The bottom terminal was not always in this location. It was moved a few thousand feet downhill to the new Martis Camp development in 2008.New Doppelmayr CTEC tower.Garaventa CTEC Stealth return station.Lift overview.Lower part of the line before the old loading station.Arriving up top.Stealth drive terminal.Drive station.Breakover towers.View down the new, extended lift line.Upper line.New Doppelmayr tower.Note the funky tower placement where the lift used to start.View up the line.Top station and last three towers.
4 thoughts on “Martis Camp Express – Northstar, CA”
Donald ReifOctober 3, 2019 / 3:13 pm
It looks like towers 2-3, and 7-11, were built completely from scratch during the extension as they have Doppelmayr lifting frames, while towers 1 and 4-6 reused lifting frames from towers that had to be removed/given new sheave train profiles.
That those four towers reused older lifting frames makes sense when you look at photos of the lift before it was extended. In its original profile, there were two depression towers out of the loading terminal, then two support towers. Tower 11 used to be tower 4, tower 10 was tower 3, towers 1 and 2 are now 8 and 9. All towers above the old tower 4 had their number increased by 7. It makes sense that they would go the extra mile and renumber all the towers, as this was a bit bigger a project than say, the 2008 extension of the Independence SuperChair (where only one tower was added, and it made more sense to just number the new tower 2A rather than renumber the rest of the towers).
In fact, due to its starting location and space constraints, the lift had 90 degree loading when it was built. This was changed to in-line loading with the extension.
The lift had 85 chairs before it was extended, and I’m not sure just how many chairs were added in 2009 with the extension. It does seem like the intervals between chairs looks smaller in the older photos, though:
The lift actually has about a two degree curve where the three funky towers in Pic 13 (where the old bottom station was located). Pic 5, which has an overview of the lift, shows that the lift line is not completely parallel in alignment to the top. The middle of the three towers has sheaves that are angled down to the left, while the outer two are angled down to the right.
The turn is not exactly noticeable given that it’s all of two degrees. It’s not quite as drastic as say the turns on Baldy, Six Shooter, or Supreme, lifts that have more dramatic turns.
I think the length and vertical rise figures shown for this lift predate the extension of the lift in 2008. Published reports at the time reflect that the new length is 5,128 feet and the current vertical rise is 1,722 feet. The bottom of the lift is essentially at the edge of the valley floor, at maybe 6,400 feet.
Lift Blog 
It looks like towers 2-3, and 7-11, were built completely from scratch during the extension as they have Doppelmayr lifting frames, while towers 1 and 4-6 reused lifting frames from towers that had to be removed/given new sheave train profiles.
That those four towers reused older lifting frames makes sense when you look at photos of the lift before it was extended. In its original profile, there were two depression towers out of the loading terminal, then two support towers. Tower 11 used to be tower 4, tower 10 was tower 3, towers 1 and 2 are now 8 and 9. All towers above the old tower 4 had their number increased by 7. It makes sense that they would go the extra mile and renumber all the towers, as this was a bit bigger a project than say, the 2008 extension of the Independence SuperChair (where only one tower was added, and it made more sense to just number the new tower 2A rather than renumber the rest of the towers).
In fact, due to its starting location and space constraints, the lift had 90 degree loading when it was built. This was changed to in-line loading with the extension.
The lift had 85 chairs before it was extended, and I’m not sure just how many chairs were added in 2009 with the extension. It does seem like the intervals between chairs looks smaller in the older photos, though:
LikeLike
The lift actually has about a two degree curve where the three funky towers in Pic 13 (where the old bottom station was located). Pic 5, which has an overview of the lift, shows that the lift line is not completely parallel in alignment to the top. The middle of the three towers has sheaves that are angled down to the left, while the outer two are angled down to the right.
LikeLike
The turn is not exactly noticeable given that it’s all of two degrees. It’s not quite as drastic as say the turns on Baldy, Six Shooter, or Supreme, lifts that have more dramatic turns.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the length and vertical rise figures shown for this lift predate the extension of the lift in 2008. Published reports at the time reflect that the new length is 5,128 feet and the current vertical rise is 1,722 feet. The bottom of the lift is essentially at the edge of the valley floor, at maybe 6,400 feet.
LikeLike