Looks like they just run B on peak days in the season, I went in late April last year, and they were just running A, but today it says they are running both
Wish list for Okemo lifts:
(Doesn’t include 2020-2021 planned lifts)
-South Ridge 8 (8 pack to replace B Quad, keep A Quad for only peak days)
-8 Person Gondola (from base of Quantum to Solitude summit, to ease traffic on Quantum)
-Sachem & Glades Peak (Upgrade to express quads with equipment from solitude and south face)
-South Face (bubble 6 pack to replace south face express)
-Solitude (bubble 6 pack to replace solitude express)
-Black ridge (replace with old sachem or glades peak quad)
-Learning Quad at Jackson Gore
The South Ridge 8-pack is a great idea, although keeping A may be a bit redundant with the large capacity. With Quantum being upgraded in 2021, is a gondola necessary to ease traffic? Glades Peak should probably become a detachable quad, and using the old quad to upgrade Black Ridge is a good idea, although I am not sure if Sachem really warrants the traffic for a detachable lift. South Face and Solitude will likely be replaced with six-packs in 5-10 years when they reach the end of their lifespans. A learning quad at Jackson Gore would be convenient, but it is already fairly crowded down there with the two carpets. I always thought they should install a high-speed quad for beginners servicing Upper Mountain Road/Easy Rider/Roundhouse Run so they won’t all funnel down Mountain Road back to Sunburst. Perhaps the liftline could travel from the Jackson Gore Junction to the top of Sunburst or Glades Peak?
Your idea for a high speed quad for beginners on the upper mountain is a good idea. However, Jackson Gore junction has little space to fit a HSQ terminal. I think the current plans to move quantum 4 to replace green ridge in 2021 better suit this idea. According to Okemo Management, there will be access to the new green ridge lift from mountain road. So ideally that would allow beginners to lap the upper-mountain green trails. Also, completely unrelated, supposedly South Face Village new homeowners were promised a bubble lift during the triple peaks era, and south face was next to be upgraded, but it’s a bit cloudy whether or not this will occur with the new ownership.
I also had the same Idea of starting a lift at Jackson Gore Junction to the summit to replace the Green Ridge. Space wise have it start on the Okemo side
just below the junction where there is plenty of space. This would eliminate most traffic on mountain road where it cuts across all of the Solitude pod trail. Replacing Green Ridge will not solve this issue, in fact it might encourage more traffic to go down mountain road. For South Ridge just replacing one of the quads with a detachable quad or six is sufficient, keep the other quad as a backup. Eventually I would like to see Sachem replaced with a detachable as well as it is this is an underutilized are that is the next logical pod for novice skiers to progress to after South Ridge. Also it would help relieve pressure off of Sunburst as the base of both lifts are near each other.
I do not think there was a Glades Peak triple prior to the current quad. I am pretty sure the current quad replaced the Northwest Summit Double (which was removed in 1991). I believe the Summit lift listed is a duplicate of the Northwest Summit Double as well. The rest of the stats seem off as well, as they should closely align with the current Glade Peak’s length and vertical.
By upgrading Green Ridge to a detachable lift, Okemo is now tied with Killington for the most detachable chairlifts in the US east of the Rockies with six. Killington enjoys more overall detachable lifts with two gondolas.
Phase 2 of Southface Village will include a second lift. It will be short and most likely a fixed-grip quad or triple. The lift line is already on the trail map.
Sachem (along with Southern Cross) are the hardest greens on the mountain. Progression after South Ridge is more realistically to the summit. As for a lift wish list, I think when they retire the A & B quads, the best thing they can do is put in a gondola from the clocktower to the top of Glades. A parallel pack replacing Sachem again, all the way from the clocktower, to just a bit higher than Sachem goes now such that you could cut new green run Upper Sachem which would connect over to Cat Nap, solving the problem of beginners having a hard time getting to South Face when Glades doesn’t run (of course, the gondola would help with that too. The topmost bit of Rimrock is pretty green). They’d need to buy around six homes that abut the Sachem liftline and move them onto new foundations for liftline clearance, and rejiggering the lot lines to suit the new liftline trails, then sell them significantly higher after announcing the D line 10 passenger world’s fastest gondola at 7m/s. Sure, that would be expensive, but relocating a couple large houses would be less than a percent of the lift project costs. Glades would remin in its present alignment, maybe go detachable when South Face eventually goes D6C-B. Bubble chairs are great, but a shiny new gondola in addition to their existing expansive terrain and lift system makes a top four destination resort in the northeast, perhaps overshadowing Sunday River, which has a lame gondola that doesn’t go to the top of anywhere and is too far for the NYC market, and Stowe with serious lift system needs of its own and a real dearth of beginner to low intermediate cruising terrain, and is also on the far side for both NYC and Boston.
They really boxed themselves in with real estate from the Clock Tower Base. You could say buying real estate is a fraction of the cost of the total cost, but each property you are mentioning is worth over $1 million, and a sale price will likely be closer to $2 million given that they cannot use eminent domain and force sales at market rate. $12 million for real estate alone is a lot of money, and I would rather see them reexamine a different expensive project like the Jackson Gore Summit Lodge gondola.
In order to avoid property lines (and the whole real estate debacle), a gondola would only be possible from the Clock Tower Base to the Summit Lodge (or anywhere else from there in the direction towards Jackson Gore). Even then, it would likely require the removal of Sachem or very tall towers to cross it. Sachem itself could be extended higher up, potentially all the way to the summit of Glades, but that would mean that it would not be lappable by beginners, so that is unlikely.
What would really solve all their problems would be a green trail from the Summit Lodge to the base of Glades. However, I would not be surprised if this were very tough to do given the topography because they likely would have done this already if it were easy. With that in mind, I think the best solution would be a new detachable lift from Jackson Gore Junction to the top of Glades (or perhaps Summit Lodge if it is not too crowded). Evergreen Summit Express has helped a lot in making the Upper Mountain Road/Sweet Solitude/Easy Rider region easier to lap for beginners, but it is mostly geared towards intermediates lapping other trails, hence the runout on Green Link/Mountain Road required for beginners. This would help disperse skiers by their ability.
So here are the correct chairlift facts for Okemo. A-quad 107, B-quad 107, Black Ridge 113, Sunburst 6 has 113, Sachem 159, Glade Peak 151, Southface 98, Green Ridge 78, Solitude 98, Morning Star 112, Quantum 6 has 79, Coleman Brook 56.
The Sunburst and the Green Ridge chairs the 2 newest and they both have orange bubbles that you pull down over you to stay dry and out of the winds.
Okemo is set to replace the Stargazer and Orion’s Belt carpets at Jackson Gore with a fixed-grip quad (that also goes up a little higher) in either 2025 or 2026. I believe it is supposed to be timed with the construction of a new condo building above Adams House and Bixby House, so Vail may not be paying the full cost of the installation themselves.
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Went to Okemo today and the unloading carpet was all covered up by snow on the B Quad. Sure hope they aren’t phasing it out as it is one of a kind.
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Looks like they just run B on peak days in the season, I went in late April last year, and they were just running A, but today it says they are running both
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yeah i think thats true. when its busy they run both to get people out of the lodge area qucker
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Wish list for Okemo lifts:
(Doesn’t include 2020-2021 planned lifts)
-South Ridge 8 (8 pack to replace B Quad, keep A Quad for only peak days)
-8 Person Gondola (from base of Quantum to Solitude summit, to ease traffic on Quantum)
-Sachem & Glades Peak (Upgrade to express quads with equipment from solitude and south face)
-South Face (bubble 6 pack to replace south face express)
-Solitude (bubble 6 pack to replace solitude express)
-Black ridge (replace with old sachem or glades peak quad)
-Learning Quad at Jackson Gore
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The South Ridge 8-pack is a great idea, although keeping A may be a bit redundant with the large capacity. With Quantum being upgraded in 2021, is a gondola necessary to ease traffic? Glades Peak should probably become a detachable quad, and using the old quad to upgrade Black Ridge is a good idea, although I am not sure if Sachem really warrants the traffic for a detachable lift. South Face and Solitude will likely be replaced with six-packs in 5-10 years when they reach the end of their lifespans. A learning quad at Jackson Gore would be convenient, but it is already fairly crowded down there with the two carpets. I always thought they should install a high-speed quad for beginners servicing Upper Mountain Road/Easy Rider/Roundhouse Run so they won’t all funnel down Mountain Road back to Sunburst. Perhaps the liftline could travel from the Jackson Gore Junction to the top of Sunburst or Glades Peak?
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Your idea for a high speed quad for beginners on the upper mountain is a good idea. However, Jackson Gore junction has little space to fit a HSQ terminal. I think the current plans to move quantum 4 to replace green ridge in 2021 better suit this idea. According to Okemo Management, there will be access to the new green ridge lift from mountain road. So ideally that would allow beginners to lap the upper-mountain green trails. Also, completely unrelated, supposedly South Face Village new homeowners were promised a bubble lift during the triple peaks era, and south face was next to be upgraded, but it’s a bit cloudy whether or not this will occur with the new ownership.
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I also had the same Idea of starting a lift at Jackson Gore Junction to the summit to replace the Green Ridge. Space wise have it start on the Okemo side
just below the junction where there is plenty of space. This would eliminate most traffic on mountain road where it cuts across all of the Solitude pod trail. Replacing Green Ridge will not solve this issue, in fact it might encourage more traffic to go down mountain road. For South Ridge just replacing one of the quads with a detachable quad or six is sufficient, keep the other quad as a backup. Eventually I would like to see Sachem replaced with a detachable as well as it is this is an underutilized are that is the next logical pod for novice skiers to progress to after South Ridge. Also it would help relieve pressure off of Sunburst as the base of both lifts are near each other.
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I do not think there was a Glades Peak triple prior to the current quad. I am pretty sure the current quad replaced the Northwest Summit Double (which was removed in 1991). I believe the Summit lift listed is a duplicate of the Northwest Summit Double as well. The rest of the stats seem off as well, as they should closely align with the current Glade Peak’s length and vertical.
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That’s true. There was never a Glades Peak Triple. Thee current quad directly replaced the old Riblet double.
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By upgrading Green Ridge to a detachable lift, Okemo is now tied with Killington for the most detachable chairlifts in the US east of the Rockies with six. Killington enjoys more overall detachable lifts with two gondolas.
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The New Green Ridge Replacement is named Evergreen Express, not Emerald.
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Phase 2 of Southface Village will include a second lift. It will be short and most likely a fixed-grip quad or triple. The lift line is already on the trail map.
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Where was Quantum 4 relocated?
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Evergreen Summit Express
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Sachem (along with Southern Cross) are the hardest greens on the mountain. Progression after South Ridge is more realistically to the summit. As for a lift wish list, I think when they retire the A & B quads, the best thing they can do is put in a gondola from the clocktower to the top of Glades. A parallel pack replacing Sachem again, all the way from the clocktower, to just a bit higher than Sachem goes now such that you could cut new green run Upper Sachem which would connect over to Cat Nap, solving the problem of beginners having a hard time getting to South Face when Glades doesn’t run (of course, the gondola would help with that too. The topmost bit of Rimrock is pretty green). They’d need to buy around six homes that abut the Sachem liftline and move them onto new foundations for liftline clearance, and rejiggering the lot lines to suit the new liftline trails, then sell them significantly higher after announcing the D line 10 passenger world’s fastest gondola at 7m/s. Sure, that would be expensive, but relocating a couple large houses would be less than a percent of the lift project costs. Glades would remin in its present alignment, maybe go detachable when South Face eventually goes D6C-B. Bubble chairs are great, but a shiny new gondola in addition to their existing expansive terrain and lift system makes a top four destination resort in the northeast, perhaps overshadowing Sunday River, which has a lame gondola that doesn’t go to the top of anywhere and is too far for the NYC market, and Stowe with serious lift system needs of its own and a real dearth of beginner to low intermediate cruising terrain, and is also on the far side for both NYC and Boston.
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They really boxed themselves in with real estate from the Clock Tower Base. You could say buying real estate is a fraction of the cost of the total cost, but each property you are mentioning is worth over $1 million, and a sale price will likely be closer to $2 million given that they cannot use eminent domain and force sales at market rate. $12 million for real estate alone is a lot of money, and I would rather see them reexamine a different expensive project like the Jackson Gore Summit Lodge gondola.
In order to avoid property lines (and the whole real estate debacle), a gondola would only be possible from the Clock Tower Base to the Summit Lodge (or anywhere else from there in the direction towards Jackson Gore). Even then, it would likely require the removal of Sachem or very tall towers to cross it. Sachem itself could be extended higher up, potentially all the way to the summit of Glades, but that would mean that it would not be lappable by beginners, so that is unlikely.
What would really solve all their problems would be a green trail from the Summit Lodge to the base of Glades. However, I would not be surprised if this were very tough to do given the topography because they likely would have done this already if it were easy. With that in mind, I think the best solution would be a new detachable lift from Jackson Gore Junction to the top of Glades (or perhaps Summit Lodge if it is not too crowded). Evergreen Summit Express has helped a lot in making the Upper Mountain Road/Sweet Solitude/Easy Rider region easier to lap for beginners, but it is mostly geared towards intermediates lapping other trails, hence the runout on Green Link/Mountain Road required for beginners. This would help disperse skiers by their ability.
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The old Solitude quad was also called South Face before it became Sunbowl at Mt. Sunapee and was replaced by the old Northstar Express in 2014.
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All of okemos current lifts are made by Poma
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So here are the correct chairlift facts for Okemo. A-quad 107, B-quad 107, Black Ridge 113, Sunburst 6 has 113, Sachem 159, Glade Peak 151, Southface 98, Green Ridge 78, Solitude 98, Morning Star 112, Quantum 6 has 79, Coleman Brook 56.
The Sunburst and the Green Ridge chairs the 2 newest and they both have orange bubbles that you pull down over you to stay dry and out of the winds.
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B quad has 123 chairs.
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Okemo is set to replace the Stargazer and Orion’s Belt carpets at Jackson Gore with a fixed-grip quad (that also goes up a little higher) in either 2025 or 2026. I believe it is supposed to be timed with the construction of a new condo building above Adams House and Bixby House, so Vail may not be paying the full cost of the installation themselves.
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