I will miss the wildcat triple. It was a classic thoinkol. They have been removing many ctec and thoinkols. I dont get why they do not sale them? does any one know why? they removed majestic from brighton and it was made in 1955 and it sold. Why not sale the newer lifts?
I’d guess about 15 or so. Peter might have a spreadsheet he can reference. Even more if you count the early CTEC models since they were basically the same thing.
Snowbasin is owned by a multi-billion company. Snowbasin’s sister resort Sun Valley has given away lifts for free to other ski areas. Maybe no one was interested?
Nope, it was scrapped in 2008. The chairs were sold off (I got me one) and a few parts of the lift made it I believe to Powder Mtn and Nordic Valley for their thiokol doubles at the time.
There just isn’t any demand for a 40+ year old lift when there are 15-30 year old lifts on the market. They are great lifts, no doubt about it but just no demand.
so just a few days ago i went up to snow basin to cheek out the progress. I fond both operator shacks in the parking lot. so the top operator shacks door was open so I went in and i found something on the controls. it said if the rollback button isn’t on push stop the lift and press restart. Because wildcat was not a very busy lift when I went up in winter. I think It had to do with the rollback on the controls how it would not light up.
The skilifts.org website says that John paul has dual tensioning. Probably because how long the lift is and all of the ups and downs on the lift line too.
Also you have the drive and tensioning switched up on porcupine triple. Drive is at the top and the tensioning is at the bottom. Check the video I posted on the comments of porcupine.
On wildcat express someone broke one of the loading gates closest to the return bullwheel and they are loading wildcat with 5 people only. I posted here because there is no comments enabled on wildcat express.
American Cableways of Provo, UT, was founded by Kenneth Witt. The company was also involved at the Bridal Veil Falls Tram. The tram was constructed by Bachmann & Co. (Baco) of Steffisburg, Switzerland. Maybe American Cableways (sometimes referred to as Swiss American Cableways) was the US distributor for Baco?
Why do many American Cableways lifts have some Telecar components? The drive terminal on the Wildcat double looked a lot like a Telecar drive station. The double at Frost Fire, North Dakota had Telecar carriers. Also, did Baco build any chairlifts? I can only pics of surface lifts and gondolas from Baco.
I don’t know why they put Telecar parts on those lifts. Which other American Cableway chairlifts besides Wildcat and the double at Frost Fire are you aware of?
Yes, Baco also built chairlifts. At least in Switzerland.
The Wildcat top terminal looked somehow familiar to me. It occured to me this morning that it looks a bit like the lower terminal of the Cosmos double at Coffee Mill (the lift has some Miner-Denver sheaves). Some Swiss guys were also involved at Cosmos. Then I came across an article that linked Paul Hunziker (a Swiss) to Bridal Veil Falls.
Just a theory, but what if Paul Hunziker is the missing link here. He came from Switzerland, maybe he had connections to Baco? He went to Cowelco in Long Beach to start the Cosmos business, then he found a partner in Utah (Kenneth Witt, American Cableway) to build Bridal Veil Falls and he also established his own companies (Western Lift and Crane Co., North American Lift Co.). So the first lifts at Mt. Rose would have been Baco too and so are the American Cableway lifts. Again, just a theory.
One more thing. Paul Hunziker also worked for Pullman-Berry before he died in an airplane accident on a business trip in 1971. This was just days before the construction of the new Pullman-Berry double at Ski Minnewaska was about to begin. Another employee was Otto Weber – the US representative for Staedeli. Not sure if they have met there for the first time. I’ll try to find that out. Source: Poughkeepsie Journal
And Sam Huntington was electrocuted in 1962 as he was changing a fuse on the Porcupine lift. He was riding the lift with his two nephews and one other person, but it didn’t work properly. So he decided to try to repair it. That’s when the accident happened. Source: Deseret News
Let me get this straight. So Paul Hunziker helped build the Bridal Veil Falls tram and then started Cosmos that next year, only to come back to American Cableways in 1965, or was American Cableways making lifts during that time when Cosmos was building lifts? Did American Cableways become Western Lift Co. or did Hunziker shut down American Cableways in favor of Western Lift Co?
What I know is that Hunziker helped building the tram and that he was also working for Witt’s (Swiss) American Cableways in 1962. American Cableways went out of business in 1972, Western Lift and Crane in 1973. Not sure what happened to North American Lift Co. I just heard that Hunziker’s lifts (like Mt. Rose) were likely made in Utah and not shipped from Switzerland. Anything else is just a theory so far. But if Cosmos was really Hunziker’s business, he must have traveled to California during his time at Bridal Veil Falls.
The Porcupine lift was installed in 1955 and had its first day of operation on 01/14/56. Vertical was 500 ft and capacity 350 pph. The lift was built after Sam Huntington became the owner of Snowbasin. How do you know he was also the manufacturer and not again some local welding shop? Or that Huntington was also his brand for ski lifts?
Huntington said in December 1956: “We have completely rebuilt the Porcupine lift and installed retractable hangers.” He did also install a 800 ft rope tow to access Porcupine.
Source: The Odgen Standard-Examiner
I remember seeing an entry on Coloradoskihistory that listed double chair at Berthoud Pass as “Heron-Huntington” I would assume that the Huntington part was Sam Huntington’s company because he did help design that lift. The local welding shop probably rebuilt Porcupine in 1956 because the original lift did have a lot of offset half towers that didn’t look to be the most durable.
I heard a rumor by ski partol that becker or middle bowl might get replaced with a high speed lift either six or quad this coming summer. We will have to see.
The plan to replace middle bowl Becker and porcupine but I don’t thing it is happening this year the main reason why I say this is because the gm at the mountain I was talking to said that is about 2-3 years out but their plan is to replace those all soon but in the end I hope the lifts all end up selling to other mountains
High speed quads on all three of those lift lines would make the whole main part of Snowbasin detachable lift serviced. Hopefully that might come with the proposed high speed quad for Strawberry basin.
I’m not seeing why Becker should be replaced by a detachable any time soon. It doesn’t directly service any non beginner terrain that can’t be serviced by Needles and Strawberry. Yes, you can access Strawberry from Becker, but you can also access Strawberry from Middle Bowl. Bear Hollow is a complete disaster and Middle Bowl is in a vital location for keeping skier traffic off Bear Hollow and instead allowing skiers to lap the terrain above Bear Hollow. Replacing Becker would only add to the traffic on Bear Hollow. Following the replacement of Wildcat, Middle Bowl has had a lot more usage. A replacement of Middle Bowl will also take pressure off Needles by allowing the same terrain to be accessed via Wildcat to Middle Bowl. I would assume that a Middle Bowl replacement would have to be on an alignment to the left of the existing lift to avoid the lodge at the top.
Middle Bowl as a high speed quad would certainly help out a lot. Maybe the same for Porcupine (just by virtue of its length), but it doesn’t have as much intermediate terrain as Middle Bowl.
Snowbasin owes much of its current state as a large resort to the 2002 Olympics. The mountain had previously been extremely small and geared towards locals. When Sinclar purchased the resort in 1984, they tried expanding it but the USFS stopped them. For the Olympics, Snowbasin was chosen as the downhill site because Alta/Snowbird/LCC could not accommodate the large media/spectator facilities base required and no other Utah resort had a potentially suitable course. In exchange, the USFS gave Snowbasin a large chunk of land, permitted the Strawberry Gondola expansion, and permitted the John Paul/Allen Peak expansion. The Salt Lake Olympics Committee also paid for a large chunk of the John Paul/Allen Peak expansion, as this is where the Olympic course was held.
i have 5 orginal wildcat single chairs and 2 pieces of tower for sale interested make a offer. I cut the hangers off to make them more useable at home but have them and they could be welded back in place. make offer. some one has an old sun valley one for sale for $4000 the lift was started in 193938-39but stopped due to war.. the Goverment then wanted it to help with recreation for the air base so was completed in about 1943
One of the rather steep rope tows I been on, I think they need to raise the top bullwheel or tension up the tow a little more. Too low to the ground. This is coming from a six feet tall 18 year old.
I have a bad feeling that changes are coming very soon for Becker, Porky, and Middle Bowl- but still going forward with the plans for another lift out of Strawberry.
Middle Bowl got some upgrades to the line gear from Skytrac. I don’t know if it was done to allow Middle Bowl last longer or a last minute upgrade before the lift is removed. Becker is doing just fine, I can’t see it being replaced anytime soon.
Thanks for the info about Middle Bowl, didn’t realize she had some TLC recently. I haven’t been back to SB in quite a few years. What are the lines like on Porky? I’m wondering if they did replace Becker with a HSQ or HSS, they might relocate the carpet to Porky?
Telecar isn’t “another name for American Cableways.” They were the first to brand Poma and C&S lifts in the US. The original Becker was the first Poma chairlift installed in the US.
Telecar was the company that first sold Poma and Carlevaro Savio lifts in the US. Many American Cableways lifts were retrofitted with Telecar components, but I don’t think they were related.
But wasn’t the original wildcat double a American Cableways lift? If it is then why is it marked as telecar on the spreadsheet? Did it get a major retrofit at some point?
That list of Telecar installations is missing the original Porky double. Was Porky installed as Poma because 1960 was when Telecar and Poma branched off into two separate entities?
https://imgur.com/a/Arzosaq a little update on middlebowl. Both terminals are removed for now, Most towers still remain for now, Foundation work started on both new terminals and towers.
I wish I took more pictures my bad, some of them got corrupted. I will take more soon. The top terminal is slightly above needles lodge. There is a short cat track going to needle lodge. The lift line basically crosses over the old lift, the bottom station starts to the right of the old lift. Up top the lift goes higher up to the left.
If you go to the Snowbasin website, and go to their webcams, there is a live camera pointed at the upper terminal construction. It has been interesting to watch the progress being made.
Wonder how much scrap metal is selling for right now and how much they get for the Rope? If I can’t own a chair, I’d love to have a piece of the rope, or an old Sheave or work chair or something from the old girl :(
I actually collected myself some scrap parts like nuts and bolts from the top terminal. My family has there name on a chair and we havent heard anything. we have season passes.
I find it interesting they just used a cutting torch to remove sections of the smaller towers and terminals instead of lifting them out with helicopters.
Likely a cost saving move. Also, there is a shortage of copters right now, lots are being utilized for fire fighting. Breaks my heart though to see her all cut up :( Ah well. Scrap her and recycle her and reuse.
Any of you able to grab some scrap metal like a sheave or something for me? (if they will let you take it) I didn’t win a chair but would love another forget me not of one of my favorite lifts :(
To be honest I’m just watching the wheels go round. I’ve put in my name for a chair I’ve asked about getting some old lift parts but haven’t heard any thing back.
I got a tweet from Snowbasin this morning that they will be closing all summer trails tomorrow due to a helicopter helping with the Middle Bowl lift construction. I wonder if they will be setting the new towers tomorrow??
Basin’s owners have many gravel lots off of Trapper’s to store lift parts out of sight. I wouldn’t be suprised if the new lift parts are in one of those.
They have a sign at the gate to wild cat parking lot saying middle bowl deliveries turn left so i doubt they are using them. When wildcat was being constructed they stored all of the lift parts in wildcat parking lot.
Regarding your Liftblog Dec 11 tweet about why the logos were removed from a Snowbasin Gondola. Any possibility it was so they could make a movie or shoot a commercial for somebody? Ask them.
I have no insider info, just guessing.
That’s just the top speed rating. Snowbasin normally runs them slower like at 1000-1100 fpm. They certainly can run them at 1200 in good weather if they want to, but lift components will wear out quicker.
Bummer :( The skiing experience at the basin just keeps getting worse and worse for the locals My once happy peaceful ski hill has gotten too crowded and big.
THANK YOU for posting this. I haven’t been able to get back to the basin in the past 8 years, so it felt like I could take a proper “last ride” on one of the scariest lifts I rode on when learning to ski back in the 80s.
Me and my buddies used to lay out on our backs on this chairlift like a couch with the skis hanging off the arm rest all the way to the top. I kinda miss this chairlift but I dont miss the slow fixed grip speed.
That is definitely a good find. I secured chair number 45 from that lift when they were sold, but sadly had to sell it myself a few years later after I had to downsize into an apartment for a few years.
Looking on old skilifts.org there are pictures of the old Littlecat and I am wondering what style of Thiokol terminal it was. Not talking about the Dopplemayer skin but the actual terminal structure. Are there any pictures of what it would normally look like. http://www.skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/ut-snowbasin/littlecat/littlecat.htm
It’s bottom terminal was redone by dopplemayer in 1998 for room for the lodge and the gondola. In which it was updated to hydraulic tension and the first tower was integrated into the bottom terminal. Almost nothing of the original drive/tension terminal was original besides the bullwheel
A couple of photos from before https://utahlostskiareaproject.wordpress.com/little-cat/
Eh, it’s not Snowbasin if you don’t suffer in the elements a little bit. I enjoyed my time on the old Middlebowl lift as a kid when the winds kicked up and I was holding on for dear life.
Its more about improving the experience I think. Of all the resorts in Utah I feel like Snowbasin offers the most European experience. I feel something like that would just make it perfect.
While Snowbasin does seem to be going more for skier experience, it is worth noting that bubbles on Demoisey would add easily another 5 million to the cost along with it necessitating indoor parking if they want the bubbles to last more than 20 years. The reasons why Demoisey is needed is mostly because of wind, and bubbles would be the worst thing you could do it you want backup for wind protection. It doesn’t look like Demoisey will serve very much more aside from what you could already get to from Needles, which is quite limited compared to everything you can ski off the top of Strawberry.
I actually heard that there is an argument that bubbles can actually help with wind, I mean there has to be a reason because most bubble lifts are constructed in very exposed locations. Also the new lift will server essentially all of the terrain for strawberry except maybe the upper black runs. The terrain it would serve would be far from limited, it will dramatically improve the intermediate terrain on the mountain.
I think the reason they passed on them is because DeMoisy is supposed to be the failsafe when Strawberry goes down because of wind. Even though DeMoisy will only have the capacity of a standard HSQ the 6-pack chairs will help with wind stability, anything making it more susceptible to wind would hurt the projects overall goal.
Mammoth is also a windy windy place so that’s probably why they passed on bubbles too for new chair 16.
Ofc then there’s Boyne who put Jordan 8 in for the explicit purpose of better wind stability at the top so I feel like this topic is still up for debate.
I have heard an argument that bubbles actually improve wind resistance by evening out the wind load on the chairs for the loaded and unloaded line. If I am not mistaken gondolas are generally more wind resistant that chairlifts. I also was mentioning bubbles because I cant think of any reason Strawberry was made as a gondola unless it was for wind resistance and rider comfort, its not like it serves any kind of summit lodge or base area.
DeMoisy’s capacity is actually a bit more than that of a high speed quad but not quite the 3,000 pph of six packs like Breck’s, as seen when comparing the chair spacing to that of Wildcat:
It’s the highest capacity lift on the mountain as a whole, and actually has more uphill capacity than either of the gondolas.
I was hiking for the 4th of July and I saw construction on DeMoisy. The breakover towers and top terminal were visible from the road as we were heading up. I also noticed that it is much longer and ends at the full summit.
This information is unfortunately not accurate. As of June 25 the top terminal area was cleared out and the footing locations were marked, but I don’t believe concrete has been poured yet. I’m not sure, but I believe the parts for DeMoisey are being stored at Maples and Wildcat lots.
Lift Blog 
There is a typo on the spreadsheet on the little cat double. In the notes section.
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Should be fixed now, thanks.
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One more thing, both gondolas are a 8 person not a six person and the Wildcat triple is no longer in operation.
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I will miss the wildcat triple. It was a classic thoinkol. They have been removing many ctec and thoinkols. I dont get why they do not sale them? does any one know why? they removed majestic from brighton and it was made in 1955 and it sold. Why not sale the newer lifts?
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Wildcat is super old. I doubt they will reuse the lift. They sold off the chairs to the public already though.
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does anybody knows how many Thiokols are left?
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I’d guess about 15 or so. Peter might have a spreadsheet he can reference. Even more if you count the early CTEC models since they were basically the same thing.
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Chickadee at snowbird. There is timberline at powder mountain but that chairlift is living on borrowed time.
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Paradise at Red, Flat Iron at Park City and Ellis at Homewood are others that come to mind
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Chair 7 at Crystal (WA); Julie’s at Snoqualmie.
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Lookout triple at Sun Valley is another one.
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Snowbasin is owned by a multi-billion company. Snowbasin’s sister resort Sun Valley has given away lifts for free to other ski areas. Maybe no one was interested?
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I would be interested if I had land. I’ve been trying to get the lift…but snowbasin has been so difficult to contact.
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Does anyone know if little cat sold?
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Nope, it was scrapped in 2008. The chairs were sold off (I got me one) and a few parts of the lift made it I believe to Powder Mtn and Nordic Valley for their thiokol doubles at the time.
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There just isn’t any demand for a 40+ year old lift when there are 15-30 year old lifts on the market. They are great lifts, no doubt about it but just no demand.
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so just a few days ago i went up to snow basin to cheek out the progress. I fond both operator shacks in the parking lot. so the top operator shacks door was open so I went in and i found something on the controls. it said if the rollback button isn’t on push stop the lift and press restart. Because wildcat was not a very busy lift when I went up in winter. I think It had to do with the rollback on the controls how it would not light up.
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The skilifts.org website says that John paul has dual tensioning. Probably because how long the lift is and all of the ups and downs on the lift line too.
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Oh yeah dont forget to add Allen peak’s new tower in the spreadsheet.
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Wildcat chairlift is finished and not in construction anymore.
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I found some old lift information you can add to the spreadsheet.
I was told in a instagram post that the old becker and porcupine were built by Poma telecar
The old porcupine platter (Before the double chair) ran from 1956-1961
Then the porcupine double ran from 1961-1986
The becker double chair ran from 1959-1987 Bottom drive
The Wildcat single chair 1948 Bottom drive
The Wildcat double 1964-1985 Bottom drive
https://www.snowbasin.com/blog/75th-anniversary-history-blog-series-the-1950s
https://www.snowbasin.com/blog/wildcat-lift
Also you have the drive and tensioning switched up on porcupine triple. Drive is at the top and the tensioning is at the bottom. Check the video I posted on the comments of porcupine.
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I think that the porcupine platter was built by Huntington.
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Anyone know where I can find pictures of this so called underground parking garage for needles and John Paul Jones?
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I took these myself when I got a tour. https://imgur.com/a/5HEJivV
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On wildcat express someone broke one of the loading gates closest to the return bullwheel and they are loading wildcat with 5 people only. I posted here because there is no comments enabled on wildcat express.
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The Constam T-bar was removed in 1976
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I found some lengths for some of Snowbasin’s old lifts:
The Wildcat Single had 120 chairs and 15 towers, 4800 feet in length, and could carry 300 people per hour.
The Wildcat Double had 16 towers, 5200 feet in length, and could carry 900 people per hour.
The Porcupine double was 4300 feet in length with a 1100 vertical rise and could carry 700 people per hour.
The Becker double had 76 chairs, 2500 feet in length, and 900 people per hour.
The Porcupine Platter was built by Huntington and ran from 1956 to 1961.
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Who built the Wildcat, Porcupine, and Becker double?
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The Becker, Porcupine, and Wildcat doubles were built by Poma-Telecar.
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Wildcat was designed by “Swiss engineers” and built by American Cableways Co. (https://liftblog.com/2017/09/10/snowbasins-first-six-pack-rises/, The Odgen Standard-Examiner). Here is a picture of the top terminal:
American Cableways of Provo, UT, was founded by Kenneth Witt. The company was also involved at the Bridal Veil Falls Tram. The tram was constructed by Bachmann & Co. (Baco) of Steffisburg, Switzerland. Maybe American Cableways (sometimes referred to as Swiss American Cableways) was the US distributor for Baco?
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Why do many American Cableways lifts have some Telecar components? The drive terminal on the Wildcat double looked a lot like a Telecar drive station. The double at Frost Fire, North Dakota had Telecar carriers. Also, did Baco build any chairlifts? I can only pics of surface lifts and gondolas from Baco.
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I don’t know why they put Telecar parts on those lifts. Which other American Cableway chairlifts besides Wildcat and the double at Frost Fire are you aware of?
Yes, Baco also built chairlifts. At least in Switzerland.
The Wildcat top terminal looked somehow familiar to me. It occured to me this morning that it looks a bit like the lower terminal of the Cosmos double at Coffee Mill (the lift has some Miner-Denver sheaves). Some Swiss guys were also involved at Cosmos. Then I came across an article that linked Paul Hunziker (a Swiss) to Bridal Veil Falls.
Just a theory, but what if Paul Hunziker is the missing link here. He came from Switzerland, maybe he had connections to Baco? He went to Cowelco in Long Beach to start the Cosmos business, then he found a partner in Utah (Kenneth Witt, American Cableway) to build Bridal Veil Falls and he also established his own companies (Western Lift and Crane Co., North American Lift Co.). So the first lifts at Mt. Rose would have been Baco too and so are the American Cableway lifts. Again, just a theory.
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One more thing. Paul Hunziker also worked for Pullman-Berry before he died in an airplane accident on a business trip in 1971. This was just days before the construction of the new Pullman-Berry double at Ski Minnewaska was about to begin. Another employee was Otto Weber – the US representative for Staedeli. Not sure if they have met there for the first time. I’ll try to find that out. Source: Poughkeepsie Journal
And Sam Huntington was electrocuted in 1962 as he was changing a fuse on the Porcupine lift. He was riding the lift with his two nephews and one other person, but it didn’t work properly. So he decided to try to repair it. That’s when the accident happened. Source: Deseret News
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Let me get this straight. So Paul Hunziker helped build the Bridal Veil Falls tram and then started Cosmos that next year, only to come back to American Cableways in 1965, or was American Cableways making lifts during that time when Cosmos was building lifts? Did American Cableways become Western Lift Co. or did Hunziker shut down American Cableways in favor of Western Lift Co?
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What I know is that Hunziker helped building the tram and that he was also working for Witt’s (Swiss) American Cableways in 1962. American Cableways went out of business in 1972, Western Lift and Crane in 1973. Not sure what happened to North American Lift Co. I just heard that Hunziker’s lifts (like Mt. Rose) were likely made in Utah and not shipped from Switzerland. Anything else is just a theory so far. But if Cosmos was really Hunziker’s business, he must have traveled to California during his time at Bridal Veil Falls.
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The Porcupine lift was installed in 1955 and had its first day of operation on 01/14/56. Vertical was 500 ft and capacity 350 pph. The lift was built after Sam Huntington became the owner of Snowbasin. How do you know he was also the manufacturer and not again some local welding shop? Or that Huntington was also his brand for ski lifts?
Huntington said in December 1956: “We have completely rebuilt the Porcupine lift and installed retractable hangers.” He did also install a 800 ft rope tow to access Porcupine.
Source: The Odgen Standard-Examiner
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I remember seeing an entry on Coloradoskihistory that listed double chair at Berthoud Pass as “Heron-Huntington” I would assume that the Huntington part was Sam Huntington’s company because he did help design that lift. The local welding shop probably rebuilt Porcupine in 1956 because the original lift did have a lot of offset half towers that didn’t look to be the most durable.
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I heard a rumor by ski partol that becker or middle bowl might get replaced with a high speed lift either six or quad this coming summer. We will have to see.
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The plan to replace middle bowl Becker and porcupine but I don’t thing it is happening this year the main reason why I say this is because the gm at the mountain I was talking to said that is about 2-3 years out but their plan is to replace those all soon but in the end I hope the lifts all end up selling to other mountains
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High speed quads on all three of those lift lines would make the whole main part of Snowbasin detachable lift serviced. Hopefully that might come with the proposed high speed quad for Strawberry basin.
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I’m not seeing why Becker should be replaced by a detachable any time soon. It doesn’t directly service any non beginner terrain that can’t be serviced by Needles and Strawberry. Yes, you can access Strawberry from Becker, but you can also access Strawberry from Middle Bowl. Bear Hollow is a complete disaster and Middle Bowl is in a vital location for keeping skier traffic off Bear Hollow and instead allowing skiers to lap the terrain above Bear Hollow. Replacing Becker would only add to the traffic on Bear Hollow. Following the replacement of Wildcat, Middle Bowl has had a lot more usage. A replacement of Middle Bowl will also take pressure off Needles by allowing the same terrain to be accessed via Wildcat to Middle Bowl. I would assume that a Middle Bowl replacement would have to be on an alignment to the left of the existing lift to avoid the lodge at the top.
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Middle Bowl as a high speed quad would certainly help out a lot. Maybe the same for Porcupine (just by virtue of its length), but it doesn’t have as much intermediate terrain as Middle Bowl.
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Here is some for information on some of Snowbasin’s removed lifts:
The Wildcat Single was built in 1946 and and had a bottom drive and top tensioning.
The Wildcat Double had a vertical rise of 1335 feet and a bottom drive.
The Becker Double had a vertical rise of 600 feet with a bottom drive.
The Porcupine platter tow had a capacity of 350 people per minute.
The Constam T-bar was called Powder Puff.
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Snowbasin owes much of its current state as a large resort to the 2002 Olympics. The mountain had previously been extremely small and geared towards locals. When Sinclar purchased the resort in 1984, they tried expanding it but the USFS stopped them. For the Olympics, Snowbasin was chosen as the downhill site because Alta/Snowbird/LCC could not accommodate the large media/spectator facilities base required and no other Utah resort had a potentially suitable course. In exchange, the USFS gave Snowbasin a large chunk of land, permitted the Strawberry Gondola expansion, and permitted the John Paul/Allen Peak expansion. The Salt Lake Olympics Committee also paid for a large chunk of the John Paul/Allen Peak expansion, as this is where the Olympic course was held.
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i have 5 orginal wildcat single chairs and 2 pieces of tower for sale interested make a offer. I cut the hangers off to make them more useable at home but have them and they could be welded back in place. make offer. some one has an old sun valley one for sale for $4000 the lift was started in 193938-39but stopped due to war.. the Goverment then wanted it to help with recreation for the air base so was completed in about 1943
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How much for tower pieces or a chair?
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How much do you have of the towers I’ll be willing to pay a little bit for it
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There is a new rope tow installed at snowbasin this year
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I’m pretty sure that the handle tow was the old tubing tow that was removed a few years back. The manufacturer appears to be Borer.
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One of the rather steep rope tows I been on, I think they need to raise the top bullwheel or tension up the tow a little more. Too low to the ground. This is coming from a six feet tall 18 year old.
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I have a bad feeling that changes are coming very soon for Becker, Porky, and Middle Bowl- but still going forward with the plans for another lift out of Strawberry.
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Middle Bowl got some upgrades to the line gear from Skytrac. I don’t know if it was done to allow Middle Bowl last longer or a last minute upgrade before the lift is removed. Becker is doing just fine, I can’t see it being replaced anytime soon.
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Thanks for the info about Middle Bowl, didn’t realize she had some TLC recently. I haven’t been back to SB in quite a few years. What are the lines like on Porky? I’m wondering if they did replace Becker with a HSQ or HSS, they might relocate the carpet to Porky?
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Is telecar another name for American cable ways or are they different? The Wildcat double was an American cableways lift.
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Telecar isn’t “another name for American Cableways.” They were the first to brand Poma and C&S lifts in the US. The original Becker was the first Poma chairlift installed in the US.
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Telecar was the company that first sold Poma and Carlevaro Savio lifts in the US. Many American Cableways lifts were retrofitted with Telecar components, but I don’t think they were related.
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But wasn’t the original wildcat double a American Cableways lift? If it is then why is it marked as telecar on the spreadsheet? Did it get a major retrofit at some point?
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It may have had a Telecar drive terminal, possibly left over from pervious lift projects. It was an American Cableways lift for sure.
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Found this on skilifts.org doing a web search, some good info getting going
http://www.skilifts.org/forum/index.php?showtopic=11169
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That list of Telecar installations is missing the original Porky double. Was Porky installed as Poma because 1960 was when Telecar and Poma branched off into two separate entities?
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That list isn’t complete yet. “1960 was when Telecar and Poma branched off into two separate entities” – where did you get that from?
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http://www.skilifts.org/old/install_survey.htm
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Unfortunately the data in that table has some issues you should be well aware of by now.
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Becker double https://www.remontees-mecaniques.net/bdd/liste-6-2-poma.html
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https://imgur.com/a/Arzosaq a little update on middlebowl. Both terminals are removed for now, Most towers still remain for now, Foundation work started on both new terminals and towers.
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I wish I took more pictures my bad, some of them got corrupted. I will take more soon. The top terminal is slightly above needles lodge. There is a short cat track going to needle lodge. The lift line basically crosses over the old lift, the bottom station starts to the right of the old lift. Up top the lift goes higher up to the left.
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If you go to the Snowbasin website, and go to their webcams, there is a live camera pointed at the upper terminal construction. It has been interesting to watch the progress being made.
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I have not seen that. thanks.
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https://www.snowbasin.com/the-mountain/web-cams/
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Did they finally clean up the haul rope?
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If you are talking about the old rope its in a spool at the bottom of the mountain.
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Wonder how much scrap metal is selling for right now and how much they get for the Rope? If I can’t own a chair, I’d love to have a piece of the rope, or an old Sheave or work chair or something from the old girl :(
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There are still plenty of bolts around the towers and fromer top terminal that are just lying around.
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I actually collected myself some scrap parts like nuts and bolts from the top terminal. My family has there name on a chair and we havent heard anything. we have season passes.
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Did they take the rest of the Skytrac deropment sensors? I was able to find one lying on the footing a few weeks ago?
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I have no clue about that.
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I didn’t see any derail sensors on the ground while I was up there.
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Some more pictures of the old chairlift at the wildcat parking lot.
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I find it interesting they just used a cutting torch to remove sections of the smaller towers and terminals instead of lifting them out with helicopters.
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Likely a cost saving move. Also, there is a shortage of copters right now, lots are being utilized for fire fighting. Breaks my heart though to see her all cut up :( Ah well. Scrap her and recycle her and reuse.
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Any of you able to grab some scrap metal like a sheave or something for me? (if they will let you take it) I didn’t win a chair but would love another forget me not of one of my favorite lifts :(
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The parking lot was posted private property so no i did not take anything. Only walked in and took some pictures and left shortly after.
I havent heard anything about our chairs from middle bowl.
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To be honest I’m just watching the wheels go round. I’ve put in my name for a chair I’ve asked about getting some old lift parts but haven’t heard any thing back.
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I got a tweet from Snowbasin this morning that they will be closing all summer trails tomorrow due to a helicopter helping with the Middle Bowl lift construction. I wonder if they will be setting the new towers tomorrow??
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They are hauling out the rest of the old chairlift towers I think. I didn’t see any new lift equipment in the parking lots.
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Basin’s owners have many gravel lots off of Trapper’s to store lift parts out of sight. I wouldn’t be suprised if the new lift parts are in one of those.
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They have a sign at the gate to wild cat parking lot saying middle bowl deliveries turn left so i doubt they are using them. When wildcat was being constructed they stored all of the lift parts in wildcat parking lot.
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Regarding your Liftblog Dec 11 tweet about why the logos were removed from a Snowbasin Gondola. Any possibility it was so they could make a movie or shoot a commercial for somebody? Ask them.
I have no insider info, just guessing.
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I’ve heard that they will coming back at some point, the insides still have the flags.
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The new middle bowl lift has the drive motors at the top and the tensioning system at the bottom.
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Do the gondolas really run at 1200 fpm? Hasn’t felt that way on my few visits to this resort.
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That’s just the top speed rating. Snowbasin normally runs them slower like at 1000-1100 fpm. They certainly can run them at 1200 in good weather if they want to, but lift components will wear out quicker.
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correction: 1000 fpm or 950 ish, I don’t know the exact numbers.
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Bummer :( The skiing experience at the basin just keeps getting worse and worse for the locals My once happy peaceful ski hill has gotten too crowded and big.
https://www.ksl.com/article/50360814/snowbasin-resort-will-move-to-ikon-pass-mountain-collective-for-2022-23-winter-season
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It’s switching from Epic to IKON – that’s a trade up from a skier density perspective
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Going back to mountain collective is good news to me because I get 50% off at snowbird with a snowbasin pass.
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Snowbasin is planning to open on November 18th. Earliest opening day in history for snowbasin. Wow
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Does anyone have pictures of the underground parking on JP and Needles?
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I thought Peter had taken some at some point and posted them but I am probably confusing it with something else.
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https://www.instagram.com/p/CmuBdDmp4uc/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y= Big news, new strawberry lift coming this summer
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A video from the old Middle Bowl
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THANK YOU for posting this. I haven’t been able to get back to the basin in the past 8 years, so it felt like I could take a proper “last ride” on one of the scariest lifts I rode on when learning to ski back in the 80s.
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Your welcome! :)
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Me and my buddies used to lay out on our backs on this chairlift like a couch with the skis hanging off the arm rest all the way to the top. I kinda miss this chairlift but I dont miss the slow fixed grip speed.
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https://youtu.be/IOnOqHWCDu8 Heres a second video of the old middlebowl chairlift.
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I found one of the chairs in my cousin’s neighbor’s backyard. Really awesome find :)
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That is definitely a good find. I secured chair number 45 from that lift when they were sold, but sadly had to sell it myself a few years later after I had to downsize into an apartment for a few years.
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Looking on old skilifts.org there are pictures of the old Littlecat and I am wondering what style of Thiokol terminal it was. Not talking about the Dopplemayer skin but the actual terminal structure. Are there any pictures of what it would normally look like. http://www.skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/ut-snowbasin/littlecat/littlecat.htm
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It’s bottom terminal was redone by dopplemayer in 1998 for room for the lodge and the gondola. In which it was updated to hydraulic tension and the first tower was integrated into the bottom terminal. Almost nothing of the original drive/tension terminal was original besides the bullwheel
A couple of photos from before https://utahlostskiareaproject.wordpress.com/little-cat/
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Crazy seeing it before Needles and John Paul were built!
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Watch this video and you’ll get some good shots of LittleCat in all her glory in the early 90s.
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So much for a hotel at Snowbasin for now.. Can’t say I’m bummed out about it either!
https://www.ksl.com/article/50605842/club-med-hotel-deal-fizzles-snowbasin-resort-to-reassess-growth-plans
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luckily DeMoisey is still going. I wish they would built it with bubbles, if any part of the mountain would be best for them it would be strawberry
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Eh, it’s not Snowbasin if you don’t suffer in the elements a little bit. I enjoyed my time on the old Middlebowl lift as a kid when the winds kicked up and I was holding on for dear life.
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Its more about improving the experience I think. Of all the resorts in Utah I feel like Snowbasin offers the most European experience. I feel something like that would just make it perfect.
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While Snowbasin does seem to be going more for skier experience, it is worth noting that bubbles on Demoisey would add easily another 5 million to the cost along with it necessitating indoor parking if they want the bubbles to last more than 20 years. The reasons why Demoisey is needed is mostly because of wind, and bubbles would be the worst thing you could do it you want backup for wind protection. It doesn’t look like Demoisey will serve very much more aside from what you could already get to from Needles, which is quite limited compared to everything you can ski off the top of Strawberry.
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I actually heard that there is an argument that bubbles can actually help with wind, I mean there has to be a reason because most bubble lifts are constructed in very exposed locations. Also the new lift will server essentially all of the terrain for strawberry except maybe the upper black runs. The terrain it would serve would be far from limited, it will dramatically improve the intermediate terrain on the mountain.
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I think the reason they passed on them is because DeMoisy is supposed to be the failsafe when Strawberry goes down because of wind. Even though DeMoisy will only have the capacity of a standard HSQ the 6-pack chairs will help with wind stability, anything making it more susceptible to wind would hurt the projects overall goal.
Mammoth is also a windy windy place so that’s probably why they passed on bubbles too for new chair 16.
Ofc then there’s Boyne who put Jordan 8 in for the explicit purpose of better wind stability at the top so I feel like this topic is still up for debate.
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I have heard an argument that bubbles actually improve wind resistance by evening out the wind load on the chairs for the loaded and unloaded line. If I am not mistaken gondolas are generally more wind resistant that chairlifts. I also was mentioning bubbles because I cant think of any reason Strawberry was made as a gondola unless it was for wind resistance and rider comfort, its not like it serves any kind of summit lodge or base area.
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Also to clarify I don’t know why Strawberry was made a gondola but it would be cool to have someone explain to me why.
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DeMoisy’s capacity is actually a bit more than that of a high speed quad but not quite the 3,000 pph of six packs like Breck’s, as seen when comparing the chair spacing to that of Wildcat:
It’s the highest capacity lift on the mountain as a whole, and actually has more uphill capacity than either of the gondolas.
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Some pictures of Pourcupine chairlift this year. the snow is deep with over 200 inches of snow in April. https://cdn.discordapp.com/attachments/815028193647001670/1092592904108781578/IMG_0746.jpg
I was able to touch the ground with my pole, It feels like january when it should be spring with the snow melting.
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I remember hearing about it!
:0 There was so much snow near the top of that lift on a Facebook or Twitter post
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I was hiking for the 4th of July and I saw construction on DeMoisy. The breakover towers and top terminal were visible from the road as we were heading up. I also noticed that it is much longer and ends at the full summit.
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This information is unfortunately not accurate. As of June 25 the top terminal area was cleared out and the footing locations were marked, but I don’t believe concrete has been poured yet. I’m not sure, but I believe the parts for DeMoisey are being stored at Maples and Wildcat lots.
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Ohh I guess I saw another lift! It tricked me there for a while XD
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You were probably seeing the existing strawberry gondola
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DeMoisy has 22 towers and 107 chairs.
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