Doppelmayr tower mixed-in with Poma ones.Last two towers.Rare Poma Delta top drive terminal.This lift has a mix of Poma and Doppelmayr towers.View down the middle part of the line.Lower lift line.View up the line.Tower 2.Portal tower.Lift overview.Top terminal next to Big Red Express.Upper station sitting idle.Lift line with Poma chairs.
To this day this is still the only lift I have never touched at Whistler Blackcomb, well, save for the one T-Bar that never runs on Whistler. I love the look of this lift, a really cool Doppelmayr-Poma hybrid which is pretty rare from my knowledge. Most hybrids are old lift companies mixed with modern lift company modernizations… Like a Riblet and Poma combo.
From what I remember (over 20 years ago, so memory gets faulty) there weren’t enough towers when they moved this from the Peak so Doppelmayr supplied one (they were building the Peak Express at the time). I notice WB has replaced the original carriers since I last rode it as well.
Those Omega carriers look like they were put on when the lift was reinstalled as Franz’s. Before then, it would’ve had Arceaux triple chairs and looked more like Crested Butte’s two triple chairlifts.
Franz’s was running today. So I assumed Big Red had bug lines today. Harmony’s lines were also really long where they had to have 8 lines that were really long feeding into the chairlift. Hope to see a HSQ upgrade for Franz’s soon.
This lift was moved from Peak, with upgrades to the chairs, and some new towers. Before that, it was relocated from the long-defunct Pike’s Peak ski area in Colorado, where it only operated there for a few seasons before being moved to Whistler.
When it was installed as Franz’s. The current Peak Chair is a bottom drive lift, so I imagine this triple was also a bottom drive when it was the Peak Chair.
Does anyone have any pictures of this lift while it was still serving as the Peak Chair? That thing’s intimidating enough as it is now, I’m curious as to what it was like back then.
When it was the Peak Chair, it had a midway unload just before the final cliff, which makes me wonder how big the light side flyover was (if any existed).
2 questions:
1. Why would it need a midway unload when it was the peak chair?
2. Is this the next new lift to be built or will jersey cream/7th heaven 6 pack come first/
The mid unload was used on avalanche control days. You could get off there before they finished the whole peak route. It was your lucky day if the opened it to the top when you were on the lift.
From the map, I’d say it was rather useful before the first Harmony Express was built. After the Harmony Express went in, it allowed for detachable access to the terrain that the Peak Chair’s midstation serviced
It would be cool if they did follow the master plan and replace tbar and this lift with a new hsq. Unfortunately feels unlikely given the snowmaking reservoir directly in that path. Would be curious to know if anyone has any potential thoughts for ways around that. They could do a multi alignment option with a midstation around where the peak chair is I suppose, avoiding the lake. If they could do something it would help alleviate crowding on the peak chair at any rate.
Also another thing – the current bottom location of this lift is both quite uneven where the loading area is and also the terrain feeding directly into it – especially old man and Franzs meadows- crosses a pretty significant creek. If whistler were serious about managing crowding it would perform some investment into installing skier bridges over these areas to allow terrain to open earlier in the season and stay open later toward the end of each season.
Lift Blog 
Does this lift rarely run as backup to Big Red Express?
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Yeah, pretty much
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Been skiing whistler blackcomb my whole life and it never ever runs never. Been on it like twice in my life runs never.
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I rode it last season it was only running because of low snow amounts.
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You’re probably just unlucky.
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It also runs for low snow seasons, when the snow does not reach all the way down to the Big Red Express.
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I think the Master Plan has a Franz’s Express high speed quad that will run from the bottom of this lift to the top of the Whistler T-Bar.
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To this day this is still the only lift I have never touched at Whistler Blackcomb, well, save for the one T-Bar that never runs on Whistler. I love the look of this lift, a really cool Doppelmayr-Poma hybrid which is pretty rare from my knowledge. Most hybrids are old lift companies mixed with modern lift company modernizations… Like a Riblet and Poma combo.
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From what I remember (over 20 years ago, so memory gets faulty) there weren’t enough towers when they moved this from the Peak so Doppelmayr supplied one (they were building the Peak Express at the time). I notice WB has replaced the original carriers since I last rode it as well.
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Those Omega carriers look like they were put on when the lift was reinstalled as Franz’s. Before then, it would’ve had Arceaux triple chairs and looked more like Crested Butte’s two triple chairlifts.
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I definitely remember the original carriers being there after the move.
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Judging from the design of the number plates, the current chairs couldn’t have been put on Franz’s any later than 1999.
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They are rarer than Yamas and DoppelmaYans.
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You mean Yoppelmayrs?
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Franz’s was running today. So I assumed Big Red had bug lines today. Harmony’s lines were also really long where they had to have 8 lines that were really long feeding into the chairlift. Hope to see a HSQ upgrade for Franz’s soon.
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They are now going to regularly run Franz’s chair. I think the main reason is to avoid Franz’s run because it gets too icy for some people.
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This lift was moved from Peak, with upgrades to the chairs, and some new towers. Before that, it was relocated from the long-defunct Pike’s Peak ski area in Colorado, where it only operated there for a few seasons before being moved to Whistler.
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When was it switched to a top drive?
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When it was installed as Franz’s. The current Peak Chair is a bottom drive lift, so I imagine this triple was also a bottom drive when it was the Peak Chair.
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Does anyone have any pictures of this lift while it was still serving as the Peak Chair? That thing’s intimidating enough as it is now, I’m curious as to what it was like back then.
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When it was the Peak Chair, it had a midway unload just before the final cliff, which makes me wonder how big the light side flyover was (if any existed).
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This is about where the mid-unload was:
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2 questions:
1. Why would it need a midway unload when it was the peak chair?
2. Is this the next new lift to be built or will jersey cream/7th heaven 6 pack come first/
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It was to access an intermediate trail in Glacier Bowl inaccessible from the top.
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The mid unload was used on avalanche control days. You could get off there before they finished the whole peak route. It was your lucky day if the opened it to the top when you were on the lift.
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From the map, I’d say it was rather useful before the first Harmony Express was built. After the Harmony Express went in, it allowed for detachable access to the terrain that the Peak Chair’s midstation serviced
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What’s with the doppelmayr tower?
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If I had to guess, dopplemayr probably added it in 1998 when this chair was moved from Peak to Franz’s.
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I prefer the old red paint scheme the upper terminal had to match Big Red next door.
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It would be cool if they did follow the master plan and replace tbar and this lift with a new hsq. Unfortunately feels unlikely given the snowmaking reservoir directly in that path. Would be curious to know if anyone has any potential thoughts for ways around that. They could do a multi alignment option with a midstation around where the peak chair is I suppose, avoiding the lake. If they could do something it would help alleviate crowding on the peak chair at any rate.
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Also another thing – the current bottom location of this lift is both quite uneven where the loading area is and also the terrain feeding directly into it – especially old man and Franzs meadows- crosses a pretty significant creek. If whistler were serious about managing crowding it would perform some investment into installing skier bridges over these areas to allow terrain to open earlier in the season and stay open later toward the end of each season.
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