drjeff
Well-known member
If that's the 2nd motor of the year for that lift, combined with the other recent lift issues that SB has had, that's a terrible operational year for sure
-
Welcome to AlpineZone, the largest online community of skiers and snowboarders in the Northeast!
You may have to REGISTER before you can post. Registering is FREE, gets rid of the majority of advertisements, and lets you participate in giveaways and other AlpineZone events!
Sugarbush Lift Fail: Feb. 2014 Edition
- Thread starter thetrailboss
- Start date
If that's the 2nd motor of the year for that lift, combined with the other recent lift issues that SB has had, that's a terrible operational year for sure
mrvpilgrim
Member
I beleive that the issue earlier in the year was a drive shaft not the motor itself.
Yes, but the drive shaft is part of the motor. To repair, the motor needs to be completely removed and brought off the hill. Drive shafts breaking are not common either, I think that is what happened again. They say it will be open by Friday, I really hope so but not too optimistic.
drjeff
Well-known member
All depends on how quickly the replacement part(s) can be on site. I know with respect to Mount Snow the past 10+ days or so, when the drive shaft on the Bluebird broke, it took them about a day for the tear down/removal of the broken one and about a day for the installation of the new one. The problem was there was about a 5 day stretch in the middle where the replacement shaft, which had to be flown in from Europe, was held up in transit due to air traffic controller strikes in France
:smash: So most of the week that the Bluebird was out of commission there wasn't any work going on as they were waiting for the parts to arrive.If SB has quick access to the replacement parts for this problem, then I could see them having it back spinning by Friday
So I take it that the Presidents' Weekend lift fiasco did not impact your skiing?
If I was still a passholder I'd be pissed to say the least. Especially since the armchair resort managers here and on other forums have been saying for a long time that their skiing infrastructure was getting old and needed to be upgraded. Now they have no choice.
WWF-VT
Well-known member
I avoid Lincoln Peak on most Saturdays and holiday weekends and the only issue that I had on Presidents' Weekend is that a lot more people wound up at Mt Ellen. FWIW the lift issues at LP have allowed a lot more people to discover Mt Ellen this season.
As a regular, I can work around the problems. It was only when castlerock was closed due to lack of snow, that it was really frustrating. Also, like a sports team on a losing streak, fans tend to "pile on" such that every wind hold is a catastrophe, and its all the managements fault. While there were problems with a number of lifts on and off, the only one with recurring issues was Heavens Gate. Complaints about the NRX are simply not based on fact (My son was working ski patrol at mt Ellen, so I know there hasnt been an issue with it since early in the season). Dont get me wrong, HG is a vitally important lift, but its not that old, so I expect that it will be overhauled this offseason. The only lift that needs to be replaced is the valley house double (which, of course, didnt have any mechanical problems), which is in the works.
That being said, rumor has it that the underlying issue, was the loss of a good part of the lift mechanic crew. I dont know, but if I had to guess, and thats all this is, I would say the lift mechanics lacked the experience to promptly address minor issues that then became major. That may also have to be addressed.
Win and Adam are there every day and so I can't imagine these issues were very pleasant for them to deal with and they'll get it addressed in the offseason. and hopefully, they'll get the new quad in sooner rather than later.
NRX: that lift used to have TONS of problems, but I know that SB had Poma do a lot of work on it around 2002 or so and then again afterwards. During my time from 2007-2011 it was fairly reliable.
Lift ops: that would not surprise me. I recall that their lift ops crew was very good and they really took pride in their work. While Super Bravo would go down every once in a while, it was rarely a major issue. Certainly not having good experienced folks now could be an issue, but it could also be simply that things have a certain lifespan and they are pushing it with some things.
HG: it is circa 1984. So at 30 years old some things are going to start coming to the end of their useful life. I can't really think of too many lifts in Northern Vermont that are the same age and still operating daily. Smuggs has a few....and maybe the Jet at Jay.
And as to the "piling on", I would tend to agree, but does Sunday River have many mechanical issues with their lifts? Killington (now)? Stowe? Jay? I cite to these because these are major competitors with Sugarbush. Maybe they do have issues that we don't hear about.
