, reading your comment on your video, most lifts are run at or near their design speeds, conditions permitting. Only the Gondola tends not to be run at its design speed of 6 m/s. Soleil runs slower because of its age.
The fundamental problem with Tremblant is the mountain itself that has only a singular small peak, that is already over its max capacity limit. Anyone who has been to Tremblant between Thursday and Sunday knows how the summit gets so swamped with skiiers that it feels more like being at a music festival than a ski hill with how everyone is packed shoulder to shoulder. A 10 person D-Line would only make it worse. The front side lower mountain is also the scariest area ive ever skied at a resort with 6 runs packed with people all merging and crossing over each other on a small base. The best thing Alterra could do for Tremblant is increase blackout days on the pass, and restrict further real estate development, or buy Mont Ste Marie near Ottawa and develop the mountain and ski village there to draw the Ottawa market away from Tremblant. Intrawest originally wanted to build a village larger than Tremblants at Mont Ste Marie in the 90s with 6 High Speed Quads that would have quadrupled the size of the resort, and with an abundance of undeveloped terrain and 70% of the vertical of Tremblant, it would be a win win for both Tremblant and Mont Ste Marie.
I highly doubt any summit will be more overcrowded than the summit of snowbird. Two HSQ which serve the most skied terrain unloading on a ringlike so small that custom terminals for both lifts had to be made alongside a ton of slope grading
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What I find incredible is that at one point in Tremblant’s history, there were three lifts running nearly parallel up the Expo slope!
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Damn, that’s overkill. Why did they do that?
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The Duncan Express was a new construction, so before 1991/1992 the only access out of the North side base was up the ‘Expo corridor’. It began with one single chair (around 1950), which was then supplemented by two double chairs by 1970, as the popularity of the North side base increased.
The installation of the Duncan Express relieved the three lifts and provided a much needed direct-to-summit lift, but it became quickly evident that there needed to be another out-of-base lift to supplement Duncan. The Expo lifts were all replaced by the single Expo Express.
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Same thing was true on the South Side with the Tremblant Express. It used to be the only way up was via one of 2 lifts on the Flying Mile slope and then you had to transfer to one of 2 lifts in the TGV vicinity to reach the top. When a one-seat-ride was achieved with the Tremblant Express (now Telecabine) the need for the redundant lifts decreased.
I always park on the North Side when I ski at Tremblant, so I ride Duncan and Expo a ton. One day when Duncan was closed, they ran Expo at 1100 and I recorded it https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2DkWWbrdXk. Normally it is run at 1000, the same speed as Duncan.
LikeLike
Yep, that’s true! That also means that upgrades for TGV and Flying Mile aren’t as urgent as for the Telecabine. I hope a 10-person D-Line lies in the near future.
The North Side tends to be a safer bet, for both lift lines and conditions, than the south side (at least earlier in the day). And yes, Expo and TGV usually run 5 m/s, but Expo was run at 5.5 m/s that day to compensate for the closed Duncan Express. LTE also ran 5 m/s, its design speed, if I recall correctly.
Also, reading your comment on your video, most lifts are run at or near their design speeds, conditions permitting. Only the Gondola tends not to be run at its design speed of 6 m/s. Soleil runs slower because of its age.
LikeLike
The fundamental problem with Tremblant is the mountain itself that has only a singular small peak, that is already over its max capacity limit. Anyone who has been to Tremblant between Thursday and Sunday knows how the summit gets so swamped with skiiers that it feels more like being at a music festival than a ski hill with how everyone is packed shoulder to shoulder. A 10 person D-Line would only make it worse. The front side lower mountain is also the scariest area ive ever skied at a resort with 6 runs packed with people all merging and crossing over each other on a small base. The best thing Alterra could do for Tremblant is increase blackout days on the pass, and restrict further real estate development, or buy Mont Ste Marie near Ottawa and develop the mountain and ski village there to draw the Ottawa market away from Tremblant. Intrawest originally wanted to build a village larger than Tremblants at Mont Ste Marie in the 90s with 6 High Speed Quads that would have quadrupled the size of the resort, and with an abundance of undeveloped terrain and 70% of the vertical of Tremblant, it would be a win win for both Tremblant and Mont Ste Marie.
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I highly doubt any summit will be more overcrowded than the summit of snowbird. Two HSQ which serve the most skied terrain unloading on a ringlike so small that custom terminals for both lifts had to be made alongside a ton of slope grading
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One of the fastest lifts I’ve ever been on. Beats crowds. Accesses literally everything.
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