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.
A new rope doesn’t necessarily mean a lift will continue to operate for many years, haul ropes wear out. Six Shooter got one in 22′ and is being removed next summer.
In the context that the haul rope could develop premature defects/wear…you’re correct, a new rope doesn’t guarantee more years of life for this lift.
However the price tag on a new haul rope with all the other upgrades certainly requires the purchaser to get a return on their investment, they expect this machine to be operating for quite a while longer.
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.
I don’t get the tall lattice towers on this lift. Yeah I know it’s usually not that windy in CO and it’s cheaper to have less towers, but imagine rope evacing that..
Don’t get me wrong, i love this lift and how you can lap it, but given Aspen is such a high end ski resort, i am a little surprised that we never hear rumors that this lift will be replaced/upgraded. I could see a low capacity 10 PAX replacement with the same capacity (2400 PPH) as the current gondola. I imagine they have essentially replaced the the entire Gondola parts over the years, but i am still a little surprised we have heard nothing as 6 PAX for a main Gondola is pretty rare these days.
I am of the opinion that SkiCo is high-end but practical. Why replace something that functions well? A six-passenger gondola is rare, yes, but Ajax isn’t the only ski area in the valley and being on the far end of a 45-mile long dead-end road tends to keep crowds away.
I feel like this lift is too iconic to replace until maintenance becomes impossible. I think the luxury in Aspen is more centered around the town and restaurants rather than the mountain itself.
Lift Blog 
How does this grip work?
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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.
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1986 Vintage with newer cabins and getting a new haul rope this summer.. She’s going to be around for awhile.. Interesting…
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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?
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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.
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I was hoping to get in an original falcon… Now the only one in North America is at hunter mountain.
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Not really, other similar gondolas operate at Whistler-Blackcomb, Lake Louise, and Stratton.
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Oh yeah… forgot about those. Thanks!
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A new rope doesn’t necessarily mean a lift will continue to operate for many years, haul ropes wear out. Six Shooter got one in 22′ and is being removed next summer.
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In the context that the haul rope could develop premature defects/wear…you’re correct, a new rope doesn’t guarantee more years of life for this lift.
However the price tag on a new haul rope with all the other upgrades certainly requires the purchaser to get a return on their investment, they expect this machine to be operating for quite a while longer.
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I think its weird how tower 3 has Doppelmayr style lifting frames
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Not sure what you’re seeing but everything on this lift is Poma.
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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:
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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.
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There are some gondolas in Japan with these cabins still in use.
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I miss the old “football helmet” looking cabins. Now they have cabins that look like everyone else’s.
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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.
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That was how the egg cabins worked. They all were three back-to-back against three.
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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.
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Why are there some red cabins?
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Red cabins have speakers with Bluetooth connectivity. You can play tunes from your phone.
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I don’t get the tall lattice towers on this lift. Yeah I know it’s usually not that windy in CO and it’s cheaper to have less towers, but imagine rope evacing that..
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Don’t get me wrong, i love this lift and how you can lap it, but given Aspen is such a high end ski resort, i am a little surprised that we never hear rumors that this lift will be replaced/upgraded. I could see a low capacity 10 PAX replacement with the same capacity (2400 PPH) as the current gondola. I imagine they have essentially replaced the the entire Gondola parts over the years, but i am still a little surprised we have heard nothing as 6 PAX for a main Gondola is pretty rare these days.
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I am of the opinion that SkiCo is high-end but practical. Why replace something that functions well? A six-passenger gondola is rare, yes, but Ajax isn’t the only ski area in the valley and being on the far end of a 45-mile long dead-end road tends to keep crowds away.
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I feel like this lift is too iconic to replace until maintenance becomes impossible. I think the luxury in Aspen is more centered around the town and restaurants rather than the mountain itself.
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I just love this loft and hope it never gets replaced.
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Useless fact, but one of the old cabins (136) is at the airport.
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