Return terminal at Blackcomb base area during the summer.In the summer, only half the chairs have bubbles.Crossing under Excalibur Gondola’s second section.View back down the line.Arriving at the bottom of Solar Coaster.Breakover towers.Top terminal from above with parking rail.Riding down.Crossing under Excalibur.Lower section of the lift.Ambulance car in the winter.Top drive station with grip maintenance bay.
Rob Katz mentioned he just doesn’t like them, and I think his disliking of them is justified. They get scratched up, they take time to clean, and they decrease wind resistance. Kind of a shame, I can think of a few applications where a bubble chair at a Vail resort would be great. Skyline at Stevens Pass would be a good one. That’s the chair I always go right to if I’m hot, that lift freezes you.
It really depends on the mountain. A well run bubble lift can be a huge advantage for guest experience. Some mountains are not willing to put in the extra money and effort to maintain the condition of the bubbles or take them off the line when appropriate. That leads to them getting scratched and not being used by most lift passengers.
Others, like Mount Snow, Okemo (pre Vail at least), Big Sky, and Killington do a great job. It provides the best of both worlds where you get the protection from the elements of a gondola, but with the convenience of not having to remove equipment when riding. Vail seems to love gondolas, so I don’t get why they are reluctant to use bubbles.
-Collin Parsons I think the glass on gondolas are much harder to scratch than the plastic material of the bubbles. Too bad they can’t make glass bubbles…
That’s interesting. All the resorts that have bubble chairs, Big Sky, Copper Mountain, Sunshine Village, Okemo, Killington, etc, They are all owned by Altera. What’s interesting is Park City is owned by Vail. Did vail by canyons after Orange bubble was put in?
All the old foundations for the towers for this lift are still there, with the bolts sawed off. The top operator hut for Wizard is still up there too, which I presume is being used for ski patrol or something.
The top hut for the Wizard is gone, but the base hut for the solar is still there. It is used by the freestyle club, and they operate a bag jump in the cut out where the solar station was.
Though the Wizard, Solar Coaster and 7th Heaven are all shown as starting operation in 1987, I recall being there the season before and the Wizard’s being built was THE big deal – to the point of them handing out “We’re Off to Ski the Wizard” and “Coming soon: The Wizard of Aaaaahs” buttons at the end of the previous season. I still have both.
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Is Whistler going to get another bubble lift?
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Probably not as long asa Vail owns them and continues to hate bubbles.
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What is up with vails hatred to bubble lifts? I think bubble lifts are a great idea.
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Rob Katz mentioned he just doesn’t like them, and I think his disliking of them is justified. They get scratched up, they take time to clean, and they decrease wind resistance. Kind of a shame, I can think of a few applications where a bubble chair at a Vail resort would be great. Skyline at Stevens Pass would be a good one. That’s the chair I always go right to if I’m hot, that lift freezes you.
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It really depends on the mountain. A well run bubble lift can be a huge advantage for guest experience. Some mountains are not willing to put in the extra money and effort to maintain the condition of the bubbles or take them off the line when appropriate. That leads to them getting scratched and not being used by most lift passengers.
Others, like Mount Snow, Okemo (pre Vail at least), Big Sky, and Killington do a great job. It provides the best of both worlds where you get the protection from the elements of a gondola, but with the convenience of not having to remove equipment when riding. Vail seems to love gondolas, so I don’t get why they are reluctant to use bubbles.
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-Collin Parsons I think the glass on gondolas are much harder to scratch than the plastic material of the bubbles. Too bad they can’t make glass bubbles…
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That’s interesting. All the resorts that have bubble chairs, Big Sky, Copper Mountain, Sunshine Village, Okemo, Killington, etc, They are all owned by Altera. What’s interesting is Park City is owned by Vail. Did vail by canyons after Orange bubble was put in?
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Yes they did.
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Copper is not owned by Alterra, they are owned by Pwdr Corp. Copper is a part of the Ikon pass though and that’s their relationship with Alterra.
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Big Sky is owned by Boyne Resorts, Okemo is Vail Resorts, Sunshine Village is the Scurfield Family and Killington is Powdr Co. Not Alterra.
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Oops my bad, but all of those are on the icon pass right?
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@Kaden K, you are correct. They are all owned by Ikon
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Not owned, just parteners.
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All the old foundations for the towers for this lift are still there, with the bolts sawed off. The top operator hut for Wizard is still up there too, which I presume is being used for ski patrol or something.
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The top hut for the Wizard is gone, but the base hut for the solar is still there. It is used by the freestyle club, and they operate a bag jump in the cut out where the solar station was.
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They never lowered towers 10 and 11 in height after 1994, an area where the lift had to gain a lot of height to cross over the Cruiser lift.
Tower 14A was also a later addition, added in 1994 to ensure there was enough room for Excalibur’s cabins to clear this lift’s cables.
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Park City has a bubble lift and its in Vail company
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That was built before Vail bought Park City/Canyons. Vail has built no bubble lifts since Vista Bahn in 1985.
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That was built when it was The Canyons.
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Though the Wizard, Solar Coaster and 7th Heaven are all shown as starting operation in 1987, I recall being there the season before and the Wizard’s being built was THE big deal – to the point of them handing out “We’re Off to Ski the Wizard” and “Coming soon: The Wizard of Aaaaahs” buttons at the end of the previous season. I still have both.
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