This long high speed quad serves the lower part of Mt. Ellen at Sugarbush.View up the lift line.Towers 1 and 2.Bottom return terminal.Poma Omega model station.Lower terminal.View down the line.Depression tower next to the North Ridge and Slide Brook Express lower stations.View down from the Glen House.Drive station and last tower.Poma Omega double stack terminal.The top terminal seen from North Ridge.Unloading area and maintenance rail.Side view of the drive.
Using Northeast Chairlift’s video to find the ride time (~6.6 min or 6:36 including one routine reduction in speed), with LiftBlog’s listed length of 6243 feet, I calculated that the lift was averaging only 945.9 feet per minute during this video.
HOWEVER… Using LiftBlog’s ride time of 5.7 minutes, I calculated the rope speed to be about 1095 feet per minute.
In NorthEast Chairlift’s video, the lift may have been running slower due to terrain limitations at the time or because most mountains don’t run their detachable lifts flat out all the time. As Peter said last year, “…the vast majority of detachable lifts built these days have the standard design speed of 1,000 fpm (5.08 m/s) and operate even slower much of the time. In my experience, many ski areas run so-called high speed lifts at 800 or 900 feet a minute on all but the busiest of days. As users on Alpinforum note, ski resort operators care more about reducing stops, wear and tear than shaving thirty seconds off a ride time that the average guest won’t even notice.” https://liftblog.com/2016/02/04/will-detachable-lifts-get-faster/
Excluding the Doppelmayr fixed grip quads, this lift and Heaven’s Gate are in the best condition of all the lifts at Sugarbush. Hopefully Alterra has higher standards for lift maintenance than Sugarbush has right now. Some of the lifts are in pretty bad condition.
It is not usually running on diesel, but it could very well be operating on diesel. Even with that though, it was still running at a decent speed. It always runs very fast, for Sugarbush standards at least. Hopefully, they’ll fix the issue soon.
Yes. Up until recently, it ran daily, but they have begun to run Inverness and North Ridge instead Monday-Wednesday. It has been running near 1,000 ft/min on diesel. I believe it has two backups, but I don’t know if they are using both. Here is a video of it running on diesel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-DC__d4aCQ
It sounds very cool, especially around the 1:07 mark. Too bad the lift is top driven. They have to transport diesel fuel up there on a cat which certainly can’t be easy.
All they need to do is take it down at end of day with cargo cat (same cat that delivers food to the restaurant on mountain and take garbage) and refill it, and bring it back up.
TIJSEN- This lift has a 700-800 HP diesel engine that consumes 30-40 gallons per hour so it will use about 300 gallons of fuel per day. The “day tanks” for these lifts are permanently mounted in the motor room- not something you ‘take down at the end of the day”. You need a mobile fuel tank mounted in the ‘cargo cat’ and then the fuel has to be transferred to the tank in the motor room…not a simple process.
Hope this helps.
It is a process that is probably more doable on fixed grip lifts, hence why you see some instances of fixed grips that run full-time on diesel in remote areas where running electric utilities is not doable (like Alpine T-Bar and Cliff at Big White).
Very fast, maybe around 1200 fpm
LikeLike
Certified for 1100. Find the ride time and divide the length by it to find out for sure.
LikeLike
Using Northeast Chairlift’s video to find the ride time (~6.6 min or 6:36 including one routine reduction in speed), with LiftBlog’s listed length of 6243 feet, I calculated that the lift was averaging only 945.9 feet per minute during this video.
HOWEVER… Using LiftBlog’s ride time of 5.7 minutes, I calculated the rope speed to be about 1095 feet per minute.
In NorthEast Chairlift’s video, the lift may have been running slower due to terrain limitations at the time or because most mountains don’t run their detachable lifts flat out all the time. As Peter said last year, “…the vast majority of detachable lifts built these days have the standard design speed of 1,000 fpm (5.08 m/s) and operate even slower much of the time. In my experience, many ski areas run so-called high speed lifts at 800 or 900 feet a minute on all but the busiest of days. As users on Alpinforum note, ski resort operators care more about reducing stops, wear and tear than shaving thirty seconds off a ride time that the average guest won’t even notice.” https://liftblog.com/2016/02/04/will-detachable-lifts-get-faster/
.
LikeLike
Ride time is about 8:15. I recorded it on my channel. I’ll look at it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Excluding the Doppelmayr fixed grip quads, this lift and Heaven’s Gate are in the best condition of all the lifts at Sugarbush. Hopefully Alterra has higher standards for lift maintenance than Sugarbush has right now. Some of the lifts are in pretty bad condition.
LikeLike
Is this a diesel powered lift? I road it for the first time today. Very noisy and smelly engine at the top.
LikeLike
It is not usually running on diesel, but it could very well be operating on diesel. Even with that though, it was still running at a decent speed. It always runs very fast, for Sugarbush standards at least. Hopefully, they’ll fix the issue soon.
LikeLike
The lift was struck by lightning over the summer and thus has been operating in diesel since opening day for 2019-2020
LikeLike
Yes. Up until recently, it ran daily, but they have begun to run Inverness and North Ridge instead Monday-Wednesday. It has been running near 1,000 ft/min on diesel. I believe it has two backups, but I don’t know if they are using both. Here is a video of it running on diesel: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-DC__d4aCQ
It sounds very cool, especially around the 1:07 mark. Too bad the lift is top driven. They have to transport diesel fuel up there on a cat which certainly can’t be easy.
LikeLike
All they need to do is take it down at end of day with cargo cat (same cat that delivers food to the restaurant on mountain and take garbage) and refill it, and bring it back up.
LikeLike
Meaning the diesel tank
LikeLike
TIJSEN- This lift has a 700-800 HP diesel engine that consumes 30-40 gallons per hour so it will use about 300 gallons of fuel per day. The “day tanks” for these lifts are permanently mounted in the motor room- not something you ‘take down at the end of the day”. You need a mobile fuel tank mounted in the ‘cargo cat’ and then the fuel has to be transferred to the tank in the motor room…not a simple process.
Hope this helps.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It is a process that is probably more doable on fixed grip lifts, hence why you see some instances of fixed grips that run full-time on diesel in remote areas where running electric utilities is not doable (like Alpine T-Bar and Cliff at Big White).
LikeLike
LikeLike