Covered cabin parking at the base terminal.Departure side at the base.Leaving the drive station.View up the line.Upper lift line.Lower line.Top terminal building.Poma towers and a new Sigma Diamond cabin.Top return station.Another look at the lift line.Bottom station with vault drive below.Tower 3 and new Sigma Diamond 8 cabins.Depression towers 1 and 2.Cabins in the top station.Unique station architecture.Middle part of the lift line.Another view down the lift.Tall towers.Upper lift line.A tower with 16 sheave depression assemblies.The first few towers.View up from near the top of American Express.
Wonder what the future holds in store for this lift. The upper half seems poorly designed, as the lift outclimbs the trees at points, which seems fine on days with no wind, but even average east coast winds shut this lift down. On top of that, this lift turned 30 years old last year, and the original equipment likely will cause issues in the coming years. A small capacity bump would also probably shorten lines dramatically on crowded days.
They basically replaced everything (rope, cabins, motor, etc.) in 2014 similarly to what Steamboat seems to be going to do this summer, so it should be fine to run for the next 25+ years without an issue. The one thing they did not change was the towers themselves, which does cause issues with them being above the trees and causing frequent wind delays. Although the new cabins are slightly more wind resistant, the towers need to be lowered (if clearance allows it) to really make a big change.
The capacity listed here may also be off because it may be with the old cabins and I think it might have slightly increased with the new cabins.
I think I heard they actually had to have the lift re-evaluated, and the state decided to lower the wind speed the lift was allowed to run in. These wind delays existed a lot less before 2014. It has came to a point where the gondola is on wind delay more than half the time it supposed to be running. Never remember this happening 10 years ago.
Believe it or not, the new cabins actually hold less people than the old ones. The old cabins were regulated for 12, and typically filled with 9 or 10 on peak days. The new cabins very rarely see 9, and are pretty much never loaded with 10.
The old cabins were originally standing only. When they put in the mini seats it reduced the number of people that could fit in them. The new cabins are rated for 10 with 8 sitting and 2 standing, but I’ve never been in one with more than 8.
I’m not sure what the state has to do with the wind the lift can operate in. There’s no set number. It depends on how the cabins are swinging and whether they have enough clearance on the line.
This lift, like URSA is rarely run at full speed. I think on this lift it’s more wind related than anything as they completely rebuilt the drive during the upgrade. Fastest I’ve ridden it is at 925 feet per minute but it’s usually much slower.
Adding to my prior comments regarding the wind issues with this lift:
The only way to really make a difference with the wind would be to realign the lift to follow the looker’s left side of the trail on Upper Standard and terminate around where the Hubert Haus is (accompanied with lower towers). Lower towers alone in the existing alignment would allegedly not do enough. When Stratton needed to gut and replace much of the lift in 2014, they looked into this, but Intrawest balked at the price tag and settled for the cheaper option of keeping the same alignment, towers, and terminal foundations and only pursuing more aerodynamic cabins.
They can also Replace the controls with LPA ones, Upgrade to tires, and replace some towers. If the grips are bad they can rebuild them like they did with Silver Queen Gondola or Replace the grips with LPA grips and retrofit the counters like they did with Silver Bullet.
This year this lift is seeming to be running faster and in windier conditions than before. Of the 20 days I’ve skied here already I’ve only seen one wind hold, and it’s constantly running between 900-1000 fpm on weekends, sometimes even on weekdays
They run it at that speed very regularly now on weekends. Stratton this year has really changed their lift operating strategy this year. Today they still ran this lift in 40+ mph winds at the top, and still at a decent speed of around 800 fpm.
The reason for the lowers mountain towers being so high is because they had to compensate for the Lower Standard Lift. I can agree that upper mountain towers are a bit high for windy days.
What do you mean they had to compensate for the Lower Standard Double? It ran on the skier’s right side of the trail whereas the gondola runs on the skier’s left side of the trail. Here’s a picture of it and the gondola: http://www.chairlift.org/pics/stratton/str55.jpg
On tower 19 (combination tower) I believe that it was originally a normal tower and when they replaced the cabins the top part was added because I believe the new cabins are lighter than the old ones.
They indeed were. With all the faded, cracked fiberglass and scratched windows the cabins were ready for retirement. Not to mention these cabins did not offer modern seating. There was only a little side stool lining the perimeter of the cabin to lean against. The new cabins have modern seating arrangements.
There can be many different reasons for a lift to have a vault drive. Space constraints, location of power source, or even overall noise factor are some examples. I would guess that the reason this lift has a vault is because the interior of the terminal doesn’t hold enough space for the drove equipment on top of all the driveshafts for the tires, chain contour, etc.
I think they should replace this lift with a fixed grip. It is just not needed to have a gondola at a resort like this. They shouldn’t have any detachibles here. No resort should have detatchibles.
Are you here to troll or are you just misinformed? Gondolas at amusement parks are different from gondolas at ski resorts, and the same goes for detachable chairlifts.
While gondolas certainly are maintenance hogs, they also make for a more premium guest experience, so a lot of resorts decide they’re worth the trouble. A new gondola with heated seats and wifi helps people justify a $210 ticket ;) People are willing to pay more to ski at areas with gondolas and those areas attract more skiers, so often it makes financial sense for a resort to invest in a gondola. Gondolas also are great for summer tourism and sight seeing.
Skiing in Ohio is very different than skiing in the Northeast and in the West. The gondola at Cedar Point is relatively old compared to most gondolas at ski areas. Gondolas (not pulse gondolas) usually have a higher capacity than most chairlifts. I agree that Ohio ski areas shouldn’t have monocable gondolas for skiing purposes. There isn’t a chairlift that I know of at an Ohio ski resort that has a length greater than 2500 feet.
In terms of redundancy, the only truly redundant lifts are Solstice and South American. If you wanted, you could also throw Shooting Star and Snow Bowl in there, however the resort would be a nightmare without them, as no Shooting Star would lead to massive lines at Ursa and no Snow Bowl would lead to massive lines at the Gondola and overall poor lift service to the area. All of the other lifts pretty much have their own purpose (Sunrise serves the Sun Bowl, American Express serves lower mountain, Ursa serves upper mountain, the gondola provides base-summit service, and Tamarack and Villager serve beginner terrain and real estate access). I’m a passholder at another indy mountain (Magic) and I can understand lol
Stratton trails are able to handle a lot more skiers, which allows them to have so many lifts going to similar spots, especially the lower mountain. As far as im concerned, Smugg’s trail acreage is around 300 while Stratton’s is around 500. Smugg’s also, of course, has much more advanced terrain than Stratton, but comfortable skier/rider density is much less for blacks and double blacks than blues and greens (less than 1/3 of blue and less than 1/5 of green).
But yeah, Smuggs has only 1 or 2 ways down from Madonna or Sterling summits, and even those have pinchpoints and/or steep curves — so any more lift capacity would pretty much ruin the experience. Double chairs forever!
This gondola technically fits 10 people but all 9 times I’ve skied here they only fill it with 8 people which is still tight with adults. This lift also has a long line and moves not nearly at full speed. A better way to reach the summit would be,
It appears a number of towers towards the middle of the line near the top of Amex were drastically shortened, and maybe even a tower or two were added. If you look at this picture/link you’ll see that there is no depression tower where tower 13 stands today and the towers around there were huge
These cabins are actually larger and far taller than typical Sigma Diamond cabins, which is why they may appear small in the photos. These can fit 8 seated easily and are rated for 2 more standing.
The capacity was actually around 2400 with the old cabins, with the assumption more cabins would be purchased to increase to the design of 3000 per hour which never happened
The engineered capacity was 2400 @12/cabin and is now 2000 @10/cabin with the new cabins. The cabin spacing is 300ft, you aren’t taking the cadence chain into consideration
The terminals always had windows, though the original windows were corrugated like the sheet metal, and they were replaced with the current “smooth” windows in 2018. This summer the top terminal windows facing the Snowbowl lift were removed and replaced with corrugated sheet metal to be able to withstand the wind a little better
Lift Blog 
Wonder what the future holds in store for this lift. The upper half seems poorly designed, as the lift outclimbs the trees at points, which seems fine on days with no wind, but even average east coast winds shut this lift down. On top of that, this lift turned 30 years old last year, and the original equipment likely will cause issues in the coming years. A small capacity bump would also probably shorten lines dramatically on crowded days.
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They basically replaced everything (rope, cabins, motor, etc.) in 2014 similarly to what Steamboat seems to be going to do this summer, so it should be fine to run for the next 25+ years without an issue. The one thing they did not change was the towers themselves, which does cause issues with them being above the trees and causing frequent wind delays. Although the new cabins are slightly more wind resistant, the towers need to be lowered (if clearance allows it) to really make a big change.
The capacity listed here may also be off because it may be with the old cabins and I think it might have slightly increased with the new cabins.
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I think I heard they actually had to have the lift re-evaluated, and the state decided to lower the wind speed the lift was allowed to run in. These wind delays existed a lot less before 2014. It has came to a point where the gondola is on wind delay more than half the time it supposed to be running. Never remember this happening 10 years ago.
Believe it or not, the new cabins actually hold less people than the old ones. The old cabins were regulated for 12, and typically filled with 9 or 10 on peak days. The new cabins very rarely see 9, and are pretty much never loaded with 10.
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The old cabins were originally standing only. When they put in the mini seats it reduced the number of people that could fit in them. The new cabins are rated for 10 with 8 sitting and 2 standing, but I’ve never been in one with more than 8.
I’m not sure what the state has to do with the wind the lift can operate in. There’s no set number. It depends on how the cabins are swinging and whether they have enough clearance on the line.
This lift, like URSA is rarely run at full speed. I think on this lift it’s more wind related than anything as they completely rebuilt the drive during the upgrade. Fastest I’ve ridden it is at 925 feet per minute but it’s usually much slower.
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Adding to my prior comments regarding the wind issues with this lift:
The only way to really make a difference with the wind would be to realign the lift to follow the looker’s left side of the trail on Upper Standard and terminate around where the Hubert Haus is (accompanied with lower towers). Lower towers alone in the existing alignment would allegedly not do enough. When Stratton needed to gut and replace much of the lift in 2014, they looked into this, but Intrawest balked at the price tag and settled for the cheaper option of keeping the same alignment, towers, and terminal foundations and only pursuing more aerodynamic cabins.
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They can also Replace the controls with LPA ones, Upgrade to tires, and replace some towers. If the grips are bad they can rebuild them like they did with Silver Queen Gondola or Replace the grips with LPA grips and retrofit the counters like they did with Silver Bullet.
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I have seen a similar Falcon Gondola in Europe retrofitted with new grips.
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This year this lift is seeming to be running faster and in windier conditions than before. Of the 20 days I’ve skied here already I’ve only seen one wind hold, and it’s constantly running between 900-1000 fpm on weekends, sometimes even on weekdays
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The gondola was running at 990-1000 FPM this weekend according to the display in the lift shack.
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They run it at that speed very regularly now on weekends. Stratton this year has really changed their lift operating strategy this year. Today they still ran this lift in 40+ mph winds at the top, and still at a decent speed of around 800 fpm.
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The reason for the lowers mountain towers being so high is because they had to compensate for the Lower Standard Lift. I can agree that upper mountain towers are a bit high for windy days.
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What do you mean they had to compensate for the Lower Standard Double? It ran on the skier’s right side of the trail whereas the gondola runs on the skier’s left side of the trail. Here’s a picture of it and the gondola: http://www.chairlift.org/pics/stratton/str55.jpg
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On tower 19 (combination tower) I believe that it was originally a normal tower and when they replaced the cabins the top part was added because I believe the new cabins are lighter than the old ones.
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They indeed were. With all the faded, cracked fiberglass and scratched windows the cabins were ready for retirement. Not to mention these cabins did not offer modern seating. There was only a little side stool lining the perimeter of the cabin to lean against. The new cabins have modern seating arrangements.
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What is the reason for vault drives on lifts?
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There can be many different reasons for a lift to have a vault drive. Space constraints, location of power source, or even overall noise factor are some examples. I would guess that the reason this lift has a vault is because the interior of the terminal doesn’t hold enough space for the drove equipment on top of all the driveshafts for the tires, chain contour, etc.
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I think they should replace this lift with a fixed grip. It is just not needed to have a gondola at a resort like this. They shouldn’t have any detachibles here. No resort should have detatchibles.
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Detachables serve a purpose of getting people up the mountain faster, and so do gondolas.
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Nononono you dont get it gondolas are more trubble then they are worth. I would know
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Are you here to troll or are you just misinformed? Gondolas at amusement parks are different from gondolas at ski resorts, and the same goes for detachable chairlifts.
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Nononono you dont get it gondolas are more trubble then they are worth. I would know because I work at cedar point
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While gondolas certainly are maintenance hogs, they also make for a more premium guest experience, so a lot of resorts decide they’re worth the trouble. A new gondola with heated seats and wifi helps people justify a $210 ticket ;) People are willing to pay more to ski at areas with gondolas and those areas attract more skiers, so often it makes financial sense for a resort to invest in a gondola. Gondolas also are great for summer tourism and sight seeing.
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Skiing in Ohio is very different than skiing in the Northeast and in the West. The gondola at Cedar Point is relatively old compared to most gondolas at ski areas. Gondolas (not pulse gondolas) usually have a higher capacity than most chairlifts. I agree that Ohio ski areas shouldn’t have monocable gondolas for skiing purposes. There isn’t a chairlift that I know of at an Ohio ski resort that has a length greater than 2500 feet.
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well i think that not everyone thinks it should be 20 minute ride up if you pay 100+ dollars.
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Wow, Stratton has a ridiculous number of lifts running in parallel. Who ever heard of more than one double chair per mountain?*
(*this comment obviously made by a Smugglers’ Notch pass holder)
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In terms of redundancy, the only truly redundant lifts are Solstice and South American. If you wanted, you could also throw Shooting Star and Snow Bowl in there, however the resort would be a nightmare without them, as no Shooting Star would lead to massive lines at Ursa and no Snow Bowl would lead to massive lines at the Gondola and overall poor lift service to the area. All of the other lifts pretty much have their own purpose (Sunrise serves the Sun Bowl, American Express serves lower mountain, Ursa serves upper mountain, the gondola provides base-summit service, and Tamarack and Villager serve beginner terrain and real estate access). I’m a passholder at another indy mountain (Magic) and I can understand lol
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Stratton trails are able to handle a lot more skiers, which allows them to have so many lifts going to similar spots, especially the lower mountain. As far as im concerned, Smugg’s trail acreage is around 300 while Stratton’s is around 500. Smugg’s also, of course, has much more advanced terrain than Stratton, but comfortable skier/rider density is much less for blacks and double blacks than blues and greens (less than 1/3 of blue and less than 1/5 of green).
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Laughed out loud at this.*
(*Smuggs skier for nearly 40 years.)
But yeah, Smuggs has only 1 or 2 ways down from Madonna or Sterling summits, and even those have pinchpoints and/or steep curves — so any more lift capacity would pretty much ruin the experience. Double chairs forever!
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this is the price of interesting and challenging terrain, which Smuggs has loads of (even if it’s overlooked) and Stratton… not so much. :)
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This gondola technically fits 10 people but all 9 times I’ve skied here they only fill it with 8 people which is still tight with adults. This lift also has a long line and moves not nearly at full speed. A better way to reach the summit would be,
American express 6- Snowbowl 4
Sunrise 6- Shooting star 6
American Express 6- ursa 6
and a few others using fixed grip lifts
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The ten person capacity is really eight seated and two standing, which is why they never load it with ten.
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What did the original cabins for this lift looked like?
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Like this:
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It appears a number of towers towards the middle of the line near the top of Amex were drastically shortened, and maybe even a tower or two were added. If you look at this picture/link you’ll see that there is no depression tower where tower 13 stands today and the towers around there were huge
http://www.chairlift.org/pics/stratton/str55.jpg
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Are you sure those are 10 person cabins? they don’t look like they can hold any more than 6.
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The other 4 people had to be standing. Whistler Village gondola also has that.
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These cabins are actually larger and far taller than typical Sigma Diamond cabins, which is why they may appear small in the photos. These can fit 8 seated easily and are rated for 2 more standing.
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Capacity estimates (based on line length/number of cabins):
12 people per cabin (old cabins), 1000fpm- 2,829 pph
10 people per cabin, 1000 fpm- 2,358 pph
8 people per cabin, 1000 fpm- 1,886 pph
8 people per cabin, 800 fpm- 1,509 pph
7 people per cabin, 700 fpm- 1,155 pph
No wonder this lift gets fat lines, it has the same effective capacity on a windy day as a double chair..
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The capacity was actually around 2400 with the old cabins, with the assumption more cabins would be purchased to increase to the design of 3000 per hour which never happened
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I assume that’s for 10 passengers per cabin.
7,379 foot long line
58 cabins (29 carrying passengers uphill at any given time)
Which means there is a cabin every ~250 feet on the uphill side (7,379/29)
They pass by at 1000fpm which means there are about 4 cabins per minute (1000/250)
4 cabins per minute*60 minutes per hour = 240 cabins per hour
To be fair I don’t think the old cabins were ever carrying 12..
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The engineered capacity was 2400 @12/cabin and is now 2000 @10/cabin with the new cabins. The cabin spacing is 300ft, you aren’t taking the cadence chain into consideration
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According to reports, they added another 200ft of wind fencing for the gondola to help keep it running in windy conditions.
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correct, and the existing wind fence was also repaired
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When were the windows added to the terminals?
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The terminals always had windows, though the original windows were corrugated like the sheet metal, and they were replaced with the current “smooth” windows in 2018. This summer the top terminal windows facing the Snowbowl lift were removed and replaced with corrugated sheet metal to be able to withstand the wind a little better
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