Top terminal.Top and lift line.Top station from below.Top terminal.Lift line.Lower section of the lift line.View up towards the summit.Tower 4.The lower station is height adjustable, maintenance rail and all.Chairs parked on the rail.Base terminal and lift line.Side view of the return terminal.Upper lift line view.
The Outback Riblet double was removed when Northwest Express opened in 1996. In addition, this lift had its center arm rests removed for the 18/19 season with the addition of new seat pads and back rests.
It and Green Chair were taken out of commission respectively when the Outback Express and Skyliner Express were built. But they stuck around for a couple years as maintenance lifts, I think: https://skimap.org/data/270/7/1209415902.jpg
I remember seeing the original Outback run, but by the time I got to the bottom of it it had shut down again. May have just been a weekly spin, I know they would do that from time to time.
I get the feeling management probably used the old Outback chair and the Blue chair as ski patrol evac training areas for a couple years after the Outback Express and Skyliner went in.
I’m pretty positive Vista Bahn was not height adjustable. If so they did a dang good job at hiding it as it showed no evidence but there was no reason for it anyway. I’ll get in contact with my source who actually helped install it.
Vista Bahn was not height adjustable. I think PMX and Outback are the only CLD-260s that are/were height adjustable. To my knowledge, I don’t believe Mt. Bachelor uses the height adjustment anymore on Outback as all the snow can now be pushed down towards Northwest Express.
Waited in 45 minute lines on this lift several days last week. Combined with wind exposure, maintenance issues mentioned above, and all-around tired feel of this lift (it’s not exactly aging gracefully like old Riblets), it’s time to replace this with a detachable 6 at 3,600 pph. While they’re at it, they should do Pine Marten too; waited 20-30 mins there all week. Hopefully the one good outcome of the influx of new Ikon visitors is that they’ll have money to do some of these needed infrastructure upgrades.
Yeah, it’s 2800 already and I think the terrain can handle more. They could start with 3000 and add more chairs later if it’s a cost thing.
Now that I think about it, Skyliner could use this same treatment when the time comes. It’s only a couple years newer, but at least it seems to be in better shape and more shielded from the wind. Long lines there too.
Or maybe high speed six packs for Pine Marten and Outback, while using the current Pine Marten to replace Rainbow (extended to its original end point) or to cut additional trails to the southeast of Cloudchaser.
The comprehensive plan approved a few years ago listed a new 6-pack to replace Sunrise and replacing the shortened Rainbow with the Sunrise quad. Not sure if that will actually happen. A good move would be to replace red with a quad or 6-pack.
i don’t think red should be replaced. now before you yell “boomer boomer boomer!!” into your phone mic when replying. I don’t think “these stupid new, wait, what do you call em, oh high speed chairlifts suck” no I just think that because red is a staple at mount bachelor. that’s where you can have a long chat with those nice old people that have been skiing 55 years, that’s where all the hidden gems are, those awesome pow photos on the mount bachelor app. plus why no just upgrade pine instead. it serves all of the red terrain (well a tiny part of leeway is only red chair but nobody cares about that)and more. if you have seen my little master plan thing I had an idea where they cut red in half and make the lower side a hsq. well now I think they should put in a separate hsq in instead running on lower leeway. I do love my high speed chairlifts though
Very strange to see Outback listed on Bachelor’s website as closed for the season this early. Any local riders know if something more major happened for them to shut it down?
It’s standard for Outback to drop out of the regular schedule at the conclusion of Oregon’s spring break (final week of March). I worked there from 2010 to 2020 and it was the same every year. Outback is the easiest of Mt. Bachelor’s quads to close when attendance dwindles since 100% of its terrain is accessible via Northwest lift.
In previous years, while the lift would carry the “closed for the season” status starting at the end of March, crews kept it on ready-standby as a backup for Northwest through early May in case there was a mechanical issue or if the weather was too poor to allow Northwest to open.
Its kinda crazy to me that this lift which is 2 years older physically and a generation older technologically than Skyliner has managed to outlast that lift. It seems like I keep reading reports of the early Uni lifts experiencing power train failures and I wonder if there was a manufacture used during that time that had flaws in its parts. Can anyone confirm?
No. I feel as if I’ve answered this exact question in another thread here, but most issues you’ve been hearing about aren’t due to ‘flaws’. Skyliner was a major bullwheel bearing failure. GE was an unexpected gear issue that Rob has already discussed. Are there other early 90s Doppelmayr problems out there? I haven’t heard of any.
I only wonder because I know with many cars I have worked on manufacturing defects most definitely exist for certain years. Be it due to a new process or some other element (Subaru deciding to cheap out on head gaskets). Aircraft also experience this with certain models of engine having to be replaced. So I assumed that it would be true of chairlifts. Maybe there could have been a batch of gearboxes with a higher than average failure rate. It just seems odd to me that I haven’t heard of as many monthlong closures of the remaining CLD-260 or whatever the real name is. At least recently.
Lift Blog 
The Outback Riblet double was removed when Northwest Express opened in 1996. In addition, this lift had its center arm rests removed for the 18/19 season with the addition of new seat pads and back rests.
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It and Green Chair were taken out of commission respectively when the Outback Express and Skyliner Express were built. But they stuck around for a couple years as maintenance lifts, I think: https://skimap.org/data/270/7/1209415902.jpg
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EDIT: Actually, the “maintenance chair” in the Skyliner pod was the former Blue Chair. https://skimap.org/data/270/7/1210732079.jpg
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I remember seeing the original Outback run, but by the time I got to the bottom of it it had shut down again. May have just been a weekly spin, I know they would do that from time to time.
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I get the feeling management probably used the old Outback chair and the Blue chair as ski patrol evac training areas for a couple years after the Outback Express and Skyliner went in.
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In a way, the Outback Express functioned as a bit of an expansion, given it was installed on a longer alignment to serve Pine Marten Lodge.
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Are there any other height-adjustable CLD-260 terminals? Can’t think of any
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Original Pine Marten was, that’s the only other I can think of.
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Vista Bahn was at Vail, but the Gondola replaced it.
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I’m pretty positive Vista Bahn was not height adjustable. If so they did a dang good job at hiding it as it showed no evidence but there was no reason for it anyway. I’ll get in contact with my source who actually helped install it.
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Vista Bahn was not height adjustable. I think PMX and Outback are the only CLD-260s that are/were height adjustable. To my knowledge, I don’t believe Mt. Bachelor uses the height adjustment anymore on Outback as all the snow can now be pushed down towards Northwest Express.
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Outback has been running at reduced speed since Christmas. Staff claims it is running at 3.8 m/s “due to insurance reasons”.
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I should also add they said it will be running slow the rest of the year.
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Why would they run it slow for insurance reasons? Are there problems with the lift and any plans to fix?
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Supposedly it failed its high-speed test by the state. No further details other than that it will not be running at full speed at all this year.
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Looks like it’s coming closer to replacement time. I could see them do the same thing to this lift as they did to pine marten.
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Waited in 45 minute lines on this lift several days last week. Combined with wind exposure, maintenance issues mentioned above, and all-around tired feel of this lift (it’s not exactly aging gracefully like old Riblets), it’s time to replace this with a detachable 6 at 3,600 pph. While they’re at it, they should do Pine Marten too; waited 20-30 mins there all week. Hopefully the one good outcome of the influx of new Ikon visitors is that they’ll have money to do some of these needed infrastructure upgrades.
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I think they will do something like they did to Pine Marten here. 3,600 pph is too much capacity for this lift. I would say 3,200 pph 6 pack.
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More likely 3,000 pph.
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Yeah, it’s 2800 already and I think the terrain can handle more. They could start with 3000 and add more chairs later if it’s a cost thing.
Now that I think about it, Skyliner could use this same treatment when the time comes. It’s only a couple years newer, but at least it seems to be in better shape and more shielded from the wind. Long lines there too.
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Or maybe high speed six packs for Pine Marten and Outback, while using the current Pine Marten to replace Rainbow (extended to its original end point) or to cut additional trails to the southeast of Cloudchaser.
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The comprehensive plan approved a few years ago listed a new 6-pack to replace Sunrise and replacing the shortened Rainbow with the Sunrise quad. Not sure if that will actually happen. A good move would be to replace red with a quad or 6-pack.
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i don’t think red should be replaced. now before you yell “boomer boomer boomer!!” into your phone mic when replying. I don’t think “these stupid new, wait, what do you call em, oh high speed chairlifts suck” no I just think that because red is a staple at mount bachelor. that’s where you can have a long chat with those nice old people that have been skiing 55 years, that’s where all the hidden gems are, those awesome pow photos on the mount bachelor app. plus why no just upgrade pine instead. it serves all of the red terrain (well a tiny part of leeway is only red chair but nobody cares about that)and more. if you have seen my little master plan thing I had an idea where they cut red in half and make the lower side a hsq. well now I think they should put in a separate hsq in instead running on lower leeway. I do love my high speed chairlifts though
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I personally love the old CLD-260 chairs, sad that they are becoming unreliable. It makes me wonder which one will be the last to be removed.
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Probably Olympic at Nakiska because it isn’t used much and it’s in pretty good condition.
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by that statement, Squaw One at Squaw Valley probably has some more life in it.
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Very strange to see Outback listed on Bachelor’s website as closed for the season this early. Any local riders know if something more major happened for them to shut it down?
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It’s standard for Outback to drop out of the regular schedule at the conclusion of Oregon’s spring break (final week of March). I worked there from 2010 to 2020 and it was the same every year. Outback is the easiest of Mt. Bachelor’s quads to close when attendance dwindles since 100% of its terrain is accessible via Northwest lift.
In previous years, while the lift would carry the “closed for the season” status starting at the end of March, crews kept it on ready-standby as a backup for Northwest through early May in case there was a mechanical issue or if the weather was too poor to allow Northwest to open.
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Video of the lift:
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Wow! I’ve never seen a height adjustable CLD-260
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Original Outback:
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Its kinda crazy to me that this lift which is 2 years older physically and a generation older technologically than Skyliner has managed to outlast that lift. It seems like I keep reading reports of the early Uni lifts experiencing power train failures and I wonder if there was a manufacture used during that time that had flaws in its parts. Can anyone confirm?
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No. I feel as if I’ve answered this exact question in another thread here, but most issues you’ve been hearing about aren’t due to ‘flaws’. Skyliner was a major bullwheel bearing failure. GE was an unexpected gear issue that Rob has already discussed. Are there other early 90s Doppelmayr problems out there? I haven’t heard of any.
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I only wonder because I know with many cars I have worked on manufacturing defects most definitely exist for certain years. Be it due to a new process or some other element (Subaru deciding to cheap out on head gaskets). Aircraft also experience this with certain models of engine having to be replaced. So I assumed that it would be true of chairlifts. Maybe there could have been a batch of gearboxes with a higher than average failure rate. It just seems odd to me that I haven’t heard of as many monthlong closures of the remaining CLD-260 or whatever the real name is. At least recently.
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