This awesome lift services the heart of Crested Butte.Looking up from the base.Poma competition-style return station.Lift line overview.Aptly-named.Maintenance rail with work chair.Riding up the line.View down a steep section.nearing the summit.Top drive station.Tall breakover towers.Upper section of the lift line.Looking up at the drive station.Tower 15.Lower part of the lift line.T2.
16 thoughts on “Paradise Express – Crested Butte, CO”
Donald M. ReifFebruary 21, 2019 / 10:42 am
One could say each of Crested Butte’s high speed quads has a standout feature of it. Between the three TB-41 quads, Silver Queen has Competition chairs, Paradise has Arceaux chairs, and Red Lady has Omega chairs. East River has Omega chairs with Omega grips.
Paradise’s other impressive element is that steep side hill around tower 10, and of course, the impressive panoramas of the valley one gets from the top of the lift.
A while back on a different forum someone referred to this carrier as the Falcon design and the name stuck. Most likely it came from the F-chair detachable at Breck known as the Falcon.
Until 2004, the terminals were painted a turquoise color with silver masts. As part of the 2004 additions, the Challenger terminals of this lift, Red Lady and Silver Queen were all given these wood skins and dark green masts (which extended to the integrated depression sheaves on Red Lady and Paradise).
I think if any lifts get a capacity upgrade, Paradise certainly would benefit from it. I think for capacity to be brought up to 2,400 pph, the lift would need to have about 36 more chairs added, taking the chair count up to 120. Though with the Teocalli upgrade, this lift is probably far from due for capacity improvements.
They are patrol cuts. They do that to sluff off any unstable snow at the top and pack down the lower layers to stabilize the snowpack. Sometimes it’s sidestepping like here, sometimes it’s very zigzag traverse patterns.
They should upgrade this to a sixer as soon as possible. The skiing here is some of the best I’ve ever personally experienced, and the crowds at the bottom get intense, even outside of holiday periods. If they didn’t want to sell off the old HSQ, I’d use it for a new Teocalli lift- I don’t care how new the current Skytrac lift is, it’s an absolute pain to ride.
With the noticeable exception of Red Lady, which crawled in comparison to Paradise- at least that was my experience this last weekend, and that was smack dab in the middle of spring break for several states. I understand that’s typical, however.
This lift is the second oldest detachable on the hill, with the first being Silver Queen. Because of that, I highly doubt this would be reused to replace Teocali. Besides, it’s highly unlikely Vail would remove Teo, since it’s only a couple years old. Teocali isn’t even used for lapping terrain anyway, unless you want a few blue cruisers. Teo primarily serves as an egress lift for people coming down from Paradise bowl.
Lift Blog 
One could say each of Crested Butte’s high speed quads has a standout feature of it. Between the three TB-41 quads, Silver Queen has Competition chairs, Paradise has Arceaux chairs, and Red Lady has Omega chairs. East River has Omega chairs with Omega grips.
Paradise’s other impressive element is that steep side hill around tower 10, and of course, the impressive panoramas of the valley one gets from the top of the lift.
LikeLike
What’s the difference between the falcon and arceaux chairs?
LikeLike
I think Arceaux is the official name for the chair design.
LikeLike
So where did the name falcon come from?
LikeLike
A while back on a different forum someone referred to this carrier as the Falcon design and the name stuck. Most likely it came from the F-chair detachable at Breck known as the Falcon.
LikeLike
Until 2004, the terminals were painted a turquoise color with silver masts. As part of the 2004 additions, the Challenger terminals of this lift, Red Lady and Silver Queen were all given these wood skins and dark green masts (which extended to the integrated depression sheaves on Red Lady and Paradise).
LikeLike
LikeLike
I think if any lifts get a capacity upgrade, Paradise certainly would benefit from it. I think for capacity to be brought up to 2,400 pph, the lift would need to have about 36 more chairs added, taking the chair count up to 120. Though with the Teocalli upgrade, this lift is probably far from due for capacity improvements.
LikeLike
What are those weird formations in the snow in picture 8? Was someone sidestepping down the mountian?
LikeLike
They are patrol cuts. They do that to sluff off any unstable snow at the top and pack down the lower layers to stabilize the snowpack. Sometimes it’s sidestepping like here, sometimes it’s very zigzag traverse patterns.
LikeLiked by 1 person
They should upgrade this to a sixer as soon as possible. The skiing here is some of the best I’ve ever personally experienced, and the crowds at the bottom get intense, even outside of holiday periods. If they didn’t want to sell off the old HSQ, I’d use it for a new Teocalli lift- I don’t care how new the current Skytrac lift is, it’s an absolute pain to ride.
LikeLike
All of the high speed quads have been cranked up to their full speeds under Vail Resorts ownership, which does provide some relief.
LikeLike
With the noticeable exception of Red Lady, which crawled in comparison to Paradise- at least that was my experience this last weekend, and that was smack dab in the middle of spring break for several states. I understand that’s typical, however.
LikeLike
Oops- I meant to say Red Lady was crawling in comparison to Silver Queen, not Paradise.
LikeLike
This lift is the second oldest detachable on the hill, with the first being Silver Queen. Because of that, I highly doubt this would be reused to replace Teocali. Besides, it’s highly unlikely Vail would remove Teo, since it’s only a couple years old. Teocali isn’t even used for lapping terrain anyway, unless you want a few blue cruisers. Teo primarily serves as an egress lift for people coming down from Paradise bowl.
LikeLike
This lift has quite a pitch! Also services some fantastic blues!
LikeLike