The Zuma Bowl expansion opened in 2007 with a Leitner-Poma quad chair.Top drive Alpha terminal.Upper section of the lift line.View down with views of Keystone and Breckenridge.Middle part of the line.Tower 10.View up the line.Combo assemblies on tower 6.Bottom terminal with sled carriers.Maze and loading area.Fixed return bullwheel and portal tower 1.Three-section tower 9.Riding up.Arriving at the unload.Lift line view.Alpha drive-tension unit.
Does anyone know why this lift didn’t go all the way to the bottom of Lightning trees and Lower Elephants Trunk? Was the terrain too steep or too narrow to fit more ski run of a blue difficulty down there or was it because of length?
Yeah A-basin has one of the best lift fleets in the business. It really does help disperse the “crowds”, which last season felt quite a bit smaller than winter park, copper, keystone or Breck.
I think a lot of the hype of new terrain zones and lifts finally waned and the traffic seemed similar to the pre-zuma bowl days. There are more people with ikon, yes, but they’re spread between zuma, beavers, hiking the wall, or lapping high capacity high speed lifts. Pali seemed like it had less lines than I’ve ever seen, probably because it’s no longer the only lapable expert lift.
With Alterra owning A-Basin directly now, getting the crowds under control, and the rest of the lift fleet being very new, is there any talk of a HSQ replacement for Zuma?
They are going through the process of updating the master plan, but in some of the more recent pieces of information released, upgrading ‘Zuma was not believed to be a near-term priority.
Near term improvements were to be around the following:
Increased parking
Adding out of base capacity and/or access for beginner/low intermediates by having a lift go from base to Wrangler to near bottom of LenEx
Crossing / access over/under Hwy 6 from the Upper lots.
Rumor has it that they are actually going to install a gondola starting from the Molly Hogan area to the Beacon Basin for out of base capacity. And yes, another lift in the upper Wrangler area, about 1,000 feet long. Someone from Ski Patrol mentioned this to me about a week ago, I guess the secret is already out.
Lift Blog 
Does anyone know why this lift didn’t go all the way to the bottom of Lightning trees and Lower Elephants Trunk? Was the terrain too steep or too narrow to fit more ski run of a blue difficulty down there or was it because of length?
LikeLike
I think it was some combination of all three.
LikeLike
Nothing wrong with a little walking.
LikeLike
The 3 combo tower 9 picture, it’s actually tower 8
LikeLike
When built, this was A-Basin’s newest lift. Now it’s the oldest lift as all of the other lifts that were around in 2007 have been retired or replaced.
LikeLike
Yeah A-basin has one of the best lift fleets in the business. It really does help disperse the “crowds”, which last season felt quite a bit smaller than winter park, copper, keystone or Breck.
I think a lot of the hype of new terrain zones and lifts finally waned and the traffic seemed similar to the pre-zuma bowl days. There are more people with ikon, yes, but they’re spread between zuma, beavers, hiking the wall, or lapping high capacity high speed lifts. Pali seemed like it had less lines than I’ve ever seen, probably because it’s no longer the only lapable expert lift.
LikeLike
Beautiful views
LikeLike
With Alterra owning A-Basin directly now, getting the crowds under control, and the rest of the lift fleet being very new, is there any talk of a HSQ replacement for Zuma?
LikeLike
They are going through the process of updating the master plan, but in some of the more recent pieces of information released, upgrading ‘Zuma was not believed to be a near-term priority.
Near term improvements were to be around the following:
LikeLike
Rumor has it that they are actually going to install a gondola starting from the Molly Hogan area to the Beacon Basin for out of base capacity. And yes, another lift in the upper Wrangler area, about 1,000 feet long. Someone from Ski Patrol mentioned this to me about a week ago, I guess the secret is already out.
LikeLike