Why does Snowkirk have the Y-style lifting frame on its towers while both Caples and Iron Horse not have them, even though they were built in the same year?
Yes dates are correct. The triple chair parts came from all over. Neither was a complete lift. Some parts used from old lifts and parts from Copper Mountain, Northstar and Killington. A few new parts. A Sanford and son construction project.
The most recent master plan I was able to find from 2005 showed some interesting things. Notably, a proposed chair from the village to the top of Caples Crest, a proposed chair to access Red Cliffs, another proposed chair up Thimble Peak, and various other lift modifications. Those included upgrading Chair 4 to a detachable, moving the bottom of Chair 10 uphill, and a few other unspecified upgrades besides “modified”. To be fair, this is a 16 year old master plan under different ownership so it’s unlikely any of this is still on the table but interesting to speculate about it regardless.
Yeah, remember all the talk over the years. The lift from the the village to the top of 2 was surveyed back in the late 80’s. Last chairlift upgrade (chair 4) was done in 1998. Kirkwood was basically out of money and it was tough times when Vail acquired it.
As stated in other posts, Vail doesn’t seem to have any interest in doing any new lifts at any of their CA. resorts.
There was also a proposed chair just north of the Timber Creek base up to Martin Point as far back as the late 70s. They had some grand expansion plans back to add terrain to the west from Glove Rock all the way out to highway 88 near Silver Lake. Plans also came and went for an eastern expansion in Emigrant Basin past Chair 4 and even talk of expanding out to Caples Lake from there. Clearly that was far too ambitious. The Martin Point chair would still be cool though. There’s some great terrain out there that currently requires a long traverse from chair 6.
Boy, that would be great, especially if they could tuck the top station into the lee of Martin Point, so it could still run on days that 4, 6 and 10 have to close for wind.
If they were ever to build a chair 12, I would hope it’s the Martin Point chair. Although that terrain is reasonable accessible with a long traverse and modest hike from chair 6. I don’t know the exact history of that proposal but my guess is that it had been pushed off the table at some point for financial reasons. Their special use permit from the forest service and current ski area boundary extends all the way to Two Sentinels out near the Carson Spur on 88 so it seems like it shouldn’t be too difficult from a legal perspective. But as we’ve established time and time again around here, it doesn’t seem like Vail has any interest in new lifts in California. Here’s a cool map from 1979 that had that chair listed as well as a proposed chair 10 before it was built.
If vail ever gets around to kirkwood, I’m curious if they touch the backside. I’m sure it’s impossible since I’ve never seen it, for easier ingress/egress maybe replacing chairs 2/3 might with a chair loading near the base of 1, having a mandatory unloading mid station near current top of two, continuing on and spinning around to a loading station near 3, and yet another mandatory mid unload near the top of two.
The grading would be a bitch at the top of two, and extending 2 to base and upgrading 3 to a fixed grip triple/quad will probably do the job instead of the mid load monster
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What happened to all the safety bars on the Yan Lifts in google earth?
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Google earth is discontinued/outdated. The safety bars were added recently if i’m correct.
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The bars would’ve been added around when Vail added the EpicMix readers.
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Why does Snowkirk have the Y-style lifting frame on its towers while both Caples and Iron Horse not have them, even though they were built in the same year?
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Snowkirk was converted to a triple chair in 1994 with new cross arms
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Ah, that makes sense. But why weren’t lifting frames added to Caples if it underwent a similar conversion?
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It was done in 1985, (cheap version) cross arms are original. Line gauge was widened a little and some new sheave assemblies.
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Solitude and Cornice were installed as double chairs in 1973 (SAM, Yan) and replaced with new triple chairs in 1993. Kirk, can you confirm that?
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Yes dates are correct. The triple chair parts came from all over. Neither was a complete lift. Some parts used from old lifts and parts from Copper Mountain, Northstar and Killington. A few new parts. A Sanford and son construction project.
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What happened to Covered Wagon?
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Gone forever
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Here’s what happened – Peter actually helped with the digging: https://www.peakrankings.com/content/a-lift-mystery-solved-kirkwoods-covered-wagon-lift-disappearance
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What type of surface lifts were there? Were they platters or rope tows?
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I remember seeing it on a YouTube video somewhere. I think it was either a platter or a t-bar.
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This might be it in this YouTube video (from 0:16 to 0:20)
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The most recent master plan I was able to find from 2005 showed some interesting things. Notably, a proposed chair from the village to the top of Caples Crest, a proposed chair to access Red Cliffs, another proposed chair up Thimble Peak, and various other lift modifications. Those included upgrading Chair 4 to a detachable, moving the bottom of Chair 10 uphill, and a few other unspecified upgrades besides “modified”. To be fair, this is a 16 year old master plan under different ownership so it’s unlikely any of this is still on the table but interesting to speculate about it regardless.
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Yeah, remember all the talk over the years. The lift from the the village to the top of 2 was surveyed back in the late 80’s. Last chairlift upgrade (chair 4) was done in 1998. Kirkwood was basically out of money and it was tough times when Vail acquired it.
As stated in other posts, Vail doesn’t seem to have any interest in doing any new lifts at any of their CA. resorts.
LikeLike
There was also a proposed chair just north of the Timber Creek base up to Martin Point as far back as the late 70s. They had some grand expansion plans back to add terrain to the west from Glove Rock all the way out to highway 88 near Silver Lake. Plans also came and went for an eastern expansion in Emigrant Basin past Chair 4 and even talk of expanding out to Caples Lake from there. Clearly that was far too ambitious. The Martin Point chair would still be cool though. There’s some great terrain out there that currently requires a long traverse from chair 6.
LikeLike
Boy, that would be great, especially if they could tuck the top station into the lee of Martin Point, so it could still run on days that 4, 6 and 10 have to close for wind.
LikeLike
If they were ever to build a chair 12, I would hope it’s the Martin Point chair. Although that terrain is reasonable accessible with a long traverse and modest hike from chair 6. I don’t know the exact history of that proposal but my guess is that it had been pushed off the table at some point for financial reasons. Their special use permit from the forest service and current ski area boundary extends all the way to Two Sentinels out near the Carson Spur on 88 so it seems like it shouldn’t be too difficult from a legal perspective. But as we’ve established time and time again around here, it doesn’t seem like Vail has any interest in new lifts in California. Here’s a cool map from 1979 that had that chair listed as well as a proposed chair 10 before it was built.
LikeLike
If vail ever gets around to kirkwood, I’m curious if they touch the backside. I’m sure it’s impossible since I’ve never seen it, for easier ingress/egress maybe replacing chairs 2/3 might with a chair loading near the base of 1, having a mandatory unloading mid station near current top of two, continuing on and spinning around to a loading station near 3, and yet another mandatory mid unload near the top of two.
The grading would be a bitch at the top of two, and extending 2 to base and upgrading 3 to a fixed grip triple/quad will probably do the job instead of the mid load monster
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i heard somewhere that kirkwood plans to upgrade chairs 4, 3, and 5
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Heard a little chatter last winter about lifts 3 & 4, that quickly went away. Never heard anything about chair 5.
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I bought a chairlift off of lift six when they upgraded, anyone remember what year that was? By its size, it looks like a triple seater?
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