This high speed quad was the first iteration of the Green Mountain Express before it was moved five years later to become the North Ridge Express.1990 Poma return terminal.Loading area and turnaround.Side view of the lower station.Terminal overview.Tower 3.The top station.Side view of the drive station.View down line from the summit.Terminal underskin.This station doubles as a cellular site.View up at tower 10.Looking down the steep lower part of the line.
This lift has been so unreliable recently. It can barely make it a week without breaking down at least once. I love the lift but it is becoming a disaster for the mountain.
Agreed. Glad to hear that it is finally up for replacement, along with Heaven’s Gate, given how often it has been out of service in recent years. What does everyone think it will be replaced with? Another high speed quad? While it’s long enough to warrant a detachable chairlift, the lines are never particularly long.
For Heaven’s Gate, I think it will be an FGQ. I believe an application to replace it said so(I think it was USFS). On NRX, I think it would be another HSQ, Ellen isn’t crowded enough.
This used to be where the Green Mountain Express was. In 1995, Les Otten decided that it would be better to have the only detachable on Mount Ellen in this location as it is more lappable. It also allowed for better access for those coming off the then new Slide Brook Express. His main resort was at Lincoln Peak and he thought that the Mount Ellen base would just be an access point for day skiers and people would only come out of there once during the day.
From 1995 to 2002, there was a fixed grip quad on the lower portion of the current Green Mountain Express. There were some benefits to it like being able to avoid the runout by lapping North Ridge. However, it was heavily criticized because the Mount Ellen Base no longer had a detachable and it took 3 lifts to reach the summit. In 2002, new ownership built the current Green Mountain Express and sold the fixed quad to Jay Peak where it operates today as the Metro Quad.
I liked Otten’s vision better. He essentially created a second base area where people come in on Slide Brook and ride North Ridge along with the people riding up the Green Mountain Snail. Keep in mind that the Green Mountain Snail was more of a beginners lift than an access lift from the base. People could take Inverness up and get to North Ridge that way instead of riding a beginner lift that frequently stops.
Back then they already had Sunny D as the beginner lift on Mount Ellen. The Green Mountain Snail was the main out of base lift and Inverness still doesn’t get you to the Summit Quad. The complaint was that it took 3 lifts to reach the summit.
This was the first lift ever that could go 1100 feet per minute because it was relocated from the Green Mountain Express and that was the first. Is this correct?
When originally reinstalled on this alignment, the far-side of the bottom terminal still had its Green Mountain Express lettering on it and I guess didn’t disappear until the terminals were repainted in the current forest green.
My guess is that Sugarbush didn’t see any reason to paint the old name over at first since it was on the side facing away from any public areas. (And that’s probably true of most other lifts where there’s no real point to painting the lift name on the downhill side of the terminal if the public aren’t going to be able to approach the lift from that side; I’ve also seen that with the Falcon SuperChair, Kensho Superchair, Mercury SuperChair, and Olympia Express, to name a few).
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This lift has been so unreliable recently. It can barely make it a week without breaking down at least once. I love the lift but it is becoming a disaster for the mountain.
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Agreed. Glad to hear that it is finally up for replacement, along with Heaven’s Gate, given how often it has been out of service in recent years. What does everyone think it will be replaced with? Another high speed quad? While it’s long enough to warrant a detachable chairlift, the lines are never particularly long.
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For Heaven’s Gate, I think it will be an FGQ. I believe an application to replace it said so(I think it was USFS). On NRX, I think it would be another HSQ, Ellen isn’t crowded enough.
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Nrx 6 would be cool but I think a hsq agian would work if it was Lincoln I fell like it would be a six but Ellen only needs one like 2 days a year
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Why was this lift relocated after 5 years?
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What lift replaced it?
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This used to be where the Green Mountain Express was. In 1995, Les Otten decided that it would be better to have the only detachable on Mount Ellen in this location as it is more lappable. It also allowed for better access for those coming off the then new Slide Brook Express. His main resort was at Lincoln Peak and he thought that the Mount Ellen base would just be an access point for day skiers and people would only come out of there once during the day.
From 1995 to 2002, there was a fixed grip quad on the lower portion of the current Green Mountain Express. There were some benefits to it like being able to avoid the runout by lapping North Ridge. However, it was heavily criticized because the Mount Ellen Base no longer had a detachable and it took 3 lifts to reach the summit. In 2002, new ownership built the current Green Mountain Express and sold the fixed quad to Jay Peak where it operates today as the Metro Quad.
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I liked Otten’s vision better. He essentially created a second base area where people come in on Slide Brook and ride North Ridge along with the people riding up the Green Mountain Snail. Keep in mind that the Green Mountain Snail was more of a beginners lift than an access lift from the base. People could take Inverness up and get to North Ridge that way instead of riding a beginner lift that frequently stops.
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Back then they already had Sunny D as the beginner lift on Mount Ellen. The Green Mountain Snail was the main out of base lift and Inverness still doesn’t get you to the Summit Quad. The complaint was that it took 3 lifts to reach the summit.
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This was the first lift ever that could go 1100 feet per minute because it was relocated from the Green Mountain Express and that was the first. Is this correct?
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Not anymore.
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When originally reinstalled on this alignment, the far-side of the bottom terminal still had its Green Mountain Express lettering on it and I guess didn’t disappear until the terminals were repainted in the current forest green.
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My guess is that Sugarbush didn’t see any reason to paint the old name over at first since it was on the side facing away from any public areas. (And that’s probably true of most other lifts where there’s no real point to painting the lift name on the downhill side of the terminal if the public aren’t going to be able to approach the lift from that side; I’ve also seen that with the Falcon SuperChair, Kensho Superchair, Mercury SuperChair, and Olympia Express, to name a few).
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