Bottom terminal in Purgatory Village with counterweight tensioning.Return carriage and bullwheel.Bottom station overview.Riding up the first part of the line.A mid-station serves alpine slide offloading in the summer and skier loading in the winter.Split tower and mid-load.The upper two-thirds of the lift spins empty all summer.Classic Riblet breakover.Upper lift line.34 towers!Arriving at the overhead drive.Unloading ramp and operator house.Side view of the top terminal.Empty lift line.The mid-station.Alpine slide part of the line.First few towers.Lower lift line.
It’s a very out-of-the-way mountain, so the Purgatory Village express is all the uphill capacity Purgatory really needs. In the future, I could see this lift getting replaced with a Skytrac quad or triple, but not a HSQ.
The Closet ExhibitionistOctober 29, 2026 / 9:26 pm
Dave Rathbun talked about it in this interview. Summer activities, including future MTB races are mentioned as motivation. I hope it gets done, but I won’t hold my breath. I wonder if the equipment Eagle Crest is trying to sell could be adapted to work here.
Saw that. Word down there is mixed. The chair 4 pod is fairly good beginner terrain, plus it serves the alpine slide in the summer via the midstation. Gondolas don’t lend themselves well to round-trip skiing. Plus building a gondola with a midstation would cost a ton, and MCP seems not to want to spend much if they can help it. If they build the proposed chair 11 it may take the place of the current 4 as far as beginner terrain goes, but I don’t know the terrain in the proposed area well enough to say that with absolute certainty.
This lift goes PAINFULLY slow in the winter. The replacement will certainly go much much faster
34 towers?? Forget that. Sandia’s Chair 3 has 41. Try beating that, Riblet (casually forgetting about the old Red chair at Red River, which had 44 towers)
How many pre-1984 (or was it some other year that Riblet changed its designs?) Riblets have safety bars?
LikeLike
Song Mountain NY, that one has footrests
LikeLiked by 1 person
Most likely due to having summer operation with foot passengers.
LikeLike
It’s probably time to upgrade this to a high speed quad. Kind of crazy that they still have a Riblet running here considering it is out of base.
LikeLike
It’s a very out-of-the-way mountain, so the Purgatory Village express is all the uphill capacity Purgatory really needs. In the future, I could see this lift getting replaced with a Skytrac quad or triple, but not a HSQ.
LikeLike
Hasn’t been officially announced yet. But, it appears that Purgatory plans to replace this lift with a Gondola in Summer of 2028.
LikeLike
Not from what I’ve heard. I just talked to a supervisor down there and she hasn’t heard anything like that. It’s not even in their master plan.
LikeLike
Dave Rathbun talked about it in this interview. Summer activities, including future MTB races are mentioned as motivation. I hope it gets done, but I won’t hold my breath. I wonder if the equipment Eagle Crest is trying to sell could be adapted to work here.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6XshUhV6las
LikeLike
Saw that. Word down there is mixed. The chair 4 pod is fairly good beginner terrain, plus it serves the alpine slide in the summer via the midstation. Gondolas don’t lend themselves well to round-trip skiing. Plus building a gondola with a midstation would cost a ton, and MCP seems not to want to spend much if they can help it. If they build the proposed chair 11 it may take the place of the current 4 as far as beginner terrain goes, but I don’t know the terrain in the proposed area well enough to say that with absolute certainty.
LikeLike
This lift goes PAINFULLY slow in the winter. The replacement will certainly go much much faster
34 towers?? Forget that. Sandia’s Chair 3 has 41. Try beating that, Riblet (casually forgetting about the old Red chair at Red River, which had 44 towers)
LikeLike