What is your favorite chairlift?

[NYDB]

Yeah I don't think there's anything up there besides a glorified snack bar?

I was shocked when Stratton upgraded that POS gondola a few years ago with new cabins, new top terminal, and (I believe) some new equipment iirc. Now it's even worse in the wind. Honestly that gondola and Loon's gondola are the ones in the East that would most benefit to becoming bubble chairs.....and both mountains put a bunch of $$$$ into them. Still scratching my head on that one, especially given the fact both mountains cater to a demographic that would absolutely eat up the novelty of bubble chairs.

I‘m Sure Stratton will see some cap X love from Alterra in the next 5-10, just based on their clientele As you say.
An actual peak restaurant like K maybe They already have a wedding venue, not sure if they need another? I thought the kids don’t get married as much these days.
. Replace ursa with a bubble 6. Lower the towers on the gondola if possible. Maybe rebuild whatever is left of Ursa and run it at kidderbrook.

 

[machski]

Loon does quite a steady business in the summer off their Gondola. Granted the Summit Cafe is kind of small and nothing fancy. I think they plan to redo it a bit, but the summit there will never support anything much bigger than the current Cafe's footprint. They also get some downhill traffic on the Gondi in the winter. They have a dedicated snowshoe trail to the Gondi summit but they require pure snowshoes to download downhill. Loon has been synonymous with a Gondola since day 1 pretty much. The plan is to put a new one in at the tail end of their current 2030 Flight path, not replace with a chair. Kanc8 and possibly North and South will be bubble chairs. We know Kanc8 definitely will be.

 

[machski]

Favorite lifts for me are ones used lightly but access really nice terrain. Mittersill Double and Oz Quad are two lifts I really like for this. A definite soft spot for MRG single too, though it doesn't fall in the lightly ridden category.

Out west, we all know signature lifts like JHMR's Tram etc that access killer terrain. Again, I like the lessor used lifts that do the same. Deep Temerity at AH, Challenger at BS, Silverado and Granite Chief at Squaw, Chair 22 and 23 at Mammoth, Northwest Express at Bachelor, etc. Chair 23 gets a nod for unique given the summit bunker terminal and arrival "tunnel" the chair enters at the top. Quite unique for sure.

 

[mikec142]

Chiming in regarding gondolas...The one at Gore replaced the old one which was tiny and terrifying. The old one had some sections that were really, really high. That said, I think the Gore gondola is important. It can get brutally cold and windy at Gore and while I'm pretty used to skiing in that weather, it's nice to be able to take a break from the elements without taking a break from skiing. When my kids were younger, there was the occasional day where it was so cold at Sugarbush/MRG that we would head over to Stowe so we could still ski, but have some protection. Now that my kids are in their late teens, I'm less concerned.

Speaking more generally about gondolas, I do like them when it's wet out. I also like them as a base to the top ride. Think Aspen. On our recent trip to Aspen, I don't think I rode the gondola once other than to get to the top at the beginning of the day. But it's a great way to get started and get your self set for the day...boots adjusted, etc.

I don't mind taking my skis off, but I do mind my gloves getting wet while holding my skis.

 

[x10003q]

Stratton does not have any septic at the top. This is why there is no Food/Bev at the top. The one septic field they had at the top failed about 5 years ago. They would need a pipe to bring the waste down the mountain. Pre Alterra, I was told they are never going to have the money for the pipe. The Hubert Haus has been a snack bar/warming hut with no running water for 20 plus years.

The Whiteface gondola was a big waste of money, but who cares, its only NYS free money. There are no green trails off the top and there is only 1 intermediate trail that can get crazy as it turns into an icy race track. Who builds a gondola that does not serve at least one green trail at an Eastern ski area? New skiers and little kids love gondolas but cannot use the one at WF. There is some brilliant marketing. The black trails off the gondola basically end at the mid mountain lodge and are served by the Little WF double. Below the lodge there is a long, boring runout that most advanced skiers usually do not want to yoyo. ORDA basically built a gondola that serves nobody. The reason for the WF gondola was that the ORDA Board, which is mostly filled with Lake Placid members, got pissed that Gore was getting a new Gondola replacement in 1999. Eventually, this type of decision making led to the insane decision to put a gondola on Belleayre.

 

[BenedictGomez]

The Whiteface gondola was a big waste of money, but who cares, its only NYS free money. There are no green trails off the top and there is only 1 intermediate trail that can get crazy as it turns into an icy race track. Who builds a gondola that does not serve at least one green trail at an Eastern ski area?

My submission for most dangerous eastern trail per square foot!

 

[raisingarizona]

A couple more I’ve thought of….

the north face t-bar at crested butte. You have to lap two other chairs to return to the t from the north face terrain but that t-bar gets you to some of Colorados best in bounds terrain for technical steep skiing.

the gold hill chair at telluride. You can access the majority of tellurides steep stuff from that chair as well as some very cool hike to terrain and of course, the legendary side country of bear creek canyon.

 

[JimG.]

Less sucky at places like Gore where you take the gondola to go to another pod or use the chair to access the same terrain.

This works out great because Gore is so spread out. I use that gondi once or at most twice a day and many days never.

 

[jaytrem]

When I was at Whiteface in the summer the gondola was doing rather good business. Always figured it was more of a tourist lift than a good for skiing lift. $25 or $19 for kids/seniors. Figured 9 hours a day and $22 per person on average. Just 25 people per hour will get you about $5000 a day, and that seems kinda low from what I've seen. If they're open around 100 days that $500k. Not too bad and I bet it's really double that.

 

[Harvey]

Less sucky at places like Gore

New marketing slogan?

"Our gondola is less sucky!"

 

[ss20]

This works out great because Gore is so spread out. I use that gondi once or at most twice a day and many days never.

Exactly. But you know as a midweek K skier if Canyon isn't running "lapping" the K1 sucks.

 

[ss20]

Stratton does not have any septic at the top. This is why there is no Food/Bev at the top. The one septic field they had at the top failed about 5 years ago. They would need a pipe to bring the waste down the mountain. Pre Alterra, I was told they are never going to have the money for the pipe. The Hubert Haus has been a snack bar/warming hut with no running water for 20 plus years.

That's very interesting! I don't mean to question your source but I'm curious why they wouldn't run a sewage pipe down from the top. Killington just put one down Flume (iirc) from the top a dozen-ish years ago when the new Peak Lodge went in. That's a much more challenging place to lay pipe than down something like Standard.

I always thought Stratton never had a real summit lodge simply because they have zero room up there.

 

[JimG.]

Exactly. But you know as a midweek K skier if Canyon isn't running "lapping" the K1 sucks.

I ride it at lunch to get to the summit. Otherwise I avoid it.

I think the comparison to the way Gore is set up is accurate.

 

[deadheadskier]

Absent from this thread so far I believe

Bear Mountain Quad at Killington.

Outer Limits at one point was the indisputable most famous ski trail in the East. Perhaps still is, but the Bear luster is no longer what it was when I was a kid skiing K frequently in the 80s and 90s. I used to hardly ever leave Bear back then.

Still remains a great chair for the terrain it accesses plus watching good skiers rip an incredible bump run.

 

[ss20]

Absent from this thread so far I believe

Bear Mountain Quad at Killington.

Outer Limits at one point was the indisputable most famous ski trail in the East. Perhaps still is, but the Bear luster is no longer what it was when I was a kid skiing K frequently in the 80s and 90s. I used to hardly ever leave Bear back then.

Still remains a great chair for the terrain it accesses plus watching good skiers rip an incredible bump run.

Yes! When all the trees and trails are open over there Bear is a hard place to leave!

OL will always be my favorite trail. Too many amazing memories of sunshine, bumps, beers, and music.

 

[abc]

As far as I'm concern, a chair is just the means to an end.

So anywhere there's good terrain is my favorite chair. Some that comes to mind are,

Powder Seeker in Big Sky: fast chair to access a wide bowl on both side, always has good condition
Challenger: it just so happen I know a few hidden spots by that chair.

Well, too many to list...

 

[x10003q]

When I was at Whiteface in the summer the gondola was doing rather good business. Always figured it was more of a tourist lift than a good for skiing lift. $25 or $19 for kids/seniors. Figured 9 hours a day and $22 per person on average. Just 25 people per hour will get you about $5000 a day, and that seems kinda low from what I've seen. If they're open around 100 days that $500k. Not too bad and I bet it's really double that.

The WF gondola is very popular in the summer. It is open from July 2 - Oct 12 (it is closed for 5 days inside those date) from 830am to 530pm. The 2019-2020 ORDA report says there were 41,976 rides for revenue of $882,648. At the less promoted Gore, there were only 12,313 rides and $192, 921 in revenue. Belleayre was even worse at 5,983 and $80,902 in revenue.

https://orda.org/wp-content/uploads/sites/7/2021/03/annreport19-20ADA.pdf

 

[flakeydog]

Shout out to Schlasman double at Bridger Bowl. Lift served backcountry access (transceiver still req'd). Beep in to ride up the lift, make your own way down. No markings, signage, or cut trails, just a lift plunked down in what was previously out of bounds. Honorable mention to the Headwaters double at Moonlight Basin (now Big Sky). Great dropping off point to get to the Headwaters area or even back to Big Sky via A-Z chutes.

 

[Newpylong]

Exactly. But you know as a midweek K skier if Canyon isn't running "lapping" the K1 sucks.

It's just as fast to ski to the bottom out of the Canyon mid-week and take K1 to the top and back into the Canyon vs riding the the quad. It's not a time thing, but just a pain if you don't like taking your board(s) off.

 

[BenedictGomez]

New marketing slogan?

"Our gondola is less sucky!"

This is not a smart time to be sexy anyway!