Top station from the gondola.Last few towers before the summit.Middle portion of the lift line.Lower line.View of the base from 1A.Loading area.As of this writing, Ruthies is one of only two remaining detachable triples in North America.Riding up.Riding through Aspen’s namesake trees.Arriving at the drive.Unloading ramp and operator house.Terminal underskin.View down from the top.
Cameron is right. It’s a Garaventa Called Sunnyside. It’s planned to be replaced along with Albion by a chondola. There are, however, still European detachable triples, like Schindlergrat at St. Anton, a 1981 Doppelmayr/Von Roll that has a built in evac system. You can see pictures of it here (https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsd3-schindlergrat-doppelmayr-1264.html).
The Schindlergrat lift is gone as of this April, which is a pity as it was a nice lift serving awesome terrain. The replacement is a two section gondola. As far as I know it is the last detachable triple in my neck of woods. We still have two detachable doubles, including one with partial bubble chairs in Hochimst, though.
Turns out that a Swiss resort called Braunwald has an especially high-tech chondola that was built by Doppelmayr in 2007. This chondola features 4-person cabins and 2-passenger chairs. These chairs look especially overbuilt, with a feature that allows for the chairs to rotate, bubbles, and even a ski rack for some reason. https://cdn.indebergen.nl/media/b1nmsmax/chossc02-braunwald.jpg
The towers and terminals appear to be quad gauge so this lift could probably be converted to a quad if it were ever relocated. I don’t think Poma ever made a triple gauge detachable terminal so when Aspen wanted one they didn’t change anything but the chairs.
I would be willing to bet that Poma probably did not want to have reengineer the Challenger terminal to make it a few feet narrower, so they just built a fairly standard Challenger detachable quad but hung triple chairs on it.
Or if they can modify the LPA terminals into triple detachable lift then it will work. Plus having H.S.T. will be cool and great for low capacity ski resorts.
I believe this high speed triple came from Mt Bachelor. Their summit lift was originally a high speed triple, which was replaced in 1997 with a high speed quad. That same year, Ruthies high speed triple was installed.
That’s not the case, Bachelor’s high speed triple was a Doppelmayr, this one is a Poma. There’s not a single Doppelmayr that I know of in the Aspen/Snowmass complex.
Buttermilk had a Doppelmayr T-bar back in the early days, that they referred to on the map as the “Baby T-bar”. I’m not sure when it was removed, but my guess would be in 1982 when the Panda Peak lift was installed.
It seems they’ve decided to allow three people per chair now. There’s one picture on this page with three people on a chair, and the trail map now regards this lift as a High Speed Triple instead of a High Speed Double, which is what the trail map called it for about two decades.
It makes sense considering they’re replacing Shadow Mountain with a full on Gondola or Chondola, I imagine the capacity would be higher than that of a fixed grip double. Unless it has the carrier spacing of the Arizona Gondola at Arizona Snowbowl…
It looks like the change happened in 2019, at least on the trail map. The 2018 map refers to it as a high speed double still, but the 2019 map calls it a triple.
As of this upcoming summer, I think this’ll be the only operating high speed triple in the United States, since Alta plans to replace Sunnyside with a six pack.
I’m sort of surprised we don’t see more lifts like that, especially at smaller ski hills. Increased capacity, but quite a bit fewer moving parts compared to a detachable. Somewhere over in Europe there is a fixed grip 6 pack indoors, but I don’t remember where.
Fixed grip 6packs (at least in Europe) need to run quite slow to allow loading 6 people at a time. Because of that they are quite rare even in Europe and mostly limited to relatively short lifts.
This was my grandfather’s favorite lift and run, and his ashes are scattered off of Ruthie’s Run. He lived in Basalt for 30 years from the late 80s to mid 2010s
I understand Ruthie’s is primarily an intermediate-level lift, but Ajax Express does a much better job in that regard and the Ruthie’s alignment really limits what can be lapped. Ruthie’s, and FIS, should really be replaced with a single lift from the intersection of Magnifico Road and Kleenex Corner to the current top terminal.
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Aspen considers this chair a “high speed double”. Even though it uses triple carriers, Aspen only allows 2 people to load per chair.
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Why would they do that if it is a triple chair?
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From what I have heard, it is to preserve the character of the area.
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There’s three people in the 5th picture
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Does anyone know where the other detachable triple is?
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Alta, UT
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They removed it and relocated it to Montana Snowbowl I believe.
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It was moved to Red Lodge Mountain in Montana, now its the Stach Express
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Cameron is right. It’s a Garaventa Called Sunnyside. It’s planned to be replaced along with Albion by a chondola. There are, however, still European detachable triples, like Schindlergrat at St. Anton, a 1981 Doppelmayr/Von Roll that has a built in evac system. You can see pictures of it here (https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsd3-schindlergrat-doppelmayr-1264.html).
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The Schindlergrat lift is gone as of this April, which is a pity as it was a nice lift serving awesome terrain. The replacement is a two section gondola. As far as I know it is the last detachable triple in my neck of woods. We still have two detachable doubles, including one with partial bubble chairs in Hochimst, though.
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Turns out that a Swiss resort called Braunwald has an especially high-tech chondola that was built by Doppelmayr in 2007. This chondola features 4-person cabins and 2-passenger chairs. These chairs look especially overbuilt, with a feature that allows for the chairs to rotate, bubbles, and even a ski rack for some reason. https://cdn.indebergen.nl/media/b1nmsmax/chossc02-braunwald.jpg
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There are also some Japanese detachable doubles:
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsd2-okushigakogen-2-ansaku-4703.html
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsd2-okushigakogen-3-ansaku-4704.html
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And one with a bubble, which is overkill (in my opinion):
https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/reportage-tsd2b-tower-nippon-cable-5824.html
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Japan is one of the snowiest countries on earth,, so it makes sense to put bubbles on it.
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The towers and terminals appear to be quad gauge so this lift could probably be converted to a quad if it were ever relocated. I don’t think Poma ever made a triple gauge detachable terminal so when Aspen wanted one they didn’t change anything but the chairs.
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Yes, all the line gear on Ruthie’s is quad guage.
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Why would people build a detachable triple instead of a detachable quad or six pack?
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Most often to keep the skier concentration on trials lower, but to also provide a better experience for the skier (faster lift).
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Could they have bought this lift as a triple with quad gauge so it would have more wind tolerance?
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I would be willing to bet that Poma probably did not want to have reengineer the Challenger terminal to make it a few feet narrower, so they just built a fairly standard Challenger detachable quad but hung triple chairs on it.
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And if demand grows, it was probably designed so it could be converted to a quad down the line.
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Or if they can modify the LPA terminals into triple detachable lift then it will work. Plus having H.S.T. will be cool and great for low capacity ski resorts.
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The same capacity as a triple could be achieved with a quad that has larger chair spacing.
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I believe this high speed triple came from Mt Bachelor. Their summit lift was originally a high speed triple, which was replaced in 1997 with a high speed quad. That same year, Ruthies high speed triple was installed.
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That’s not the case, Bachelor’s high speed triple was a Doppelmayr, this one is a Poma. There’s not a single Doppelmayr that I know of in the Aspen/Snowmass complex.
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Buttermilk had a Doppelmayr T-bar back in the early days, that they referred to on the map as the “Baby T-bar”. I’m not sure when it was removed, but my guess would be in 1982 when the Panda Peak lift was installed.
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It seems they’ve decided to allow three people per chair now. There’s one picture on this page with three people on a chair, and the trail map now regards this lift as a High Speed Triple instead of a High Speed Double, which is what the trail map called it for about two decades.
It makes sense considering they’re replacing Shadow Mountain with a full on Gondola or Chondola, I imagine the capacity would be higher than that of a fixed grip double. Unless it has the carrier spacing of the Arizona Gondola at Arizona Snowbowl…
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It looks like the change happened in 2019, at least on the trail map. The 2018 map refers to it as a high speed double still, but the 2019 map calls it a triple.
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there was a high speed double at mont Sainte Anne qc Canada it was made in 1971 and was removed in 1989
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their was a detachable double at snow summit California it was made in 1953 and it was made by Ringer
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As of this upcoming summer, I think this’ll be the only operating high speed triple in the United States, since Alta plans to replace Sunnyside with a six pack.
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Sunnyside will be moved to Wildcat
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Source?
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Love that move if it’s true. Shortens the ride time w/o overloading the Wildcat terrain.
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Sunnyside is going to be installed at Red Lodge, Montana. Wildcat lives on.
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Here is a rare ski lift North America’s Only Fixed Grip Six Pack!
https://www.google.com/url?q=https://liftblog.com/wide-load-snow-valley-on/&sa=D&source=editors&ust=1649190821139293&usg=AOvVaw39UnDOVP5i9GAMlcD-zNuS
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I’m sort of surprised we don’t see more lifts like that, especially at smaller ski hills. Increased capacity, but quite a bit fewer moving parts compared to a detachable. Somewhere over in Europe there is a fixed grip 6 pack indoors, but I don’t remember where.
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Fixed grip 6packs (at least in Europe) need to run quite slow to allow loading 6 people at a time. Because of that they are quite rare even in Europe and mostly limited to relatively short lifts.
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Wide Load at Snow Valley is a fixed-grip six. I think it is the only one in North America.
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That is correct.
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This was my grandfather’s favorite lift and run, and his ashes are scattered off of Ruthie’s Run. He lived in Basalt for 30 years from the late 80s to mid 2010s
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He had good taste. And what a great way to honor him by spreading his ashes like that!!
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The Ruthie’s double was blue in the 1970s.
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I understand Ruthie’s is primarily an intermediate-level lift, but Ajax Express does a much better job in that regard and the Ruthie’s alignment really limits what can be lapped. Ruthie’s, and FIS, should really be replaced with a single lift from the intersection of Magnifico Road and Kleenex Corner to the current top terminal.
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