Vail Resorts built this lift as part of the 2022 Epic Lift Upgrade.Tower 2.View riding up the lift line.Fixed return terminal up top.Lower part of the lift line.Loading area.Lift overview.View up from the base area.Tower 1.Combination assemblies on tower 5.View up the middle part of the line.Looking down the line.Unloading area and top shack.Arriving at the top terminal.View back down the line.
Ok, this lift is cool and all but why would they build a Doppelmayr lift one year and then sign with Leitner Poma the next year. Also is it me or does Vail Resort not want to pay for the Leitner Poma Alpha fixed grip model chairlifts.
It may be just you. Parts shelves aside, areas buy from the company that can most closely match their wish list.
I don’t work for VR and don’t pretend to know their decision-making process, but if they’re not buying Alpha-drive Pomas they have a reason. Not wanting to ‘pay’ for them probably isn’t a factor. A Doppelmayr product isn’t going to run a whole lot more than a Poma, and may be less depending on local circumstances.
What I mean is why they always opt for the Doppelmayr Alpenstar and Skytrac Monarch rather than stuff like the Leitner Poma Alpha and Doppelmayr Tristar for their epic lift upgrades nowadays.
From an installation perspective, the Tristar has a longer-travel carriage while the Alpenstar is more compact. If the lift doesn’t need that much in the way of carriage movement, it makes little sense to put in the bigger terminal. Even then, if you don’t have a lot of space the Alpenstar is a better fit (although you’ll have to resplice more often until the construction stretch is out of the rope). I can’t speak for the reasons they’re not buying Alpha-drive lifts instead of the Monarch units.
I heard from a guy sellin loose joints in Lot D at Stevens who said he rode the new Kehr’s with a lady who new a guy in Broomfield who heard from a drinking buddy that Kristin Lynch went to college with a guy who interned at CTEC back in the day and drew up the Monarch on construction paper for an art elective and then sold it under the table to “some Austrian cat” who needed a design project for his 300 level architecture class who then ended up working in Wolfurt and accidentally mistranscribed it as something similar and that ended up being the Alpenstar and now Vail has an institutional nostalgia which manifests as monopod motor room purchases.
Excluding resort preference and just going by engineering and economy considerations the choice between a Skytrac Monarch or an LPOA Alpha would be determined by the tension and horsepower requirements of the project. The Alpha terminal can handle much bigger lift designs in terms of vert and length easily, but nowadays such big chair lifts tend to be detachables. The Monarch can do big lifts but limitations of the Cat final drives used in the bullwheel often require line gage and capacity compromises. So in short Alpha for big vert and capacity and Monarch for moderate vert and compact footprint.
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Ok, this lift is cool and all but why would they build a Doppelmayr lift one year and then sign with Leitner Poma the next year. Also is it me or does Vail Resort not want to pay for the Leitner Poma Alpha fixed grip model chairlifts.
LikeLike
It may be just you. Parts shelves aside, areas buy from the company that can most closely match their wish list.
I don’t work for VR and don’t pretend to know their decision-making process, but if they’re not buying Alpha-drive Pomas they have a reason. Not wanting to ‘pay’ for them probably isn’t a factor. A Doppelmayr product isn’t going to run a whole lot more than a Poma, and may be less depending on local circumstances.
LikeLike
What I mean is why they always opt for the Doppelmayr Alpenstar and Skytrac Monarch rather than stuff like the Leitner Poma Alpha and Doppelmayr Tristar for their epic lift upgrades nowadays.
LikeLike
From an installation perspective, the Tristar has a longer-travel carriage while the Alpenstar is more compact. If the lift doesn’t need that much in the way of carriage movement, it makes little sense to put in the bigger terminal. Even then, if you don’t have a lot of space the Alpenstar is a better fit (although you’ll have to resplice more often until the construction stretch is out of the rope). I can’t speak for the reasons they’re not buying Alpha-drive lifts instead of the Monarch units.
LikeLike
I heard from a guy sellin loose joints in Lot D at Stevens who said he rode the new Kehr’s with a lady who new a guy in Broomfield who heard from a drinking buddy that Kristin Lynch went to college with a guy who interned at CTEC back in the day and drew up the Monarch on construction paper for an art elective and then sold it under the table to “some Austrian cat” who needed a design project for his 300 level architecture class who then ended up working in Wolfurt and accidentally mistranscribed it as something similar and that ended up being the Alpenstar and now Vail has an institutional nostalgia which manifests as monopod motor room purchases.
LikeLike
Excluding resort preference and just going by engineering and economy considerations the choice between a Skytrac Monarch or an LPOA Alpha would be determined by the tension and horsepower requirements of the project. The Alpha terminal can handle much bigger lift designs in terms of vert and length easily, but nowadays such big chair lifts tend to be detachables. The Monarch can do big lifts but limitations of the Cat final drives used in the bullwheel often require line gage and capacity compromises. So in short Alpha for big vert and capacity and Monarch for moderate vert and compact footprint.
LikeLike