This monster lift came used from Blackcomb Mountain and used to be accessed by another Yan triple of the same origin.First steep section of the line.Bottom terminal with counterweight tensioning integrated into the rear leg.Mellow middle section of the line.Giant breakover with four towers.View back down from the top.Arriving at the drive.Last few towers up top.View down the lift line.Near the summit line view.Middle section of the line.Double portal towers.Another view of the large depression towers.Another view down the line.Towers 3 and 4.Another look at the bottom station.Lift overview.Tower 24.Yan motor room.Lift line seen from the base area.
This chair’s top section reminds me of Sublette (with the ridge on the lookers left, open bowl on the lookers right, and steep breakover followed by a valley section).
The original Granite chair ran to the lookers right of this chair, and I believe you can see one of the original Granite chair’s towers in the last photo, seemingly repurposed.
Red Mountain is a nice place if you like old fashioned skiing. Which I do. Good infrastructure, even if it is a bit old. Not every lift needs to be a high speed lift.
Agreed… But it would be nice to have silverlode be a hsq. Short, fast, and high capacity. It also wouldn’t spoil any good steep terrain, but would make a lot of green/blue mellow terrain more accessible.
Motherlode also wouldn’t hurt from a low-mid capacity hsq simply given it’s length and ride time, but that would 100% change the flavor of the entire resort. Probably for the negative. A silverlode upgrade really wouldn’t.
Not really from my limited experience, which most recently was a weekend with fresh snow. Red has 4 distinct zones, all worth skiing on a pow day, so it really spreads people out.
Hey all, do we know the length of ride time for this monster? Or the amount of vertical which is covered? I’ve seen mixed responses on the ride time. I rode this back in 1989 before it was replaced and shortened.
“Update 8:27am: Due to a maintenance issue, Motherlode Chair will not be running today, and by extension neither will Paradise Chair. We will be offering $50 tickets in the interim until this issue is resolved. Keep checking back here for further updates on lifts and conditions.”
“Motherlode Chair Update 12:40pm: The front bearing on the electric motor for Motherlode developed an unusual noise during morning opening checks. Our maintenance team caught the issue before it became a bigger problem. The mechanics are working tirelessly to remove the motor and deliver it to a local repair shop for the installation of a new bearing. Assuming there are no other issues discovered in the repair process, we anticipate having the motor back on site by tomorrow for reinstallation for a late day Thursday or early Friday opening. We will continue to provide updates as we work through this repair.”
The old girl is showing her age, hopefully it can be spinning sooner than later. Having it laid up makes a ton of Red’s acreage unreachable, which they are acknowledging with the cheap tickets. Its going to keep getting more difficult to keep it reliable, since her manufacturer folded 30 years ago, everything is aftermarket or custom parts now. At least this didnt hit a school break or powder days.
Lift Blog 
What Whistler lift was this,?
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It’s actually two, built from both Cruiser & Stoker.
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Could it be that Fitzsimmons was used for Silverlode?
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You can see an abandoned tower from the original Silverlode in the last photograph.
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This chair’s top section reminds me of Sublette (with the ridge on the lookers left, open bowl on the lookers right, and steep breakover followed by a valley section).
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The original Granite chair ran to the lookers right of this chair, and I believe you can see one of the original Granite chair’s towers in the last photo, seemingly repurposed.
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It is now a weather station
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I’m convinced that Motherlode is the former Stoker while the original Silverlode triple was Cruiser.
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There are some old photos of Granite here: http://www.skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/bc-red/granite/granite.htm
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Tensioning with a chain instead of a cable…not a common sight.
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Very common on Yans of this era. RC-240 chain…. heavy stuff.
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I know most of the original Yan lifts over at Palisades in California had that. Many of them were converted to hydraulic at somepoint
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Pretty much all the fixed yans at Mammoth and June have chained counterweights.
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Red Mountain is a nice place if you like old fashioned skiing. Which I do. Good infrastructure, even if it is a bit old. Not every lift needs to be a high speed lift.
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Agreed… But it would be nice to have silverlode be a hsq. Short, fast, and high capacity. It also wouldn’t spoil any good steep terrain, but would make a lot of green/blue mellow terrain more accessible.
Motherlode also wouldn’t hurt from a low-mid capacity hsq simply given it’s length and ride time, but that would 100% change the flavor of the entire resort. Probably for the negative. A silverlode upgrade really wouldn’t.
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In my opinion this lift seems like the only one that needs to be replaced at RED. A HSQ would work fine. Does this lift get crowded?
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Not really from my limited experience, which most recently was a weekend with fresh snow. Red has 4 distinct zones, all worth skiing on a pow day, so it really spreads people out.
And if it’s not a pow day, it’s not crowded.
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I thought it would be crowded because it is the only way to get to paradise. This would work well as a HSQ though.
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A HSQ would ruin the experience and overcrowd Paradise
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Completly agree, last year we went at Red and the lines on Silverlode were insanely long, they need a redundency
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Hey all, do we know the length of ride time for this monster? Or the amount of vertical which is covered? I’ve seen mixed responses on the ride time. I rode this back in 1989 before it was replaced and shortened.
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It was not here yet in 1989 unless you are refering to it before it was moved from Blackcomb?
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Looking at GPS data from my trip to Red last year, the actual ride time for this averaged just under 13 minutes.
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He means the old Granite chair. I don’t know the ride time, but vertical would have been around 800 meters.
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From their report today:
“Update 8:27am: Due to a maintenance issue, Motherlode Chair will not be running today, and by extension neither will Paradise Chair. We will be offering $50 tickets in the interim until this issue is resolved. Keep checking back here for further updates on lifts and conditions.”
“Motherlode Chair Update 12:40pm: The front bearing on the electric motor for Motherlode developed an unusual noise during morning opening checks. Our maintenance team caught the issue before it became a bigger problem. The mechanics are working tirelessly to remove the motor and deliver it to a local repair shop for the installation of a new bearing. Assuming there are no other issues discovered in the repair process, we anticipate having the motor back on site by tomorrow for reinstallation for a late day Thursday or early Friday opening. We will continue to provide updates as we work through this repair.”
The old girl is showing her age, hopefully it can be spinning sooner than later. Having it laid up makes a ton of Red’s acreage unreachable, which they are acknowledging with the cheap tickets. Its going to keep getting more difficult to keep it reliable, since her manufacturer folded 30 years ago, everything is aftermarket or custom parts now. At least this didnt hit a school break or powder days.
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