Lower terminal building in downtown Aspen.Bottom station arrival side.CWA Omega III LWI.View up from the base.Return station turnaround.Departure side at the base.View down the lift line.This lift has some huge spans with very tall lattice towers.Top station turnaround. The drive is in a vault below.Arrival side at the drive.Top terminal building.Top station with cabin parking facility in the background.Lift line near the summit of Aspen Mountain.Looking up at the top.Middle part of the line near the top of Bell Mountain.Upper lift line.Tall double towers.At the tallest point, cabins are hundreds of feet in the air.Tower 3.Lower terminal overview.Loading area.Cabins in the bottom station.Riding up.Cabins have solar panels for public address and music.Tower 25.The big span.T29-30.Special wrap for the FIS championships.Tower 33.Arriving up top.Rails to cabin parking and maintenance.Drive station turnaround.Upper lift line.Black Omega cabins.View towards Aspen.Lower lift line.
It’s just a double Poma TB grip. If you look at Pics 3, 28, & 34 you get a good look at it. The coil springs are in the double tubes that hang off the grip, an arm up top which also acts as the mobile grip jaw. When the grips enter/leave the terminal, an actuating rail pushes down on the springs and opens up the grip jaws and then closes them again as the springs push the jaws either closed fully inside the terminal or clamped (hard as hell might I add) onto the haul rope! I’m not the best a wording things so hopefully that makes sense.
Has this lift had other major upgrades/replacements besides the cabins and the haul rope? 35 years is quite old and a new haul rope suggests this lift will be around for a while longer. I’m also curious about the lattice towers … are those from the mid-80s or were they re-used from an even older gondola?
The cabins were replaced, and terminals rebuilt, some time ago (I think 2006 maybe?). The terminals went from bullwheel-driven with drive shafts to a more modern PTO system and the contour chains were replaced with tyres. The lattice towers are standard on towers that tall and are original to the lift.
These were relatively common in Europe, primarily France. If you look on remontees-mecaniques you’ll find them built from the original S-grip era through the TB-grips.
The Gulmarg ones were different, as the passengers sit back to back (I rode it myself years ago). The alpinforum at some point had a small list of either variants, mostly in Europe.
We can help with more updated photos documenting their “75th Anniversary design work we did for their restoration project just completed by this season’s opening Thanksgiving day.
Lift Blog 
How does this grip work?
LikeLike
It’s just a double Poma TB grip. If you look at Pics 3, 28, & 34 you get a good look at it. The coil springs are in the double tubes that hang off the grip, an arm up top which also acts as the mobile grip jaw. When the grips enter/leave the terminal, an actuating rail pushes down on the springs and opens up the grip jaws and then closes them again as the springs push the jaws either closed fully inside the terminal or clamped (hard as hell might I add) onto the haul rope! I’m not the best a wording things so hopefully that makes sense.
LikeLike
1986 Vintage with newer cabins and getting a new haul rope this summer.. She’s going to be around for awhile.. Interesting…
LikeLike
Has this lift had other major upgrades/replacements besides the cabins and the haul rope? 35 years is quite old and a new haul rope suggests this lift will be around for a while longer. I’m also curious about the lattice towers … are those from the mid-80s or were they re-used from an even older gondola?
LikeLike
The cabins were replaced, and terminals rebuilt, some time ago (I think 2006 maybe?). The terminals went from bullwheel-driven with drive shafts to a more modern PTO system and the contour chains were replaced with tyres. The lattice towers are standard on towers that tall and are original to the lift.
LikeLike
I think its weird how tower 3 has Doppelmayr style lifting frames
LikeLike
Not sure what you’re seeing but everything on this lift is Poma.
LikeLike
The original cabins were rare poma “eggshell” type cabins.
The only other lift I know that ever had these was the gondola in Gulmarg (Kashmir), but those have since been replaced since aswell:
LikeLike
These were relatively common in Europe, primarily France. If you look on remontees-mecaniques you’ll find them built from the original S-grip era through the TB-grips.
LikeLike
There are some gondolas in Japan with these cabins still in use.
LikeLike
I miss the old “football helmet” looking cabins. Now they have cabins that look like everyone else’s.
LikeLike
The Gulmarg ones were different, as the passengers sit back to back (I rode it myself years ago). The alpinforum at some point had a small list of either variants, mostly in Europe.
LikeLike
That was how the egg cabins worked. They all were three back-to-back against three.
LikeLike
We can help with more updated photos documenting their “75th Anniversary design work we did for their restoration project just completed by this season’s opening Thanksgiving day.
LikeLike