This is the last Leitner lift built in the USA before the merger with Poma. It has Poma of America chairs.Lower terminal with motor room and hydraulic tensioning.Pedestal controls.View up from the portal.Upper lift line.View down from the top.Simple top bullwheel and operator house.Lift overview.Leitner Report entry.
Not sure what you are looking at. Borvig bullwheels had the ‘snoflake’ spokes that were parallel with the haul rope path along with the lower ‘guide ring’ that made contact with the hanger arm.
This bullwheel has spokes that are perpendicular to the haul rope path and no lower guide ring…
Not really feeling that one. Borvig seemed to have used beefier terminal masts typically with an integrated tower, and as Michael noted, the bullwheel doesn’t really look anything like a Borvig. If you’re wondering about the similarity between Borvig and Leitner, most of that is because Leitner and Borvig did work together for a while before Leitner basically gave Borvig the finger and Borvig went out of business so they wouldn’t get acquired by Leitner.
After Kicking Horse, Leitner effectively disappeared in America as it was merged into Poma. And even though the company took on the name Leitner-Poma, Poma was the dominant company. The Poma “swoosh” logo just had a ‘Leitner’ added to it, the Omega chair design was kept, and the lifting frames on lift towers continued to be the ones Poma had been building since 1994. It wasn’t until the 2010s that Leitner designs began to show themselves again, especially with the change to the design of LPA lifting frames on lift towers starting in 2012.
That is a a very North America centric view. For example here in Austria we kept seeing lifts from the Leitner lineage exclusively until the product lines started to slowly integrate.
The largely unmatched success of the Alpha drive was replicated in some capacity by many companies. Leitner, VonRoll, Borvig, BM Lifts and perhaps some others all offered designs that looked similar to Alphas.
Borvig, note the bi-pod drive. Most of their lifts had 4 legs, as do the drives of its successor, Partek
VonRoll, note the bi-pod drive and similarly shaped motor room
Leitner copied the Alpha motor rooms pretty heavily, as seen here https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/img_1861.jpg?w=994&h=746
However I’m not sure anyone went as far as BM Lifts, which came as close to copying the Alpha drive as they could. The chairs seem to have taken some inspiration from Poma’s Competition carriers, used on fixed Pomas from 1990-1995 and detachable Pomas from 1989-1991
In the mid 80’s, there was a Heron-Poma double traveling in this allignment all the way to the summit. They got it used from stagecoach with a motor room and drive terminal from a defunct resort in New Mexico, and it went to Winter Park as the Timberline lift, until 2006 when it was replaced by Panoramic.
That was known as the Summit lift mentioned in the lift list. Sadly they removed it to build the resort condo/homes that this lift now services. They closed the lower part of the trails the Summit lift served to build these homes. This lift serves 1 run and really could be a double as there never is anyone using it but a few homeowners.
Lift Blog 
Does this lift run anymore?
LikeLike
Absolutely.
LikeLike
I swear the return reminds me of a borvig. Why does leitner and bm lifts use similar bullwheels to borvig?
LikeLike
Not sure what you are looking at. Borvig bullwheels had the ‘snoflake’ spokes that were parallel with the haul rope path along with the lower ‘guide ring’ that made contact with the hanger arm.
This bullwheel has spokes that are perpendicular to the haul rope path and no lower guide ring…
LikeLike
I get where you’re coming from, but it doesn’t look like a Borvig snowflake bullwheel at all.
LikeLike
Not really feeling that one. Borvig seemed to have used beefier terminal masts typically with an integrated tower, and as Michael noted, the bullwheel doesn’t really look anything like a Borvig. If you’re wondering about the similarity between Borvig and Leitner, most of that is because Leitner and Borvig did work together for a while before Leitner basically gave Borvig the finger and Borvig went out of business so they wouldn’t get acquired by Leitner.
LikeLike
Does give at least some Borvig. The terminal shape, not the bullwheel spokes.
LikeLike
Moar betterer angle for comparison. Yes, not exact, but not not resembling.
LikeLike
In the summer, when they don’t use this lift, they release all of the tension so it slacks down so much.
LikeLike
The lift doesn’t look de-tensioned in these pictures.
LikeLike
I highly doubt that. Detensioning a lift really serves no purpose aside from possibly mitigating rope stretch.
LikeLike
After Kicking Horse, Leitner effectively disappeared in America as it was merged into Poma. And even though the company took on the name Leitner-Poma, Poma was the dominant company. The Poma “swoosh” logo just had a ‘Leitner’ added to it, the Omega chair design was kept, and the lifting frames on lift towers continued to be the ones Poma had been building since 1994. It wasn’t until the 2010s that Leitner designs began to show themselves again, especially with the change to the design of LPA lifting frames on lift towers starting in 2012.
LikeLike
That is a a very North America centric view. For example here in Austria we kept seeing lifts from the Leitner lineage exclusively until the product lines started to slowly integrate.
LikeLike
is it just me does the drive look like a sideways poma alpha drive
LikeLike
The largely unmatched success of the Alpha drive was replicated in some capacity by many companies. Leitner, VonRoll, Borvig, BM Lifts and perhaps some others all offered designs that looked similar to Alphas.
Borvig, note the bi-pod drive. Most of their lifts had 4 legs, as do the drives of its successor, Partek
VonRoll, note the bi-pod drive and similarly shaped motor room
Leitner copied the Alpha motor rooms pretty heavily, as seen here
https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/08/img_1861.jpg?w=994&h=746
However I’m not sure anyone went as far as BM Lifts, which came as close to copying the Alpha drive as they could. The chairs seem to have taken some inspiration from Poma’s Competition carriers, used on fixed Pomas from 1990-1995 and detachable Pomas from 1989-1991
LikeLike
After seeing these pictures, I’m surprised that POMA did not say GET OUT to those manufactures.
LikeLike
It does have it’s similarities, but it is a Leitner designed terminal.
LikeLike
Are the POMA chairs original, or were they added later?
LikeLike
In the Leitner entry, it looks like POMA chairs were on the line.
LikeLike
In the mid 80’s, there was a Heron-Poma double traveling in this allignment all the way to the summit. They got it used from stagecoach with a motor room and drive terminal from a defunct resort in New Mexico, and it went to Winter Park as the Timberline lift, until 2006 when it was replaced by Panoramic.
LikeLike
That was known as the Summit lift mentioned in the lift list. Sadly they removed it to build the resort condo/homes that this lift now services. They closed the lower part of the trails the Summit lift served to build these homes. This lift serves 1 run and really could be a double as there never is anyone using it but a few homeowners.
LikeLike
That’s a very skimpy top terminal!
LikeLike