Leitner bottom terminal and first half of the lift.Looking back at the Lake Louise base area.Another view back down the line.Lift line view.Nearing the summit.Leitner tower.Top drive station from above.Single-mast bottom station.Side view of the base terminal.Leitner detachable grip.Tower 11.Depression tower 12.View down from near the summit.Arriving up top.Top station turnaround from below.Another shot of the drive terminal.Leitner Report entry.Leitner Report entry.
The cabins are borrowed from Grizzly Express in the summer. Why they don’t just run the gondola I don’t know. The lift goes slower in the summer, so the terminal speed is slow enough to load cabins in a regular terminal. On lifts that operate as a Chondola in the winter, the terminals are super long with one side having a faster speed for chairs and the other side having a slower speed for cabins.
The lift actually has a clutch system allowing the chairs and cabins to stop at the top and bottom terminals for loading and unloading. It runs at a slower speed as it is a sightseeing lift in summer and you can often see grizzly bears grazing under the lift. They operate this lift in summer as there is a lodge and sightseeing area at mid mountain accessed by this lift whereas the top of the gondola is currently undeveloped.
There was an interesting period in the early 2000’s with the transition away from Yan lifts at Lake Louise. Like most other operators of Yan detachable lifts, Louise retired their two (Friendly Giant and Top of the World) in less than 15 years after construction.
When the Glacier triple was replaces with this Leitner HSQ in 2000, it became the main out of base lift. Friendly Giant ran parallel, and as I recall, still did spin on busy weekends. In the summer of 2004, Louise removed Friendly Giant, and began installing the Grizzly Gondola which was purchased used from Squaw Valley. Grizzly runs in a different alignment to Friendly Giant and Glacier, and managed to replace both Friendly Giant and the Eagle double chair on the upper mountain. Grizzly began spinning in early 2005 (February or March if I recall), giving Louise two detachable lift options out of base.
In 1990, the Yan Friendly Giant quad suffered an accident when a weld failed on the chair, sending four people tumbling down. Thankfully, it appeared to have happened in the bottom terminal, so no one was injured. But it could have been much worse.
Lift Blog 
This lift runs as a Chondola in the summer for sightseeing – but not in the winter?
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The cabins are borrowed from Grizzly Express in the summer. Why they don’t just run the gondola I don’t know. The lift goes slower in the summer, so the terminal speed is slow enough to load cabins in a regular terminal. On lifts that operate as a Chondola in the winter, the terminals are super long with one side having a faster speed for chairs and the other side having a slower speed for cabins.
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The lift actually has a clutch system allowing the chairs and cabins to stop at the top and bottom terminals for loading and unloading. It runs at a slower speed as it is a sightseeing lift in summer and you can often see grizzly bears grazing under the lift. They operate this lift in summer as there is a lodge and sightseeing area at mid mountain accessed by this lift whereas the top of the gondola is currently undeveloped.
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The main page chart confuses me. How were things run during the two years between this lift’s installation and Friendly Giant’s removal?
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There was an interesting period in the early 2000’s with the transition away from Yan lifts at Lake Louise. Like most other operators of Yan detachable lifts, Louise retired their two (Friendly Giant and Top of the World) in less than 15 years after construction.
When the Glacier triple was replaces with this Leitner HSQ in 2000, it became the main out of base lift. Friendly Giant ran parallel, and as I recall, still did spin on busy weekends. In the summer of 2004, Louise removed Friendly Giant, and began installing the Grizzly Gondola which was purchased used from Squaw Valley. Grizzly runs in a different alignment to Friendly Giant and Glacier, and managed to replace both Friendly Giant and the Eagle double chair on the upper mountain. Grizzly began spinning in early 2005 (February or March if I recall), giving Louise two detachable lift options out of base.
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Here are some photos when the Leitner and Yan detachables ran side by side:
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In 1990, the Yan Friendly Giant quad suffered an accident when a weld failed on the chair, sending four people tumbling down. Thankfully, it appeared to have happened in the bottom terminal, so no one was injured. But it could have been much worse.
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