Looking back towards the base.Entering the top terminal.Top drive terminal.The bottom terminal is in a mining-themed barn.Looking down the lift line.Drive terminal with no windows.Looking down the line.Looking up the line.The themed bottom terminal building.Stealth top terminal.View down at tower 15.This type of “pre-show” maze area is rare at ski resorts but common at theme parks.Inside the barn is a standard Stealth station.Riding up the line.Queuing gates.
There’s a part of me that gets the feeling Schweitzer might consider giving Stella a capacity boost with a potential increase in traffic brought on by Cedar Park’s addition.
This seems like an odd place for them to have installed a six pack given their lift system at the time of installation. Their main lifts were a yan HSQ and 3 riblet center poles yet they decided to go all out and splurge on a six pack to replace this chair (which also is the furthest from the base area). IMO it would have made a ton more sense to replace Chair one or Snow Ghost.
I think the reason was due to weather conditions. Schweitzer is prone to high winds, but the terrain off of Stella is fairly protected and while the majority of other lifts being closed, Great Escape and Stella could operate. The terrain off of Stella is also heavily used by the local race team.
I had a pass here before and after Stella. The backside is 1/2 the mountain and generally more popular than the front. And the entire backside funnels down to Stella. Plus Stella services the most intermediate terrain on the mountain and the upper bowls tend to have the deepest powder and best advanced skiing, many upper bowl advanced runs miss chair 6 and go to Stella. The line for the old Riblet double would frequently get massive, especially after lunchtime at the popular Outback lodge. And the old Riblet would sometimes break down, stranding people on the backside and occasionally requiring Schweitzer to snow cat people out.
Schweitzer is adding 14 new chairs to Stella this season, upping its capacity by 600pph. It’s not clear whether they are acquiring chairs from a new or used source (Willamette Pass, maybe?) or potentially replacing all of the chairs on the lift as they did on the Great Escape Quad a few years ago.
This thing is getting 14 more chairs, which will hopefully boost capacity. When I went this past winter it was the only lift in the park with a line (although I bet that changes alot,) The queue theming is still really neat!
Not able to see in the pictures, but does the bottom terminal have side windows? The top terminal must get pretty toasty for lift ops on sunny days, especially with top drive.
I think North America doesn’t put enough thought/capital into chairlift loading experience. Queue buildings like this eliminate the need for lifties to set up large mazes outside the lift as the building serves as permanent queue management, and makes run-up maintenance easier because conditions are more controlled. Both these aspects cut down on set up time, which eases the load on ops. Schweitzer proved that you can do this on a budget with a barn, European resorts prove that you can do it as a luxury experience. I’m sure more resorts can take this and improve further. Definitely surprised to see theming on a chairlift though, haha
If you look at picture no. 3 there are two fans on the outside face that move air through the terminal to help keep things cool. Additionally, there’s a sliding door on the rear of these terminals that can be opened for even more airflow.
Chairlift loading experience?! What marketing department do you work for? Skate up, sit down; that’s the entire interaction. Adding to it just adds expense without benefit.
To be fair though, decorations don’t help with queue management in regards to efficiently loading full chairs. The line is just as long as it otherwise would be, but you just have something to look at while you wait. I rode this chair a couple weeks back and the line wasn’t any faster moving than any other 6 pack I’ve ridden. And once you’ve been through the barn once or twice, you aren’t very entertained by it anymore and if anything, it can almost get annoying when other skiers get distracted looking at stuff and don’t seize the open spot in the moving line.
What an eloquent illustration of my comment denoting that North Americans don’t put any thought into this… Think about all the chairs you’ve ridden that you have to load in awkward spots (eg an uphill walk from the base area like War Horse and FaceLift @ Whiteface), didn’t you think “man, I wish they put more thought into this”? Or if you’ve ever been on a lift that stops a lot due to loading errors, don’t you think that if the loading experience was more controlled with less opportunity for errors the lift could run faster by stopping less?
Architecture, if designed thoughtfully, will direct the flow of traffic without needing setup and teardown by the operators. This cuts down on time needed to open and close lifts (time that is usually spent making/deconstructing the maze area), allowing resorts to bill less hours for their employees. If it’s a big/important lift, and the resort is particularly well attended, it makes sense to put thought and effort into designing something that is easy to use so EVERYBODY can use it more efficiently, including beginners. We have all seen the videos of mobbed chairlifts at Vail, it’s a disgrace. It has to be done right though, I’m sure if you take the cheap/easy route you will end up with a lot more expense with very little benefit.
I agree with @nvskier about decorations, those take riders’ attention away from the task at hand. But look at any gondola or even some larger chairlifts Doppelmayr features on their youtube channel that were constructed in Europe within the last 3 years: Almost all of them have buildings (loosely themed around the lift, unlike Stella which is more like a theme park ride). These resorts are better attended than all but a select few NA resorts because the mountains are more accessible by transit and they can draw from a much larger population base. If there was truly no point, these mountains would simply not construct the buildings. No ski resort is in the business of pointlessly throwing money away, regardless of how rich and well-funded they are. As our sport grows, it’s important that mountains everywhere learn techniques to manage crowds well, otherwise some guests may choose not to come back.
Video of the lift the season before it’s capacity upgrade. The top terminal could really use a new paint scheme as the primer gray is not very sightly, the lift seems to run vell well, nice sounding motor up top too.
L-P installed a new wood underskin on both terminals (like on Collins at Alta) when they installed Cedar Park a couple years ago. Nice visual refresh. 👍
Lift Blog 
Is this the only high-speed-six in Idaho?
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That is correct!
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For now. Seattle Ridge is getting replaced by a six-pack for the 24-25 season.
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I forgot about Challenger at Sun Valley. It just got installed this year.
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Is this a Stealth III?
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Yes, with an alternate terminal skin applied.
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I think this was the only detachable at Schweitzer to have footrests prior to the Cedar Park Express’s construction.
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There’s a part of me that gets the feeling Schweitzer might consider giving Stella a capacity boost with a potential increase in traffic brought on by Cedar Park’s addition.
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This seems like an odd place for them to have installed a six pack given their lift system at the time of installation. Their main lifts were a yan HSQ and 3 riblet center poles yet they decided to go all out and splurge on a six pack to replace this chair (which also is the furthest from the base area). IMO it would have made a ton more sense to replace Chair one or Snow Ghost.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I think the reason was due to weather conditions. Schweitzer is prone to high winds, but the terrain off of Stella is fairly protected and while the majority of other lifts being closed, Great Escape and Stella could operate. The terrain off of Stella is also heavily used by the local race team.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I had a pass here before and after Stella. The backside is 1/2 the mountain and generally more popular than the front. And the entire backside funnels down to Stella. Plus Stella services the most intermediate terrain on the mountain and the upper bowls tend to have the deepest powder and best advanced skiing, many upper bowl advanced runs miss chair 6 and go to Stella. The line for the old Riblet double would frequently get massive, especially after lunchtime at the popular Outback lodge. And the old Riblet would sometimes break down, stranding people on the backside and occasionally requiring Schweitzer to snow cat people out.
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Interestingly, they never removed the top vault drive of the old Riblet double. You can clearly see it in street view here:
https://www.google.com/maps/@48.3825621,-116.6098422,2a,67.4y,44.35h,85.55t/data=!3m7!1e1!3m5!1sFOHiWz1oFUcGZ-BJEMdryQ!2e0!6s%2F%2Fgeo2.ggpht.com%2Fcbk%3Fpanoid%3DFOHiWz1oFUcGZ-BJEMdryQ%26output%3Dthumbnail%26cb_client%3Dmaps_sv.tactile.gps%26thumb%3D2%26w%3D203%26h%3D100%26yaw%3D73.2723%26pitch%3D0%26thumbfov%3D100!7i13312!8i6656
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They use it for ski patrol now
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This is a pretty cool bottom terminal, I’d say.
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Do you know any videos of the preshow? They used to have the machines move and have light effects but I can’t find any video of it.
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Schweitzer is adding 14 new chairs to Stella this season, upping its capacity by 600pph. It’s not clear whether they are acquiring chairs from a new or used source (Willamette Pass, maybe?) or potentially replacing all of the chairs on the lift as they did on the Great Escape Quad a few years ago.
https://www.schweitzer.com/whats-new-at-schweitzer-2122/
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This thing is getting 14 more chairs, which will hopefully boost capacity. When I went this past winter it was the only lift in the park with a line (although I bet that changes alot,) The queue theming is still really neat!
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Not able to see in the pictures, but does the bottom terminal have side windows? The top terminal must get pretty toasty for lift ops on sunny days, especially with top drive.
I think North America doesn’t put enough thought/capital into chairlift loading experience. Queue buildings like this eliminate the need for lifties to set up large mazes outside the lift as the building serves as permanent queue management, and makes run-up maintenance easier because conditions are more controlled. Both these aspects cut down on set up time, which eases the load on ops. Schweitzer proved that you can do this on a budget with a barn, European resorts prove that you can do it as a luxury experience. I’m sure more resorts can take this and improve further. Definitely surprised to see theming on a chairlift though, haha
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If you look at picture no. 3 there are two fans on the outside face that move air through the terminal to help keep things cool. Additionally, there’s a sliding door on the rear of these terminals that can be opened for even more airflow.
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Chairlift loading experience?! What marketing department do you work for? Skate up, sit down; that’s the entire interaction. Adding to it just adds expense without benefit.
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dude having a proper queue management really improves skiing because you dont have to wait in such a long line
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To be fair though, decorations don’t help with queue management in regards to efficiently loading full chairs. The line is just as long as it otherwise would be, but you just have something to look at while you wait. I rode this chair a couple weeks back and the line wasn’t any faster moving than any other 6 pack I’ve ridden. And once you’ve been through the barn once or twice, you aren’t very entertained by it anymore and if anything, it can almost get annoying when other skiers get distracted looking at stuff and don’t seize the open spot in the moving line.
LikeLiked by 2 people
What an eloquent illustration of my comment denoting that North Americans don’t put any thought into this… Think about all the chairs you’ve ridden that you have to load in awkward spots (eg an uphill walk from the base area like War Horse and FaceLift @ Whiteface), didn’t you think “man, I wish they put more thought into this”? Or if you’ve ever been on a lift that stops a lot due to loading errors, don’t you think that if the loading experience was more controlled with less opportunity for errors the lift could run faster by stopping less?
Architecture, if designed thoughtfully, will direct the flow of traffic without needing setup and teardown by the operators. This cuts down on time needed to open and close lifts (time that is usually spent making/deconstructing the maze area), allowing resorts to bill less hours for their employees. If it’s a big/important lift, and the resort is particularly well attended, it makes sense to put thought and effort into designing something that is easy to use so EVERYBODY can use it more efficiently, including beginners. We have all seen the videos of mobbed chairlifts at Vail, it’s a disgrace. It has to be done right though, I’m sure if you take the cheap/easy route you will end up with a lot more expense with very little benefit.
I agree with @nvskier about decorations, those take riders’ attention away from the task at hand. But look at any gondola or even some larger chairlifts Doppelmayr features on their youtube channel that were constructed in Europe within the last 3 years: Almost all of them have buildings (loosely themed around the lift, unlike Stella which is more like a theme park ride). These resorts are better attended than all but a select few NA resorts because the mountains are more accessible by transit and they can draw from a much larger population base. If there was truly no point, these mountains would simply not construct the buildings. No ski resort is in the business of pointlessly throwing money away, regardless of how rich and well-funded they are. As our sport grows, it’s important that mountains everywhere learn techniques to manage crowds well, otherwise some guests may choose not to come back.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I spy a riblet bullwheel in the12th photo
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Video of the lift the season before it’s capacity upgrade. The top terminal could really use a new paint scheme as the primer gray is not very sightly, the lift seems to run vell well, nice sounding motor up top too.
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L-P installed a new wood underskin on both terminals (like on Collins at Alta) when they installed Cedar Park a couple years ago. Nice visual refresh. 👍
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