This parking rail is long enough to store every chair.The bottom drive station is height-adjustable.View up the line.Lower terminal’s arrival side.Doppelmayr Spacejet station.Side view of the base.Riding up the line.’90s-style Doppelmayr tower heads.Tower 17 near the summit of Summit.Arriving up top.Large Uni station.The terminal masts might have been re-used from the former Yan detachable quad.Looking down the lift line.Lower section of the line.Unloading ramp.Spacejet-style top terminal.Doppelmayr Worldbook entry.
The masts were reused from the quad. It’s not that different from the defunct Zephyr Express at Winter Park reusing the mast of the drive station from the Yan triple it replaced.
Love the Spacejet large terminal, i think since this was from 1996, I think there should be some changes, but i’d do the changes under the hood and other minor updates.
Under the hood:
Doppelmayr D-line equipment and direct drive
Minor updates for the chair like footrests, heated seats, and bubbles
As I have said before: I don’t think Alterra will do bubbles or d-line except on the most major lifts that make the most money and lifts that d-line and bubbles would be specifically good marketing for.
Storm peak express at steamboat did the bubble thing for the chairs some time back before it got removed.
Also I love the spacejet terminals as IMO it made Doppelmayr stand out with the competition…the UNIG(including vision) and so forth look way too similar to the designs of the Leitner Poma terminals
There certainly are plenty of cases of lifts being built with bubbles and later getting them removed (Storm Peak Express, Sundown Express, Vista Bahn Express, Soleil), but it’s rare to see lifts go the other way due to the sorts of issues Quantum Four has run into.
Another lift that will get bubbles after being built will probably be Bug Burn at Snowmass but that’s because it was designed to have bubbles later on.
All of those cases of bubbles getting removed were the late 80s and 90s era Doppelmayr bubble chairs and the lifts they were removed from didn’t have indoor parking. Those bubble chairs do just fine if taken care of right, as seen from the ones at Mission Ridge, but Intrawest and Vail didn’t really take care of them. After all, a bubble is a little useless if the material becomes opaque.
Don’t Spacejet terminals only work with 90s model EJ bubbles? With the cost to retrofit all this, you might as well do Uni-G or D-line. I could see Boyne trying something like this, but Alterra is a big company and they just don’t like trying something new. Heated seats and bubbles aren’t minor upgrades, they need more clearance in the wind because of more surface area on a bubble. I do agree that footrests would be a good idea. That I would call a minor upgrade.
I entirely agree with this. This is due to the fact that detaches run much faster than fixed grips, and on windy days it could get sketchy without a footrest in my opinion.
This lift has really been having east wind issues that last few years leading to many days where it is shutdown when the rest of the mountain is open. Does anyone know if they are investigating a solution? I wonder if they should consider installing a eight passenger chair? They could always keep the capacity low (2400 PPH) Or realigning it? Seems like they need to come up with a solution soon.
As of now their master plan does not include any plans to upgrade/replace Summit Six. Right now I think they are mainly focusing on the California Gondola. I can agree with you and Summit Six can definitely use an upgrade or lifts to supplement it. I think the best option is to make to make the Alpine Bowl double into an HSQ or make a quad going up to the top terminal of Summit Six that can do 2000-2500 PPH, but with California Gondola and a few other lifts probably going in over at Squaw Valley I don’t know how likely that will be.
Have you encountered any photos of the AM Express?
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The masts were reused from the quad. It’s not that different from the defunct Zephyr Express at Winter Park reusing the mast of the drive station from the Yan triple it replaced.
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Love the Spacejet large terminal, i think since this was from 1996, I think there should be some changes, but i’d do the changes under the hood and other minor updates.
Under the hood:
Doppelmayr D-line equipment and direct drive
Minor updates for the chair like footrests, heated seats, and bubbles
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As I have said before: I don’t think Alterra will do bubbles or d-line except on the most major lifts that make the most money and lifts that d-line and bubbles would be specifically good marketing for.
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Storm peak express at steamboat did the bubble thing for the chairs some time back before it got removed.
Also I love the spacejet terminals as IMO it made Doppelmayr stand out with the competition…the UNIG(including vision) and so forth look way too similar to the designs of the Leitner Poma terminals
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There certainly are plenty of cases of lifts being built with bubbles and later getting them removed (Storm Peak Express, Sundown Express, Vista Bahn Express, Soleil), but it’s rare to see lifts go the other way due to the sorts of issues Quantum Four has run into.
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Another lift that will get bubbles after being built will probably be Bug Burn at Snowmass but that’s because it was designed to have bubbles later on.
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All of those cases of bubbles getting removed were the late 80s and 90s era Doppelmayr bubble chairs and the lifts they were removed from didn’t have indoor parking. Those bubble chairs do just fine if taken care of right, as seen from the ones at Mission Ridge, but Intrawest and Vail didn’t really take care of them. After all, a bubble is a little useless if the material becomes opaque.
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Don’t Spacejet terminals only work with 90s model EJ bubbles? With the cost to retrofit all this, you might as well do Uni-G or D-line. I could see Boyne trying something like this, but Alterra is a big company and they just don’t like trying something new. Heated seats and bubbles aren’t minor upgrades, they need more clearance in the wind because of more surface area on a bubble. I do agree that footrests would be a good idea. That I would call a minor upgrade.
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If anything, I would say that footrests are something which should not be optional on detachables.
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I entirely agree with this. This is due to the fact that detaches run much faster than fixed grips, and on windy days it could get sketchy without a footrest in my opinion.
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Cost and logistics aside, it just isn’t cold enough in Tahoe for any chair to need bubbles or heated seats.
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Does anyone have pictures of the old AM Express, I remember seeing one once but never could find it again.
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Would like some photos of that too including terminals used for AM express
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A wind wall was built at the top terminal in 2019 to allow the chair to run during stronger east winds
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This lift has really been having east wind issues that last few years leading to many days where it is shutdown when the rest of the mountain is open. Does anyone know if they are investigating a solution? I wonder if they should consider installing a eight passenger chair? They could always keep the capacity low (2400 PPH) Or realigning it? Seems like they need to come up with a solution soon.
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As of now their master plan does not include any plans to upgrade/replace Summit Six. Right now I think they are mainly focusing on the California Gondola. I can agree with you and Summit Six can definitely use an upgrade or lifts to supplement it. I think the best option is to make to make the Alpine Bowl double into an HSQ or make a quad going up to the top terminal of Summit Six that can do 2000-2500 PPH, but with California Gondola and a few other lifts probably going in over at Squaw Valley I don’t know how likely that will be.
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