Double-stack drive terminal for this extended two-section lift.The breakover.Stage II lift line.Above the mid-station.There is a slight angle change between stages I and II but only one haul rope.View up stage II.Mid-station with loading only.Side view of the angle station.Crossing over C-Chair.Return terminal on Peak 9.Lower station with integrated sheaves.Crossing over Beaver Run.Second crossing over C-Chair.Approaching the angle station.Some chairs are left empty for the mid-load.Loading area between Peaks 8 and 9.View back down the line.Towers 27-28.Drive station overview.
22 thoughts on “Peak 8 SuperConnect – Breckenridge, CO”
Donald M. ReifFebruary 22, 2019 / 8:37 am
This lift originally had 90 degree loading at the lower Peak 9 terminal from 2002 until 2013. In 2013, they converted the return terminal to in-line loading. You can see where there used to be an overhang for the original loading zone: https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/img_3123.jpg
The interesting thing, though, is that I don’t think the contour belts were adjusted in the shift to in-line loading, so the chairs come around and hit you at a much higher speed that you normally see on these types of lifts.
On Saturday, I was hit by a chair on this lift while boarding. It hit with such force that I will need ACL (and possibly MCL) surgery. I have skied for nearly 50 years and have never had any incidents on chair lifts before. I believe that the accident was tied to high winds on Saturday, mid-mountain loading that day, and lack of control by the lift operators. In addition, the chair seemed to come from the left at maybe twice the speed of a “normal” chair. It knocked me to the ground and took 2 more chairs before the lift operators stopped the lift. Here was the comment by one of the operators: “You didn’t move fast enough or the chair would not have hit you”! Needless to say, I am very unhappy with the lift and the injury!!
I’ll give you the engineering student response. For a chair to come in faster than it should, it would have to overcome the coefficient of static friction between the tires and the traction plates on the grips. Once it breaks free, there’s no stopping it because the dynamic friction force is much less than that of static friction.
One way this could happen is if the forward momentum of the chair was greatly increased because of a strong tail wind. But since the system is designed to slow down fully loaded chairs and it would’ve been an empty chair, we can rule that out.
The other possibility is if something decreased that coefficient of static friction which would decrease the required force to break the chair free and allow it to move faster than it should. This could be due to freezing rain or snow on the traction plate, or some kind of defect on the traction plate or the tires, like maybe insufficient tire pressure.
All of these scenarios are highly unlikely when the lift is open to the public, hence the lifties thinking nothing was wrong. I don’t know if anything was wrong with the lift, but if someone was down on the ramp they should have stopped the lift and helped you up.
Such a loading mishap as Howard was describing seems more like something that would happen at the return station, not at the midstation. As I mentioned a few months ago, the return station at Red Rover and Sundown was originally set up with 90 degree loading from 2002 to 2013. It was reconfigured to inline loading in 2013, same year Peak 6 was built, ostensibly to cut down on misloads. Though the way it’s configured, it’s such that the load line is right about where the chairs begin to accelerate up to line speed. So the chair comes at you pretty fast and hard, compared to other lifts I’ve seen that were converted from 90 degree to inline loading.
It’s very unlikely the chair cut loose within the station for the reasons you mentioned; lift ops would have shut it down if they noticed an issue, especially since the chairs go around a little “bump” in the midstation so that people loading there can go straight in from the queuing area. If chairs were truly flying through there at twice the normal speed they would be flung outwards right before midway loading and the liftie would shut it down, if sensors didn’t stop it first. I’m guessing this incident is skier error.
I feel for you and I hope you’re doing well. I have no idea what could’ve happened except that things will feel fast but in reality, it wasn’t, that will sometimes happen during a painful injury like what you experienced. Now the for the operators not stopping the lift soon enough letting what you said 2 chairs to pass is operator error, either they thought you could get up or they were not paying attention. Or the lift was traveling at full speed which this is unlikely as if it was windy, they might have slowed it down and a stop does not take 2 chairs to pass in a terminal. Now the operator yelling at you, that was very disrespectful, he should have helped you get up and ask if you were alright. If the chair really was going like you said, I don’t know, I suggest you read the comments. Have a great day.
This lift was built to replace Lift 4, a Riblet double chairlift which started where the midstation is. The lower segment of the lift was built for the purposes of making it easier to transit from Peaks 9 and 10 to Peaks 8, 7 and 6, so that someone wouldn’t have to go to the top of Peak 9 and ski down Gold King or Volunteer to a cat track to Lift 4, or (after 1996) use the Snowflake midway load.
Only really if you’re not moving fast enough. Which I think is one of the most common reasons for misloads; people not moving quickly enough to the loading line.
I feel like tower 24 needs to be lowered in height and turned into a combi tower, and maybe another tower added between towers 24 and 25 to eliminate a very lengthy span where the uphill line really bounces during slows and stops (and reduce wind exposure).
As of the Falcon SuperChair’s upgrade, this is the only high speed quad on the mountain to run anti-clockwise, the other four high speed quads (Beaver Run SuperChair, Mercury SuperChair, Rocky Mountain SuperChair and Imperial Express SuperChair) all being clockwise lifts. And there’s only four anticlockwise superchairs on all of the mountain (the other three being Quicksilver, the Falcon SuperChair and Colorado SuperChair, all six-packs).
Random trivia: this is one of three lifts that can be reached from every double chairlift on the mountain (the others being the Beaver Run SuperChair and Quicksilver Super6) and one of two lifts that can access every double chairlift on the hill (the other being the Colorado SuperChair).
Lift Blog 
This lift originally had 90 degree loading at the lower Peak 9 terminal from 2002 until 2013. In 2013, they converted the return terminal to in-line loading. You can see where there used to be an overhang for the original loading zone: https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/img_3123.jpg
The interesting thing, though, is that I don’t think the contour belts were adjusted in the shift to in-line loading, so the chairs come around and hit you at a much higher speed that you normally see on these types of lifts.
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Don:
On Saturday, I was hit by a chair on this lift while boarding. It hit with such force that I will need ACL (and possibly MCL) surgery. I have skied for nearly 50 years and have never had any incidents on chair lifts before. I believe that the accident was tied to high winds on Saturday, mid-mountain loading that day, and lack of control by the lift operators. In addition, the chair seemed to come from the left at maybe twice the speed of a “normal” chair. It knocked me to the ground and took 2 more chairs before the lift operators stopped the lift. Here was the comment by one of the operators: “You didn’t move fast enough or the chair would not have hit you”! Needless to say, I am very unhappy with the lift and the injury!!
Howard Fox
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I’ll give you the engineering student response. For a chair to come in faster than it should, it would have to overcome the coefficient of static friction between the tires and the traction plates on the grips. Once it breaks free, there’s no stopping it because the dynamic friction force is much less than that of static friction.
One way this could happen is if the forward momentum of the chair was greatly increased because of a strong tail wind. But since the system is designed to slow down fully loaded chairs and it would’ve been an empty chair, we can rule that out.
The other possibility is if something decreased that coefficient of static friction which would decrease the required force to break the chair free and allow it to move faster than it should. This could be due to freezing rain or snow on the traction plate, or some kind of defect on the traction plate or the tires, like maybe insufficient tire pressure.
All of these scenarios are highly unlikely when the lift is open to the public, hence the lifties thinking nothing was wrong. I don’t know if anything was wrong with the lift, but if someone was down on the ramp they should have stopped the lift and helped you up.
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I haven’t seen any of that on chairs at the midstation:
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That’s the point of my post. I think it would be pretty much impossible for the chair to not slow down as designed given the circumstances.
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Such a loading mishap as Howard was describing seems more like something that would happen at the return station, not at the midstation. As I mentioned a few months ago, the return station at Red Rover and Sundown was originally set up with 90 degree loading from 2002 to 2013. It was reconfigured to inline loading in 2013, same year Peak 6 was built, ostensibly to cut down on misloads. Though the way it’s configured, it’s such that the load line is right about where the chairs begin to accelerate up to line speed. So the chair comes at you pretty fast and hard, compared to other lifts I’ve seen that were converted from 90 degree to inline loading.
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For comparison purposes:
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It’s very unlikely the chair cut loose within the station for the reasons you mentioned; lift ops would have shut it down if they noticed an issue, especially since the chairs go around a little “bump” in the midstation so that people loading there can go straight in from the queuing area. If chairs were truly flying through there at twice the normal speed they would be flung outwards right before midway loading and the liftie would shut it down, if sensors didn’t stop it first. I’m guessing this incident is skier error.
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I feel for you and I hope you’re doing well. I have no idea what could’ve happened except that things will feel fast but in reality, it wasn’t, that will sometimes happen during a painful injury like what you experienced. Now the for the operators not stopping the lift soon enough letting what you said 2 chairs to pass is operator error, either they thought you could get up or they were not paying attention. Or the lift was traveling at full speed which this is unlikely as if it was windy, they might have slowed it down and a stop does not take 2 chairs to pass in a terminal. Now the operator yelling at you, that was very disrespectful, he should have helped you get up and ask if you were alright. If the chair really was going like you said, I don’t know, I suggest you read the comments. Have a great day.
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I feel like that’s a story with an unreliable narrator.
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Donald Reif, do you must comment on everything?
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Someone is asking, because they have reason to think the story is missing a lot of details.
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This lift was built to replace Lift 4, a Riblet double chairlift which started where the midstation is. The lower segment of the lift was built for the purposes of making it easier to transit from Peaks 9 and 10 to Peaks 8, 7 and 6, so that someone wouldn’t have to go to the top of Peak 9 and ski down Gold King or Volunteer to a cat track to Lift 4, or (after 1996) use the Snowflake midway load.
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Don: Is there a chance that a chair could come out too fast occasionally and hit a skier before they make it to the boarding line? Thanks.
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Only really if you’re not moving fast enough. Which I think is one of the most common reasons for misloads; people not moving quickly enough to the loading line.
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Doesn’t lone tree at big sky have the same problem?
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Lone Tree’s a fixed grip quad.
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I mean, don’t the chairs turn fast at the bottom?
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Not since 2013 (when the lift was converted from 90 degree to inline loading).
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I feel like tower 24 needs to be lowered in height and turned into a combi tower, and maybe another tower added between towers 24 and 25 to eliminate a very lengthy span where the uphill line really bounces during slows and stops (and reduce wind exposure).
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As of the Falcon SuperChair’s upgrade, this is the only high speed quad on the mountain to run anti-clockwise, the other four high speed quads (Beaver Run SuperChair, Mercury SuperChair, Rocky Mountain SuperChair and Imperial Express SuperChair) all being clockwise lifts. And there’s only four anticlockwise superchairs on all of the mountain (the other three being Quicksilver, the Falcon SuperChair and Colorado SuperChair, all six-packs).
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Random trivia: this is one of three lifts that can be reached from every double chairlift on the mountain (the others being the Beaver Run SuperChair and Quicksilver Super6) and one of two lifts that can access every double chairlift on the hill (the other being the Colorado SuperChair).
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