The old Silver Bullet Gondola was almost completely replaced over two phases in 2017 and 2019.View up the lower half of the line.Leaving the bottom terminal building.Riding out of Steamboat Village.View down.Upper half of the lift.Inside the top terminal building.Parking rails.Turnaround in the top station.There is one white cabin for wedding guests.Some of the top terminal structure was reused from the prior gondola.View down from the summit.Breakover towers.A new tower.Flat section at the middle of the line.Large combination assemblies.The lift passes nearly over the Christie Peak Express.A CWA Omega IV LWI cabin.View up near Christie Peak.Lower part of the lift line.Tall tower in the village area.Cabins leaving the base area.Tower 2.All of the towers were replaced in the second phase of the rebuild.Looking up at T2.Another view up the line.Cabins only load and unload in straight sections.View into a cabin with leather seats.Departing the top terminal.Departure side up top.The top breakover.Riding down.View of Thunderhead.The lower big breakover.View down towards the village.Village section.Looking up at tower 4.Cabins in the bottom terminal.Return station.Towers 25 and 26.A cabin going over big support assemblies.View down from Thunderhead.View above Christie Peak.The number of cabins was increased to 137 with the rebuild.Lift line overview.
I have no idea, but an idea I think could be nice would be replacing Thunderhead with a six-pack and then moving the existing equipment over to the Sunshine area and creating a Sunshine II lift southeast of Sunshine Express like they have in their master plan. Their lengths are roughly the same, although Thunderhead has a greater vertical. Alternatively, I would not be surprised by a South Peak quad replacement. I do not think it is long enough to warrant a detachable, but the master plan calls for it and it is pretty similar to Elkhead (which went detachable).
I’m so glad the Gondola has level walk-in! The Silver Bullet was cool, but the “Blue Bullet” is even better because of this. (I love the new blue cabin color!)
The wedding cabin is really slick looking too; I wondered what they’d do since they had the one on the old gondola.
Was that the new CWA cabin that was purple? I wondered why there was one new CWA cabin on the line and figured it was for ADA reasons. It would be curious if the wedding cabin is a VIP cabin which only seats four.
The wedding cabin on the old gondola was the same model as the others except it was white and it had “Just married!” decals on it. The windows weren’t tinted like the new wedding cabin is.
what is the Sliver things on towers 25-26 for? it seems to me that they are reflective and could melt the snow around them if the sun is shining at the right spot.
What is going to be steamboat’s next big project? I’m guessing either replacement of thunderhead or bashor bowl gondola or both.
LikeLike
I have no idea, but an idea I think could be nice would be replacing Thunderhead with a six-pack and then moving the existing equipment over to the Sunshine area and creating a Sunshine II lift southeast of Sunshine Express like they have in their master plan. Their lengths are roughly the same, although Thunderhead has a greater vertical. Alternatively, I would not be surprised by a South Peak quad replacement. I do not think it is long enough to warrant a detachable, but the master plan calls for it and it is pretty similar to Elkhead (which went detachable).
LikeLike
I think that plan may have been scrapped, seeing as the Elkhead Express was built as a high speed quad, not a six pack.
LikeLike
I’m so glad the Gondola has level walk-in! The Silver Bullet was cool, but the “Blue Bullet” is even better because of this. (I love the new blue cabin color!)
The wedding cabin is really slick looking too; I wondered what they’d do since they had the one on the old gondola.
LikeLike
Was that the new CWA cabin that was purple? I wondered why there was one new CWA cabin on the line and figured it was for ADA reasons. It would be curious if the wedding cabin is a VIP cabin which only seats four.
LikeLike
The wedding cabin on the old gondola was the same model as the others except it was white and it had “Just married!” decals on it. The windows weren’t tinted like the new wedding cabin is.
LikeLike
Edit: There’s a picture of it on the “silver bullet gondola” page. (https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2018/08/img_0725.jpg?w=768&h=1024)
LikeLike
What was wrong with the previous towers?
LikeLike
My guess is that the lattice towers wouldn’t be able to handle the rigors of the higher capacity gondola cabins.
LikeLike
does this use Uni G technology or D-line.
LikeLike
Uni-G.
LikeLike
Does it still have a cargo cabin?
LikeLike
Solved my own question, it has what looks like 2 cargo cabins
LikeLike
All the cabins are cargo cabins now. The old cargo cabins haven’t been used since the upgrade.
LikeLike
what is the Sliver things on towers 25-26 for? it seems to me that they are reflective and could melt the snow around them if the sun is shining at the right spot.
LikeLike
They are reflective. They’re to keep the towers from bending in the sun and causing misalignment. No, you can’t see the bend, but trust me it’s there.
LikeLike