Above could be an image of the detachable double, hardly seen at the far right of the first photo. The detachable double was built parallel to the original gondola, but converted to a fixed-grip lift after an accident. It remained in service in 2011, in two different places on the mountain.
Are you talking about this image of the old Gondola?
This technical drawing gives good insights on the detachable double though. You can see only the loading side slowed down, and the rest went at detachable speed.
Photos of something similar in France that was removed a few years ago. The lift was apparently converted from a detachable double to just a regular double chair in years past, but there are still lots of historical photos that match the technical drawings available of the Mont Sainte Anne lift.
When the current gondola was installed in 1989, it was designed to have all the capacity needed for the base to summit route. The detachable double was built to supplement the old gondola. In 1989, it was moved to the second location to serve some expert terrain not served by the former Samson triple called Le Trip. I believe that is when it got converted to fixed grip during this relocation. It was taken out of service in 2011 initially without replacement, but the current Panorama Express now follows the same line, extended downhill to where Le Trip started.
Ringer built a high speed double at snow summit in California
Taken from Skilifts.org:
“Although in 1952, Ringer was hurting for lift parts for a lift that he recently installed at Snow Summit in California, which made history as America’s first monocable detachable lift. The lift opened in January of 1953 and had a length of 5,000 feet with a vertical of 1,500 feet. For this lift, Ringer used the automatic couplings off old German cable-car sets Ringer made the necessary modifications to make this lift work. Each chair had a sheave with the clutch that was attached to the grip. The lift was operated by a person who pushed the chairs around the contour to the area where the riders would board the lift. Then the operator would push the chair further to a spot where the spring-loaded clutch would open the jaw and then close onto the moving haul rope. When the chair arrived at the top station, the clutch would disengage, allowing the grip to detach from the haul rope. Once the riders unloaded from the chair, a lift operator would then push the chair around the contour and send it back down.
Unfortunately, the final story on this detachable lift wasn’t a happy one. Dick Kun, who is the president of Big Bear Resorts, which owns Snow Summit remembers “The design was unnecessarily advanced and complicated for the technology of the times. It was labor-and-parts intensive.” The first season the lift operated, a chair fell of the haul rope when its clutch failed to engage properly. The riders sustained injuries, but luckily didn’t die. But the fallowing summer, the chair derailed on the uphill side, knocking the sheave off the chair as it crashed into a tower dropping the chair and killing one passenger. The lift was never operated again after this incident.”
MSA announced today that they are developping a major investment projet. It will include the replacement of the Gondola and the two Express high speed quads. They say it will be ultramodern, which lets me think it will be D-Lines ?
Lift Blog 
I’d like to know more about that 1971 high speed double…was that really a detachable double chairlift?
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There is some information here, including some technical drawings. Haven’t found any pictures on the internet though.
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https://www.google.com/search?biw=1366&bih=626&tbm=isch&sa=1&ei=lClGXLLUAeXVjwTbjYOoBA&q=mont+sainte+anne+old+gondola&oq=mont+sainte+anne+old+gondola&gs_l=img.3…29614.29970..30044…0.0..0.86.316.4……0….1..gws-wiz-img…….0i24.rPGe1p9daOQ#imgrc=XBWwYDWL7_c3CM:
Above could be an image of the detachable double, hardly seen at the far right of the first photo. The detachable double was built parallel to the original gondola, but converted to a fixed-grip lift after an accident. It remained in service in 2011, in two different places on the mountain.
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsf2-de-la-sainte-paix-samson-4741.html
Of course, there’s also a report on the (Francophone) remontees-mecaniques website, which includes technical drawings.
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Are you talking about this image of the old Gondola?
This technical drawing gives good insights on the detachable double though. You can see only the loading side slowed down, and the rest went at detachable speed.
LikeLike
Photos of something similar in France that was removed a few years ago. The lift was apparently converted from a detachable double to just a regular double chair in years past, but there are still lots of historical photos that match the technical drawings available of the Mont Sainte Anne lift.
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsf2-de-bois-long-montaz-mautino-3013.html
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When the current gondola was installed in 1989, it was designed to have all the capacity needed for the base to summit route. The detachable double was built to supplement the old gondola. In 1989, it was moved to the second location to serve some expert terrain not served by the former Samson triple called Le Trip. I believe that is when it got converted to fixed grip during this relocation. It was taken out of service in 2011 initially without replacement, but the current Panorama Express now follows the same line, extended downhill to where Le Trip started.
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Here is a video of something similar.
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Skier72 Great pictures but is this here a high speed triple with a high speed double that’s rare
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Was this the first detachable?
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Were there any other HSD built in North America?
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Ringer built a high speed double at snow summit in California
Taken from Skilifts.org:
“Although in 1952, Ringer was hurting for lift parts for a lift that he recently installed at Snow Summit in California, which made history as America’s first monocable detachable lift. The lift opened in January of 1953 and had a length of 5,000 feet with a vertical of 1,500 feet. For this lift, Ringer used the automatic couplings off old German cable-car sets Ringer made the necessary modifications to make this lift work. Each chair had a sheave with the clutch that was attached to the grip. The lift was operated by a person who pushed the chairs around the contour to the area where the riders would board the lift. Then the operator would push the chair further to a spot where the spring-loaded clutch would open the jaw and then close onto the moving haul rope. When the chair arrived at the top station, the clutch would disengage, allowing the grip to detach from the haul rope. Once the riders unloaded from the chair, a lift operator would then push the chair around the contour and send it back down.
Unfortunately, the final story on this detachable lift wasn’t a happy one. Dick Kun, who is the president of Big Bear Resorts, which owns Snow Summit remembers “The design was unnecessarily advanced and complicated for the technology of the times. It was labor-and-parts intensive.” The first season the lift operated, a chair fell of the haul rope when its clutch failed to engage properly. The riders sustained injuries, but luckily didn’t die. But the fallowing summer, the chair derailed on the uphill side, knocking the sheave off the chair as it crashed into a tower dropping the chair and killing one passenger. The lift was never operated again after this incident.”
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MSA announced today that they are developping a major investment projet. It will include the replacement of the Gondola and the two Express high speed quads. They say it will be ultramodern, which lets me think it will be D-Lines ?
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Photo of the La Tempete double, has a doppelmayr bottom drive
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that’s definitely a samson, you can see those towers on other Samson lifts:
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I wonder why panorama express is in English not French like the other lifts. The ski map also has it in English
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RCR ownership, besides, Panorama is written the same weather if it is in English or French, so technically, its a French name
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How come they went with these style terminal designs when Doppelmayr was offering the CLD-260 at the time?
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One their two HSQ’s i mean, is there any benefit to having the motor of a detachable on a separate terminal?
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I would think maintenance might be easier if the drive motor isn’t over a bunch of machinery.
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