Poma built four fixed grip quads at Taos between 1989 and 1995 to add capacity and replace older lifts. This was the last and shortest of the four constructed.Big breakover up top.Lift line overview.Half tower 1A.Lift overview.Alpha bottom drive unit.View down from the summit.Middle part of the lift line.Lower section.Tower 1 and the drive terminal.View back down the line.Arriving at the summit.This is the highest lift-served point on the mountain when Kachina Peak is closed.
It is unusual that there’s a safety bar without footrests. Most of us NM skiers don’t put down the safety bar anyways, regardless of whether there’s a footrest or not.
A High-speed Quad will suffice; there is no wait time issue to resolve. Taos just needs a High-Speed network to make it competitive beyond the NM region.
My desire for the updated Lift 2 would be for the new lift to start lower down. Have it from the bottom of White Feather Gully. This would:
(a) make it possible to ski Porcupine from Lift 1 and then take Lift 2 up to the top (b) enable expert skiers to Lap the West Basin Ridge by not needing to return to Lift 8 or 1 to then access Lift 2. (c) decrease White Feather’s traffic, thus helping people who are there specifically because it is a green. (d) have a lovely long blue from top to bottom of expanded Lift 2 (Bambi to Powerhorn). (e) expand the options for getting from Lift 8 to 2; potentially tremendous for solid Blue progression, ala for the Ski School.
There is encouragement; it could be this coming summer. A podcast with CEO David Norton from a few years ago went over the Master Plan in depth. They wanted the gondola up before upgrading Lift 4 to High-Speed. Now they will do the gondola, plus upgrade Lift 2, Lift 7 and Lift 8. All together? 2 this year and 2 next? We eagerly await the announcement.
Lift Blog 
Lift 2 feels odd not having footrests when the other fixed grip quads have them, even Lift 8 (which this lift works in tandem with).
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It is unusual that there’s a safety bar without footrests. Most of us NM skiers don’t put down the safety bar anyways, regardless of whether there’s a footrest or not.
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‘Merica
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You can see the old Lift 6 lift line in pictures 1, 3, and 6
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They definitely should replace this with a HS6.
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A High-speed Quad will suffice; there is no wait time issue to resolve. Taos just needs a High-Speed network to make it competitive beyond the NM region.
My desire for the updated Lift 2 would be for the new lift to start lower down. Have it from the bottom of White Feather Gully. This would:
(a) make it possible to ski Porcupine from Lift 1 and then take Lift 2 up to the top
(b) enable expert skiers to Lap the West Basin Ridge by not needing to return to Lift 8 or 1 to then access Lift 2.
(c) decrease White Feather’s traffic, thus helping people who are there specifically because it is a green.
(d) have a lovely long blue from top to bottom of expanded Lift 2 (Bambi to Powerhorn).
(e) expand the options for getting from Lift 8 to 2; potentially tremendous for solid Blue progression, ala for the Ski School.
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Any word on how soon they will replace this lift, now that the master plan is finally approved? Thx!
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There is encouragement; it could be this coming summer. A podcast with CEO David Norton from a few years ago went over the Master Plan in depth. They wanted the gondola up before upgrading Lift 4 to High-Speed. Now they will do the gondola, plus upgrade Lift 2, Lift 7 and Lift 8. All together? 2 this year and 2 next? We eagerly await the announcement.
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Maybe a few years.
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