Tucker Mountain became lift served in 2019 with the addition of a Leitner-Poma triple.This area was previously serviced by snowcat.The bottom terminal is an Alpha model.Loading area.Riding up the steep lift line.Tower 4.View down the lower part of the line.T7.The upper half of the lift is above treeline.Looking down near the summit.Breakover towers.Tower 9.The top terminal has a Skytrac operator house.Unloading ramp.Upper terminal overview.Leitner-Poma tower head.Another view of the return bullwheel.Middle part of the lift line.Tower 6 with Blackjack chair in the background.View up the line from below.There are 87 chairs on the line.Tower 4 with combination assemblies.View down at T3.Looking up the line.Tower 1.View near the bottom terminal.Motor room and loading area.Lift overview.The top of tower 4.A triple chair without footrests.Tower 10.The summit breakover.
Actually, the Lenawee triple chair at A-basin is still a bit higher at approx 12,455’ (compared to Three Bears at around 12,320’). The highest triple chair in the world appears to be the Kachina at Taos, just a few feet higher than Lenawee.
I skied from the about where the lift ends last year to the bottom of Blackjack when we snatched a hike on a snowcat that was supposed to carry a group that didn’t show up. While the catwalk on top looked very rocky, and there were very rocky patches at the very top you could clear them easily on the snow fields, and the terrain below was a lot of fun.
The very top is very rocky because of the wind. There are relatively narrow paths to take a couple hundred feet or so to get to each respective trail. When it’s a bluebird day (as pictured in Peter’s photos), there are no problems because it is easy to see. However, I skied here in a snowstorm this past year where the visibility was low and the rocks were buried in the fresh snow. On one run, I accidentally got stuck in a rock field coated with a couple inches of snow, and it took me a good while to ski down that top part of the run without injuring myself.
We bought a new lift house to go with the new bottom of 4, but the Skytrac one was easier to lift to the top of the mountain with the helo so we put it up there instead.The LP shack that was supposed to go at the top of 5 is at the bottom of 4.
It’s interesting to consider that this lift has bars, making it the only fixed grip off the front face of the mountain to have them. The only lifts out of this area are Yan doubles that don’t have bars.
I can’t speak for the rest of Copper but I’m glad they don’t. One more thing to take care of. Plus we would have to modify 194 chairs to accept comfort bars as they didn’t originally come with them.
The safety bars are pretty easy to outfit. I mean, I just have to point to Vail adding safety bars to the Canyons lifts that didn’t have them before the merger of Canyons with PCMR.
I’m not saying it can’t be done- just that it’s more difficult than you think. There is no attachment point for comfort bars on those chairs, so we would have to have a kit designed (or contact VR to see where they got theirs) and then set up to install them on all those carriers. Lots of grinding off paint and welding.
A little bit of a non-lift related comment, but I really wish they installed public bathrooms at the ski patrol building at the top of this lift. The one set of restrooms at the base of Mountain Chief is not enough for the entire Copper Bowl area.
I rode this past weekend (4/1) and they were loading in a 2-3-2 person configuration, despite it being really windy. Wouldn’t loading the lift to max capacity help with the wind? Seemed odd to be lightening the load, but just curious what others think
I heard that the motor was overheating and so they were doing this to reduce weight, not because of wind. Although I’m not sure why the motor would be overheating on an essentially brand new lift, so if anyone knows better please correct me.
Last Saturday Jan 27th they were loading every other chair. Zero wind. Lifty said it was it was for balance issues. Ran into the same 2-3-3 loading mentioned above last year, again with no wind. Lift seems to be having some load/balance issue…
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I think this is unofficially the highest triple chairlift in Colorado.
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Actually, the Lenawee triple chair at A-basin is still a bit higher at approx 12,455’ (compared to Three Bears at around 12,320’). The highest triple chair in the world appears to be the Kachina at Taos, just a few feet higher than Lenawee.
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Lenawee is a triple no more! Three Bears reigns supreme!
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Such beauty this lift is and how shiny the metal on the chairs and towers.
Where is the new terminal for Blackjack gonna be on this site?
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It’s already here.
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Is it a low snow year or is that terrain extremely rocky?
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I think the terrain is very rocky. Also the upper section is very windswept.
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I skied from the about where the lift ends last year to the bottom of Blackjack when we snatched a hike on a snowcat that was supposed to carry a group that didn’t show up. While the catwalk on top looked very rocky, and there were very rocky patches at the very top you could clear them easily on the snow fields, and the terrain below was a lot of fun.
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The very top is very rocky because of the wind. There are relatively narrow paths to take a couple hundred feet or so to get to each respective trail. When it’s a bluebird day (as pictured in Peter’s photos), there are no problems because it is easy to see. However, I skied here in a snowstorm this past year where the visibility was low and the rocks were buried in the fresh snow. On one run, I accidentally got stuck in a rock field coated with a couple inches of snow, and it took me a good while to ski down that top part of the run without injuring myself.
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Why did they decide to go with the Skytrac operators house for the top bullwheel?
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Skytrac was building the modified bottom station for Blackjack, so maybe they offered to split the project with LPA.
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We bought a new lift house to go with the new bottom of 4, but the Skytrac one was easier to lift to the top of the mountain with the helo so we put it up there instead.The LP shack that was supposed to go at the top of 5 is at the bottom of 4.
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It’s interesting to consider that this lift has bars, making it the only fixed grip off the front face of the mountain to have them. The only lifts out of this area are Yan doubles that don’t have bars.
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I’m sure copper wishes blackjack and mountain Chief have bars too.
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I can’t speak for the rest of Copper but I’m glad they don’t. One more thing to take care of. Plus we would have to modify 194 chairs to accept comfort bars as they didn’t originally come with them.
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The safety bars are pretty easy to outfit. I mean, I just have to point to Vail adding safety bars to the Canyons lifts that didn’t have them before the merger of Canyons with PCMR.
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I’m not saying it can’t be done- just that it’s more difficult than you think. There is no attachment point for comfort bars on those chairs, so we would have to have a kit designed (or contact VR to see where they got theirs) and then set up to install them on all those carriers. Lots of grinding off paint and welding.
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It’s too bad they didn’t make these chairs copper colored.
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But we won’t have to repaint them every couple of years….
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Would a powder coat work?
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Totally. I’m sure most ski areas have mobile curing ovens just sitting around that they can transport via their spare V-22 Ospreys.
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A little bit of a non-lift related comment, but I really wish they installed public bathrooms at the ski patrol building at the top of this lift. The one set of restrooms at the base of Mountain Chief is not enough for the entire Copper Bowl area.
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Well it would be hard to get plumbing all the way up there and it may be expensive to do that also.
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Pit toilets FTW.
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They may be cheaper but they can get disgusting.
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Hey! We agree on something. Although, cleaning them in trade for Kelly Joe’s burritos is totally worth it.
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Using a pit toilet at 12,320 feet sounds…interesting
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If you just use your imagination then you’re basically in the Italian alps
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Don’t forget there were NO public restrooms back there until this year. So what’s there is a 100% improvement.
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Yah to relieve oneself as a lifty required an extensive plan back in the day as 6 had no cover near by
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I rode this past weekend (4/1) and they were loading in a 2-3-2 person configuration, despite it being really windy. Wouldn’t loading the lift to max capacity help with the wind? Seemed odd to be lightening the load, but just curious what others think
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I heard that the motor was overheating and so they were doing this to reduce weight, not because of wind. Although I’m not sure why the motor would be overheating on an essentially brand new lift, so if anyone knows better please correct me.
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The motor was not overheating.
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Last Saturday Jan 27th they were loading every other chair. Zero wind. Lifty said it was it was for balance issues. Ran into the same 2-3-3 loading mentioned above last year, again with no wind. Lift seems to be having some load/balance issue…
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Is there a plan for this lift to open sooner than last year?
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We open it when conditions allow. There’s never a set date; patrol is out there now assessing the snowpack and doing avalanche control.
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