Lift overview.Older Doppelmayr drive terminal with counterweight.Motor room and bullwheel.Tower 6.Fixed top bullwheel.Another look at the top terminal.
This lift arguably felt rather slow after the High Noon Express lift went in, since it was only accessible from other detachables and the only other lifts one could reach from it were detachables.
I’m presuming that Vail will revive the number 17 for the Sun Down Express this year, given that that’s the lowest unused lift number on the mountain (and 13 is going to be skipped for obvious reasons).
Most places don’t worry about ‘gaps in the number system’, they try and keep things consistent so the public isn’t as confused (and yes, we have a glaring example of this at our own place with H-lift/Union Creek/Woodward). When I think of a chair 9 at Vail Mountain, I’m thinking of skiing a pod on the upper west portion of the frontside. I’m aware they removed the lift but that’s where it was. I guess my point is that this renumbering is also inconsistent with Vail’s other replacements- nothing else was changed. Double-11 was replaced by quad-11 which is now sixpack-11, for example.
This lift started its life at Beaver Creek as lift 7. It served the last steep stretch to spruce saddle. Lift 6 was also triple and did not run the full length it or its quad predecessor did. It was lift 7 from 1980-1992 and rarely operated from 1986-1992.
Correct. It was lift 7, Upper Horseshoe. The old lift 6, Centennial, was moved to become the Rose Bowl lift, and when that got upgraded, the chair was moved a second time to replace the Riblet double as chair 12, Gopher Hill, in Golden Peak.
Lift Blog 
Why was this lift not replaced?
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It was. The number just changed. https://liftblog.com/sun-up-express-9-vail-co/
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Was this lift scrapped?
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I sure hope not.
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I heard some parts went to Willmont like the towers and the controls, but I don’t think the chairs, terminals and sheaves did.
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This lift arguably felt rather slow after the High Noon Express lift went in, since it was only accessible from other detachables and the only other lifts one could reach from it were detachables.
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The date of when it was removed is missing on the spreadsheet… Was it removed right before the HSQ went in in 2016?
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Yeah, the lift was removed in 2016. I don’t know why the spread sheet is missing the data.
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I’m presuming that Vail will revive the number 17 for the Sun Down Express this year, given that that’s the lowest unused lift number on the mountain (and 13 is going to be skipped for obvious reasons).
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Why is 13 going to be skipped? (I don’t know the significance of 13 or the history of Vail)
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The lift numbers go from 12 (Gopher Hill) to 14 (Sourdough Express) due to the superstitions around the number 13.
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Probably. Vail seems to move lift numbers around for no reason- not sure why they moved 9 to where 17 was, for example.
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I think that had to do with plugging a gap in the number system, since that number was freed up with the removal of Minnie’s in 2008.
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The map posted at the bottom of Chair 5 shows that Sun Down will be #20
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Most places don’t worry about ‘gaps in the number system’, they try and keep things consistent so the public isn’t as confused (and yes, we have a glaring example of this at our own place with H-lift/Union Creek/Woodward). When I think of a chair 9 at Vail Mountain, I’m thinking of skiing a pod on the upper west portion of the frontside. I’m aware they removed the lift but that’s where it was. I guess my point is that this renumbering is also inconsistent with Vail’s other replacements- nothing else was changed. Double-11 was replaced by quad-11 which is now sixpack-11, for example.
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The practically unused CTEC on the extreme west of the frontside is already #20?
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This lift started its life at Beaver Creek as lift 7. It served the last steep stretch to spruce saddle. Lift 6 was also triple and did not run the full length it or its quad predecessor did. It was lift 7 from 1980-1992 and rarely operated from 1986-1992.
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Correct. It was lift 7, Upper Horseshoe. The old lift 6, Centennial, was moved to become the Rose Bowl lift, and when that got upgraded, the chair was moved a second time to replace the Riblet double as chair 12, Gopher Hill, in Golden Peak.
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