devil's fiddle

[thetrailboss]

Looking at the pic--did they let the trees grow back in on skier's right or were they originally there? And is the liftline open to skiing or not? What does it look like without the lift? Does snowmaking extend the entire length, or just half-way as the picture seems to suggest.

I rode that lift ONCE in 2001 or so IIRC. I also skied that run in '07. It is interesting....

 

[Rogman]

Looking at the pic--did they let the trees grow back in on skier's right or were they originally there? And is the liftline open to skiing or not? What does it look like without the lift? Does snowmaking extend the entire length, or just half-way as the picture seems to suggest.

I rode that lift ONCE in 2001 or so IIRC. I also skied that run in '07. It is interesting....

It's not a trail, but skiable. Snowmaking is almost buried in the woods on skiers left due to the growth of underbrush. We should be able to discern POWDR's intentions for the coming season by whether they do some brush cutting to clear out the hydrants. The lift towers are still there, but the chairs and cable have been removed and are sitting at the bottom. I was told by someone high up that it had been sold (to Russia, I think), but then the deal fell through.

 

[deadheadskier]

Why did they remove the lift in the first place?

 

[Rogman]

I'm far less knowledgeable than others that post here on the subject, but my impression is that after the land swap, etc. the focus of growth was back to where the interconnect would be. Additionally, the capacity was no longer needed, and it's really an oddly situated lift. I was also given the impression that it's expensive to inspect an aerial lift, and it wasn't worth even that money to keep it running for the few days a year they actually needed it. Lines at Bear aren't what they used to be.

 

[deadheadskier]

interesting

i remember Bear being packed on warm spring weekend days in April where it was absolutely necessary to run it as the OL lift would have a 20+ minute line.

times change

 

[thetrailboss]

It's not a trail, but skiable. Snowmaking is almost buried in the woods on skiers left due to the growth of underbrush. We should be able to discern POWDR's intentions for the coming season by whether they do some brush cutting to clear out the hydrants. The lift towers are still there, but the chairs and cable have been removed and are sitting at the bottom. I was told by someone high up that it had been sold (to Russia, I think), but then the deal fell through.

Sounds like what happened at Tenney--they took apart a lift only to have the plans fall through. Now Killington has a lift in pieces when it would have been better to leave it and operate it. Smart. :roll:

As to why it was removed, it came down to money I'm sure.

FWIW IIRC Devil's Fiddle came first before Bear Mountain Quad, but I could have that wrong. Maybe it was installed when BM was a triple...

 

[WWF-VT]

Just my opinion, but it doesn't seem to make sense to have two lifts servicing the same terrain located so close to each other - Devils Fiddle and the Bear Mtn Quad. Wonder if they now regret cutting that trail so wide ? Maybe if it was narrower and had some protection from sun and wind with some trees it could be a very challenging natural snow trail.

 

[thetrailboss]

Just my opinion, but it doesn't seem to make sense to have two lifts servicing the same terrain located so close to each other - Devils Fiddle and the Bear Mtn Quad. Wonder if they now regret cutting that trail so wide ? Maybe if it was narrower and had some protection from sun and wind with some trees it could be a very challenging natural snow trail.

I think that they had two lifts because they anticipated more traffic in that area due to the now abandoned development plans on the backside.

 

[TheBEast]

Just my opinion, but it doesn't seem to make sense to have two lifts servicing the same terrain located so close to each other - Devils Fiddle and the Bear Mtn Quad. Wonder if they now regret cutting that trail so wide ? Maybe if it was narrower and had some protection from sun and wind with some trees it could be a very challenging natural snow trail.

You do realize that there is now only 1 working lift there, right?

I too question why they thought two lifts there made sense....why not replace the bear mountain quad with a high speed and you wouldn't need the second lift even if they had done some expansion over there at some point.

 

[thetrailboss]

You do realize that there is now only 1 working lift there, right?

I too question why they thought two lifts there made sense....why not replace the bear mountain quad with a high speed and you wouldn't need the second lift even if they had done some expansion over there at some point.

The lifts predate high speed quads. Bear Mountain was originally a triple, and Devil's Fiddle (IIRC) was Killington's first quad lift. The lifts date back to the late 1970's/early 1980's.

Again, I don't know why there were two lifts...other than to say that there was more traffic there then because of the Northeast Passage area and the proposed expansion into the backbowl.

 

[WWF-VT]

You do realize that there is now only 1 working lift there, right?

Yes - I know that there is just one lift operating there

 

[skiadikt]

The lifts predate high speed quads. Bear Mountain was originally a triple, and Devil's Fiddle (IIRC) was Killington's first quad lift. The lifts date back to the late 1970's/early 1980's.

Again, I don't know why there were two lifts...other than to say that there was more traffic there then because of the Northeast Passage area and the proposed expansion into the backbowl.

correct. also in the 80's before hi speed quads, bear was more popular since it did have all that lift capacity with much shorter rides on the warmer side of the mtn. hi speed quads and 2 gondis on the front have changed the way the the mtn is skied. back in the mid-late 80's when k was doing upwards of a million skier days a year, even with the fiddle quad running, you could have huge lift lines at the bear mtn quad. now that skier days have been squashed down to the mid-600's, there's no need for all that capacity over there.

 

[Highway Star]

Not to mention, the fiddle was much more popular and saw more traffic when they made snow on it (HINT).

 

[deadheadskier]

I really don't get how Outer Limits has always been the more popular trail.

 

[drjeff]

I really don't get how Outer Limits has always been the more popular trail.

Base Lodge deck viewing + full length chair viewing would be my guess as to why OL wins the masses popularity contest. Also, from day 1, K marketed the heck out of OL with the whole "longest, steepest, widest" marketing angle and that caught on and stuck with the masses. Heck, back in 82/83 when I was an adolescent, after skiing OL for the 1st time, at the end of the day I HAD to go downstairs to the ski shop at KBL and buy one of the "I Skied Outer Limits" posters that they sold and it was proudly tacked up on the wall of my room within 5 minutes of getting home that night!

Fiddle, being cut + opened a couple of years after OL was kind of in the "little brother"/less respect mode from day 1, even though when K maintains it (like they did for the 1st 20 or so years of its life) it's a much better trail with much more character than OL especially since the invention and now fairly regular use of winch cats on OL.

 

[skiadikt]

one more thing, the fiddle with it's southeast orientation is the first trail to soften & corn up on a sunny march day. it's the absolute perfect spring skiing bump trail. hopefully powdr will wake up & realize what they have ...

 

[millerm277]

Okay, the actual reason for having the Fiddle Quad, was because of the traffic coming off Falls Brook (or at least expected to be.). The Sunrise Triple was cut way down in the mid 90s, it used to go all the way down to the Back Behind Saloon at Rt 4/100, with a midstation. See map: here

And Pres Smith had plans to expand into Parker's Gore (further over from Sunrise), which would have brought more skiers over there, those plans got shelved in the late 80s I think. When moving back toward Bear, they then would have gone to the DF lift and not made more traffic for the other lifts in that area.