Mountaintop Express #4 – Vail, CO

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Bottom station with parking rail on the departure side.
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View up the line from the bottom terminal.
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Chairkit loading carpet.
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Contour load with carpet and queuing gates.
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Doppelmayr Uni-G return terminal.
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Another view of the line.
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Bottom station overview.
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Tower 5 with combo assembly.
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Top station.
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View down the line.
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Another view of the summit terminal.

19 thoughts on “Mountaintop Express #4 – Vail, CO

  1. Todd Arnold's avatar Todd Arnold October 31, 2017 / 10:33 am

    Why the kink in the bottom terminal skin?

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  2. Kevin's avatar Kevin November 1, 2017 / 2:28 pm

    To accommodate the 90 degree loading.

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  3. Kevin's avatar Kevin April 10, 2018 / 9:36 am

    For about a week now #4 has been running without the use of the loading carpets. Inline loading, so gates and loading carpet were bypassed. CEO & quite a few others were observing on Saturday to see how everything was running.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Cooper's avatar Cooper April 24, 2018 / 4:22 pm

      Just give it to Wildcat Express at snowbasin! If their not going to use the carpet.

      Liked by 3 people

  4. Kevin's avatar Kevin November 19, 2018 / 5:55 pm

    loading carpet, gates, and 90 degree loading are all gone, loading is in line now.

    Liked by 1 person

    • Everett's avatar Doppelmayr FTW November 19, 2018 / 6:01 pm

      why did they do that?

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      • ALT2870's avatar ALT2870 November 19, 2018 / 9:36 pm

        Was just there today, looked like they fined tuned the queue area along with Wildwood for better flow and direction. 90 degree loading probably didn’t make sense in all of that. Carpets on lifts like this seem unnecessary and add another component that can fail. (This lift had a lot of issues opening year that I heard of and I’m sure the carpet didn’t help.) As for the gates, seems Vail had been getting rid of those. Northwood is just bear bones as well. Wouldn’t be surprised if Avanti losses the gates and carpet as well. Then again it is more beginner oriented.

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        • Bryan M South's avatar Bryan M South January 21, 2019 / 6:22 pm

          I noticed this as well, the carpet is still there however. Avanti is still using the carpet.

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        • If the carpet goes, there’s gonna still be evidence of its existence given the widening of the terminal at the end there that was built for the carpet.

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        • Donald Reif's avatar Donald Reif November 12, 2019 / 10:11 am

          I was right. The carpet is still there:

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        • Donald Reif's avatar Donald Reif January 17, 2021 / 9:07 am

          I wouldn’t say the Avanti Express is more beginner-oriented. The trails it services are primarily a mix of blue and black runs, although it does receive its share of beginners since it’s the primary way to transit over to Mid-Vail when moving east from Eagle’s Nest.

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  5. Myles Svec's avatar powderforever45 November 23, 2019 / 2:17 pm

    To confirm that. Yes it is. I skied at Vail today and the lines went all the way to the wooden arches they have in the winter.

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  6. Rossington's avatar Rossington March 28, 2021 / 8:59 pm

    Did they remove the “kink” in the terminal skin or is it still there? If so, they should remove it.

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    • pbropetech's avatar pbropetech March 29, 2021 / 8:36 am

      If it doesn’t affect operation it’s unnecessary to remove it. Way more trouble than it’s worth.

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  7. luke's avatar luke April 17, 2022 / 7:48 pm

    I was here the other day; the carpet is no longer there, But I did see a wooden plank over the carpet, can anyone tell me why it was removed?

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    • Donald Reif's avatar Donald Reif April 17, 2022 / 8:01 pm

      They took it out when they reconfigured the lift to in-line loading, figuring that in-line loading would minimize misloads.

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  8. Coloradoskilifts's avatar Coloradoskilifts July 11, 2025 / 10:46 am

    Vail should replace this lift with a HS8 with an L shaped terminal to give it absolute MAMMOTH capacity (Similar to the Adventure 8 at Mt. St Louise Moonstone). This lift would easily chew through the lines that can easily extend to the wooden arches, making lapping the runs off of this lift and getting to the backbowls much more enjoyable. Since this lift is relatively new, it could be relocated to replace #21, #8, or #3.

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    • Ryan G.'s avatar Ryan G. December 17, 2025 / 8:40 pm

      I haven’t been able to locate any other info. As both were from california, i’m assuming they were on the same carrier and were friends and probably were drunk and fell off or something stupid. If it were something lift related, I’m sure we’d know about it by now and the lift would be closed.

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