Side view of the bottom terminal.Lift line.View leaving the bottom terminal.View back down the line.Arriving up top.Upper station overview.Unloading area.Tower 11.Loading area and motor room.
I’m going to place my bet now: the Swift Current detachable quad at Big Sky or parts from it whether that be basically a relocation albeit much shorter, or just chairs, towers, line gear, and new Uni-G terminals, will replace this lift in 2021.
There aren’t any real hints that a lift other than Kanc or possibly Barker are going in in the east next year or in 2021. We know something is going on with Barker; it’s been surveyed twice in the last few months, but I highly doubt they would replace a 30 year old detachable quad with a 20 year old detachable quad. There’s no logic behind that. Kanc wasn’t a mystery since it appeared through WMNF. Nobody from Sugarloaf has heard something about a new lift there (and if anything was going on there, someone would know).
I don’t think it’s going east, and the only other detachables that we know are on Boyne’s list (other than numerous at Big Sky) are at Snoqualmie, specifically a replacement for this lift or a new International detach quad at Alpental. My bet is that this lift gets replaced first.
For Barker someone on this blog got some insider info from someone and said they are still deciding on a 6 or 8 for Barker so a detach quad will probably not replace Barker.
I know a HSQ is in their master plan but I’m not convinced it’s really necessary for such a short lift. Ride time is already under 5 minutes. Maybe just for the capacity upgrade?
I believe Snoqualmie’s master plan calls for an infill lift & new runs between Summit Central and Summit West; could the old Swifty go there?
Then there’s also a replacement for Wildside, which also helps with the West-Central link, and which is older and lower-capacity than Triple 60.
The alignment is going to change and start at the same place Central Express currently starts. I’ve heard talk that Central Express might be repurposed as the new Triple 60 HSQ. And I’ll bet if they can afford it Central Express will become a 6 pack. As for Wildside personally I’d realign it to begin east of its current location, so more or less in the Mountaineers area, and then have a separate lift to replace the old Thunderbird.
Yeah with the planned realignment (which is a great idea), a detachable Tripe 60 makes more sense. It should help alleviate some of the crowds on Central Express as well, although a 6-pack replacement still seems like a no-brainer there.
With Triple 60 and some of the base area buildings relocated they’d have more room to upgrade Gallery too, which would help with beginner flow and reduce the long lift lines on Holiday.
I stand corrected. Looks like they attempted to paint them at some point, and the paint didn’t stick so well to the galvanised coating as you can see it peeling in this photo.
CTEC. Visually, anyway, not much is different except carrier design. The Enterprise and Orion terminals carried over from Thiokol into CTEC’s quiver. This carrier’s rounded shape with separate hanger and taco was new for CTEC; contrast it with the much more angular, single-unit, welded design of, say Chair 7 at CM or Timberline at PowMow. I remember–who knows how accurately; I was 19 the last time I did any maintenance–7 and 8 at CM, ’74 Thiokol and ’84 CTEC respectively, having similar or identical controls and motor room stuff. Definitely similar line machinery. 8 may have a hydraulic e-brake pump, where 7 had a manual pump. Lots of fun. Especially if it was the top op hitting the big red button and me at the bottom climbing up the ladder in my tele boots and pumping the brake back off. I did get to make them feel bad about it, which is always something. Lastly, 1983 was well after CTEC spun off from the ever-changing Thiokol, known “variously {as} Thiokol Chemical Corporation(/Company), Morton Thiokol Inc. (MTI), Cordant Technologies Inc., Thiokol Propulsion, AIC (Alcoa Industrial Components) Group, then part of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Inc., then ATK Thiokol, ATK Launch Systems Group; finally Orbital ATK before becoming part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and Northrop Grumman,” according to the Wiki article. Sorry for the direct copy/paste formatting. I not technology good.
Lift Blog 
Anyone know anything about the three day “scheduled” shutdown of this lift that started today? Gearbox replacement?
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I’m going to place my bet now: the Swift Current detachable quad at Big Sky or parts from it whether that be basically a relocation albeit much shorter, or just chairs, towers, line gear, and new Uni-G terminals, will replace this lift in 2021.
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They said it would go east
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Who said that?
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Nobody.
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There aren’t any real hints that a lift other than Kanc or possibly Barker are going in in the east next year or in 2021. We know something is going on with Barker; it’s been surveyed twice in the last few months, but I highly doubt they would replace a 30 year old detachable quad with a 20 year old detachable quad. There’s no logic behind that. Kanc wasn’t a mystery since it appeared through WMNF. Nobody from Sugarloaf has heard something about a new lift there (and if anything was going on there, someone would know).
I don’t think it’s going east, and the only other detachables that we know are on Boyne’s list (other than numerous at Big Sky) are at Snoqualmie, specifically a replacement for this lift or a new International detach quad at Alpental. My bet is that this lift gets replaced first.
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same. that should be first priority. it will reduce the massive load on central
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For Barker someone on this blog got some insider info from someone and said they are still deciding on a 6 or 8 for Barker so a detach quad will probably not replace Barker.
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I know a HSQ is in their master plan but I’m not convinced it’s really necessary for such a short lift. Ride time is already under 5 minutes. Maybe just for the capacity upgrade?
I believe Snoqualmie’s master plan calls for an infill lift & new runs between Summit Central and Summit West; could the old Swifty go there?
Then there’s also a replacement for Wildside, which also helps with the West-Central link, and which is older and lower-capacity than Triple 60.
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The alignment is going to change and start at the same place Central Express currently starts. I’ve heard talk that Central Express might be repurposed as the new Triple 60 HSQ. And I’ll bet if they can afford it Central Express will become a 6 pack. As for Wildside personally I’d realign it to begin east of its current location, so more or less in the Mountaineers area, and then have a separate lift to replace the old Thunderbird.
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Yeah with the planned realignment (which is a great idea), a detachable Tripe 60 makes more sense. It should help alleviate some of the crowds on Central Express as well, although a 6-pack replacement still seems like a no-brainer there.
With Triple 60 and some of the base area buildings relocated they’d have more room to upgrade Gallery too, which would help with beginner flow and reduce the long lift lines on Holiday.
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Rumor on the mountain is central will be a 8 (crossing fingers for bubbles) and T60 will be a HSQ.
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This is my fav chairlift
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did this lift once have green carriers?
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Doubt it. I recall it having the same galvanised carriers as pictured here, years ago.
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Nah http://www.skilifts.org/old/images/resort_images/wa-snoqualmie/triple60/chair.jpg
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I stand corrected. Looks like they attempted to paint them at some point, and the paint didn’t stick so well to the galvanised coating as you can see it peeling in this photo.
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Is this a CTEC or Thiokol. Are there any differences between early CTECs and Thiokol lifts.
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CTEC. Visually, anyway, not much is different except carrier design. The Enterprise and Orion terminals carried over from Thiokol into CTEC’s quiver. This carrier’s rounded shape with separate hanger and taco was new for CTEC; contrast it with the much more angular, single-unit, welded design of, say Chair 7 at CM or Timberline at PowMow. I remember–who knows how accurately; I was 19 the last time I did any maintenance–7 and 8 at CM, ’74 Thiokol and ’84 CTEC respectively, having similar or identical controls and motor room stuff. Definitely similar line machinery. 8 may have a hydraulic e-brake pump, where 7 had a manual pump. Lots of fun. Especially if it was the top op hitting the big red button and me at the bottom climbing up the ladder in my tele boots and pumping the brake back off. I did get to make them feel bad about it, which is always something. Lastly, 1983 was well after CTEC spun off from the ever-changing Thiokol, known “variously {as} Thiokol Chemical Corporation(/Company), Morton Thiokol Inc. (MTI), Cordant Technologies Inc., Thiokol Propulsion, AIC (Alcoa Industrial Components) Group, then part of Alliant Techsystems (ATK) Inc., then ATK Thiokol, ATK Launch Systems Group; finally Orbital ATK before becoming part of Northrop Grumman Innovation Systems and Northrop Grumman,” according to the Wiki article. Sorry for the direct copy/paste formatting. I not technology good.
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Does anyone know if the red tower at the top of Triple 60 Face was originally from the Single Chair?
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