In 1998, Loup Loup acquired Crystal Mountain’s former Midway Shuttle quad for its new summit lift.The lift is a 1988 Poma so was only ten years old when it was reinstalled.The bottom terminal has a rare modern vault drive.Depression tower 1.View up the lift line from the base.It looks like a mid-station was designed in but not actually utilized.View down line.Unloading at tower 18.Side view of the top return bullwheel.Middle section of the lift.Upper section of the line.The first few towers.Lift line seen from the access road.
You are correct. Midway was a top-drive at Crystal. As I recall, our manager wanted the vault so the lift would be quieter than the Alpha overhead terminal. Made no sense as Rex was right next door and was (probably still is) super loud. I remember when it was built; we were all pretty excited that the bottom was right in front of the lodge.
When Loup Loup bought this from us and put it up, they swapped ends. What is now tower 1 was originally integrated into the bottom terminal (which is now the top) so no lifting frame there. The vault, originally the top terminal and built into a sidehill, was fine for bullwheel unloading at Crystal but pretty tough to utilise in the same fashion on a flat bottom drive- hence why old Riblets always had the drive forty or fifty feet behind the load point. The SLI sheaves came from old chair 5 at Crystal, of which the remaining upper section had been removed the previous year. Apparently it was easier to use those pair bars because they were already designed to hang from a crossarm, rather than get Poma to design something unique (and thus expensive).
If I remember correctly, and I do at some of the times, but not at all of the times, Chair 1 at Crystal was basically bullwheel loading. Not right underneath, obviously, but no more than 6 or 8 feet. That was a nice ol’ bottom vault-drive. 2 couldn’t have been much different, but I’m so much younger than you, I can’t remember 1987. . . (If anyone doesn’t know, they were both 1962 Riblets.) So maybe not all the time?
Because of the drive machinery. There’s little clearance between the bullwheel support mast and passing carriers, which can be somewhat dangerous at times. That’s not to say it isn’t done; as my bro points out both old chairs 1 and 2 were bottom vault drives and had what amounts to bullwheel loading.
The Chinook Express 6 pack at Crystal utilized most of Midway’s towers. I’d heard the towers here at The Loup came from either Hogsback or Barrier at Stevens. It was a real community effort to get this lift installed.
This one isn’t a vault-drive at all- note the bullwheel mounted directly to the gearbox (appears to be a Kissling 940 or 1100 by the size). All the drive machinery is on top of the mast.
Regarding a possible mid-station, I’d bet the tower arrangement at that location was selected due to the change in pitch to climb the steeper upper section and that POMA didn’t have combination sheave trains at that time, so changing to a steep profile required an over-under tower set. The Loup Quad’s brother, REX, has no combos and towers 7-10 do an over-under-under-over to change pitch to a steeper profile.
That’s pretty much it, except Poma did make combo assemblies at the time. Full depression assemblies are used when the change in rope angle is fairly severe; on our old Eagle we had two combos in a row (old T-17 and T-18) because it was a much gentler transition. When this was Midway it had the same setup at tower 7-8.
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Did this lift have an alpha drive when it was at Crystal?
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I was kinda young, but I’m remembering a top vault drive.
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You are correct. Midway was a top-drive at Crystal. As I recall, our manager wanted the vault so the lift would be quieter than the Alpha overhead terminal. Made no sense as Rex was right next door and was (probably still is) super loud. I remember when it was built; we were all pretty excited that the bottom was right in front of the lodge.
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Hiking to 1 was still the better option. No stops.
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SLI sheaves in pic 9
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as well on pics 1 and 2.
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This lift is quite odd/unique.
For starters, it’s the only fixed grip Quad chair lift I know of with a vault drive and no bullwheel unloading/loading.
Secondly, Tower 1 has no lifting frame, unique for a late 80s poma chair.
Thirdly, SLI sheaves in picture 9 at the top terminal.
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When Loup Loup bought this from us and put it up, they swapped ends. What is now tower 1 was originally integrated into the bottom terminal (which is now the top) so no lifting frame there. The vault, originally the top terminal and built into a sidehill, was fine for bullwheel unloading at Crystal but pretty tough to utilise in the same fashion on a flat bottom drive- hence why old Riblets always had the drive forty or fifty feet behind the load point. The SLI sheaves came from old chair 5 at Crystal, of which the remaining upper section had been removed the previous year. Apparently it was easier to use those pair bars because they were already designed to hang from a crossarm, rather than get Poma to design something unique (and thus expensive).
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If I remember correctly, and I do at some of the times, but not at all of the times, Chair 1 at Crystal was basically bullwheel loading. Not right underneath, obviously, but no more than 6 or 8 feet. That was a nice ol’ bottom vault-drive. 2 couldn’t have been much different, but I’m so much younger than you, I can’t remember 1987. . . (If anyone doesn’t know, they were both 1962 Riblets.) So maybe not all the time?
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pbropetech, why is bullwheel loading hard with a vault drive?
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Because of the drive machinery. There’s little clearance between the bullwheel support mast and passing carriers, which can be somewhat dangerous at times. That’s not to say it isn’t done; as my bro points out both old chairs 1 and 2 were bottom vault drives and had what amounts to bullwheel loading.
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The Chinook Express 6 pack at Crystal utilized most of Midway’s towers. I’d heard the towers here at The Loup came from either Hogsback or Barrier at Stevens. It was a real community effort to get this lift installed.
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There is another vault drive poma in Europe but should be noted it is a different style https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsf2-des-lindars-nord-poma-3431.html
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Here’s another Poma vault quad in Europe – also note this lift is a unique down and up lift.
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsf4-de-jonction-poma-687.html
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The motor room here is arranged almost exactly as old Midway was.
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This one isn’t a vault-drive at all- note the bullwheel mounted directly to the gearbox (appears to be a Kissling 940 or 1100 by the size). All the drive machinery is on top of the mast.
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Regarding a possible mid-station, I’d bet the tower arrangement at that location was selected due to the change in pitch to climb the steeper upper section and that POMA didn’t have combination sheave trains at that time, so changing to a steep profile required an over-under tower set. The Loup Quad’s brother, REX, has no combos and towers 7-10 do an over-under-under-over to change pitch to a steeper profile.
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That’s pretty much it, except Poma did make combo assemblies at the time. Full depression assemblies are used when the change in rope angle is fairly severe; on our old Eagle we had two combos in a row (old T-17 and T-18) because it was a much gentler transition. When this was Midway it had the same setup at tower 7-8.
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