Bottom loading area with gates.View down the lower part of the line.Upper lift line.Looking down from the summit.Arrival side of the top station.Unloading ramp.Another view of the bottom station.Top drive terminal.View down the very long lift line.Upper section of the lift.Tower 12.Mellow lower line.The bottom terminal in a new red paint scheme.
No. Doppelmayr USA has greatly simplified its offerings in recent years. For detachables, choices are UNI-G or D-Line. There are Standard, Viper and tunnel versions of the Uni-G and two different D-Line enclosure shapes.
D-Line is for sale if someone wants to buy at a premium. It will not replace the current models, at least in the short term.
I think we are seeing the replacement for the Alpha is the Skytrac Monarch. If you look at Europe, Leitner built only detachables and surface lifts last year. That may be the path Leitner-Poma takes while leaving the fixed-grip business to its subsidiary in Salt Lake. The only Alpha this year appears to be going to Whitewater.
The Alpha is still holding up strong contrary to Mr. Landsman. 2 Leitner poma alphas were constructed at Arapahoe Basin over the summer replacing molly hogan and Palivacini. Molly Hogan was also removed from the resort for an entire year. I bet this has taken place elsewhere as well.
Uni-G Tunnel: https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/img_31841.jpg
Both terminal styles are mechanically the same as any other Uni-G. The tunnel style only encloses the tire banks, hence where they are commonly seen on single sided mid-stations, but they’re also used as end terminals on some lifts in Europe.
The tunnel stations are most common in Italy. We also have some here in Austria, e.g. the Bergeralmbahn has a tunnel vault drive at the top (and a custom housing at the bottom station). But then again it is very close to Italy, the main freeway from Germany to Italy passes over (!) this lift not far from the border.
Capacity. This pod gets slammed, especially in the afternoon when everyone needs to get back to Red Pine. The Poma is now Sunshine Express at Steamboat. https://liftblog.com/sunshine-express-steamboat-co/
This results in an interesting irony where the Tombstone Express is a Doppelmayr high speed six pack with the tower tubes of a Poma chairlift, while the Sunshine Express is a Poma high speed quad with the reused tower tubes of a Doppelmayr chairlift.
There is also the Sunrise platter at Powder Mountain, which was built by Poma. Eagle point has 2 Poma chairlifts and 1 Poma platter. That makes it 6 Poma lifts in Utah.
I don’t think there is any way to say why it is different than the UNI-G or other Doppelmayr models. I think it is just the way it is designed. On the UNI-G, it is a bell. Hope this helps!
Doppelmayr discontinued UNI-GS. From what I know, on the UNI-G design, it is a bell. D-Line I am not sure yet. Woodward’s hot laps is a Doppelmayr fixed grip. This uses Doppelmayr connect and has different signal and startup sounds than the ordinary Doppelmayr fixed grip. The signal sound is a bell playing through a speaker. All of the sounds are different on hot laps, and in my opinion, much less alarming:)
I’m a little surprised this lift was built with EJ chairs, considering that the other 6 person detachable lifts from this time period of Doppelmayr CTEC’s used Garaventa chairs. Does anyone know why The Canyons opted for the EJ chairs? AFAIK, The Canyons/ASC was running out of money, and EJ chairs costed extra at that point in time.
On further thought, what was The Canyons had no lifts with Garaventa carriers. Perhaps due to Sunpeak having EJ carriers at that time, and possibly a knowledge of what was to come, they decided to order EJ chairs. Timberline also has EJ chairs despite that not being standard on Doppelmayr fixed grips yet at the time of its construction.
imagine how nice it would be if Vail actually decided to add some bells and whistles. I would like to see this lift become a D-Line 8 with at the gate minimum of Direct Drive to increase speed especially considering how slammed this terrain pod gets. Or a backup lift could work
This lift went down at noon yesterday for a “sheave change.” They estimated it would be closed for an hour, but it never reopened, even all day today. Anybody have any insight on this incident, or what could turj a sheave change into a multi-day fix?
Hooooo boy this poor, poor pod. Even with the addition of Over-and-Out and the possibility of upgrading Tombstone to an 8-pack, they’ve gotta add another lift out of here. My preference would be one going up to where Power Alley starts, giving skiiers the option to three directions: north towards Peak 5 and 9990, south towards Day Break and so on, or east into the Colony and back down to Tombstone. It would alleviate the Tombstone-to-Peak 5 route that inevitably backs up when people try to move south, and it would give folks the opportunity to lap all of those long blues weaving through the Colony. Whether it’d be a quad or a sixer, who can say.
The two main issues I can see with this are 1) finding space for another lift terminal at the base of Tombstone, which is already crowded; and 2) plotting a direct lift line through the Colony without having to build one or more angle stations.
Eh, for good measure, throw in another HSQ from a little ways below the bottom of Dreamcatcher (where Whitewater turns into Cascade) and run it all the way up to the top of Tombstone for the crowds moving north. Again, issues with spacing for terminals and routing through the Colony… but I can dream, can’t I? Plus, the map would then feature a big red X over the Colony, which accurately reflects how so many people feel about that entire development.
Lift Blog 
Does D-CTEC still make the UNI GS?
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No. Doppelmayr USA has greatly simplified its offerings in recent years. For detachables, choices are UNI-G or D-Line. There are Standard, Viper and tunnel versions of the Uni-G and two different D-Line enclosure shapes.
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When is D-Line coming to North America? Also, do you think that LPA will ever design a new fixed grip terminal? The Alpha seems to be getting stale.
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D-Line is for sale if someone wants to buy at a premium. It will not replace the current models, at least in the short term.
I think we are seeing the replacement for the Alpha is the Skytrac Monarch. If you look at Europe, Leitner built only detachables and surface lifts last year. That may be the path Leitner-Poma takes while leaving the fixed-grip business to its subsidiary in Salt Lake. The only Alpha this year appears to be going to Whitewater.
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The Alpha is still holding up strong contrary to Mr. Landsman. 2 Leitner poma alphas were constructed at Arapahoe Basin over the summer replacing molly hogan and Palivacini. Molly Hogan was also removed from the resort for an entire year. I bet this has taken place elsewhere as well.
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What is viper and tunnel?
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Uni-G-V (vision, not viper): https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2017/01/img_3492.jpg
Uni-G Tunnel: https://skiliftblog.files.wordpress.com/2015/09/img_31841.jpg
Both terminal styles are mechanically the same as any other Uni-G. The tunnel style only encloses the tire banks, hence where they are commonly seen on single sided mid-stations, but they’re also used as end terminals on some lifts in Europe.
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The tunnel stations are most common in Italy. We also have some here in Austria, e.g. the Bergeralmbahn has a tunnel vault drive at the top (and a custom housing at the bottom station). But then again it is very close to Italy, the main freeway from Germany to Italy passes over (!) this lift not far from the border.
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I believe the Tunnel is an Agamatic design, probably why it is most commonly seen in Italy.
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Why did they replace the old Poma lift? It was in service for 9 years. Was it relocated?
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Capacity. This pod gets slammed, especially in the afternoon when everyone needs to get back to Red Pine. The Poma is now Sunshine Express at Steamboat.
https://liftblog.com/sunshine-express-steamboat-co/
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This reuses tower tubes from the Poma HSQ. Now I believe there are only 3 Poma lifts in Utah (Red Pine gondola here, Supreme at Alta, and Eagle Point)
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This results in an interesting irony where the Tombstone Express is a Doppelmayr high speed six pack with the tower tubes of a Poma chairlift, while the Sunshine Express is a Poma high speed quad with the reused tower tubes of a Doppelmayr chairlift.
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Due to similarities in design, you can hardly even tell that the towers were made by Poma.
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There is also the Sunrise platter at Powder Mountain, which was built by Poma. Eagle point has 2 Poma chairlifts and 1 Poma platter. That makes it 6 Poma lifts in Utah.
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Now you can add Nordic Express at Nordic Valley.
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I forgot to add the abandoned platter lift at Blue Mountain. I believe the towers and bottom terminal still stand.
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why is the UNI-GS’s startup alarm different from all the others? it has this extra zig-zag kinda noise, sorry i didnt know how to explain it.
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I don’t think there is any way to say why it is different than the UNI-G or other Doppelmayr models. I think it is just the way it is designed. On the UNI-G, it is a bell. Hope this helps!
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Doppelmayr discontinued UNI-GS. From what I know, on the UNI-G design, it is a bell. D-Line I am not sure yet. Woodward’s hot laps is a Doppelmayr fixed grip. This uses Doppelmayr connect and has different signal and startup sounds than the ordinary Doppelmayr fixed grip. The signal sound is a bell playing through a speaker. All of the sounds are different on hot laps, and in my opinion, much less alarming:)
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I’m a little surprised this lift was built with EJ chairs, considering that the other 6 person detachable lifts from this time period of Doppelmayr CTEC’s used Garaventa chairs. Does anyone know why The Canyons opted for the EJ chairs? AFAIK, The Canyons/ASC was running out of money, and EJ chairs costed extra at that point in time.
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On further thought, what was The Canyons had no lifts with Garaventa carriers. Perhaps due to Sunpeak having EJ carriers at that time, and possibly a knowledge of what was to come, they decided to order EJ chairs. Timberline also has EJ chairs despite that not being standard on Doppelmayr fixed grips yet at the time of its construction.
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Someday PCMR’s going to get around to repainting the top terminal to match the bottom.
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imagine how nice it would be if Vail actually decided to add some bells and whistles. I would like to see this lift become a D-Line 8 with at the gate minimum of Direct Drive to increase speed especially considering how slammed this terrain pod gets. Or a backup lift could work
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This lift went down at noon yesterday for a “sheave change.” They estimated it would be closed for an hour, but it never reopened, even all day today. Anybody have any insight on this incident, or what could turj a sheave change into a multi-day fix?
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No insight into this specific incident, but my suspicion is that they found other problems when they went to change the sheave.
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Hooooo boy this poor, poor pod. Even with the addition of Over-and-Out and the possibility of upgrading Tombstone to an 8-pack, they’ve gotta add another lift out of here. My preference would be one going up to where Power Alley starts, giving skiiers the option to three directions: north towards Peak 5 and 9990, south towards Day Break and so on, or east into the Colony and back down to Tombstone. It would alleviate the Tombstone-to-Peak 5 route that inevitably backs up when people try to move south, and it would give folks the opportunity to lap all of those long blues weaving through the Colony. Whether it’d be a quad or a sixer, who can say.
The two main issues I can see with this are 1) finding space for another lift terminal at the base of Tombstone, which is already crowded; and 2) plotting a direct lift line through the Colony without having to build one or more angle stations.
Eh, for good measure, throw in another HSQ from a little ways below the bottom of Dreamcatcher (where Whitewater turns into Cascade) and run it all the way up to the top of Tombstone for the crowds moving north. Again, issues with spacing for terminals and routing through the Colony… but I can dream, can’t I? Plus, the map would then feature a big red X over the Colony, which accurately reflects how so many people feel about that entire development.
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make tombstone a 3200 p/h 8 person and move the current lift to replace something like saddleback or pioneer
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As someone who has ridden some of Boyne’s 8 packs on the east coast, you should expect a 3200 pph 8 pack to move ~2400 pph at a resort like Park City.
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