Top Uni-model drive station.Unloading area and operator house.Side view of the top terminal.View down towards Four Points.Return station.Doppelmayr Austria plaque.Lift overview.Upper part of the lift line.Riding up the line.Former bubble chair.Underskin of the top station.Lower lift line.Bottom station with grip maintenance bay.
Bubbles are always an interesting topic. While they do provide protection from the elements, they can be sails in the wind and are quite expensive to maintain. This can equate to lift downtime if a cable wire breaks or the inability to run in windy conditions compared to not having them. However, at the same time, ski gear and improved so much that while riding the chairlift, only your face gets cold and not your entire body. Therefore, you don’t need the bubble to keep you warm between runs. In my honest option, the bubbles from both lifts should have been relocated to Thunderhead. It has wind protection and it’s at a lower elevation to keep you out of the elements if it does drizzle.
The EJ bubble chairs were poorly designed as they didn’t provide enough protection from the elements and were too light. Indoor storage is definitely a must for bubble chairs and gondolas and I think most resorts get this now. The newer bubble chairs I think are much better both for wind, comfort, and ease of operation and I only see the number of them being built increasing.
Besides them being in bad condition from the sun exposure, there was a big overnight spring wind event in the late 1990s that blew a bunch of them off the Storm Peak express. That was the event that made it clear they were not going to last. All removed from both Storm Peak and Sundown the following summer.
If this were to be replaced with a new lift with bubbles. It would definitely be a six pack so extra weight for the bubbles and indoor parking. Technology is better with bubbles today so might be able to work on both lifts today.
They’ve always had that big gap between chairs 143 and chair 1. Somehow I’ve always wondered why they don’t add an additional chair so the gap doesn’t seem so big.
I’d imagine that it’s just human error, in that the gaps between 1 and 2 all the way to 142 and 143 are on average a bit more narrow than the design spacing. The effect is that there’s a lot of rope left with no chairs on it between 143 and 1.
It’s still a much longer end gap than I normally see on high speed quads and six packs. Most of the time, the end gap is typically more akin to about 1.25 times the normal space between chairs, rather than the equivalent of more than two chairs.
You’re right in that the end gap on Storm Peak is closer to 3 chairs. I believe this is to allow a terminal to be clear of chairs when parking. The top terminal is very exposed and susceptible to drifting, so the large gap would allow for a snowcat to come in and easily clear the snow. I’ve seen this done other places, Whistler comes to mind on some of their higher chairs that don’t have parking rails.
On second thought, I’ve seen a few other lifts with such long end gaps. Sunapee’s main high speed quad has a two chair gap between chairs 126 and 1. And a few of Whistler’s high speed quads have them too, such as Peak Express.
This is one lift where I feel the uphill capacity should be 2,800 pph like the Sundown Express, instead of 2,400 pph. If that were the case, the lift would have about 168 chairs, instead of 143, on account of the lift’s role as both a lapping lift and a transit lift between areas. (I believe every lift on the mountain can be accessed from the top of Storm Peak, including Bashor).
I’ll amend my earlier comment. Part of my class these last few weeks was in SPX’s bottom terminal. I heard from my counterpart that he leaves an extra-large end gap for weather- if/when it’s going to be ugly overnight, that gap is parked at the top and keeps the terminal clear of iced-up chairs. It allows them to get the lift up to speed and knock the ice/snow off the grips simply by running them through the terminal equipment rather than by de-icing each grip by hand. I’ve done that at Copper but it requires luck to get the lift to speed- these guys have it figured out. I doubt this approach would work in a maritime climate but in the borderline desert that is Colorado, the ice isn’t super dense.
Mile 1 at Panorama also has the “Doppelmayr Konstruktion” plaque on it. Same with the old Tranquilizer double at Marmot Basin. I’m sure many older Doppelmayr lifts had this plaque, but I can’t think of any others right now.
That is incredible the sound difference. Was that characteristic of similar HP motors of that vintage to sound like that, or was it just a result of the motor age?
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It’s sad that they took the bubbles off
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Does anyone know why?
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They were scratched up from skiers trying to scrape the frost off the bubble. No inside storage so they were subjected to the elements of storm peak.
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Bubbles are always an interesting topic. While they do provide protection from the elements, they can be sails in the wind and are quite expensive to maintain. This can equate to lift downtime if a cable wire breaks or the inability to run in windy conditions compared to not having them. However, at the same time, ski gear and improved so much that while riding the chairlift, only your face gets cold and not your entire body. Therefore, you don’t need the bubble to keep you warm between runs. In my honest option, the bubbles from both lifts should have been relocated to Thunderhead. It has wind protection and it’s at a lower elevation to keep you out of the elements if it does drizzle.
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The EJ bubble chairs were poorly designed as they didn’t provide enough protection from the elements and were too light. Indoor storage is definitely a must for bubble chairs and gondolas and I think most resorts get this now. The newer bubble chairs I think are much better both for wind, comfort, and ease of operation and I only see the number of them being built increasing.
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A combination of the bubbles being in poor condition and it caused the lift to go down for wind a lot.
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Besides them being in bad condition from the sun exposure, there was a big overnight spring wind event in the late 1990s that blew a bunch of them off the Storm Peak express. That was the event that made it clear they were not going to last. All removed from both Storm Peak and Sundown the following summer.
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If this were to be replaced with a new lift with bubbles. It would definitely be a six pack so extra weight for the bubbles and indoor parking. Technology is better with bubbles today so might be able to work on both lifts today.
LikeLike
They’ve always had that big gap between chairs 143 and chair 1. Somehow I’ve always wondered why they don’t add an additional chair so the gap doesn’t seem so big.
LikeLike
I’d imagine that it’s just human error, in that the gaps between 1 and 2 all the way to 142 and 143 are on average a bit more narrow than the design spacing. The effect is that there’s a lot of rope left with no chairs on it between 143 and 1.
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That’s the ‘end gap’, which is designed into the spacing system to allow for errors throughout the day. Putting another chair there would negate that.
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It’s still a much longer end gap than I normally see on high speed quads and six packs. Most of the time, the end gap is typically more akin to about 1.25 times the normal space between chairs, rather than the equivalent of more than two chairs.
LikeLike
You’re right in that the end gap on Storm Peak is closer to 3 chairs. I believe this is to allow a terminal to be clear of chairs when parking. The top terminal is very exposed and susceptible to drifting, so the large gap would allow for a snowcat to come in and easily clear the snow. I’ve seen this done other places, Whistler comes to mind on some of their higher chairs that don’t have parking rails.
LikeLike
On second thought, I’ve seen a few other lifts with such long end gaps. Sunapee’s main high speed quad has a two chair gap between chairs 126 and 1. And a few of Whistler’s high speed quads have them too, such as Peak Express.
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This is one lift where I feel the uphill capacity should be 2,800 pph like the Sundown Express, instead of 2,400 pph. If that were the case, the lift would have about 168 chairs, instead of 143, on account of the lift’s role as both a lapping lift and a transit lift between areas. (I believe every lift on the mountain can be accessed from the top of Storm Peak, including Bashor).
LikeLike
I’ll amend my earlier comment. Part of my class these last few weeks was in SPX’s bottom terminal. I heard from my counterpart that he leaves an extra-large end gap for weather- if/when it’s going to be ugly overnight, that gap is parked at the top and keeps the terminal clear of iced-up chairs. It allows them to get the lift up to speed and knock the ice/snow off the grips simply by running them through the terminal equipment rather than by de-icing each grip by hand. I’ve done that at Copper but it requires luck to get the lift to speed- these guys have it figured out. I doubt this approach would work in a maritime climate but in the borderline desert that is Colorado, the ice isn’t super dense.
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This lift and the Sundown Express both have ‘Built in Austria’ plaques on their terminals.
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Mile 1 at Panorama also has the “Doppelmayr Konstruktion” plaque on it. Same with the old Tranquilizer double at Marmot Basin. I’m sure many older Doppelmayr lifts had this plaque, but I can’t think of any others right now.
https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2016/04/img_0238.jpg?w=994&h=746
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The paint scheme used on the Storm Peak Express and Sundown Express today is a lot better than the old one that was used during the ASC era:
Gray terminals with a red stack look a lot nicer.
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I have never seen the lines as big as the ones in the photo for Storm Peak Express.
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As seen in the video, they appear to have given this a new drive motor in the last few years.
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I could tell by the sound of the top drive terminal, in the past it almost sounded like freight train up there with the old motor. lol
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Here’s the old motor for comparison:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h1FjF_VAOKY?t=538
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That is incredible the sound difference. Was that characteristic of similar HP motors of that vintage to sound like that, or was it just a result of the motor age?
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Storm Peak is getting a new haul cable right now.
https://www.facebook.com/photo/?fbid=882105513952124&set=a.627233936105951
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