24 thoughts on “Jordan Bowl Express – Sunday River, ME

  1. Max Hart's avatar Max Hart February 24, 2020 / 3:36 pm

    This lift’s initial capacity upon opening was 2100 riders/hr. Over the next few years 22 more chairs were added bringing capacity up to ~2667 riders/hr (though not all at once). 15 chairs were added the first time, bringing capacity up to ~2375 riders/hr . Another 6 chairs were added a few years later, bringing the total to 113 chairs with a capacity of ~2667 riders/hr. The first increase took place in 1995, the next was a few years later. The first increase was a no-brainer given the massive area serviced by this lift, but the second increase may have taken place more so that ASC could justify the low hours that the Oz Quad got in the late 1990s (I don’t think it ran at all for a few years in the late 1990s). Design capacity is 3000 riders/hr and would have required a total of 130 chairs.

    As use of the Oz quad has increased over the last few years (thanks to improved snowmaking), JBX is often turned down to ~800 fpm with a capacity of ~2150 riders/hr, which is ironically very close to its initial capacity.

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  2. skitheeast's avatar skitheeast February 14, 2021 / 11:48 pm

    Sunday River seems pretty determined to replace Jordan Bowl faster than I would think due to the wind at the top, likely with a six-pack. When that happens in a couple of years, I would not be surprised to see the existing Jordan Bowl lift be relocated to either replace Aurora or White Cap. Boyne hinted they are now reluctant to purchase new detachable quads and would prefer to upgrade “backbone” lifts that are detachable quads to either six or eight and relocate those quads elsewhere.

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    • skibumbarnes's avatar skibumbarnes February 15, 2021 / 5:43 am

      Boyne is definitely helping Sunday River out here a lot. I think upgrading their “backbone” lifts is a great idea with the increase in popularity at Sunday River, and will make Sunday Rivers peaks be a lot more accessible than before.

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    • Peter D's avatar Peter D March 29, 2022 / 1:27 pm

      Im pretty sure the Oz trails will still be accessible from Jordan

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  3. Donald Reif's avatar Donald Reif March 29, 2022 / 4:41 pm

    The lift terminals looked nicer after they were repainted red.

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  4. Cameron Halmrast's avatar Cameron Halmrast August 8, 2022 / 11:27 pm

    Did Boyne put this lift into storage for a future relocation or was it scrapped?

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  5. Tom White's avatar Tom White August 9, 2022 / 10:51 am

    Here’s what I said in the Barker Express thread. No official announcements yet.

    THOMAS R WHITE
    March 24, 2022 / 4:58 am
    I heard the rumor that Barker could be a new HSS and the Jordan HSQ go elsewhere. Sugarloaf and newly acquired Shawnee Peak are possible locations to get Jordan. After hearing that, last Friday I was at Shawnee. I asked ski patrol about updates. He said, this summer Boyne will do computer system and some lodge work. The following summer a HSQ will replace the summit triple. The triple will remain to mid-station. When I suggested it would be the Jordan lift, he didn’t say no. Obviously, official word will come, but we like to speculate! Barker is so key, the replacement should be a new detachable.

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    • skitheeast's avatar skitheeast August 9, 2022 / 7:57 pm

      I think Boyne had hoped that announcing a world-class eight-pack would have resulted in a more positive reception to their plan as a whole, but Barker is such a pressing issue at the resort that delaying its replacement by a year and using a used lift of a similar capacity was really poorly received by Sunday River skiers. To their credit, they have subsequently committed to having Barker be a new lift and been quiet about Jordan’s fate, although the timing with Shawnee Peak indicates that the plan is to use Jordan 1.0 to replace Summit (as I doubt Shawnee skiers will be picky about receiving their first detachable).

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      • Tom White's avatar Tom White August 10, 2022 / 7:02 am

        I fully agree. If Boyne changes the earlier plan with a new detachable (Six Pack), that speaks well of them.

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      • Cody Brook's avatar Cody Brook August 10, 2022 / 10:31 am

        I also agree. I’m pretty certain Barker will be a new detachable, not the old Jordan as they still say on the Jordan 8 website that Sunday River will get three new lifts being Merrill Hill, Jordan 8, and one more but any plans on Jordan being used at barker have been removed from the internet. Also, a resort employee from the mountain said that the Jordan to Shawnee and new barker lift is probably what’s going to happen.

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        • Woodcore's avatar Woodcore November 2, 2022 / 7:45 pm

          Heard a report of towers, tower heads and sheaves being trucked to the parking lot at Pleasant Mountain. Could this be where the Jordan Bowl HSQ will be installed?

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        • Tom White's avatar Tom White November 3, 2022 / 5:17 am

          See my March 24 post above. I just asked the same on Snowjournal which is a NE oriented blog.

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  6. The Skier's avatar The Skier May 23, 2023 / 9:21 am

    Is there any more recent news on the Jordan HSQ’s fate? Obviously it’s reinstallation isn’t happening this summer.

    Did Boyne change their stance on relocating removed HSQ’s? They opted to scrap Crest at Brighton (a Doppelmayr uni) and Barker (although that’s a special case so it doesn’t really count) rather than relocate them. In the same time frame they are extremely quiet about what is happening to Jordan even though I thought it getting installed at Pleasant Mountain was a likely project for this summer.

    Something seems weird here. Does anyone know if they have been having issues with Shedhorn or Seven Brothers that are giving Boyne cold feet to go ahead with more HSQ relocations?

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    • Ben Eminger's avatar Ben Eminger May 23, 2023 / 9:32 am

      Shedhorn had a tumultuous first few seasons here, while it’s one heck of a lot better than it was before, it’s still a 32 year old lift that ran summers and winters it’s whole life in addition to nights from about 2007 onward with Everett’s 8800 doing nighttime dinners. Yes it has a modern electrical system and drivetrain, but everything else is rebuilt old equipment. Personally, I think the money spent on it would have been better spent on a new HSQ than relocating an at the time 27 year old high hourage lift, though now with the bugs worked out it’s proving to be a very useful & effective way to utilize an old lift, so I guess there’s two sides to the spectrum.

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      • The Skier's avatar The Skier May 23, 2023 / 12:02 pm

        What were Shedhorn’s issues those first few seasons?

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    • Tom White's avatar Tom White May 24, 2023 / 6:05 am

      I saw a photo (perhaps a tweet on this site) of the Jordan components at Pleasant Mt. Not this summer, but likely next summer install.

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  7. zam04220's avatar zam04220 December 19, 2024 / 4:39 am

    I can confirm- Been driving by the mountain a lot this past summer to scope out what they have been up to. Everything was stored in a parking lot for future use. It was last year as well… Just did a good time hiding it. But I found it early this spring.

    Old Jordan from Sunday River is at Pleasant Mountain in Maine-

    1-) https://www.facebook.com/photo?fbid=982307863937988&set=pcb.982308520604589– these are pictures of the Pleasant Mountain Lift/Install Team installing the old components here.

    2-) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/12F3rckcjP3/ & https://www.facebook.com/share/p/15P9FeyR52/ these are two links I found and this is the lift later in the installation. It appears they covered up the old Jordan Bowl “Red” color quite nicely with the Pleasant Mountain “Green.”

    3-) https://www.facebook.com/share/p/14XsNdBJZ1/– this just shows the Load Testing of this lift at Pleasant. It appears they gave this lift new chairs, safety bars, and a new covering for the terminals and such. Wonder if it got the Doppelmayr Technology as well? Will be very interesting.

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    • Ryan G.'s avatar Ryan G. May 13, 2025 / 8:29 pm

      She’s a smoooth runner.

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