170 people evacuated from lift at Elk Mountain

[PAabe]

Yeah there are signs everywhere "SKIING OFF TRAIL AND IN THE TREES IS NOT ALLOWED AT THIS SKI AREA"

Infrastructure is old but I don't get the impression anything is unsafe. It is all immaculately maintained. Almost all of the ski areas in PA consist of some or all of their lifts being quite old.

I don't see high speed lifts happening at Elk, it would destroy their snow quality upon which their whole reputation is based, and it would look out of place af. The lifts are pretty steep too so its not like its unreasonably long. Also their setup is kind of in two "pods" so not conducive to having 1 main high speed lift.

 

[kendo]

Yeah I did a little research and saw that this is a very interesting lift that is a "double-quad" in which two separate lifts share towers. Kind of like the old Double Runner and Spillway lifts at Sugarloaf, Maine. A very interesting set-up. It is troubling that the "newest" lift (the quad) was what went down. I also read a lot of comments about the place having very dated infrastructure.

Elk's use of single tower / double lift may have been based on a similar setup that Swain in NY installed in 1979/80:

(2) Borvig centerpole quads with independent drives, share the same towers. Swain's original 8-pack replaced (2) T-bars along the same line. A big marketing lift for them in the early 80's. Slow as hell, but still running today.

Quad 1 – Swain, NY

Visit the post for more.

liftblog.com

I've driven by Elk 100's of times heading up 81 to western NY. Going to make a stop this year.

 

[IceEidolon]

I don't see high speed lifts happening at Elk, it would destroy their snow quality upon which their whole reputation is based, and it would look out of place af. The lifts are pretty steep too so its not like its unreasonably long. Also their setup is kind of in two "pods" so not conducive to having 1 main high speed lift.

A high speed quad has the same PPH as a fixed grip quad with the same chair timing (usually around 6 seconds). The difference is that more people are in line because you have half as many chairs on the lift.

I'll grant you that on a slow day where lift lines aren't an issue, a detachable does increase traffic. If most chairs are going up mostly loaded, though, there's no difference.

Elk is certainly not the only resort to build two lifts on one tower - Beech Mtn rebuilt their double double as recently as 2001 - but they are the only place I know of that took out towers to put an existing lift onto another manufacturer's towers.

As for adding a high speed lift or not, they're kind of stuck - any place they put it, they lose redundancy to that summit (unless the quad side can get upgraded to a HSQ - and that's their newest main lift IIRC). In their shoes I think I'd rather spend those millions of dollars on maintenance and snowmaking.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Hopefully someone sues and wins a ridiculous lawsuit forcing the old-geezer owner to sell to someone who allows tree skiing.

 

[PAabe]

There are a lot of double-double or triple-triple lifts like that in the area and there used to be a lot more even, seems like they went out of style mostly before quads became super prevalent

To name a few, Shawnee, Jack Frost, Eagle Rock, Big Bear, Big Boulder, Hidden Valley, Wisp, Vernon Valley

 

[IceEidolon]

The differences are that those lifts usually have both sides 1. balanced, and 2. built by the same company.

 

[cdskier]

There are a lot of double-double or triple-triple lifts like that in the area and there used to be a lot more even, seems like they went out of style mostly before quads became super prevalent

To name a few, Shawnee, Jack Frost, Eagle Rock, Big Bear, Big Boulder, Hidden Valley, Wisp, Vernon Valley

Are the ones you're naming where they currently are? Or some that used to exist? I don't recall Vernon Valley having one when I skied there 20-25 years ago (and I see none on the current Mountain Creek trail map).

Big Bear...I'm trying to remember if that was a used lift or if it was actually brand new when they put that in back in 2009. I know the other doubles that were installed in the late 90s or early 2000s were used. I know at least all the chairs on 1 side were all re-used from their previous Double lift that was in that location.

 

[PAabe]

Today people had to be evacuated again from a lift at Elk, this time from C lift

Elk has allegedly not had to do an evacuation in years/decades

Additionally, the Long Haul lift at neighboring Montage broke and had to be evacuated

 

[IceEidolon]

Allegedly there was a power loss that affected several Elk lifts. All but C lift came back online when power was restored. No word why the backup power couldn't move C lift though.

 

[ceo]

That E lift at Elk has to be the most bizarre Frankenlift of all time. CTEC bottom terminal, Hall carriers, Hall crossarms mounted on CTEC towers shared with a quad, Borvig upper terminal with a Hall bullwheel on it.

 

[kendo]

Today people had to be evacuated again from a lift at Elk, this time from C lift

Elk has allegedly not had to do an evacuation in years/decades

Additionally, the Long Haul lift at neighboring Montage broke and had to be evacuated

and further up 81, Song Mtn had a lift evac yesterday. They say everything happens in 3's...

‘It was scary’: See skiers rescued from Song Mountain ski lift after 2-hour frigid ordeal (video)

About 100 people were stranded on the chair lift at Song Mountain Ski Resort Sunday afternoon during frigid temperatures.

www.syracuse.com

 

[FBGM]

I’ll be at Elk today. See what further info I hear. Ideally no lift goes down

 

[jimmywilson69]

Let us know how the trees are!

 

[FBGM]

Let us know how the trees are!

Boney. Lack of natural. Not skiable lol.

Firm and fast in general. Some sort of minor ice/snow event overnight.

Double still down. Quad still down.