Poma Alpha drive-tension up top.Upper lift line.Looking towards the top.View down the line.Poma chairs and towers.Bottom station with portal tower 1.Lift overview.Another view of the bottom.Arriving up top.Drive station.
I think this lift could really use an upgrade to a high-speed quad. I have seen it get pretty backed up, with lines extending out for quite some distance in both directions from the bottom terminal.
HSQs don’t ruin everything, but neither do they fix much of anything outside of beginner areas. Patience, learning the rhythms of a given ski area, finding off-radar spaces or other ski areas if/where possible, and worrying more about the skiing than the lift riding all help you get the most out of a place like Copper. Yes, lines could be shorter, but then again, pitches would be busier. No one on this site has made a solid case in my mind for faster lifts everywhere. Detachables are great for beginners and for out-of-base or ridiculously long frontside lifts like the Eagle here or, say, Peruvian at Snowbird. (Even with Peruvian, there’s a case to be made that it skied better in its previous shorter alignment that let folks lap some real fun lower mountain terrain without the smelly crowd of the Tram quickly joining in.) Less touristy spaces like Reso or Northway or Schlasman’s or The Wall need this sort of lift to limit or at least discourage overuse. Resolution isn’t expert only, but neither does it access Main Vein or Rhapsody. Balance, brati, we need balance.
I do agree detachable lifts are not the solution for everywhere. For example, I would probably not put any on the backside to replace Three Bears, Blackjack, or Mountain Chief, or for any further expansions back there. However, I do believe one would work well here. Yes, the slopes may be a bit busier, but I do believe there is enough terrain here to warrant additional people, as I have never really had a problem with overcrowding for this pod. Furthermore, this lift has the length to justify a faster ride.
As a side note, I do know that there are a wide range of opinions on detachable lifts and how prevalent they should be, so I completely understand your perspective of not wanting one here.
The compromise option is to make it a lower capacity high speed quad. You have the same hourly capacity as the existing lift, but you have larger chair spacing. I’m thinking chair spacing akin to what Vail has on the Pete’s Express lift.
I like HSQs for the better ride quality, not necessarily the uphill capacity. There’s a lot of places I’d like to see a high speed lift just to avoid the lengthy ride time (or wind). It can make a big difference in the day if you’re always freezing when you finally make it to the summit in a 10-12 minute ride vs 5 minutes on a high speed.
Not sure if it applies now, but when Reso was built there was no road access to the bottom terminal. This would have a big impact on installing a detachable terminal.FWIW
I apologise for the almost-year-late reply. You did see a cat down there, probably Deb, Jer, or Bill, but that road is winter-only as the bulk of it is merely cleared forest and too steep for a road in any case. It’s there only to facilitate medical evacuation as putting a patient (in a toboggan) on the lift requires a lift mechanic to respond to the bottom to assist with putting the ‘gozonto’ on the back of a chair. (it’s called that because it’s a platform that ‘goes on to’ the carrier).
I think that a higher speed fixed grip would work pretty well. A detachable would run mostly empty except on the weekends. Also the top station would take up more room blocking some access.
Why? Also, Eagle is pretty new and Timberline is brand-new, no chance we’re taking them out for the next couple of decades. Finally, Gem does exactly what we need it to and is in great shape.
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Would a low capacity High Speed Quad work here?
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Yes, but it’s lower on the priority list than other upgrades.
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So low, in fact, that it doesn’t even make the list.
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You’re a little more blunt than I am.
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Probably :) It’s never been on any list I’ve seen, including in-house non-public ones.
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I think this lift could really use an upgrade to a high-speed quad. I have seen it get pretty backed up, with lines extending out for quite some distance in both directions from the bottom terminal.
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HSQs don’t ruin everything, but neither do they fix much of anything outside of beginner areas. Patience, learning the rhythms of a given ski area, finding off-radar spaces or other ski areas if/where possible, and worrying more about the skiing than the lift riding all help you get the most out of a place like Copper. Yes, lines could be shorter, but then again, pitches would be busier. No one on this site has made a solid case in my mind for faster lifts everywhere. Detachables are great for beginners and for out-of-base or ridiculously long frontside lifts like the Eagle here or, say, Peruvian at Snowbird. (Even with Peruvian, there’s a case to be made that it skied better in its previous shorter alignment that let folks lap some real fun lower mountain terrain without the smelly crowd of the Tram quickly joining in.) Less touristy spaces like Reso or Northway or Schlasman’s or The Wall need this sort of lift to limit or at least discourage overuse. Resolution isn’t expert only, but neither does it access Main Vein or Rhapsody. Balance, brati, we need balance.
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I do agree detachable lifts are not the solution for everywhere. For example, I would probably not put any on the backside to replace Three Bears, Blackjack, or Mountain Chief, or for any further expansions back there. However, I do believe one would work well here. Yes, the slopes may be a bit busier, but I do believe there is enough terrain here to warrant additional people, as I have never really had a problem with overcrowding for this pod. Furthermore, this lift has the length to justify a faster ride.
As a side note, I do know that there are a wide range of opinions on detachable lifts and how prevalent they should be, so I completely understand your perspective of not wanting one here.
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Skitheeast: Well put. I definitely see your point!
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The compromise option is to make it a lower capacity high speed quad. You have the same hourly capacity as the existing lift, but you have larger chair spacing. I’m thinking chair spacing akin to what Vail has on the Pete’s Express lift.
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I like HSQs for the better ride quality, not necessarily the uphill capacity. There’s a lot of places I’d like to see a high speed lift just to avoid the lengthy ride time (or wind). It can make a big difference in the day if you’re always freezing when you finally make it to the summit in a 10-12 minute ride vs 5 minutes on a high speed.
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Not sure if it applies now, but when Reso was built there was no road access to the bottom terminal. This would have a big impact on installing a detachable terminal.FWIW
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Still no road access. But that’s what helicopters 🚁 are for.
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The bill for airlifting an entire detach terminal, plus all the concrete required, would be amazingly large….
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You obviously don’t know what the cost was to install the top of Imperial at Breck…
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Is this still the case? Saw a snowcat off the side of Highway 91 like it had come from the ski area’s Reso-side.
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I apologise for the almost-year-late reply. You did see a cat down there, probably Deb, Jer, or Bill, but that road is winter-only as the bulk of it is merely cleared forest and too steep for a road in any case. It’s there only to facilitate medical evacuation as putting a patient (in a toboggan) on the lift requires a lift mechanic to respond to the bottom to assist with putting the ‘gozonto’ on the back of a chair. (it’s called that because it’s a platform that ‘goes on to’ the carrier).
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I think that a higher speed fixed grip would work pretty well. A detachable would run mostly empty except on the weekends. Also the top station would take up more room blocking some access.
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This already runs as fast as a fixed-grip can go.
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Maybe replace this with timberline or eagle and move this to replace gem.
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Why? Also, Eagle is pretty new and Timberline is brand-new, no chance we’re taking them out for the next couple of decades. Finally, Gem does exactly what we need it to and is in great shape.
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I meant the high speed quads, if they were not scrapped.
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They were scrapped as soon as they came out.
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Does this lift have safety bars now or no?
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Yes. We installed them in the fall of ’24.
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So now every lift at Copper has safety bars, correct?
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Either full footrests or lap bars, yes.
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