Lower terminal and lift line during summer operations.Riding up in August!Reinforced tripod tower.This midstation is only used during late summer.Top terminal built into Mt. Hood.Re-enforced towers that are buried all winter.The summer midstation.Another view of the mid-load station that is buried all winter.Bottom terminal.Entering the top terminal building.Uni terminal inside the building.Chair parking area.Looking down line.Lift line from the base.Looking up the line.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.
As far as I know, the chairs are taken off, the tension is partially removed from the haul rope, and the plywood sides of the mid-station (on the loading side) are removed. From there, the haul rope is removed from inside the mid-station, possibly with a snow cat. Everything beyond here is more or less speculation, but I would imagine a pulley or snatch block attached somehow to the towers above the mid-station could be used to pull the haul rope up to the upper sheaves. Might use a winch on a cat for this, too.
In the winter, as Palmer doesn’t usually run/is partially buried, the haul rope used to be dropped onto sets of two sheaves mounted directly on the tower tubes. They’re visible in this old image from skilifts.org (http://skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/or-timberline/palmer/midstation.jpg). I would imagine they used a similar process to do this as well.
Many weird things happen at this ski resort. The hotel was built during the Great Depression, a world famous horror movie was filmed in it, and the weirdest one, the founder of Riblet got drunk on the original single chair… (Mt Hood Museum)
I had the pleasure of helping out Randy Henry Doppelmayr Installation director on this project The building for both top and bottom terminals were already there and all of the line towers were re used The mid station was all new The crew started building the foundations for the drive while the summer double lift was still in operation I went to help out pulling the haul rope Had to go back twice because the weather there in the fall changes so rapidly You should see the pictures in the maintenance garage of the ice build up Even with all the chairs in the park garage on the Lower Poma detach and the haul rope turning they had 12 sheave jam leading to the liners being cut in half
CRAZY PLACE Hats of to the lift mechanics who work there
Yes and I forgot to mentioned that the crew were building the drive foundations under the floor of the loading area while the summer operations were still going on While pulling the haul rope the 5/8 ” cable went to about 11/2 ” in about 30 minutes when a low pressure system moved in from the ocean Really crazy place for weather
I saw a comment on Timberline’s Facebook page about this from one of their managers. Sounds like the haul rope has to be replaced as well. It was a brutal winter on Hood from a rime ice standpoint, Cascade at Meadows was closed for a month because of ice damage as well.
When they shutdown for the winter they lift the haul rope off the sheave assemblies and lower it on to sets of shelves attached to the towers because they had towers collapse towards the west side due to the frost buildup They have pictures in the maintenance garage with easily 4 ft of build up on the west side and nothing on the east side CRAZY PLACE
Rime builds up on the windward side of the object to which is is bonding. Most riming events in the Cascades are during a strong westerly-southwesterly flow. Not crazy at all, just physics. The argument can still be made that Wy’East is a crazy place, though. All volcanoes are.
Having worked on over 40 ski lift projects and been in operation for 30+ years Timberline is a CRAZY place We know the physics that cause this..
Obviously you have never been a lift mechanic. When you can’t look up because your goggles are covering in ice in two seconds that’s a CRAZY place
They couldn’t figure out how to get the clip in and out of the rope fast enough which is basically not knowing how to slow and speed up the chairs while safety in disattaching/reattaching in and out of the terminal fast enough in some context.
Great post..
Now if the guys at Timberline could get some shots of the top terminal in DEC-FEB then your guest will appreciate the crazy job that a lift mechanic is
There’s a few shots of it on Timberline’s instagram profile, it’s definitely a crazy high alpine place. Side note, this lift has probably one of the best sounding motors I’ve ever heard on a detachable.
Just back from my daughter having a week long race camp on Palmer. I skied the last day and noticed for most of the way up the lift line there is an old (?) haul rope just lying on the ground. Is this just an old haul rope? Or is it actively used for something (e.g. winterizing)?
What is the process of inserting and taking out the haul rope from the mid station?
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I don’t know if we have anyone who’s done the same process on Flying Mile’s summer midstation at Tremblant here….
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As far as I know, the chairs are taken off, the tension is partially removed from the haul rope, and the plywood sides of the mid-station (on the loading side) are removed. From there, the haul rope is removed from inside the mid-station, possibly with a snow cat. Everything beyond here is more or less speculation, but I would imagine a pulley or snatch block attached somehow to the towers above the mid-station could be used to pull the haul rope up to the upper sheaves. Might use a winch on a cat for this, too.
In the winter, as Palmer doesn’t usually run/is partially buried, the haul rope used to be dropped onto sets of two sheaves mounted directly on the tower tubes. They’re visible in this old image from skilifts.org (http://skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/or-timberline/palmer/midstation.jpg). I would imagine they used a similar process to do this as well.
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How in the world did they install this lift in one summer?
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Many weird things happen at this ski resort. The hotel was built during the Great Depression, a world famous horror movie was filmed in it, and the weirdest one, the founder of Riblet got drunk on the original single chair… (Mt Hood Museum)
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That world famous horror movie is the shining
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I had the pleasure of helping out Randy Henry Doppelmayr Installation director on this project The building for both top and bottom terminals were already there and all of the line towers were re used The mid station was all new The crew started building the foundations for the drive while the summer double lift was still in operation I went to help out pulling the haul rope Had to go back twice because the weather there in the fall changes so rapidly You should see the pictures in the maintenance garage of the ice build up Even with all the chairs in the park garage on the Lower Poma detach and the haul rope turning they had 12 sheave jam leading to the liners being cut in half
CRAZY PLACE Hats of to the lift mechanics who work there
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Wow I had no idea they reused the buildings!
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Yes and I forgot to mentioned that the crew were building the drive foundations under the floor of the loading area while the summer operations were still going on While pulling the haul rope the 5/8 ” cable went to about 11/2 ” in about 30 minutes when a low pressure system moved in from the ocean Really crazy place for weather
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Two tower heads were severely damaged in February and were replaced on May 7th.
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I saw a comment on Timberline’s Facebook page about this from one of their managers. Sounds like the haul rope has to be replaced as well. It was a brutal winter on Hood from a rime ice standpoint, Cascade at Meadows was closed for a month because of ice damage as well.
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When they shutdown for the winter they lift the haul rope off the sheave assemblies and lower it on to sets of shelves attached to the towers because they had towers collapse towards the west side due to the frost buildup They have pictures in the maintenance garage with easily 4 ft of build up on the west side and nothing on the east side CRAZY PLACE
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Rime builds up on the windward side of the object to which is is bonding. Most riming events in the Cascades are during a strong westerly-southwesterly flow. Not crazy at all, just physics. The argument can still be made that Wy’East is a crazy place, though. All volcanoes are.
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Having worked on over 40 ski lift projects and been in operation for 30+ years Timberline is a CRAZY place We know the physics that cause this..
Obviously you have never been a lift mechanic. When you can’t look up because your goggles are covering in ice in two seconds that’s a CRAZY place
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Interesting fact: the original Palmer lift was supposed to be Riblet’s first detachable chairlift, but they were not able to develop the grip for it.
https://skytraclifts.com/bill-bretts-view-from-the-tower/
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They couldn’t figure out how to get the clip in and out of the rope fast enough which is basically not knowing how to slow and speed up the chairs while safety in disattaching/reattaching in and out of the terminal fast enough in some context.
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Great post..
Now if the guys at Timberline could get some shots of the top terminal in DEC-FEB then your guest will appreciate the crazy job that a lift mechanic is
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There’s a few shots of it on Timberline’s instagram profile, it’s definitely a crazy high alpine place. Side note, this lift has probably one of the best sounding motors I’ve ever heard on a detachable.
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Just back from my daughter having a week long race camp on Palmer. I skied the last day and noticed for most of the way up the lift line there is an old (?) haul rope just lying on the ground. Is this just an old haul rope? Or is it actively used for something (e.g. winterizing)?
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