This lift is over 7,000 feet long after being extended in 2008.The new bottom terminal anchors development at the base of Peak 7.View up from the base.Loading ramp.Riding up in the morning.Tower 12.Top station next to the brand new Pioneer Crossing.Poma Omega tri-leg station.Another view of the line.Lower station side view.Tower 3.Top station with double stack to accommodate a large drive.Top station side view.Looking down the line.Middle lift line.
11 thoughts on “Independence SuperChair – Breckenridge, CO”
Donald M. ReifFebruary 6, 2019 / 12:14 am
Tower 2A was added to the lift as part of the 2008 extension of the lift to bring it down to Peak 7 Base. It’s situated about where the lift originally started.
As originally built in 2002, the lift had 90 degree loading, 23 towers, and 113 chairs. For the 2008 extension and incorporation into the Peak 7 base area, the lift was converted to in-line loading, and received an additional tower and six chairs, bringing the lift to 24 towers and 119 chairs. Chairs 114-119 have Leitner-Poma logos on their chair number stickers, rather than simple “POMA” logos.
While normally run at 1,000 feet per minute from 2002 to 2013, beginning in 2013, Breckenridge began running the lift at 1,100 fpm. It is no surprise that this coincided with the Independence SuperChair no longer being the northernmost lift on the mountain, as in addition to Peak 7’s trail pod, it now has the additional function of an access lift to move Kensho SuperChair traffic from Peak 6 back to Peak 8. Although, I think they’ve gone back to 1,000 fpm since 2016, now that the lift has to accommodate foot traffic in the form of staff commuting up to Pioneer Crossing.
During the period when the lift ran at 1,100 fpm, the ride time was just 6.75 minutes. When run at 1,000 fpm, the ride time is 7.5 minutes. (Here’s video of 1,000 fpm operations):
An uphill ride in the winter (this was taken in 2013, a few days before Peak 6 opened to the public):
During the summer of 2014, when the Colorado SuperChair was being replaced, the Independence SuperChair was utilized as the scenic lift ride/bike haul chairlift, so here’s what it’s like to ride down the lift:
This might be a great place for a chondola. Because the “Independence SuperChair” is the first thing people will be at. So Breckenridge needs to have more uphill capacity on peak 7.
That may be, but even though Peak 7 is the first base area you come to when you are headed up the Gondola, Breck regards Peak 8 as the center of mountain activity. And there’s no need to add more capacity to the Independence SuperChair, not when Breck is building that infill high speed quad next year that will take off some of the guests that have to use it: namely, lap traffic on Monte Cristo, Angel’s Rest, and Lincoln Meadows; Kensho SuperChair traffic that are taking a lunch break at Pioneer Crossing or want to go back to Peak 8 and points south without going through the congested runout of lower Monte Cristo, and people who’d rather avoid the slow Zendo Chair to get to Peak 6.
(As for inserting images into comments, you just paste the URL of the image you want to insert, and the system should do the rest of the work automatically)
The top terminal design by poma was originally called “Phatboy”. So in general these terminals probably existed during the 1998-2007 depends on which lift was last built.
This was the design used from 1998 to 2002. Lifts of this vintage generally had a raised stack at the drive terminal if they needed a larger drive motor (as seen on the Independence SuperChair and Peak 8 SuperConnect), though not always (Quicksilver Super6 doesn’t have a stack).
The design was modified around 2003 to eliminate the stack altogether in favor of uniform height at both terminals. You see this with lifts like the Ajax Express:
Beginning in 2005, Omega lifts began to be designed with differing heights for drive and return terminals, as seen on Imperial:
I’ll be one to admit I actually think the terminals looked nicer when the lift name was painted directly on them in typewriter front, flanked by the Leitner-Poma logo and Peak 7’s logo of a crossed pickaxe and shovel.
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Tower 2A was added to the lift as part of the 2008 extension of the lift to bring it down to Peak 7 Base. It’s situated about where the lift originally started.
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I think you can even still see the old foundations from the loading terminal’s original location during the summer months.
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As originally built in 2002, the lift had 90 degree loading, 23 towers, and 113 chairs. For the 2008 extension and incorporation into the Peak 7 base area, the lift was converted to in-line loading, and received an additional tower and six chairs, bringing the lift to 24 towers and 119 chairs. Chairs 114-119 have Leitner-Poma logos on their chair number stickers, rather than simple “POMA” logos.
While normally run at 1,000 feet per minute from 2002 to 2013, beginning in 2013, Breckenridge began running the lift at 1,100 fpm. It is no surprise that this coincided with the Independence SuperChair no longer being the northernmost lift on the mountain, as in addition to Peak 7’s trail pod, it now has the additional function of an access lift to move Kensho SuperChair traffic from Peak 6 back to Peak 8. Although, I think they’ve gone back to 1,000 fpm since 2016, now that the lift has to accommodate foot traffic in the form of staff commuting up to Pioneer Crossing.
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During the period when the lift ran at 1,100 fpm, the ride time was just 6.75 minutes. When run at 1,000 fpm, the ride time is 7.5 minutes. (Here’s video of 1,000 fpm operations):
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Here’s two videos of the lift.
An uphill ride in the winter (this was taken in 2013, a few days before Peak 6 opened to the public):
During the summer of 2014, when the Colorado SuperChair was being replaced, the Independence SuperChair was utilized as the scenic lift ride/bike haul chairlift, so here’s what it’s like to ride down the lift:
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This was the bottom terminal before the Peak 7 Base Area was built:
And the former bottom terminal location after the extension:
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This might be a great place for a chondola. Because the “Independence SuperChair” is the first thing people will be at. So Breckenridge needs to have more uphill capacity on peak 7.
Btw how do I put Images on here?
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That may be, but even though Peak 7 is the first base area you come to when you are headed up the Gondola, Breck regards Peak 8 as the center of mountain activity. And there’s no need to add more capacity to the Independence SuperChair, not when Breck is building that infill high speed quad next year that will take off some of the guests that have to use it: namely, lap traffic on Monte Cristo, Angel’s Rest, and Lincoln Meadows; Kensho SuperChair traffic that are taking a lunch break at Pioneer Crossing or want to go back to Peak 8 and points south without going through the congested runout of lower Monte Cristo, and people who’d rather avoid the slow Zendo Chair to get to Peak 6.
(As for inserting images into comments, you just paste the URL of the image you want to insert, and the system should do the rest of the work automatically)
LikeLike
The top terminal design by poma was originally called “Phatboy”. So in general these terminals probably existed during the 1998-2007 depends on which lift was last built.
The information was from Skilifts.org
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This was the design used from 1998 to 2002. Lifts of this vintage generally had a raised stack at the drive terminal if they needed a larger drive motor (as seen on the Independence SuperChair and Peak 8 SuperConnect), though not always (Quicksilver Super6 doesn’t have a stack).
The design was modified around 2003 to eliminate the stack altogether in favor of uniform height at both terminals. You see this with lifts like the Ajax Express:
Beginning in 2005, Omega lifts began to be designed with differing heights for drive and return terminals, as seen on Imperial:
LikeLike
I’ll be one to admit I actually think the terminals looked nicer when the lift name was painted directly on them in typewriter front, flanked by the Leitner-Poma logo and Peak 7’s logo of a crossed pickaxe and shovel.
LikeLike