Looking up the lift line.Yan tower with Doppelmayr line gear.Bottom terminal.Looking down from the top.Riding up in the summer.Looking down the line.Entering the bottom station.Yan terminal with Doppelmayr grips and contours.Top terminal.Top terminal adjacent to Christmas.Another view of the drive station.Inside the top terminal.Retrofitted Doppelmayr drive equipment.Electric motor.Hydrostatic diesel evacuation drive below the terminal.Lift overview.The first few towers.View up at tower 5.Most of the lift line seen from a nearby ridge.View down at tower 13.Looking up at tower 16Upper lift line near the tree line.
I don’t think there’s a “too expensive” for Sun Valley. In the last couple years they have built a new detachable six pack and a new detachable quad, along with an expansion at Sun Valley. With both Snowbasin and Sun Valley joining the Epic pass, there’s no way they don’t have the money for this. Also, Snowbasin isn’t doing reservation system, which is bringing people from Park City and the Cottonwoods up there. I agree with your other two points. Also, mid load stations aren’t very ideal for lapping terrain. Yes, you can do it, but it isn’t very efficient on crowded days.
“Also, mid load stations aren’t very ideal for lapping terrain. Yes, you can do it, but it isn’t very efficient on crowded days.”
Case in point, look at Breck. In the planning stages, the Kensho SuperChair was going to be a two-stage high speed six pack starting on Peak 7 at the convergence of Angel’s Rest, with a mid-load and turn station at the Horizon Warming Hut, continuing then up to the top of Peak 6.
When Peak 6 was actually built, Breck realized that it was impractical to have Peak 6 lap traffic going to the six pack’s midstation, and the midstation would receive more use than the return station (which would only be used by people traveling north from Peaks 7 and 8). So instead, they built two separate lifts, where the Zendo Chair functions exclusively as an access lift to move people over from Peak 7, while the Kensho SuperChair functions solely as a lapping lift.
(Incidentally, Breck does have a rare example of a mid-load station that functions fine for lapping terrain, and that’s the mid-load on the Peak 8 SuperConnect, which doesn’t get much traffic as the only terrain it laps is black and double black chutes)
Loveland realized the problem with Chair 2 having this setup in the early 2010s, and their solution was to cut Chair 2 back to its midstation and build a separate triple chairlift to replace the upper part.
Schweitzer realized this conundrum themselves when they replaced Chair 1 on the front side in 2007, and when they replaced Snow Ghost in the Outback Bowl in 2019. Both were Riblets with mid-stations (Snow Ghost had a mid-unload, Chair 1 had a mid-unload and mid-load). And in both cases, how the replacements were handled was the same: a high speed quad for the intermediate terrain below the midstation, and a triple chairlift for the expert terrain above the midstation.
—————–
In Sun Valley (Bald Mountain)’s case, if anything, I would say the more practical solution if anything would be a conventional high speed six pack for Lookout Express, while replacing River Run with a high speed six pack running up the former Sunnyside lift alignment. This would give River Run guests a lift with one-seat access to Frenchman’s and the Warm Springs side of the hill, plus it would provide a second lift for access to the terrain in the Lookout Express’s pod below Roundhouse Lane.
Lift Blog 
Idea: one can replace both the River Run and Lookout express with a single high speed quad with bubbles with a mid-station at the top of River run.
LikeLike
1. That would be over 10,000 feet long which is not feasible for a HSQ.
2. That would be very expensive probably too much for Sun Valley.
3. The top I think is wind exposed so that could shut down the lift when it’s windy leaving gondola as only out of base option at that base.
LikeLike
I don’t think there’s a “too expensive” for Sun Valley. In the last couple years they have built a new detachable six pack and a new detachable quad, along with an expansion at Sun Valley. With both Snowbasin and Sun Valley joining the Epic pass, there’s no way they don’t have the money for this. Also, Snowbasin isn’t doing reservation system, which is bringing people from Park City and the Cottonwoods up there. I agree with your other two points. Also, mid load stations aren’t very ideal for lapping terrain. Yes, you can do it, but it isn’t very efficient on crowded days.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I would mean too expensive for it to be worth it. Lookout getting bubbles would be nice though but wind factors would shut it down.
LikeLike
There’s no way we’re going see bubble lifts from Sun Valley or Snowbasin unless there’s any change in ownership.
LikeLike
“Also, mid load stations aren’t very ideal for lapping terrain. Yes, you can do it, but it isn’t very efficient on crowded days.”
Case in point, look at Breck. In the planning stages, the Kensho SuperChair was going to be a two-stage high speed six pack starting on Peak 7 at the convergence of Angel’s Rest, with a mid-load and turn station at the Horizon Warming Hut, continuing then up to the top of Peak 6.
When Peak 6 was actually built, Breck realized that it was impractical to have Peak 6 lap traffic going to the six pack’s midstation, and the midstation would receive more use than the return station (which would only be used by people traveling north from Peaks 7 and 8). So instead, they built two separate lifts, where the Zendo Chair functions exclusively as an access lift to move people over from Peak 7, while the Kensho SuperChair functions solely as a lapping lift.
(Incidentally, Breck does have a rare example of a mid-load station that functions fine for lapping terrain, and that’s the mid-load on the Peak 8 SuperConnect, which doesn’t get much traffic as the only terrain it laps is black and double black chutes)
Loveland realized the problem with Chair 2 having this setup in the early 2010s, and their solution was to cut Chair 2 back to its midstation and build a separate triple chairlift to replace the upper part.
Schweitzer realized this conundrum themselves when they replaced Chair 1 on the front side in 2007, and when they replaced Snow Ghost in the Outback Bowl in 2019. Both were Riblets with mid-stations (Snow Ghost had a mid-unload, Chair 1 had a mid-unload and mid-load). And in both cases, how the replacements were handled was the same: a high speed quad for the intermediate terrain below the midstation, and a triple chairlift for the expert terrain above the midstation.
—————–
In Sun Valley (Bald Mountain)’s case, if anything, I would say the more practical solution if anything would be a conventional high speed six pack for Lookout Express, while replacing River Run with a high speed six pack running up the former Sunnyside lift alignment. This would give River Run guests a lift with one-seat access to Frenchman’s and the Warm Springs side of the hill, plus it would provide a second lift for access to the terrain in the Lookout Express’s pod below Roundhouse Lane.
LikeLiked by 1 person
LikeLike
Was this you taking the video?
LikeLike
Not mine.
LikeLike
LikeLike
Canted sheaves in photo 2? Or just the camera angle?
LikeLike
Camera angle. Lift runs straight.
LikeLike
Thank you. It has been awhile since I’ve been up there so I couldn’t remember.
LikeLike