Wish Bone – Snow Valley, AB

There is no other lift like this one – it operates as a pulse with just two large groups of chairs.
Loading area and motor room.
A platoon of 20 chairs.
Arriving at the top.
All riders go around the bullwheel and unload facing downhill.
The top station without chairs passing through.
A group of chairs heading up.
Lower part of the lift line.
A pulse arriving at the summit.
Empty line between groupings.
Tower 1.
The bottom terminal with integrates sheave assemblies.
Side view of the drive station.
Lower terminal seen from above.
Tower 5.
T4.
Pulse lifts tend to have lots of sheaves due to heavy loading.
Another look at the drive station.
The entire lift.

13 thoughts on “Wish Bone – Snow Valley, AB

  1. Kaden K April 18, 2019 / 10:29 pm

    I doubt the lift will be running fast for that long because it is a short lift.

    Like

  2. Somebody April 19, 2019 / 12:27 pm

    Huh, 180 degree unloading.. Interesting.

    Liked by 1 person

    • themav April 19, 2019 / 4:07 pm

      It’s the only reason I can think to have a pulse lift for. Sending people around the bullwheel at almost any speed above the start/slow speed is bad news.

      Like

  3. Astrid Lindgren August 4, 2019 / 5:46 pm

    None of this makes sense. It’s so short. Why do weird when normal would do the skiing populace better?

    Like

    • Kaden K September 6, 2019 / 5:53 pm

      They didn’t really have very much room at the top, so maybe the fact that only pulses could have 180 degrees unloading contributed.

      Like

      • Kaden K January 26, 2020 / 12:08 pm

        I rode that lift, and having it speed up really helps get more laps in.

        Like

        • skier72 April 23, 2020 / 10:34 am

          It’s true that this is more efficient than a traditional fixed-grip chairlift. It accomplishes the purpose of detachable, lower speeds for loading & unloading, but fast ride time. Since the two platoons of chairs are so large (20 each), and the line is so small (5 towers), the disadvantages of pulse lifts don’t really apply here (long wait times for chairs, slowing down during the ride). When I rode it last year, I thought the lift was actually very efficient and accomplished what a detachable accomplishes.

          Like

  4. Max Hart January 26, 2020 / 1:33 pm

    Here’s a video I found of this lift running at it’s design speed between loading and unloading. It’s pretty strange looking but seems to work well.

    Liked by 2 people

    • Max Hart January 26, 2020 / 1:33 pm

      **Start at 1:18**

      Like

      • Kaden K January 27, 2020 / 7:59 pm

        The very close chair spacing makes it seem really fast.

        Like

  5. Nicholas Gili May 1, 2022 / 10:03 am

    Imagine missing your chair there with a long line waiting behind you.

    Like

  6. bluebottlenose March 20, 2023 / 6:10 am

    Both snow valley’s in Canada have very unique lifts. This place has one of the only pulse chairlifts in north America, and Snow valley Ontario has the only fixed grip 6 pack.

    Like

  7. liftnerd October 12, 2023 / 11:55 am

    What is the chair spacing here?

    Like

Leave a comment