This lift opened as part of Spanish Peaks and closed for a few years before being merged into Big Sky Resort.View down the lift line.Towers 1 and 2 next to sister lift Cabin.Lower part of the lift line.Upper line.Every other chair has a bubble.View down from the summit breakover.Looking up the line in the summer.Upper line.Lift line overview from the future hotel site.The lift seen during one of its mothballed seasons.Doppelmayr CTEC Uni GS-station.T2.Bottom station.The top terminal.An open bubble chair.Tower head #13.Top terminal underskin.This station unloads next to the Sacajawea lift.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.For the 2021-22 season, this lift received new Big Sky blue bubbles on every chair.The new bubbles arrived the same year as the Montage Big Sky hotel at the lift’s base.Terminals with Big Sky color scheme.View riding up.An upgraded chair.New chair maintenance building.View down the line.
I find it interesting that this is the only Doppelmayr HSQ in North America to feature the European-design quad chairs without bubbles. Definitely for continuity with the bubble chairs. Also interestingly, they opted for a UNI-GS during construction when most ‘luxury’ resorts opted for the UNI-G (see Beaver Creek). Strange combination!
UNI-G was typically more expensive, I think; the same was the case for EJ chairs during that time period, which is the reason why only resorts like Beaver Creek splurged the extra money.
This lift was built as part of a development called Spanish Peaks Resort. For the first few years, the five Spanish Peaks lifts were not open to the public. The terrain off this lift isn’t really worth lapping so the low capacity may remain sufficient even when the Montage Big Sky hotel opens at the base of this lift.
The new building pretty small so Id guess maintenance, looks like most of the building is a pump/compressor room for the new snowmaking going in the SP and Southern comfort trail systems.
Yeah, looks like the building is the same size as the old Perka building at our Eagle- you can fit two or three carriers in there but that’s it. Grip/carrier maintenance and general parts storage are all they have here.
I’m kind of surprised Big Sky didn’t invest the money in a full indoor parking structure for this lift especially after investing the money in new bubbles. They thought it was important enough for all their other bubble lifts.
The bubble chairs received new bubbles and remained the same, the open chairs without bubbles were simply refitted with the bubble setup. The first 26 chairs are the original 2005 chairs, the second 24 are the new 2021 chairs.
The galvanization on the old chairs is a bit darker from weathering on all 26 original chairs, and the black plastics on the side are also a bit more faded on the original 13 bubble chairs (the 13 open chairs got all new siding and seat pads) the original seat pads on the original 13 bubble chairs are also in very good shape. Overall you need to look very hard to spot them.
Lift Blog 
I find it interesting that this is the only Doppelmayr HSQ in North America to feature the European-design quad chairs without bubbles. Definitely for continuity with the bubble chairs. Also interestingly, they opted for a UNI-GS during construction when most ‘luxury’ resorts opted for the UNI-G (see Beaver Creek). Strange combination!
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i find it interesting that if you look on earth, this liftline aligns exactly with meadows pulse lift’s liftline in YC.
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Why would a resort at the time chose a uni gs instead of a uni g?
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UNI-G was typically more expensive, I think; the same was the case for EJ chairs during that time period, which is the reason why only resorts like Beaver Creek splurged the extra money.
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Got to ride Lewis and Clark today, and the sensors that detect people failed and the bubble came slamming shut on me! Still a very cool lift though.
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Will this lift be used more when the new hotel is built?
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why does this lift have such a low capacity? i like bubble chairs but this one seems really isolated and lonely.
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This lift was built as part of a development called Spanish Peaks Resort. For the first few years, the five Spanish Peaks lifts were not open to the public. The terrain off this lift isn’t really worth lapping so the low capacity may remain sufficient even when the Montage Big Sky hotel opens at the base of this lift.
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Seems like a pretty deluxe area for beginners though.
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The new blue bubbles are awesome!
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Were more chairs added with the chair replacement?
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Yes, L&C now has 50 chairs, nearly double the original 26 chairs, assumingly to allow for extra capacity with the giant Montage hotel at its base now.
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Are the chairs parked in the new building at night or is it just for maintenance?
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The new building pretty small so Id guess maintenance, looks like most of the building is a pump/compressor room for the new snowmaking going in the SP and Southern comfort trail systems.
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Yeah, looks like the building is the same size as the old Perka building at our Eagle- you can fit two or three carriers in there but that’s it. Grip/carrier maintenance and general parts storage are all they have here.
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That would be correct, we can fit about three carriers in there at a time, but only two comfortably, the 2nd half of the lift is snowmaking equipment.
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I’m kind of surprised Big Sky didn’t invest the money in a full indoor parking structure for this lift especially after investing the money in new bubbles. They thought it was important enough for all their other bubble lifts.
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Any idea what happened to the old chairs?
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The bubble chairs received new bubbles and remained the same, the open chairs without bubbles were simply refitted with the bubble setup. The first 26 chairs are the original 2005 chairs, the second 24 are the new 2021 chairs.
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Can you tell a difference in chairs when riding on this lift(between 2005 chairs and 2021 chairs)? Are they both just as comfortable?
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The galvanization on the old chairs is a bit darker from weathering on all 26 original chairs, and the black plastics on the side are also a bit more faded on the original 13 bubble chairs (the 13 open chairs got all new siding and seat pads) the original seat pads on the original 13 bubble chairs are also in very good shape. Overall you need to look very hard to spot them.
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Are the chairs just the same chairs as before, but with new bubbles, or did they get entirely new chairs?
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