As of April 2017, it appears Galaxy did not operate this season.View down the line.Drive station up top.Another view of the top terminal.View down the line.Middle part of the line.Looking up the line.
Guessing lack of interest and to save money. It’s a shame because there is no way to ski the terrain without the lift. I would not be surprised to see Galaxy removed sometime. This side of Heavenly has shrunk before when the Wells Fargo lift was removed and trails abandoned. As a side note, I skied through the EpicMix reader and it still works!
When I was at Heavenly early this season, we asked and were told it was due to mechanical issues (gearbox?). Since that lift is hardly used by people these days because of its length and slow speed and lower elevations with no snow making, Vail may just be waiting to decide what to do with it. Heavenly is a real joke in terms of lift operations. Not sure if its Vail or management at Heavenly about their ways of turning lifts.
Hard to say if that would be beneficial based on the fact that the terrain below the cutoff to Comet/Dipper is so flat. I’ve tried to ski fast down these three runs with no luck. It felt very beginnerish while the upper section is intermediate which makes replacing this lift kind of hard based on its location on the mountain. With three beginner zones on the mountain as of today, this lift services more of a family oriented area, but they would never want to venture into the cluster between Dipper and Comet as they would get run over in a heart beat.
I feel like this lift will just be left as a back up lift to be rarely run and only run at peak ski crowds. The main reason that I do not think it will be replaced is due to the fact that the terrain is not to great and would not be a good financial decision.
I miss this lift, it’s a great backside lift that never has anyone running it. Yeah it’s beginner/intermediate but when it’s deep it’s a great run. I got one hope they get something to access this area again.
With climate change, and reported mechanical issues, I can see an argument for abandoning the terrain. But, what I’d like to see is a realignment, and a new detachable quad lift.
Make the bottom terminal on Galaxy trail right at the bottom of Outlaw, and re-cut lower Comstock to also feed the lower station. It would mean abandoning lower Perimeter and lower Comstock, but those aren’t a big loss and are likely to have temperature issues in warm winters.
Upper station in my imagined alignment would be maybe 1/3 to halfway up Big Dipper.
It would be interesting to know whether Heavenly is still sitting on the old Olympic driver terminal. It would cost around $50,000 to replace the existing terminal with the old one, but probably only $15,000 if done in house.
Galaxy lift will not run at all for the 17-18 season. In fact, all chairs have been removed from the cable, allegedly for some type of unknown repairs according to Heavenly staff. Unclear if Heavenly intends to upgrade lift to high-speed quad.
Weird that it won’t be a quad since they could’ve reused towers and chairs from Wizard and Solar that are being retired at Whistler, but maybe they have so many hours on them at this point that it’s just not worth reusing anything. Parts from Mountain Top and Avanti from Vail and Centennial from Beaver Creek were used to build the fixed grip quads at Wilmot, but only Centennial ran in the summer.
Thank God… NV side needs another high-speed lift to take crowds away from Dipper and Comet chairs on busy weekends. There are a ton of beginner and low intermediate skiers on Dipper and Comet chairs that would jump on this new left if the lines were short versus the others . The new lifts could also likely stay open when winds close upper Nevada, helping the crowding on the lower Nevada slopes. Good move Vail.
The new Galaxy is still agonizingly slow, doubt its any faster than the double it replaced. I’ve skied under the upper terminal several times now, and have seen very few people riding it, even with the big winter we’re having this year. Let’s face it, no one wants to sit on these old, slow, fixed grip chairs anymore, especially when high speed chairs are available. If Vail was serious about this area being utilized, a high speed quad would have been installed. I predict it will close for good in the not too distant future. Whatever the “new” lift cost, it was a waste of money, and would have been better spent on providing a more consistent way of getting from CA to NV in inclement weather. Sky Chair has to be shut down far too often…
Galaxy is a blast on a powder day, however when things firm up it does go quiet. Many new runs were cut in 2011 expanding the “pod” and also providing connectivity from the top of Stagecoach (Comstock & Mineshaft) to base of Galaxy. If they would groom these runs then perhaps this “connectivity” could be exploited to its’ full potential. In the meantime, keep lining up to ride those express quads, I’ll enjoy Galaxy!
ps. Vail does not appear to have any interest, at least in the foreseeable future of fixing the weak link of Sky Chair, so don’t hold your breath.
Agree with your assessment. Was told by one lift operator that they couldn’t get the appropriate permits for the increased power needed to run a HSQ. Does that make sense to anyone?
A rather large portion of the usable parts, grips, sheaves, assemblies, & carriers (with restraint bars removed) now live on in the 3 SLI’s at 49 degrees North WA.
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Why didn’t it run? It’s not a backup Lift or anything
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Guessing lack of interest and to save money. It’s a shame because there is no way to ski the terrain without the lift. I would not be surprised to see Galaxy removed sometime. This side of Heavenly has shrunk before when the Wells Fargo lift was removed and trails abandoned. As a side note, I skied through the EpicMix reader and it still works!
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When I was at Heavenly early this season, we asked and were told it was due to mechanical issues (gearbox?). Since that lift is hardly used by people these days because of its length and slow speed and lower elevations with no snow making, Vail may just be waiting to decide what to do with it. Heavenly is a real joke in terms of lift operations. Not sure if its Vail or management at Heavenly about their ways of turning lifts.
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They should just Put in An HSQ. It would make life so much easier for that part of the Mountain.
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Hard to say if that would be beneficial based on the fact that the terrain below the cutoff to Comet/Dipper is so flat. I’ve tried to ski fast down these three runs with no luck. It felt very beginnerish while the upper section is intermediate which makes replacing this lift kind of hard based on its location on the mountain. With three beginner zones on the mountain as of today, this lift services more of a family oriented area, but they would never want to venture into the cluster between Dipper and Comet as they would get run over in a heart beat.
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Why is the epic mix at the top?
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Probably because it requires buried fiber. There are a handful of other top stations around the Vail empire with readers.
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I feel like this lift will just be left as a back up lift to be rarely run and only run at peak ski crowds. The main reason that I do not think it will be replaced is due to the fact that the terrain is not to great and would not be a good financial decision.
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I miss this lift, it’s a great backside lift that never has anyone running it. Yeah it’s beginner/intermediate but when it’s deep it’s a great run. I got one hope they get something to access this area again.
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With climate change, and reported mechanical issues, I can see an argument for abandoning the terrain. But, what I’d like to see is a realignment, and a new detachable quad lift.
Make the bottom terminal on Galaxy trail right at the bottom of Outlaw, and re-cut lower Comstock to also feed the lower station. It would mean abandoning lower Perimeter and lower Comstock, but those aren’t a big loss and are likely to have temperature issues in warm winters.
Upper station in my imagined alignment would be maybe 1/3 to halfway up Big Dipper.
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It would be interesting to know whether Heavenly is still sitting on the old Olympic driver terminal. It would cost around $50,000 to replace the existing terminal with the old one, but probably only $15,000 if done in house.
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Galaxy lift will not run at all for the 17-18 season. In fact, all chairs have been removed from the cable, allegedly for some type of unknown repairs according to Heavenly staff. Unclear if Heavenly intends to upgrade lift to high-speed quad.
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Galaxy will be replaced with a Doppelmayr fixed-grip triple next summer. https://liftblog.com/2017/12/07/vail-resorts-to-build-new-lifts-at-whistler-blackcomb-park-city-heavenly-perisher/
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Weird that it won’t be a quad since they could’ve reused towers and chairs from Wizard and Solar that are being retired at Whistler, but maybe they have so many hours on them at this point that it’s just not worth reusing anything. Parts from Mountain Top and Avanti from Vail and Centennial from Beaver Creek were used to build the fixed grip quads at Wilmot, but only Centennial ran in the summer.
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And Mt Brighton
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Thank God… NV side needs another high-speed lift to take crowds away from Dipper and Comet chairs on busy weekends. There are a ton of beginner and low intermediate skiers on Dipper and Comet chairs that would jump on this new left if the lines were short versus the others . The new lifts could also likely stay open when winds close upper Nevada, helping the crowding on the lower Nevada slopes. Good move Vail.
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The New Galaxy – Heavenly just released a picture on social media – https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/49261917_10156966250892375_469877891857907712_n.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=b20bd33cfc5dfdc5f679fdfe190d65e7&oe=5CB8499A
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A rare Alpen Star without tensioning. I hope to get to Heavenly later this winter for some pictures.
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Does match nicely with Arizona Snowbowl’s ‘Hart Prairie’ lift.
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Another pic of The New Galaxy – https://scontent-sjc3-1.xx.fbcdn.net/v/t1.0-9/50069608_10156980133717375_7090389452576522240_o.jpg?_nc_cat=102&_nc_eui2=AeEAfyPkENnfb3K0I_RCvrSBEOjQ7tN5S7aSTSFfkpJmHhlEBd5Vd56VKRgsX3yT7h8BB0hIWgWWS5M7jX8xBXoRp-VOkNkiUN2SGU6W46kE7A&_nc_ht=scontent-sjc3-1.xx&oh=a8efb9d90d52295d4edfd183813da31f&oe=5D00B8E8
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The new Galaxy is still agonizingly slow, doubt its any faster than the double it replaced. I’ve skied under the upper terminal several times now, and have seen very few people riding it, even with the big winter we’re having this year. Let’s face it, no one wants to sit on these old, slow, fixed grip chairs anymore, especially when high speed chairs are available. If Vail was serious about this area being utilized, a high speed quad would have been installed. I predict it will close for good in the not too distant future. Whatever the “new” lift cost, it was a waste of money, and would have been better spent on providing a more consistent way of getting from CA to NV in inclement weather. Sky Chair has to be shut down far too often…
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Galaxy is a blast on a powder day, however when things firm up it does go quiet. Many new runs were cut in 2011 expanding the “pod” and also providing connectivity from the top of Stagecoach (Comstock & Mineshaft) to base of Galaxy. If they would groom these runs then perhaps this “connectivity” could be exploited to its’ full potential. In the meantime, keep lining up to ride those express quads, I’ll enjoy Galaxy!
ps. Vail does not appear to have any interest, at least in the foreseeable future of fixing the weak link of Sky Chair, so don’t hold your breath.
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Agree with your assessment. Was told by one lift operator that they couldn’t get the appropriate permits for the increased power needed to run a HSQ. Does that make sense to anyone?
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Anyone know where the old Galaxy chairs can be purchased?
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Hello. I saw your old reply on Galaxy chair feed. Did you ever find out if the chairs were/are for sale?
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They all went pretty quick, sold years ago.
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A rather large portion of the usable parts, grips, sheaves, assemblies, & carriers (with restraint bars removed) now live on in the 3 SLI’s at 49 degrees North WA.
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Was this lift moved up fro m Wells Fargo?
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According to this source, this is a relocated reincarnation of Wells Fargo
http://bestsnow.net/TRsFTO/19820117Heavenly.html
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