The only lift at Winter Park with a bottom drive, for obvious reasons.Depression towers 1-2.Middle part of the lift line.Upper lift line nearing the tree line.Arriving up top.Tri-leg return terminal from below.View down the lift line from the summit.Another view looking down.A tall tower.Leitner-Poma wide gauge tower.Lower lift line.Tower 9.Near the bottom station.Panoramic and Sunnyside on a busy Saturday.Lower station with 90-degree loading.View up the line from the base.The old lift that was here was appropriately called Timberline.Unloading area.Side view of the return.
Surprisingly, Breckenridge doesn’t boast about that on the red sign at the top of the Kensho SuperChair. And yet Winter Park still boasts about the Panoramic Express being the highest as if the Kensho SuperChair doesn’t exist.
I think double-combi sheave trains like on the uphill line on this lift (eight support, four hold-down) are rare to see on high speed six packs. They’re more common on gondolas.
I know of other detachables with more wind exposure than the Panoramic Express that don’t have double-combis, just simple 4C/4S and 2C/4S towers, such as the Kensho SuperChair:
It doesn’t cost as much to run utility lines to power the drive at the top. This was also true of the original Timberline double that this lift replaced.
You’ll notice at most other ski areas with high-alpine lifts that the high-alpine lifts for the most part have bottom drives for this same reason, including:
* All of Loveland’s chairlifts save for lift 7 (the learning lift at the Valley)
* A-Basin’s Lenawee Mountain lift (Zuma and Beavers have top drives)
* Outback Express lift at Keystone (not above-treeline, but very distant from the rest of the resort)
* Lift 6, the T-Bar, the Kensho SuperChair, and the Imperial Express SuperChair at Breckenridge
* The fixed grip lifts in Copper Mountain’s Copper Bowl with the exception of Blackjack
Panoramic Express is the highest six pack in North America.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Not any more. That’s Kensho at Breck now
LikeLike
Surprisingly, Breckenridge doesn’t boast about that on the red sign at the top of the Kensho SuperChair. And yet Winter Park still boasts about the Panoramic Express being the highest as if the Kensho SuperChair doesn’t exist.
LikeLike
nobody at Winter Park boasts bout it being the highest six pack because people just wanna get to the top or ski down the bowl or drop into the cirque.
LikeLike
Looking glass is also bottom drive.
LikeLiked by 3 people
I think double-combi sheave trains like on the uphill line on this lift (eight support, four hold-down) are rare to see on high speed six packs. They’re more common on gondolas.
LikeLike
I think that’s for wind reasons, because much of this line is exposed.
LikeLike
I know of other detachables with more wind exposure than the Panoramic Express that don’t have double-combis, just simple 4C/4S and 2C/4S towers, such as the Kensho SuperChair:
LikeLike
What obvious reasons for bottom terminal drive?
LikeLike
It doesn’t cost as much to run utility lines to power the drive at the top. This was also true of the original Timberline double that this lift replaced.
LikeLike
oh, I though it was becuase of the extreme temps it could get up there, but I wasn’t for sure
LikeLike
You’ll notice at most other ski areas with high-alpine lifts that the high-alpine lifts for the most part have bottom drives for this same reason, including:
* All of Loveland’s chairlifts save for lift 7 (the learning lift at the Valley)
* A-Basin’s Lenawee Mountain lift (Zuma and Beavers have top drives)
* Outback Express lift at Keystone (not above-treeline, but very distant from the rest of the resort)
* Lift 6, the T-Bar, the Kensho SuperChair, and the Imperial Express SuperChair at Breckenridge
* The fixed grip lifts in Copper Mountain’s Copper Bowl with the exception of Blackjack
* Gold HIll at Telluride
* High Alpine at Snowmass
LikeLike
There is also no road to get up there. In the winter it is a snow road. In the summer there is no road, so its easier to have it at the bottom.
LikeLike