Fixed bottom bullwheel with integrated depression sheaves.Lift line and drive terminal.Yan bottom station.This lift was relocated from the upper mountain.Looking down the line.Motor room and operator house.Towers 1 and 2.
Hydraulic tensioning is at the base. Bullwheel is mounted between parallel square tubing, this runs the length of the station and is free to move on rollers which can be seen in the first photo (under the right hand red spray paint mark).
Red spray paint marks show carriage limit.
I hated riding this lift even more than I hated working on it.
I actually don’t think this lift has tensioning. I rode it several times this season (f’n Wind Hold BS!) and based on how slow this lift goes and its length and the lift bounces up and down when it stops, I
Motorhouse came from top of West Bowl chair (which itself had only been retrofitted in 1992), the APU is massive as it was designed initially to pull the load of the West Bowl line.
Chairs came from Gunbarrel triple as did line machinery.
Base station was a new install in 1998.
I can’t remember where the towers came from. Built in summer of ’98 also, Gunbarrel high speed quad utilized the old Yan triple towers (with some reinforcing and Doppelmayr crossarms), so they didn’t come from there.
So, to answer your question, its’ ancestor is Frankenstein!
This area was the original “bunny slope” when Heavenly opened in 1955. It was initially served by one of the three rope tows relocated from the precursor to Heavenly – “Bijou Park Skiway” at the top of Ski Run Blvd. Was replaced by a Poma a short time later, and then a chairlift in 1998.
Another little-known fact, until 1960, when Lift Two was installed (a two-way lift that was called Patsy’s in one direction, and Waterfall in the other), there was a rope tow at the top of Gunbarrel, serving would become Patsy’s Run. In those very early days, I’m not sure this tow even had a name, a number, or if the run was called Patsy’s yet. It also provided “access” (that term was as dubious then as it is today) to the VERY flat beginning of Roundabout Run – which was considered a beginner run back then.
The tension is at the bottom definitely, I’m guessing there is a hydraulic ram somewhere hidden but you can see the rollers that the sliding frame rides on. You can also see red paint marks on the frame
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Where’s the tensioning?
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Good question. It must be hidden in the bottom terminal somewhere.
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Hydraulic tensioning is at the base. Bullwheel is mounted between parallel square tubing, this runs the length of the station and is free to move on rollers which can be seen in the first photo (under the right hand red spray paint mark).
Red spray paint marks show carriage limit.
I hated riding this lift even more than I hated working on it.
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I actually don’t think this lift has tensioning. I rode it several times this season (f’n Wind Hold BS!) and based on how slow this lift goes and its length and the lift bounces up and down when it stops, I
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The top station motor was from the Old West Bowl Lift everything else was Lift Engineering
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Installed in 1998
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What was the ancestor for this lift?
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Motorhouse came from top of West Bowl chair (which itself had only been retrofitted in 1992), the APU is massive as it was designed initially to pull the load of the West Bowl line.
Chairs came from Gunbarrel triple as did line machinery.
Base station was a new install in 1998.
I can’t remember where the towers came from. Built in summer of ’98 also, Gunbarrel high speed quad utilized the old Yan triple towers (with some reinforcing and Doppelmayr crossarms), so they didn’t come from there.
So, to answer your question, its’ ancestor is Frankenstein!
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What work did the retrofit for West Bowl include, only a new drive terminal / motorhouse?
Any idea who did the installation back in 1998, especially the base station?
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This area was the original “bunny slope” when Heavenly opened in 1955. It was initially served by one of the three rope tows relocated from the precursor to Heavenly – “Bijou Park Skiway” at the top of Ski Run Blvd. Was replaced by a Poma a short time later, and then a chairlift in 1998.
Another little-known fact, until 1960, when Lift Two was installed (a two-way lift that was called Patsy’s in one direction, and Waterfall in the other), there was a rope tow at the top of Gunbarrel, serving would become Patsy’s Run. In those very early days, I’m not sure this tow even had a name, a number, or if the run was called Patsy’s yet. It also provided “access” (that term was as dubious then as it is today) to the VERY flat beginning of Roundabout Run – which was considered a beginner run back then.
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Yes only new Drive terminal on Westbowl. Heavenly was building there lifts in house then. Yan designed the return terminal.
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Could this be part of the tension system?
https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=212165594040071&set=a.112601973996434
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whoops, didn’t work. Anyway look at the photo of the bottom terminal, there is a tension shock on there.
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The tension is at the bottom definitely, I’m guessing there is a hydraulic ram somewhere hidden but you can see the rollers that the sliding frame rides on. You can also see red paint marks on the frame
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That’s correct. Hydraulic ram pushing, in compression.
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