Spillway Reopens on Sugarloaf and Replacement Plans

[Nick]

Haul rope arrives and tips the scales at 21 tons This compares to 6 tons for Spillway West and 10 tons for Spillway East. They designed it to be heavier so as to help prevent problems with wind.

I'm surprised the rope itself makes that much of a difference, when you consider the weight pole to pole. I would have guessed the lift themselves would be more impacted.

 

[thetrailboss]

I'm surprised the rope itself makes that much of a difference, when you consider the weight pole to pole. I would have guessed the lift themselves would be more impacted.

A heavier haul rope is less likely to come off the sheave trains. Theoretically. They needed a heavier haul rope as it was because this is a quad instead of a double.

 

[Nick]

That makes sense. And obviously the quad vs. double situation as well :lol:

 

[thetrailboss]

The bullwheel is in place. http://sugarloaf2020.tumblr.com/

 

[thetrailboss]

Looking good:

 

[bvibert]

Just saw this picture on FB:

It's heading up the mountain to lift the new motor room into position.

 

[speden]

Looks like they are going to fly the towers into place tomorrow.

 

[thetrailboss]

Looks like they are going to fly the towers into place tomorrow.

Ahhhhhhh yeah!

 

[bvibert]

Ahhhhhhh yeah!

That's got to be awesome to see in person!

 

[K2Trav]

That's got to be awesome to see in person!

YES Its F*c*ing awesome

 

[speden]

Hmmm, looks like the leaves have already started to turn color up there. You know what that means...

 

[BackLoafRiver]

Sweet video from Sugarloaf's FB page:

 

[speden]

Another report with more video on the installation here:

http://www.wcsh6.com/news/article/172855/314/Skyline-lift-installed-at-Sugarloaf

Opening day scheduled for Nov. 18th.

 

[wa-loaf]

SunJournal article with 2 videos: http://www.sunjournal.com/franklin/story/1087682

 

[thetrailboss]

Great videos!

 

[Nick]

Curious about why they went to fixed-grip with conveyor vs. detachable. Is the fixed grip faster / slower than detachable and other benefits.

 

[wa-loaf]

Curious about why they went to fixed-grip with conveyor vs. detachable. Is the fixed grip faster / slower than detachable and other benefits.

It's a windy spot so a heavier fixed grip will be able to run more often than a HSQ, adding the conveyor allows them to run it faster.

 

[Nick]

Why would the detach / attach process affect wind performance mid-lift?

I'm guessing it's somewhere between the speed of a HSQ and a standard fixed grip

 

[soposkier]

Why would the detach / attach process affect wind performance mid-lift?

I'm guessing it's somewhere between the speed of a HSQ and a standard fixed grip

My guess would be because the fixed has more chairs=more weight. Was also wondering if the way that it is fixed to the cable has any thing to do with it.

 

[thetrailboss]

Why would the detach / attach process affect wind performance mid-lift?

I'm guessing it's somewhere between the speed of a HSQ and a standard fixed grip

Couple reasons. First, the resorts have to be concerned about the chairs coming off the line in the terminals so the wind might impact that (as well as icing). Second, and related, the grips on an HSQ release and aren't fixed to the line. Technology is such that now the grips require a lot of force to come off the line, but older models (think Yan) were based on gravity to help hold them shut. Still, I think there is some risk that chairs could come off in high winds. Again, that would be pretty extreme, but it has happened.