Belleayre New Gondola "Catskill Thunder" Construction Photos

[Mapnut]

You won't be cruising through the novice area after skiing trails accessed by the gondola. Unless you want to skate a very long way across the ridge, you'll want to ski just 6 or 7 trails from the gondola summit that all feed down the base of the Tomahawk lift. From there a new trail will cross the access road and feed down to the gondola. The trails off the ridge are mostly very similar, so skiers will prefer to ski the eastern trails from the high-speed quad or the triple.

 

[catskills]

Well the Beleayre Gondola has been spinning for a bit. Just wanted to say I have not meant one person on the Gondola that now thinks it was a bad idea. Everyone seems to love the Gondola. A few people said, they initially thought it was a bad idea. But now they love it.

 

[RENO]

Well the Beleayre Gondola has been spinning for a bit. Just wanted to say I have not meant one person on the Gondola that now thinks it was a bad idea. Everyone seems to love the Gondola. A few people said, they initially thought it was a bad idea. But now they love it.

Especially when the Tomahawk goes down like the end of 2018-19 when it was down the last month and a 1/2!

 

[2planks2coasts]

Love the gondola, but they really need more bridges/tunnels across the access road.

 

[ne_skier]

Especially when the Tomahawk goes down like the end of 2018-19 when it was down the last month and a 1/2!

I personally prefer to ride Tomahawk than the gondola, but yeah, Tomahawk's a lemon. It was down for long periods of time due to broken computers or machinery the past two seasons. 2018-19 it was down for the second half of the season due to a fried CPU that Doppelmayr (Who now owns Garaventa CTEC, Tomahawk's manufacturer) couldn't provide until the summer.

 

[tnt1234]

Has Bell announced the Covid plan for the Gondi yet?

 

[ne_skier]

Has Bell announced the Covid plan for the Gondi yet?

Belleayre hasn't given any info directly relating to the gondola other than that windows will remain open, but they said this about all lifts:

• Skiers that traveled to the mountain together can ride the lifts together.
• Singles always have the option of boarding a lift alone.
• Two singles will be loaded together on opposite ends of lifts that accommodate four or more people.
• A face covering is required while waiting in line for lifts, for loading and unloading, and for the duration of your ride.
• Windows in gondolas should remain open.
• Please adhere to posted signage at lift areas and the directions of our staff.

Most resorts have been putting only groups that arrived together in gondolas, no grouping of unrelated singles or groups (Not even 2 people). Not sure if they'll end up saying that later on.

 

[RENO]

I personally prefer to ride Tomahawk than the gondola, but yeah, Tomahawk's a lemon. It was down for long periods of time due to broken computers or machinery the past two seasons. 2018-19 it was down for the second half of the season due to a fried CPU that Doppelmayr (Who now owns Garaventa CTEC, Tomahawk's manufacturer) couldn't provide until the summer.

I prefer Tomahawk too, but that lift needs to be replaced. Not happening anytime soon with this COVID crap!

 

[ne_skier]

I prefer Tomahawk too, but that lift needs to be replaced. Not happening anytime soon with this COVID crap!

As a lift nerd myself, I've wondered what Belle would do about this, because if these breakdowns are as common as they have been recently, it needs to be addressed.
When it comes to lift replacements, there are two categories. A resort either wants a new lift, or they need a new lift.
As for wanting a new lift, this is usually done for minor capacity reasons, minor cost reasons, or just to prove to their customers that they are still invested in the mountain/as a publicity stunt (Catskill Thunder anyone?). Lightning at Belleayre would be a good example of a want lift. There wasn't an increase in capacity but 1 and 2 being built in 1982 were Belleayre's oldest lifts and it shows that they're still interested in investing into the mountain, even though 1&2 operated fine and there's still spare parts out there. Operating costs probably went down a bit considering you needed half the staff and half the number of motors to operate at full capacity, but it certainly wasn't draining Belleayre's pockets, considering they installed a brand new gondola 2 years prior, making it the smallest resort in the US to have one (I think). I don't think Tomahawk needs to go high speed, nor do I think it needs to go to a 6 pack. That lift acts more as a redundancy lift now anyways for people who want to lap those runs and for when the Gondola is down, and capacity on the west side is already overworking those trails by noon.
As for needing a new lift, this is usually done when there is an out of control capacity problem plaguing the lift, when a lift is old to the point where it fails to operate consistently, when a lift is hard to find spare parts for, or when a lift has a high profile accident or failure. Some examples of this would be the Black Chair at Magic which was a combination of the first and second problems, Challenger Double at Big Sky which was the second, the Spruce Triple at Sunday River was replaced following a catastrophic accident where it's top terminal collapsed over the summer and the Spillway lifts at Sugarloaf were replaced after the Spillway East chair had a major deropement in December 2010. Barker at Sunday River may fall into the first and second categories once Boyne decides to invest in the east. Tomahawk doesn't fit into many people's definition of an old lift, it was built in 1999 along with the original fixed grip Superchief quad. Those lifts, built by Garaventa-CTEC are usually known for their reliability, and CTEC's fixed grip designs (Garaventa was only really involved in their detachables) are considered among the most reliable used lifts and can still be found across the continent. If I were Belleayre, I'd invest in a new motor and new drive equipment for Tomahawk, as that seems to be the source of all issues. The rest of the lift functions just as intended.

 

[JimG.]

I prefer Tomahawk to the gondola as slow as it is. Still easier to lap than going to the bottom every run.

 

[ne_skier]

I prefer Tomahawk to the gondola as slow as it is. Still easier to lap than going to the bottom every run.

And there's no taking off your skis or waiting in line

 

[JimG.]

And there's no taking off your skis or waiting in line

I know a bunch of folks don't like removing their skis to board a lift but that has no impact on me one way or another.

Skiing down a long beginner trail to get back to the lift is more of an issue.