The Lutsen Gondola connects the main village to Moose Mountain and carries passengers in both directions.The drive terminal in the village.Loading area.This lift opened in 2015 and was built alongside an existing gondola, which operated until completion of the new one.The profile has lots of ups and downs although the net height difference between stations is just over 300 feet.Departing the drive terminal.Breakover towers 2 and 3.Crossing one of two creeks.Tower 9.View up at tower 10.The alignment is northeast-southwest.There is a large cliff just below the return terminal.Arriving at Moose Mountain.The top unloading area.As of 2019, there are only 24 cabins on the line.View towards the village from Moose Muntain.Tensioning is housed here.Upper terminal overview.Middle pat of the lift line is completely flat.A wider view of the same section.This lift has tons of combination assemblies.32 sheaves on one tower.A cabin passes through tower 6.The lower station next to the base lodge.Tower 5.Up and down and up and down.The section closest to the village.A steep climb for the midwest.Small cabin maintenance facility.Lift overview.The bottom turnaround and lift line.Here you can see Doppelmayr used two different tower head designs based on loading.A cabin passes over the main access road and a few buildings.CWA Omega IV 8 LWIs.Lift line overview.A remote control module.The view from the summit.Tower 16.Riding towards the base area.Moose Mountain.View down at T9.The lowest point on the line.Ascending again to the base lodge.Breakover towers 3 and 4.Cabin with leather style seats.Side view of the drive station.Tower 1.Tower 2.
Nice shots, Peter. I like the creative angles you got of several of the lifts at Lutsen. The telephoto shot of the cliff section of the gondola taken from the east end of Eagle is a nice angle I haven’t seen elsewhere.
I am happy to see this beautiful Gondola machinery at Lutsen Mountain! I am certain that Tom now fully understands my reason for not showing and train his maintenance personal on how to replace one worn-out part with another worn out part as was the case on there first PHB Gondola that had bin relocated to Lutsen from Loon Mountain.
Yes the fiberglass cabins where fabricated at the Hall Ski Lift factory in Watertown N.Y and including some of the structural columns. However the rest of the machinery including the Cable grips where built by PHB in Köln Germany. This Gondola was built for and installed at Loon Mountian New Hampshire and it was there until its removal where it was replaced with a Dopplemayr gondola. I was the representative for PHB at the time and was able to workout with Loon Mountain the new lift design so that some of the original PHB towers where incorporated into the Dopplemayr installation.
We Alpine Technology, at the time represented PHB in the USA and consulted for Loon Mountain Engineering details that Loon so Doppelmayr could redesign the system with higher capacity and up to date operating safety standards. The rail gravity cable gripping system proved early on to be unreliable as different weights with loaded cabins would attach to the Wirerope at different speeds.
How did they figure out that hitch? Several other manufacturers used gravity instead of tires, such as Poma, Mueller, and Von Roll, not to mention the other companies using the Giovanola grip. Did they use a different method? Thanks
seilritter37, why not use centrifugal brakes in the rollers on the grips to cap the speed at a certain point like Sunkid uses on its mountain coasters?
I have not skied here in a few years, but when I was there there were no lines. I can see how there could be more lines now with COVID-19 and having to distance, but I have not gone recently. If there are no lines, there’s no need for a capacity boost. They probably could add more cabins, it would just be a matter of ordering them/shipping them from Doppelmayr and then hanging them.
Not that simple. You’re adding weight and load to the lift, so everything from sheave assemblies and tower footers to brakes and the motor would need an engineering review and possibly an upgrade.
you are/would be correct if the lift was engineered to have this many cabins. Many areas that buy a gondola will spec it to have a lets say 50 cabin capacity, but then only get 25 installed new. Then after a few years they’ll finish out the capacity when funds become available. A cabin, grip and hanger probably costs in the area of 40k.
There was a fire this morning at Papa Charlie’s (left of the lift 5th picture from the bottom) is it possible that this will have adverse effects on the gondola?
Lift Blog 
That has to be one of the best paint schemes I’ve ever seen on a Uni-G.
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Agreed with you. The red and black color scheme is just wicked awesome.
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Lutsen claims that the seats are heated, as someone whose ridden it I don’t think that they are
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Nice shots, Peter. I like the creative angles you got of several of the lifts at Lutsen. The telephoto shot of the cliff section of the gondola taken from the east end of Eagle is a nice angle I haven’t seen elsewhere.
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I am happy to see this beautiful Gondola machinery at Lutsen Mountain! I am certain that Tom now fully understands my reason for not showing and train his maintenance personal on how to replace one worn-out part with another worn out part as was the case on there first PHB Gondola that had bin relocated to Lutsen from Loon Mountain.
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Here is the original Lusten Gondola:
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tcd4-gondola-hall-lift-5646.html
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Yes the fiberglass cabins where fabricated at the Hall Ski Lift factory in Watertown N.Y and including some of the structural columns. However the rest of the machinery including the Cable grips where built by PHB in Köln Germany. This Gondola was built for and installed at Loon Mountian New Hampshire and it was there until its removal where it was replaced with a Dopplemayr gondola. I was the representative for PHB at the time and was able to workout with Loon Mountain the new lift design so that some of the original PHB towers where incorporated into the Dopplemayr installation.
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And there those tripod towers remain:
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We Alpine Technology, at the time represented PHB in the USA and consulted for Loon Mountain Engineering details that Loon so Doppelmayr could redesign the system with higher capacity and up to date operating safety standards. The rail gravity cable gripping system proved early on to be unreliable as different weights with loaded cabins would attach to the Wirerope at different speeds.
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Nifty!
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How did they figure out that hitch? Several other manufacturers used gravity instead of tires, such as Poma, Mueller, and Von Roll, not to mention the other companies using the Giovanola grip. Did they use a different method? Thanks
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seilritter37, why not use centrifugal brakes in the rollers on the grips to cap the speed at a certain point like Sunkid uses on its mountain coasters?
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Lutsen’s trail map has this named Summit Express.
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Does anyone know if Lutsen can add more cabins in the future, possibly needing more capacity with the expansion?
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I have not skied here in a few years, but when I was there there were no lines. I can see how there could be more lines now with COVID-19 and having to distance, but I have not gone recently. If there are no lines, there’s no need for a capacity boost. They probably could add more cabins, it would just be a matter of ordering them/shipping them from Doppelmayr and then hanging them.
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Not that simple. You’re adding weight and load to the lift, so everything from sheave assemblies and tower footers to brakes and the motor would need an engineering review and possibly an upgrade.
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you are/would be correct if the lift was engineered to have this many cabins. Many areas that buy a gondola will spec it to have a lets say 50 cabin capacity, but then only get 25 installed new. Then after a few years they’ll finish out the capacity when funds become available. A cabin, grip and hanger probably costs in the area of 40k.
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There was a fire this morning at Papa Charlie’s (left of the lift 5th picture from the bottom) is it possible that this will have adverse effects on the gondola?
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They posted this morning that the gondola was unaffected.
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I wish they would have gone ahead and extended this all the way to Caribou.
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