Looking up the line.Looking down from the top.Lift line.Top bullwheel.Top station and lift shack.Lower lift line.Tri-leg bottom terminal.Bottom station.Rainbow chair from the summit of Mt. Bachelor.Leaving the bottom station.In 2016, the upper portion of the lift was removed and the top terminal moved downhill.Rainbow chair number 1.The new top terminal location.The top no longer has much height adjustment travel.View down near the new summit.The old lift line can be seen above the new unload.
Yeah, that and shortening it kind of made it the next step up in difficulty for new skiers & riders from the Sunrise Express, plus it serves as an introduction to terrain parks.
Apparently in the original master plan, Rainbow was supposed to be upgraded to a detachable quad. I guess Cloudchaser Express has more or less filled in that role, plus opened up that massive new pod of terrain.
Back in the days before Cloudchaser Express, this lift was a really nice secret. Although slower and longer than the Sunrise Express, this lift never had a line even on the most insanely busy days at Mt. Bachelor (I once remember a 40 minute line on Outback Express and Pine Marten Express during one of those days). So it was a nice quiet retreat where you could cruise some blues and greens without being arm to arm with other skiers & boarders, plus accessing all of the Sunrise Express terrain without the line. I kinda miss the way this lift used to be!
Rainbow was one of my favourites back in the day. I haven’t been to Bachelor since well before they built Cloudchaser, so I am looking forward to skiing that pod one of these days.
I am sure that the vertical on Rainbow is approximately half of the vertical listed here. I rode the original Rainbow many years ago and I rode the lift in February of 2025
Lift Blog 
When Cloudchaser was installed, the return was relocated further downhill to the area seen in the first photo. Roughly tower 11.
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I think the bars were added to the chairs around the same time.
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No pictures of this lift in its shortened state?
You can see on the map how Rainbow’s shortening was done to give some of its terrain over to Cloudchaser.
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Yeah, that and shortening it kind of made it the next step up in difficulty for new skiers & riders from the Sunrise Express, plus it serves as an introduction to terrain parks.
Apparently in the original master plan, Rainbow was supposed to be upgraded to a detachable quad. I guess Cloudchaser Express has more or less filled in that role, plus opened up that massive new pod of terrain.
Back in the days before Cloudchaser Express, this lift was a really nice secret. Although slower and longer than the Sunrise Express, this lift never had a line even on the most insanely busy days at Mt. Bachelor (I once remember a 40 minute line on Outback Express and Pine Marten Express during one of those days). So it was a nice quiet retreat where you could cruise some blues and greens without being arm to arm with other skiers & boarders, plus accessing all of the Sunrise Express terrain without the line. I kinda miss the way this lift used to be!
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The one thing lost by shortening Rainbow is its access to the Summit Express. It still has its access to Cloudchaser, though.
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Rainbow was one of my favourites back in the day. I haven’t been to Bachelor since well before they built Cloudchaser, so I am looking forward to skiing that pod one of these days.
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Still think of it as Flycreek.
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I am sure that the vertical on Rainbow is approximately half of the vertical listed here. I rode the original Rainbow many years ago and I rode the lift in February of 2025
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