Mission Ridge needed a detachable lift to replace Chair 2, a 6,500′ Riblet. To save money, the mountain opted to buy the Summit Express from Winter Park rather than a new lift.Portal tower 1.Parking rail with work carrier.Interestingly, this is the oldest detachable chairlift in Washington but wasn’t the first.The lift line seen from the lower station.Return terminal overview.View up the lift line.Lower section of the line.Poma towers.Upper section of the line.Another view near the summit.Side view of the top drive terminal.View down near the top.Portal tower #25.Another look at T25.The two part top terminal.Lifts like this used Alpha drive terminals with a separate detach/attach building.Side view of the drive station.Unloading area and top operator house.A side view of the top station.Lift line overview.
Poma often had portal towers for breakover and depression towers on their earlier detachables. Siberia at Squaw Valley (which has since been removed and scrapped) is another example.
In its original Winter Park location, it only had one mid-line hold-down tower, at about tower 3 or 4 (around where tower 3 on the current Super Gauge Express is located).
Portal towers were situated at the bottom or top of lifts. This can be seen with the High Lonesome Express, and it was also the case on the defunct Falcon SuperChair.
It appears to be a POMA Alpha series fixed that was turned into a detatch. Similar to Peak 10 Falcon lift at Breckenridge, prior to the replacement last year.
I don’t believe this lift was ever a fixed grip. It was originally installed at Winter Park in 1985, and then moved here in 2005 when Winter Park replaced it with a 6 pack. Falcon at Breckenridge was definitely converted from a fixed grip. The only other Poma detachable I know of that was originally built as a fixed grip was High Lonesome at Winter Park, but that was done by replacing the Alpha drive and whatever return it had with 1st-gen Challenger detachable terminals as it happened in 1991. Poma installed these Alpha-Falcons as their regular detachable terminal design in 1985, 1986, and 1987. Customers could also opt for a vault drive instead of the separate Alpha drive, as was done with the Colorado Superchair at Breckenridge and the American Flyer at Copper. Both lifts are no longer in service. Back then they didn’t know how to build an overhead drive for detachable lifts, so those were the options.
Hunter’s Zephyr Express was originally on the front side of the mountain and called the Snowlite Express. It was installed new as a high speed quad in 1987. It was never converted.
Very nice motor sound on this lift, it’s in surprisingly good shape for it’s age. This is to my knowledge the last remaining Alpha-Falcon in the Western US outside Colorado. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSp-wM4fNoc&t=8s
in my opinion, early model Poma detach chairs have the best motor sounds. Siberia and this chair had great motor sound so does the one in my PFP. https://youtu.be/xs3xvzmflvc?t=566
On the Mission Ridge webcam, you can see they’re taking the haul rope down this morning. Will be pretty neat to watch construction of the new lift over the next few months.
I just used the replacement 8/10 chondola replacement of it the first time a couple of weeks ago. The new lift looks so gigantic compared to the old one.
The drive is still up there at the top, with Wenatchee’s unload area right below it. I wonder what will become of it. Seeing it reused for a fixed grip quad seems like it would be the most practical choice, given the Alpha terminal design hasn’t changed at all in 36 years.
I think they already have a fixed grip quad from Stevens Pass. I wonder if they sold a few chairs if they were going to build a shorter lift with the parts from Liberator. Considering how long it took for them to build a detachable, I would think they’re waiting a year before they build another lift.
I was up at Mission earlier today and talked to a guy who apparently knew the owner. Supposedly this lifts top terminal was off by a whole 6 feet from the bottom terminal. I can imagine that contributed to this lift’s generally difficult nature.
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Why the portal tower at the end?
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Poma often had portal towers for breakover and depression towers on their earlier detachables. Siberia at Squaw Valley (which has since been removed and scrapped) is another example.
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Odd, I watched a video and this lift has 3 other depression towers that are normal.
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In its original Winter Park location, it only had one mid-line hold-down tower, at about tower 3 or 4 (around where tower 3 on the current Super Gauge Express is located).
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Portal towers were situated at the bottom or top of lifts. This can be seen with the High Lonesome Express, and it was also the case on the defunct Falcon SuperChair.
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It appears to be a POMA Alpha series fixed that was turned into a detatch. Similar to Peak 10 Falcon lift at Breckenridge, prior to the replacement last year.
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I don’t believe this lift was ever a fixed grip. It was originally installed at Winter Park in 1985, and then moved here in 2005 when Winter Park replaced it with a 6 pack. Falcon at Breckenridge was definitely converted from a fixed grip. The only other Poma detachable I know of that was originally built as a fixed grip was High Lonesome at Winter Park, but that was done by replacing the Alpha drive and whatever return it had with 1st-gen Challenger detachable terminals as it happened in 1991. Poma installed these Alpha-Falcons as their regular detachable terminal design in 1985, 1986, and 1987. Customers could also opt for a vault drive instead of the separate Alpha drive, as was done with the Colorado Superchair at Breckenridge and the American Flyer at Copper. Both lifts are no longer in service. Back then they didn’t know how to build an overhead drive for detachable lifts, so those were the options.
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The original Ajax Express at Aspen Mtn. was also a true Alpha-Evolution system.
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Also include Zephyr Express at Hunter
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Hunter’s Zephyr Express was originally on the front side of the mountain and called the Snowlite Express. It was installed new as a high speed quad in 1987. It was never converted.
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The lifting frames on the towers on this lift are an interesting hodgepodge.
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As in, some of them are the mid-1980s style, some are more late 80s/early 90s, and a few are clearly from 2005.
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Wasn’t this planned to be replaced this year with a used Doppelmayr bubble chair?
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It got delayed and instead is planned to happen this summer.
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The line speed is 984 fpm. I don’t know how many chairs or towers but I do know the speed
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Very nice motor sound on this lift, it’s in surprisingly good shape for it’s age. This is to my knowledge the last remaining Alpha-Falcon in the Western US outside Colorado. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSp-wM4fNoc&t=8s
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in my opinion, early model Poma detach chairs have the best motor sounds. Siberia and this chair had great motor sound so does the one in my PFP. https://youtu.be/xs3xvzmflvc?t=566
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On the Mission Ridge webcam, you can see they’re taking the haul rope down this morning. Will be pretty neat to watch construction of the new lift over the next few months.
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Where did the new chair come from?
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The new lift is the former Zinsbergbahn link to the info
https://lift-world.info/en/lifts/1813/datas.htm
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https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsd4b-zinsbergbahn-doppelmayr-2889.html more pictures of the chair that will be here.
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I just used the replacement 8/10 chondola replacement of it the first time a couple of weeks ago. The new lift looks so gigantic compared to the old one.
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The drive is still up there at the top, with Wenatchee’s unload area right below it. I wonder what will become of it. Seeing it reused for a fixed grip quad seems like it would be the most practical choice, given the Alpha terminal design hasn’t changed at all in 36 years.
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they should have kept the chairs and towers to re-use on a FGQ elsewhere.
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I think they already have a fixed grip quad from Stevens Pass. I wonder if they sold a few chairs if they were going to build a shorter lift with the parts from Liberator. Considering how long it took for them to build a detachable, I would think they’re waiting a year before they build another lift.
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Is it the Jupiter Quad? Some guy keeps saying it’s scrapped but I don’t think that is true.
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I think he was trying to chat troll. The reasons that he listed didn’t make a whole lot of sense.
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The top terminal remains today!
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I was up at Mission earlier today and talked to a guy who apparently knew the owner. Supposedly this lifts top terminal was off by a whole 6 feet from the bottom terminal. I can imagine that contributed to this lift’s generally difficult nature.
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