Polar Express is the original detachable at Wachusett and debuted in 1994.Top station setup for summer ops.Turnaround with EJ chairs.Bottom terminal next to Monadnock Express.Tower 4.The lift is sponsored by Polar Beverages.Lift overview.Side view of the drive station with grip maintenance shop.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.
10 thoughts on “Polar Express – Wachusett Mountain, MA”
sullivanqJanuary 15, 2021 / 5:45 am
Right after the chair leaves the bottom terminal there is a small pond there, likely for snowmaking water. Me and my buddies would always count how many gloves and poles were in the pond that people dropped in there and never got back.
Sign says max 985 fpm during winter ops, 450 in summer. On a crowded, sunny, March mid-week day this week it was only running at ~790 fpm (5:28 to the top). Major disappointment since due to COVID the chairs are going up half empty and thus there was a 10 minute line. For the price they charge for 3.5 hrs of skiing, they better run their lifts at top speed!
I have always wondered why more mountains do not have their lifts sponsored like this one. I know American Express at Stratton is another but I cannot think of any more. It is a bit of an eye-roller for some who may view this as a sign of mountains acting too much like corporations, but if this can bring in revenue then they can perhaps lower the cost of skiing in the form of either ticket prices or F&B.
European resorts do generally have much cheaper day ticket prices and better lift infrastructure. The odds of day ticket prices going down in the Vail mega-pass era is low, but I could see them investing in more, and better, lifts if companies are willing to sponsor and subsidize. This could mirror how real estate projects subsidized lift construction in the 90s and early 2000s.
In the future I could see some resorts like Big Sky for example copying the European model with the better infrastructure, and real estate projects. Not sure about pass prices going down though.
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Right after the chair leaves the bottom terminal there is a small pond there, likely for snowmaking water. Me and my buddies would always count how many gloves and poles were in the pond that people dropped in there and never got back.
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Gold Coast at Squaw Valley has the same thing, if you look you see gloves and poles and stuff in it.
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Sign says max 985 fpm during winter ops, 450 in summer. On a crowded, sunny, March mid-week day this week it was only running at ~790 fpm (5:28 to the top). Major disappointment since due to COVID the chairs are going up half empty and thus there was a 10 minute line. For the price they charge for 3.5 hrs of skiing, they better run their lifts at top speed!
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I have always wondered why more mountains do not have their lifts sponsored like this one. I know American Express at Stratton is another but I cannot think of any more. It is a bit of an eye-roller for some who may view this as a sign of mountains acting too much like corporations, but if this can bring in revenue then they can perhaps lower the cost of skiing in the form of either ticket prices or F&B.
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Maybe because Polar Beverages is also owned by the Crowley family. Also, there may be restrictions for lifts on public lands.
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There’s advertising all over European resorts and less awful and tacky. And we all know they they wouldn’t lower the cost of skiing unfortunately.
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European resorts do generally have much cheaper day ticket prices and better lift infrastructure. The odds of day ticket prices going down in the Vail mega-pass era is low, but I could see them investing in more, and better, lifts if companies are willing to sponsor and subsidize. This could mirror how real estate projects subsidized lift construction in the 90s and early 2000s.
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In the future I could see some resorts like Big Sky for example copying the European model with the better infrastructure, and real estate projects. Not sure about pass prices going down though.
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And that’s the way we travel on the…
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Any updates on a potential replacement?
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