Top station next to an identical one for Red Dog.Top station overview.View down the very long lift line.Half tower and light side flyover near the summit.Middle part of the lift line.Looking up the line from the Resort at Squaw Creek.Poma Alpha drive with hydraulic tension system.Lift overview.Leaving the base.View back down the line.Tower 11.Upper part of the line.Light side and heavy side diverging.Tower 18 up top.
This lift needs to be replaced, definitely, even more than red dog and granite in my opinion, it’s really slow and very long and is the resort’s longest lift, I’d like to see a high speed quad replace this lift, and it has some very great terrain, so if it were replaced, it could steal lines from KT, Shirley, Granite or Siberia.
Honestly, the only issue I see with this lift is its length. The first thing is that I never see crowds here it only occasionally has one or two people in front of you. The second thing is that I don’t really think it could take people from Kt or Shirley because the snow here is often mushy, and when it is a bit warm it can rain down here. Most of the time I hear people specifically stating they don’t want to go to red dog or squaw creek because of the snow conditions, not the lift itself. I really think the only reason for this lift to be an HSQ is for its length.
Agreed. Since it’s not a high traffic area I don’t think it’s a very high priority to upgrade. I think at best we could see a low capacity and possibly a used HSQ to replace Squaw Creek since it really doesn’t need a capacity upgrade at all. Even on powder days there’s rarely more than a handful of people in line. I don’t see Alterra spending very much money on this one anytime soon.
I saw long lines here during a Saturday of FebruBuried 2019 but that was probably a bit of a rare case. Can’t expect short lines on intermediate terrain on one of the snowiest days in the history of the ski area.
The lift lines here get long when winds shut down the upper mountain and Snow King and KT-22 become the entire operation. However, during these times, the lines are still worse at KT-22 and Red Dog, so they are both more deserving of capacity upgrades (which is happening with the California Express gondola supplementing KT-22 and Red Dog becoming a detachable six-pack).
Note the blurb in a recent operations blog post about “major maintenance project for the Squaw Creek chair” this summer. Does anyone have any details on this?
Squaw Creek has the best intermediate runs at Squaw. Almost twice the vertical of Shirly. Surprised they don’t put more into this area with a quad lift, removal of all the “Christmas trees” and willows from some of the runs, some more snow making, and more grooming. I have seen runs such as Montezuma’s, Knob Hill, Valley View, and even Pablo’s Passage groomed before, but they seldom do, which is odd for a major resort. At least they charge major resort prices.
The reason Shirley is arguably better is because it’s high elevation, but I agree that this pod skis better. I’d like it to go detachable, Squaw suffers from a lack of long intermediate terrain.
Isn’t most of the Squaw Creek terrain on land owned by the Resort at Squaw Creek? These runs need to be brushed and cleared of undergrowth. I would have to assume Squaw doesn’t want to spend money on terrain that they do not own, and RSC has no financial incentive to maintain the trails. Hence the status quo. The best thing they could do here would be a logging project similar to what Squaw did on the Red Dog terrain approximately 5 years ago where they thinned the lower elevation forest, reduced the fuel load and improved the tree skiing.
Yes. To my understanding, as part of their agreement PT is only allowed (or required?) to maintain the already cut ski runs, and it is RSC’s responsibility to manage the forest land. Thus, no fuel management action has been taken on RSC’s part until they either pay PT or a contractor to do so. The ski runs were brushed and cut over the last two summers by PT and their contractors.
When Intrawest was developing the village at Squaw, it had three phases. During phase I, the Far East Express was installed to accommodate another out of base area lift adjacent to Phase III. However, Phase II and Phase III were never constructed because of backlash. In my opinion, Far East Express should be relocated to another area on the mountain as it no longer serves a purpose other than cater to the ski racers and early morning guests.
they should move it to solitude and move the solitude lift to far east. they are about the same length and solitude still works so it could be moved to the much lower trafficked area
Not exactly. A public survey determined the name for this chairlift, with both Squaw Creek and Palisades Tahoe then selecting from the top choices. Many locals have called it “The Resort Chair” for years, which I am sure contributed to it being picked. On the other hand, Wa She Shu was selected by the Washoe Tribe and approved by Palisades Tahoe. Of the three new names this offseason, “Palisades Tahoe” was really the only one chosen by the resort itself.
the other name is fine it is just resort chair is so boring and undescriptive, it makes more sense to either name it after the mountain or call it the new name for resort at squaw creek.
Lift Blog 
This lift needs to be replaced, definitely, even more than red dog and granite in my opinion, it’s really slow and very long and is the resort’s longest lift, I’d like to see a high speed quad replace this lift, and it has some very great terrain, so if it were replaced, it could steal lines from KT, Shirley, Granite or Siberia.
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Honestly, the only issue I see with this lift is its length. The first thing is that I never see crowds here it only occasionally has one or two people in front of you. The second thing is that I don’t really think it could take people from Kt or Shirley because the snow here is often mushy, and when it is a bit warm it can rain down here. Most of the time I hear people specifically stating they don’t want to go to red dog or squaw creek because of the snow conditions, not the lift itself. I really think the only reason for this lift to be an HSQ is for its length.
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Agreed. Since it’s not a high traffic area I don’t think it’s a very high priority to upgrade. I think at best we could see a low capacity and possibly a used HSQ to replace Squaw Creek since it really doesn’t need a capacity upgrade at all. Even on powder days there’s rarely more than a handful of people in line. I don’t see Alterra spending very much money on this one anytime soon.
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I saw long lines here during a Saturday of FebruBuried 2019 but that was probably a bit of a rare case. Can’t expect short lines on intermediate terrain on one of the snowiest days in the history of the ski area.
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The lift lines here get long when winds shut down the upper mountain and Snow King and KT-22 become the entire operation. However, during these times, the lines are still worse at KT-22 and Red Dog, so they are both more deserving of capacity upgrades (which is happening with the California Express gondola supplementing KT-22 and Red Dog becoming a detachable six-pack).
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Note the blurb in a recent operations blog post about “major maintenance project for the Squaw Creek chair” this summer. Does anyone have any details on this?
https://blog.squawalpine.com/operations/150th-day-of-the-season-operations-update/
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New Haulrope.
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Squaw Creek has the best intermediate runs at Squaw. Almost twice the vertical of Shirly. Surprised they don’t put more into this area with a quad lift, removal of all the “Christmas trees” and willows from some of the runs, some more snow making, and more grooming. I have seen runs such as Montezuma’s, Knob Hill, Valley View, and even Pablo’s Passage groomed before, but they seldom do, which is odd for a major resort. At least they charge major resort prices.
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The reason Shirley is arguably better is because it’s high elevation, but I agree that this pod skis better. I’d like it to go detachable, Squaw suffers from a lack of long intermediate terrain.
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Isn’t most of the Squaw Creek terrain on land owned by the Resort at Squaw Creek? These runs need to be brushed and cleared of undergrowth. I would have to assume Squaw doesn’t want to spend money on terrain that they do not own, and RSC has no financial incentive to maintain the trails. Hence the status quo. The best thing they could do here would be a logging project similar to what Squaw did on the Red Dog terrain approximately 5 years ago where they thinned the lower elevation forest, reduced the fuel load and improved the tree skiing.
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Yes. To my understanding, as part of their agreement PT is only allowed (or required?) to maintain the already cut ski runs, and it is RSC’s responsibility to manage the forest land. Thus, no fuel management action has been taken on RSC’s part until they either pay PT or a contractor to do so. The ski runs were brushed and cut over the last two summers by PT and their contractors.
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Red dog and squaw creek often have lines in beginning of season and why make far east a H.P.S when squaw creek and red dog are longer
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When Intrawest was developing the village at Squaw, it had three phases. During phase I, the Far East Express was installed to accommodate another out of base area lift adjacent to Phase III. However, Phase II and Phase III were never constructed because of backlash. In my opinion, Far East Express should be relocated to another area on the mountain as it no longer serves a purpose other than cater to the ski racers and early morning guests.
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they should move it to solitude and move the solitude lift to far east. they are about the same length and solitude still works so it could be moved to the much lower trafficked area
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This has officially been renamed “Resort Chair”
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the WORST name out of all the options. Should have been any of them BUT that. Whats wrong with snow king?
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Note that this name is from the same naming department that renamed Squaw One as “Wa She Shu”.
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They should have just made squaw one washoe express.
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Not exactly. A public survey determined the name for this chairlift, with both Squaw Creek and Palisades Tahoe then selecting from the top choices. Many locals have called it “The Resort Chair” for years, which I am sure contributed to it being picked. On the other hand, Wa She Shu was selected by the Washoe Tribe and approved by Palisades Tahoe. Of the three new names this offseason, “Palisades Tahoe” was really the only one chosen by the resort itself.
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the other name is fine it is just resort chair is so boring and undescriptive, it makes more sense to either name it after the mountain or call it the new name for resort at squaw creek.
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A better name for it would be Alaskan paradise
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ah yes, in warm sunny california
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