On this site there are many great pictures of lifts including the bell gondola, the Sunshine Triple, Elkhead Quad, Christe II, Christe III before it got new chairs,Building one of the original Pomas, and one of the Miner Denver’s with its original chairs. http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/areahistory/steamboat.html
Hey Peter,
Just an edit but you said in removed lifts the bell gondola was a four person one. It was actually a 6 person gondola. As said by the guy in the video you posted on this weeks news roundup and based on the video three people were sitting on each side of the gondola.
Would clearing part of the old Arrowhead glade into a groomed black be a good idea? It could improve traffic flow at the end of the day for high intermediate/advanced skiers as another access point to the base of thunderhead such as vagabond. Or would this terrain not be suitable to turn into a groomed ski run or would be too steep? This could happen when they upgrade Thunderhead to a Six Pack.
Thinning the trees so that it is a glade run would be better than clearing it into a groomed run. But when they put in the second phase of the Wild Blue Gondola it is going to go pretty much right up a good portion of where the old Arrowhead lift, and Glades where, which will likely mean that some clearing will happen anyway.
There is now a swath of cleared trees running from near the junction of Lower Concentration and Mother Nature to Vagabond where the second phase of the Wild Blue Gondola will be going.
1. Morning side would become a 4,500 ft HSQ in a new alignment that goes farther down then existing triple. Morning side triple would be removed. Top terminal would be in the same place.
2. Storm king lift would be a 3,800 ft long triple or HSQ potentially reusing Morning side but adding new towers and a new haul rope. Would run from bottom of new Morning side lift to top of a new peak. There would also be some hike to terrain.
Both lifts would serve blue/black/double black terrain.
The total area would be 678 acres for a SUP boundary extension.
Myles I like your idea, but increasing the SUP boundary would require the USFS to agree, and they haven’t been all that keen on increasing ski area boundaries. They do, but grudgingly.
I have heard some locals talk about extending Morningside down farther into holy bowl like I showed on SUP. It would require a boundary extension but if it was for just the morningside area and not the second lift I planned out I think it wouldn’t be as big of a hassle to do.
It looks like the current SUP boundary is far enough down the bowl that if Steamboat wanted to relocate the bottom of the Morningside lift by moving it about 0.15 miles further downhill they could do so without moving the SUP boundary.
Myles, if this idea was to be implemented I’d like to see a third lift that starts were the bottom of new Morningside and Storm King lifts are up to the top of the proposed Sunshine II lift is. This would help with egress out of the Morningside area.
Myles, while we are dreaming about increasing the Morningside area, another additional lift that would be nice would be one that comes off of the top of Mt. Werner and head east to the kind of sock shaped clear area. That would provide runs off of Werner to the east and off of your Storm King lift to the north. Plus it would offer an alternative way to get to runs such as North St. Pats and East Face
You would have to hike to access your proposed chairlift so you would need an egress lift or a realigned morning side to access it. A realigned morning side to the top of mount Werner wouldn’t work because the corridor run is too narrow to support the amount of skiers coming from a detach morning side and there would be too many beginners going on the double blacks and into cliff areas such as on No names, Pats, and Gate D.
No you wouldn’t. Let’s say you take Biscuits into the Morningside area, you ski down to the Storm King lift. You take that up, and then you go off the north side of that rise to the bottom of the Mt. Werner lift. No hiking necesary.
This being predicated on the Morningside and Storm King lifts being just as you describe in your original post.
But this is all just rhetorical, this lift will never get built, and likely your Storm King lift will never get built either.
I think you have the dogleg of the Wild Blue Gondola in the wrong location. It will be on the high ground the other side of the Giggle Gulch run from the bottom of the Bashor lift. If memory serves me correctly there is some sort of maintenance building there now. This lines up with the path of cleared trees from just down hill from the junction of Mother Nature and Lower Concentration up to near where the catwalk that comes over from Oops meets up with Vagabond that I noticed while skiing Steamboat over the Christmas holiday weekend.
Not sure I like the idea of the upper portion of Wild Blue going over Closets. Closets is one of my favorite runs, and once they cut a path through those trees it is going to change the character of Closets for the worse.
Does anyone know where Steamboat would expand if Sunshine II and Pioneer aren’t enough? There is a lot of area under Sunshine and Sundown and to the right of Valley View but that is winter elk habitat so that probably wouldn’t fly.
I think there is a decent amount of underutilized terrain at Steamboat, and a couple of infill lifts would really help spread people out like an expansion would. Even minor additions, like a lift from the base of Morningside to Sunshine Peak or a lift from the base of Sundown to Rendezvous Lodge would make lapping some terrain a lot easier and help fully develop their existing footprint.
Put a lift running from the bottom of Sundown up to Rendezvous Saddle (running somewhere between Rolex and Lower High Noon) and you’d definitely have a small pod of five trails there. It would need to be a high speed quad to encourage people to use it instead of the Sundown Express.
Not a bad idea, but put the bottom of the lift close to the bottom of the Elkhead lift. Why? I like skiing the trees between Rolex and Lower High Noon, and putting a lift over those trees would ruin them. Run the lift up Rolex instead.
Love the idea for this lift, as it would take pressure off of Sundown for traffic headed to Sunshine while also creating a nice, 900′ vertical, north facing pod that would feature a mix of terrain for all abilities and be great for lapping. But ultimately it feels like a luxury given all of the other priorities in the plan, so I’ll be surprised if we ever see this.
This one would be pretty brilliant. Being able to lap Rolex, Lower High Noon, etc. would be a real enhancement overall (lapping ungladed and relatively uncrowded blacks and challenging blues).
I spoke to the people that are doing the new pioneer lift and they said it won’t happen until everything else on the master plan is done. The fish creek egress is done already they said and I’m going to check tomorrow if ski bridge is built because I’m pretty sure it is.
Also on the new pioneer terrain if you accidentally go outside of boundary it’s really easy to get cliffed out. That’s why they are making a better ski patrol building. Terrain will be all blacks and double blacks.
My Predictions of timeline for new lifts at Steamboat
2022, 2023 Sundown 6 pack replacement
2022, 2023 South Peak HSQ replacement
2022, 2023 or 2024 Wild Blue gondola.
2022, 2023, or 2024 new Bashor lift.
2022, 2023, or 2024 small lifts at WIld Blue midstation and the surface lifts.
2025 Thunderhead 6 Pack Replacement
2027 Sunshine II HSQ
2030 Pioneer II HSQ
Storm Peak and Morningside will probably get upgrades sometime in between. Bar UE and Burgess Creek probably wont be upgraded for a while. Priest Creek will probably be removed when Sundown 6 is built. Elkhead could be replaced with a 6 pack and the HSQ moved over to replace south peak. Sunshine will need a new lift at some point also.
A sharp eye can pick out one of the slack carriers between Towers One, and Two at the top of Chrisie Peak. There was another slack carrier part way down Heavenly Daze. These supported the haul rope, which was allowed to droop between the towers when the cabins were taken off the line at the end of the day. Tha cabins were made for Bell by Nouvelle Carrosserie of Lausanne, Switzerland. Also, the area’s first lift, the Headwall Poma, 1961-1979, can be seen at the bottom of the postcard. This photo was taken after the Poma’s conversion in 1972 from detachable (“slingshot “) grips to fixed grips.
On Colorado ski history it says this lift is a Roebling but the spreadsheet says it’s Cosmos so which one is it? Also is it just me or does it look like the chairlift here got Yan grips?
It’s a Cosmos, one of two Swiss imports and a used one at that, sold by the firm of Cowelco of Long Beach, CA before they went out of business. It opened 12 January 1963, used as the official opening date for what is now Steamboat Resort. Along with a few heads, the upper portion of a bulldozer can be seen. There’re some tracks on Headwall at viewer’s right, served by a Poma platter lift that opened 22 December 1961. Not too many skiers, either on the lift or the slopes! Slide is from Fetcher family collection.
I think Morningside should be upgraded to a HSQ with a longer alignment farther down into Holy bowl.
Lil rodeo park should honestly be moved because there is a need of more base area and spreading out skiers coming down the mountain. Places to put this park could include the lower part of Skeeter’s run because they have had parks there in the past, one of the runs on Sunshine, or even at the new learning center that will be built.
Don’t disagree that Morningside gets crowded, but I’d rate Wild Blue, Sundown 6 and frankly Sunshine II as higher priorities for spreading out the crowds. Frankly, getting stuck in a big line on Morningside says more about the skiers there than it does about the quality of the terrain available in that pod. It’s 500 vertical, the bottom half of which is a flat run out, and there’s just 1 triple chair there for egress – do the math.
I would disagree with you saying the runout is flat. If you ski skier’s right of the lift it is but not if you ski skiers left of the lift. Everyone goes to Morningside because it probably has the best snow quality consistently all day.
First stage of Wild Blue is being built next year so Wild Blue is definitely higher up. I’m guessing next priorities after Wild blue stage I is the new learning center, then a sundown upgrade, then Wild blue second stage, then a thunderhead replacement, then either Sunshine II or Pioneer Lift. Your right about Morningside not being a high priority but it should be.
The other reason to go to Morningside is because it is the easiest way to get to the Chutes, Christmas Tree Bowl and Gully and the runs that go off of the top of Mt. Werner.
I would guess they would go with a more beginner friendly lift on Bashor since Morningside comes around very fast and bangs the back of your legs into it if you don’t sit down fast enough. That could be because of speed though. Also Morningside is already 25 years old and if it is going to sit at Bashor for another 25 years it would likely be a new lift. A Morningside replacement is not on master plan so it likely won’t happen soon but you never know, Alterra changes things around.
‘Morningside comes around very fast and bangs the back of your legs’. Sounds like an improperly bumped chair, i.e. a lift operator problem. I’ve ridden (and bumped) countless chairs just like this and never had a problem on either side of the red boards.
Morningside may be 25 years old but Doppelmayr (through its acquisition of CTEC via Garaventa) still fully supports these lifts- heck, they even incorporated many of CTEC’s designs into their own North American offerings. Knowing how long many fixed-grips can last I’d wager that this one could go on for another twenty-five.
Just learned some info about the Wild Blue announcement.
The announcement will be in July next to the Torian Plum condos which are near the Christie III lift. The gondola will have both its stages the first stage built one year and I assume the second stage will be built the following year. Both stages of gondola are confirmed to be built.
Not sure what would be the point. There’s nothing that can be accessed by Stage 1 of Wild Blue that can’t already be accessed by Christie via Main Drag or Boulevard. And then if you’re talking about Stage 2 to the summit, that’s crazy talk. The expense of light installation, running a massive 2 stage gondola another 4-6 hrs/day and the likely public backlash given how it would be visible from the entire valley wouldn’t be worth the effort.
Does the lift in this video have double or triple carriers I cannot tell. If it has double carriers what lift is it? No lifts at steamboat have double carriers in this style.
Anyone hear that the T-Bar restaurant is closing down? Wonder if Alterra is going to buy it up since it’s right on the mountain. Rip the T-Bar restaurant though.
The Heron Poma Poma lift with 700 length and 185 vertical rise was called Stage I, the other Heron Poma platter with no name was called Summit and I believe it is the same platter as the removed Storm Peak platter as they have very similar capacities and vertical rises.
After looking at old maps, the platter you have on the spreadsheet called the Storm Peak platter was never named that, it was called the Summit platter.
It’s on its way out. My class helped drop the counterweight in June in preparation to remove the rope. I believe they were planning on spooling the rope in late June and possibly flying the towers out around now, although they also said it could be as late as the fall.
When I look at that, I keep wondering how many tall towers stage 2 of WIld Blue will have at both of its lift crossings (crossing Thunderhead and Burgess Creek).
I’m guessing upgrading Morningside on an extended alignment is about making it so access to Morningside from Sunshine II is easier.
I was at Steamboat on Christmas day when they had 50 mph winds at the top of the Christie lift and higher which slowed the Gondola significantly. I can only imagine that the second phase of the Wild Blue will have the same issues given how tall the towers will have to be as it goes from where it crosses Vagabond and until it gets to where it will cross the upper portion Rainbow.
Maybe that’s why they switched it from a 8 person gondola to a 10 person. With all those tall towers they would need heavier cabins to operate the gondola more consistently.
Morningside on an extended alignment is to make access from Sunshine II easier and to spread skiers out more as there is a decently high skier density for terrain like Morningside.
Wild Blue and Pioneer are already confirmed to be occurring.
Sunshine II, Sundown Six, and South Peak Express are good ideas that seem to be in the 5-10 year plan.
Christmas Express is a great idea to replace Bar-UE and Morningside Express seems like a smart move as well.
Last Chance Platter is the only one I do not agree with. I think it would be better to simply put a new lift above your proposed Christmas Express to access Mt Werner and East Face.
The Last Chance platter would be used to get from the bottom of East Face to the top of pioneer express hence why it does not go to the top of the chutes. If you look at topographical maps the last chance cat track is lower than the top of Pioneer express.
With the exception of Christmas Express, Last Chance platter and the Morningside realignment all of the lifts you mention are already in Steamboat’s Master Development plans.
For those who are wondering, the part for the Wild blue gondola cut through the top of closets is very skinny, so it shouldn’t impact tree skiing too much.
I skied part of that cut recently. There are tagged trees a good 10 feet out from the cut on both sides. That tells me that Steamboat is going to make that cut at least 20 feet wider than it currently is.
In this recent post on Steamboat’s Instagram, there are some good footage of the Stagecoach gondola, the old Silver Bullet gondola, and either Storm Peak or Sundown with the bubbles on. There are also a few shots of the mountain before all the on mountain real estate was built and before Pony was cut
Sad day. They started tearing up the base area. Gondolas are finally in storage up top, excavators are digging out the decorative rock and mini golf area in front of the coaster house- next up I think they’ll be pulling the chairs off of Christie Express as well as cutting the cable off of Preview and pulling her down.
This will be making the base completely unrecognizable compared to 2006, when there was just one gondola, and this hill had two double chairlifts and a triple on it.
According the Steamboat web site the bottom terminal of the Christie Peak Express will be moved to the south of where it currently is. And to make room for that move the Outlaw Mountain Coaster is being removed and not excepted to be reinstalled.
It was a hidden treasure for quite awhile. It does offer great skiing on powder days and during the weekdays, but I’d avoid weekends, just like most other mountain resorts. I love the Steamboat area, year round.
The bottom terminal for the Wild Blue Gondola is coming right along, They installed the tire banks this week and they are finishing the terminal skin today/tomorrow and have the lower towers except tower 1 installed. The foundation is just about ready for them to put the Christie Peak Express bottom terminal on at it’s new location, just to the right of where it was previously and where Wild Blue is going in now. I believe we’ll see the terminal be attached to the new foundation next week, and maybe even the lower tower poles installed on their new foundations as well.
Test Gondola on the Wild Blue Gondola stage 1 made a circuit or two today, it’s the only gondola on the line currently. Hope to see the rest of the gondolas added onto the line soon so that the month of testing that they are talking about can get going and over with and get stage 1 operating.
Well the unknown reason has turned out to be because of frozen pipes at the Thunderhead lodge that affect the fire suppression system. Per Steamboat’s facebook page:
Thunderhead Lodge and the Steamboat Gondola will be closed as of 10am Thursday, February 16.
The extreme cold temperatures from yesterday caused pipes to freeze and when they thawed this morning water, began to leak into Thunderhead Lodge building. Working with internal teams and the health and fire departments it was determined a disruption to fire suppression system posed a safety risk for the public- therefore the entire building was closed. As the Steamboat Gondola utilizes the lower level of the Thunderhead Lodge, service was disrupted due to the full building closure.
SSRC is working on fixing the leaks to be able to open the building and gondola as soon as possible.
The new 4 pack near the Pony Express is going to be named Mahogany Ridge. There is a brewpub in Steamboat with the same name. Coincidence? Or is there some sort of connection?
They have been load testing Wild Blue (for the new stages) and also CPE this weekend. I believe CPE is being load tested because of the soil stability issue around one of the upper towers they encountered over the summer.
Does anyone know what Steamboat’s next lift projects will be and when? I feel like sundown and storm peak should be next but morningside is also a priority.
There is nothing on the Master Development Plan that hasn’t been completed, except for what they have been calling the Sunshine 2 lift. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon, if ever. As Nolan says, I doubt they have any immediate plans for any new lifts after putting in 2 new pretty major lifts this year.
I hope if they do replace the Sunshine lift with a 6 pack they realign where the lift lines are. The vast majority of the skier traffic comes in from the opposite direction of where the lift lines currently are.
Lift Blog 
On this site there are many great pictures of lifts including the bell gondola, the Sunshine Triple, Elkhead Quad, Christe II, Christe III before it got new chairs,Building one of the original Pomas, and one of the Miner Denver’s with its original chairs. http://www.coloradoskihistory.com/areahistory/steamboat.html
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Hey Peter,
Just an edit but you said in removed lifts the bell gondola was a four person one. It was actually a 6 person gondola. As said by the guy in the video you posted on this weeks news roundup and based on the video three people were sitting on each side of the gondola.
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Technically, the Storm Peak triple was never removed in 1992. It was simply shortened by 2,161 feet and renamed Four Points.
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Would clearing part of the old Arrowhead glade into a groomed black be a good idea? It could improve traffic flow at the end of the day for high intermediate/advanced skiers as another access point to the base of thunderhead such as vagabond. Or would this terrain not be suitable to turn into a groomed ski run or would be too steep? This could happen when they upgrade Thunderhead to a Six Pack.
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Thinning the trees so that it is a glade run would be better than clearing it into a groomed run. But when they put in the second phase of the Wild Blue Gondola it is going to go pretty much right up a good portion of where the old Arrowhead lift, and Glades where, which will likely mean that some clearing will happen anyway.
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I think that terrain would be too low for a glade anyway. That is why I suggested a groomed run there.
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There is now a swath of cleared trees running from near the junction of Lower Concentration and Mother Nature to Vagabond where the second phase of the Wild Blue Gondola will be going.
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That swath of cleared trees has a name. It is the Distraction run.
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Did any of the previous yan doubles or triples sell?
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The old Elkhead went to China Peak I’m pretty sure. Don’t know about the others though.
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It did. https://liftblog.com/2-exhibition-china-peak-ca/
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Short Cut at Park City was formerly the Arrowhead here.
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Also the Elkhead double went to Discovery at Winter Park.
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The Cosmos double went to Barnstormer at Coffee Mill, Minnesota.
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my Storm King / Morning side lift idea
Yellow lines are potential ski runs
Pink areas are potential tree thinning
Purple lines are potential future lifts
1. Morning side would become a 4,500 ft HSQ in a new alignment that goes farther down then existing triple. Morning side triple would be removed. Top terminal would be in the same place.
2. Storm king lift would be a 3,800 ft long triple or HSQ potentially reusing Morning side but adding new towers and a new haul rope. Would run from bottom of new Morning side lift to top of a new peak. There would also be some hike to terrain.
Both lifts would serve blue/black/double black terrain.
The total area would be 678 acres for a SUP boundary extension.
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Myles I like your idea, but increasing the SUP boundary would require the USFS to agree, and they haven’t been all that keen on increasing ski area boundaries. They do, but grudgingly.
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I have heard some locals talk about extending Morningside down farther into holy bowl like I showed on SUP. It would require a boundary extension but if it was for just the morningside area and not the second lift I planned out I think it wouldn’t be as big of a hassle to do.
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It looks like the current SUP boundary is far enough down the bowl that if Steamboat wanted to relocate the bottom of the Morningside lift by moving it about 0.15 miles further downhill they could do so without moving the SUP boundary.
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Myles, if this idea was to be implemented I’d like to see a third lift that starts were the bottom of new Morningside and Storm King lifts are up to the top of the proposed Sunshine II lift is. This would help with egress out of the Morningside area.
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Myles, while we are dreaming about increasing the Morningside area, another additional lift that would be nice would be one that comes off of the top of Mt. Werner and head east to the kind of sock shaped clear area. That would provide runs off of Werner to the east and off of your Storm King lift to the north. Plus it would offer an alternative way to get to runs such as North St. Pats and East Face
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You would have to hike to access your proposed chairlift so you would need an egress lift or a realigned morning side to access it. A realigned morning side to the top of mount Werner wouldn’t work because the corridor run is too narrow to support the amount of skiers coming from a detach morning side and there would be too many beginners going on the double blacks and into cliff areas such as on No names, Pats, and Gate D.
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No you wouldn’t. Let’s say you take Biscuits into the Morningside area, you ski down to the Storm King lift. You take that up, and then you go off the north side of that rise to the bottom of the Mt. Werner lift. No hiking necesary.
This being predicated on the Morningside and Storm King lifts being just as you describe in your original post.
But this is all just rhetorical, this lift will never get built, and likely your Storm King lift will never get built either.
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Here is a map of future lifts at steamboat I made
Also I think that Wild Blue should be a 10 person D Line gondola instead of a 8 person gondola.
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I think you have the dogleg of the Wild Blue Gondola in the wrong location. It will be on the high ground the other side of the Giggle Gulch run from the bottom of the Bashor lift. If memory serves me correctly there is some sort of maintenance building there now. This lines up with the path of cleared trees from just down hill from the junction of Mother Nature and Lower Concentration up to near where the catwalk that comes over from Oops meets up with Vagabond that I noticed while skiing Steamboat over the Christmas holiday weekend.
Not sure I like the idea of the upper portion of Wild Blue going over Closets. Closets is one of my favorite runs, and once they cut a path through those trees it is going to change the character of Closets for the worse.
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According to the master plan, the gondola looks like it will cut through some of the top of closets.
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Does anyone know where Steamboat would expand if Sunshine II and Pioneer aren’t enough? There is a lot of area under Sunshine and Sundown and to the right of Valley View but that is winter elk habitat so that probably wouldn’t fly.
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Even if that was available for expansion, you’d need to find out where to run the lifts.
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I think there is a decent amount of underutilized terrain at Steamboat, and a couple of infill lifts would really help spread people out like an expansion would. Even minor additions, like a lift from the base of Morningside to Sunshine Peak or a lift from the base of Sundown to Rendezvous Lodge would make lapping some terrain a lot easier and help fully develop their existing footprint.
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Put a lift running from the bottom of Sundown up to Rendezvous Saddle (running somewhere between Rolex and Lower High Noon) and you’d definitely have a small pod of five trails there. It would need to be a high speed quad to encourage people to use it instead of the Sundown Express.
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My idea for a Sundown infill lift
It would be called beaver creek express after the nearby beaver creek.
It would be a 1,800 pph high speed quad.
It would run from base of Sundown to Rendezvous lodge.
The yellow lines are potential new trails.
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Not a bad idea, but put the bottom of the lift close to the bottom of the Elkhead lift. Why? I like skiing the trees between Rolex and Lower High Noon, and putting a lift over those trees would ruin them. Run the lift up Rolex instead.
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Love the idea for this lift, as it would take pressure off of Sundown for traffic headed to Sunshine while also creating a nice, 900′ vertical, north facing pod that would feature a mix of terrain for all abilities and be great for lapping. But ultimately it feels like a luxury given all of the other priorities in the plan, so I’ll be surprised if we ever see this.
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The unofficial name for those trees between Lower High Noon and Rolex is Land of the Little People.
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This one would be pretty brilliant. Being able to lap Rolex, Lower High Noon, etc. would be a real enhancement overall (lapping ungladed and relatively uncrowded blacks and challenging blues).
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I spoke to the people that are doing the new pioneer lift and they said it won’t happen until everything else on the master plan is done. The fish creek egress is done already they said and I’m going to check tomorrow if ski bridge is built because I’m pretty sure it is.
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Also on the new pioneer terrain if you accidentally go outside of boundary it’s really easy to get cliffed out. That’s why they are making a better ski patrol building. Terrain will be all blacks and double blacks.
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My Predictions of timeline for new lifts at Steamboat
2022, 2023 Sundown 6 pack replacement
2022, 2023 South Peak HSQ replacement
2022, 2023 or 2024 Wild Blue gondola.
2022, 2023, or 2024 new Bashor lift.
2022, 2023, or 2024 small lifts at WIld Blue midstation and the surface lifts.
2025 Thunderhead 6 Pack Replacement
2027 Sunshine II HSQ
2030 Pioneer II HSQ
Storm Peak and Morningside will probably get upgrades sometime in between. Bar UE and Burgess Creek probably wont be upgraded for a while. Priest Creek will probably be removed when Sundown 6 is built. Elkhead could be replaced with a 6 pack and the HSQ moved over to replace south peak. Sunshine will need a new lift at some point also.
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Some Pictures of the Stagecoach Gondola
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Bell sure knew how to make a great looking Gondola/Gondola Cabins
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A sharp eye can pick out one of the slack carriers between Towers One, and Two at the top of Chrisie Peak. There was another slack carrier part way down Heavenly Daze. These supported the haul rope, which was allowed to droop between the towers when the cabins were taken off the line at the end of the day. Tha cabins were made for Bell by Nouvelle Carrosserie of Lausanne, Switzerland. Also, the area’s first lift, the Headwall Poma, 1961-1979, can be seen at the bottom of the postcard. This photo was taken after the Poma’s conversion in 1972 from detachable (“slingshot “) grips to fixed grips.
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Here is the original Christie I lift
On Colorado ski history it says this lift is a Roebling but the spreadsheet says it’s Cosmos so which one is it? Also is it just me or does it look like the chairlift here got Yan grips?
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Almost looks like an old Telecar..
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It’s a Cosmos, one of two Swiss imports and a used one at that, sold by the firm of Cowelco of Long Beach, CA before they went out of business. It opened 12 January 1963, used as the official opening date for what is now Steamboat Resort. Along with a few heads, the upper portion of a bulldozer can be seen. There’re some tracks on Headwall at viewer’s right, served by a Poma platter lift that opened 22 December 1961. Not too many skiers, either on the lift or the slopes! Slide is from Fetcher family collection.
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What lift was this at Steamboat? The spreadsheet doesn’t list any Riblets, but the terminals, towers, sheaves, and chairs are clearly Riblet.
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8150/R2317.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8148/R2314.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8146/R2312.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8147/R2313.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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That looks like Vail!
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I agree. Looks like old chair 2.
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Good catch on this one. I will see about updating the image description in Mountain Scholar
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Were there other center pole Riblets at Vail other than chair 2?
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Things I think Steamboat should do
1. Upgrade the morning side lift because right know it is a slow 3 seater with a high demand.
2. Add more long green/beginner trails.
3. Get rid of Lil’ Rodeo Park and move it somewhere else because it takes up half of the stampede run.
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I want a pony!
Where would those “long green/beginner trails” go?
And is Morningside really a priority given all of the other needs on the hill?
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Morningside really needs a capacity upgrade with a faster lift due to how many people go there. Often lines will be something like this:
https://vm.tiktok.com/ZMeCP8BJP/
I think Morningside should be upgraded to a HSQ with a longer alignment farther down into Holy bowl.
Lil rodeo park should honestly be moved because there is a need of more base area and spreading out skiers coming down the mountain. Places to put this park could include the lower part of Skeeter’s run because they have had parks there in the past, one of the runs on Sunshine, or even at the new learning center that will be built.
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Don’t disagree that Morningside gets crowded, but I’d rate Wild Blue, Sundown 6 and frankly Sunshine II as higher priorities for spreading out the crowds. Frankly, getting stuck in a big line on Morningside says more about the skiers there than it does about the quality of the terrain available in that pod. It’s 500 vertical, the bottom half of which is a flat run out, and there’s just 1 triple chair there for egress – do the math.
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I would disagree with you saying the runout is flat. If you ski skier’s right of the lift it is but not if you ski skiers left of the lift. Everyone goes to Morningside because it probably has the best snow quality consistently all day.
First stage of Wild Blue is being built next year so Wild Blue is definitely higher up. I’m guessing next priorities after Wild blue stage I is the new learning center, then a sundown upgrade, then Wild blue second stage, then a thunderhead replacement, then either Sunshine II or Pioneer Lift. Your right about Morningside not being a high priority but it should be.
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The other reason to go to Morningside is because it is the easiest way to get to the Chutes, Christmas Tree Bowl and Gully and the runs that go off of the top of Mt. Werner.
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Upgrade morningside to a HSQ, relocate the morningside triple to replace Bashor double- (if needed?)
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I would guess they would go with a more beginner friendly lift on Bashor since Morningside comes around very fast and bangs the back of your legs into it if you don’t sit down fast enough. That could be because of speed though. Also Morningside is already 25 years old and if it is going to sit at Bashor for another 25 years it would likely be a new lift. A Morningside replacement is not on master plan so it likely won’t happen soon but you never know, Alterra changes things around.
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‘Morningside comes around very fast and bangs the back of your legs’. Sounds like an improperly bumped chair, i.e. a lift operator problem. I’ve ridden (and bumped) countless chairs just like this and never had a problem on either side of the red boards.
Morningside may be 25 years old but Doppelmayr (through its acquisition of CTEC via Garaventa) still fully supports these lifts- heck, they even incorporated many of CTEC’s designs into their own North American offerings. Knowing how long many fixed-grips can last I’d wager that this one could go on for another twenty-five.
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Just learned some info about the Wild Blue announcement.
The announcement will be in July next to the Torian Plum condos which are near the Christie III lift. The gondola will have both its stages the first stage built one year and I assume the second stage will be built the following year. Both stages of gondola are confirmed to be built.
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Does anyone have pictures of the Storm Peak platter or WJW lift?
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Could Steamboat expand night skiing with the addition of the Wild Blue gondola or would it not be profitable enough?
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Not sure what would be the point. There’s nothing that can be accessed by Stage 1 of Wild Blue that can’t already be accessed by Christie via Main Drag or Boulevard. And then if you’re talking about Stage 2 to the summit, that’s crazy talk. The expense of light installation, running a massive 2 stage gondola another 4-6 hrs/day and the likely public backlash given how it would be visible from the entire valley wouldn’t be worth the effort.
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Does the lift in this video have double or triple carriers I cannot tell. If it has double carriers what lift is it? No lifts at steamboat have double carriers in this style.
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That’s Four Points.
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After some closer inspection your right. The angle of the video makes the chairs look like double chairs.
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Anyone hear that the T-Bar restaurant is closing down? Wonder if Alterra is going to buy it up since it’s right on the mountain. Rip the T-Bar restaurant though.
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They are closed now, but they are only open during ski season. Their web site makes no mention of closing down.
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People who live there have told me it’s closing permanently.
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It was open over the Christmas holiday weekend.
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The Heron Poma Poma lift with 700 length and 185 vertical rise was called Stage I, the other Heron Poma platter with no name was called Summit and I believe it is the same platter as the removed Storm Peak platter as they have very similar capacities and vertical rises.
Click to access 1640203156.pdf
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After looking at old maps, the platter you have on the spreadsheet called the Storm Peak platter was never named that, it was called the Summit platter.
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I feel like this map is a good idea of how the map will look when the Pioneer expansion is made except with pioneer and pony’s trails of course.
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The priest creek double is still standing but all the chairs were removed so it’s status should be changed to standing.
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It’s on its way out. My class helped drop the counterweight in June in preparation to remove the rope. I believe they were planning on spooling the rope in late June and possibly flying the towers out around now, although they also said it could be as late as the fall.
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If I had unlimited funding, here is what I would build in terms of lifts.
https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1wC10MbKzuDGeigJacy5PBOI2GAh68Eu4&usp=sharing
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When I look at that, I keep wondering how many tall towers stage 2 of WIld Blue will have at both of its lift crossings (crossing Thunderhead and Burgess Creek).
I’m guessing upgrading Morningside on an extended alignment is about making it so access to Morningside from Sunshine II is easier.
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I was at Steamboat on Christmas day when they had 50 mph winds at the top of the Christie lift and higher which slowed the Gondola significantly. I can only imagine that the second phase of the Wild Blue will have the same issues given how tall the towers will have to be as it goes from where it crosses Vagabond and until it gets to where it will cross the upper portion Rainbow.
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Maybe that’s why they switched it from a 8 person gondola to a 10 person. With all those tall towers they would need heavier cabins to operate the gondola more consistently.
Morningside on an extended alignment is to make access from Sunshine II easier and to spread skiers out more as there is a decently high skier density for terrain like Morningside.
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Wild Blue and Pioneer are already confirmed to be occurring.
Sunshine II, Sundown Six, and South Peak Express are good ideas that seem to be in the 5-10 year plan.
Christmas Express is a great idea to replace Bar-UE and Morningside Express seems like a smart move as well.
Last Chance Platter is the only one I do not agree with. I think it would be better to simply put a new lift above your proposed Christmas Express to access Mt Werner and East Face.
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The Last Chance platter would be used to get from the bottom of East Face to the top of pioneer express hence why it does not go to the top of the chutes. If you look at topographical maps the last chance cat track is lower than the top of Pioneer express.
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With the exception of Christmas Express, Last Chance platter and the Morningside realignment all of the lifts you mention are already in Steamboat’s Master Development plans.
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Instead of bringing the Christmas Express up to the top of the Morningside life, why not bring it to the top of Mt. Werner?
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For those who are wondering, the part for the Wild blue gondola cut through the top of closets is very skinny, so it shouldn’t impact tree skiing too much.
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That may be the survey sight line, which would be widened once actual construction begins.
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I skied part of that cut recently. There are tagged trees a good 10 feet out from the cut on both sides. That tells me that Steamboat is going to make that cut at least 20 feet wider than it currently is.
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When you say “very skinny”, how wide are you talking? One would believe they cut swath would be at least as wide as the tower.
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Like as wide as the tower then a little space. Maybe like 20 feet wide.
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In this recent post on Steamboat’s Instagram, there are some good footage of the Stagecoach gondola, the old Silver Bullet gondola, and either Storm Peak or Sundown with the bubbles on. There are also a few shots of the mountain before all the on mountain real estate was built and before Pony was cut
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Sad day. They started tearing up the base area. Gondolas are finally in storage up top, excavators are digging out the decorative rock and mini golf area in front of the coaster house- next up I think they’ll be pulling the chairs off of Christie Express as well as cutting the cable off of Preview and pulling her down.
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This will be making the base completely unrecognizable compared to 2006, when there was just one gondola, and this hill had two double chairlifts and a triple on it.
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Well.. Christie III will still be there.. for now. Are they moving the CPE to the right or to the left of where it is now?
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According the Steamboat web site the bottom terminal of the Christie Peak Express will be moved to the south of where it currently is. And to make room for that move the Outlaw Mountain Coaster is being removed and not excepted to be reinstalled.
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Yeah I heard about the Mountain Coaster. Dang it I would have liked to have ridden it.
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Ryan, we still have ours if you want a ride.
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The mountain coaster looked like it would be fun to ride. Once. But it the cost was more than I was willing to pay for the short ride.
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A photo of Christie 2 and 3 in operation together https://www.gettyimages.com/detail/news-photo/lift-lines-at-steamboat-springs-are-surprisingly-short-news-photo/837529996
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Nice find. The first time I skied the ‘boat was the only time I’ve seen both lifts operating at the same time.
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Believe it or not I’ve never have skied here seems like a fun mountain to try one day.
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It was a hidden treasure for quite awhile. It does offer great skiing on powder days and during the weekdays, but I’d avoid weekends, just like most other mountain resorts. I love the Steamboat area, year round.
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One of the lifts that use to be up here https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8138/R2304.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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The bell gondola during construction https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8275/R1627.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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The bell gondola https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8276/R1628.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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The 1st tower absolutely massive https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8273/R1625.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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The gondola bottom terminal https://mountainscholar.org/bitstream/handle/11124/8139/R2305.jpg?sequence=1&isAllowed=y
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Awesome photos. Thank you for sharing.
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The bottom terminal for the Wild Blue Gondola is coming right along, They installed the tire banks this week and they are finishing the terminal skin today/tomorrow and have the lower towers except tower 1 installed. The foundation is just about ready for them to put the Christie Peak Express bottom terminal on at it’s new location, just to the right of where it was previously and where Wild Blue is going in now. I believe we’ll see the terminal be attached to the new foundation next week, and maybe even the lower tower poles installed on their new foundations as well.
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Test Gondola on the Wild Blue Gondola stage 1 made a circuit or two today, it’s the only gondola on the line currently. Hope to see the rest of the gondolas added onto the line soon so that the month of testing that they are talking about can get going and over with and get stage 1 operating.
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Rather I should say it looks like they were testing it in forward and reverse.
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Not a good day for Steamboat yesterday- they had to shut down the mountain due to high winds, and the Gondola is down today for an unknown reason.
https://www.denverpost.com/2023/02/15/steamboat-ski-area-winter-park-closed-high-winds/
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Well the unknown reason has turned out to be because of frozen pipes at the Thunderhead lodge that affect the fire suppression system. Per Steamboat’s facebook page:
Thunderhead Lodge and the Steamboat Gondola will be closed as of 10am Thursday, February 16.
The extreme cold temperatures from yesterday caused pipes to freeze and when they thawed this morning water, began to leak into Thunderhead Lodge building. Working with internal teams and the health and fire departments it was determined a disruption to fire suppression system posed a safety risk for the public- therefore the entire building was closed. As the Steamboat Gondola utilizes the lower level of the Thunderhead Lodge, service was disrupted due to the full building closure.
SSRC is working on fixing the leaks to be able to open the building and gondola as soon as possible.
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The new 4 pack near the Pony Express is going to be named Mahogany Ridge. There is a brewpub in Steamboat with the same name. Coincidence? Or is there some sort of connection?
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They have been load testing Wild Blue (for the new stages) and also CPE this weekend. I believe CPE is being load tested because of the soil stability issue around one of the upper towers they encountered over the summer.
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Wild Blue II is scheduled to open Dec 15.
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i can’t wait to see pictures of the new mahogany ridge lift
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According to a Steamboar ski patroller Mahogany Ridge opens tomorrow.
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Confirmed on Steamboats instagram no canyon yet though.
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And skiing there was pretty spectacular. Knee to thigh deep powder on the second day it was open.
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Does anyone know what Steamboat’s next lift projects will be and when? I feel like sundown and storm peak should be next but morningside is also a priority.
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I think they might take a few years off from lift projects after completing Full Steam Ahead.
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There is nothing on the Master Development Plan that hasn’t been completed, except for what they have been calling the Sunshine 2 lift. But I don’t see that happening anytime soon, if ever. As Nolan says, I doubt they have any immediate plans for any new lifts after putting in 2 new pretty major lifts this year.
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I’d say Sundown HS6 would be their next lift project but again that probably won’t happen for another 3-4 years.
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Heard from a mechanic, Sunshine would be replaced next. Maybe foundations this year, then metal installation next year, 2025.
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I hope if they do replace the Sunshine lift with a 6 pack they realign where the lift lines are. The vast majority of the skier traffic comes in from the opposite direction of where the lift lines currently are.
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