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Wachusett New Lift progress?

Mum skier

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Jan 25, 2021
Messages
173
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28
Hi All,
Anyone know how the new lift installation at WaWa is going?
For this season our family dropped Epic (first time in 6 years) and only have Indy. However for the first time I bought myself a midweek WaWa pass. It’s about 45 minutes away and seemed worth it as I should get a few quiet days at work to get some short sessions in.
BUT….maybe I chose a bad year. If the summit lift is not finished that’s a significant drop in terrain. I saw photos showing old lift has gone and some news articles saying target mid December opening. But nothing on their web site? Or not like front page updates. Anyone know how it’s going?
 

drjeff

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Joined
Jan 18, 2006
Messages
19,552
Points
113
Location
Brooklyn, CT
Hi All,
Anyone know how the new lift installation at WaWa is going?
For this season our family dropped Epic (first time in 6 years) and only have Indy. However for the first time I bought myself a midweek WaWa pass. It’s about 45 minutes away and seemed worth it as I should get a few quiet days at work to get some short sessions in.
BUT….maybe I chose a bad year. If the summit lift is not finished that’s a significant drop in terrain. I saw photos showing old lift has gone and some news articles saying target mid December opening. But nothing on their web site? Or not like front page updates. Anyone know how it’s going?
From a lift construction perspective, they seem to be on track for their targeted completion date. I wouldn't even fathom that it won't be operational this season, and likely will be ready to go from day 1 with what is left to complete the lift over the next 2+ months
 

doublediamond

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Joined
Dec 22, 2013
Messages
587
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43
They've been posting weekly update videos all summer. Check out their socials.

They are on schedule. Towers were flown last week.
 

shawnanigans

New member
Joined
Feb 16, 2015
Messages
24
Points
3
Lift construction is going well and on target. Towers and cross arms were installed via helicopter last week. They are targeting to open the mountain the Friday after Thanksgiving (11/28) with Monadnock and Minuteman lift served terrain. December 9th is the targeted date for the public opening of the new summit lift. I don't think you should have any fear of the summit not being available for an extended period of the season. Might lose a day or 2 mid-season if they need to resplice the haul rope due to stretching.

Weekdays are great up there. I live 20 minutes away and WFH so I typically take a long lunch and get about an hour on the hill most days. The place is pretty much a ghost town between 10:30-2:30 after the retired first tracks crew wraps up and before the after-school programs start arriving.
 

Mum skier

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Jan 25, 2021
Messages
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Thanks everyone. I usually do a couple of midweek days there and just pay for a ticket. But it’s my treat to myself (sadly I’m the only keen skier left in our family) this year to have that as an option.
 

speden

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Nov 18, 2008
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Kinda sad to see them put in higher uphill capacity to the summit. It was already overcrowded with a quad, so I can only imagine what it will be like with the new lift
 

Mum skier

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Jan 25, 2021
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Kinda sad to see them put in higher uphill capacity to the summit. It was already overcrowded with a quad, so I can only imagine what it will be like with the new lift
Apparently capacity will not be increased. The six seater chairs are further apart than on a quad so overall when operating at capacity the uphill amount is the same. But a shorter ride time on quiet weekdays will be nice. The old quad was running pretty slow I think
 

drjeff

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Jan 18, 2006
Messages
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Location
Brooklyn, CT
Apparently capacity will not be increased. The six seater chairs are further apart than on a quad so overall when operating at capacity the uphill amount is the same. But a shorter ride time on quiet weekdays will be nice. The old quad was running pretty slow I think
Exactly... More seats on a carrier (chair) doesn't always mean more folks up the hill per hour. A quad with the standard 6 second carrier spacing and a six pack with the standard 9 second carrier spacing, have essentially the same hourly uphill capacity. Its simply a math game at the end of the day
 

The Sneak

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Sep 21, 2006
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Location
SK, RI
Yeah old chair was ~7 min to the top, compared with half that ride time at Berkshire East courtesy of their new chair...
 

machski

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Sep 5, 2014
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Northwood, NH (Sunday River, ME)
Yeah old chair was ~7 min to the top, compared with half that ride time at Berkshire East courtesy of their new chair...
~7 min on Polar Express seems a bit too long for a not quite 4400' HSQ, probably closer to 5.5 mins if they were running it slower than its design speed of 950FPM. Berkshire's T-Bar would be faster as it is considerably shorter at just 3050' and a design speed of 1000 FPM.
 

Zand

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Dec 30, 2003
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Spencer, MA
Polar Express used to have uphill times of about 4.5 minutes about 20 years ago. It got old and unreliable in the past decade so it was running at a Needles Eye Quad pace instead of FourRunner Quad pace lol.
 
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