Spruce Triple - Sunday River, ME

[machski]

Look, everything I have read indicates this is a freak incident. I can't find another example of the top return anchor footing letting go on a lift. So, was there something SR could do to detect this impending event? Not sure, I'm sure concrete footings and anchor foundations are inspected for deterioration. The last load test on Spruce was last December after it got a new drive bull wheel. It is odd that it was Boyne run and another Borvig, but I'm not sure either of these had anything to do with this event. We need to really wait on this one, this is just an odd failure. All the others Boyne has had have been seen in lifts before the incidents.

 

[Quietman]

Looks like the cement split in half! I rode this lift on March 20th. Scary that it failed less than 4 months later with no load!!!!!

 

[Not Sure]

Looks like the cement split in half! I rode this lift on March 20th. Scary that it failed less than 4 months later with no load!!!!!

Hmmm,looking at the picture looks like 2 concrete pours and not one monolithic pice , Rebar pulled out of first pour .
Who made the lift makes no difference and no inspection could have uncovered this as it was below ground .

 

[steamboat1]

I worked as a department manager for many years at a resort that was bought by CNL. Over the years we talked quite a bit about the operation with CNL.

CNL is the landlord, SR is the tenant. Same arrangement as if CNL owned a strip mall, and SR a store located in the mall. SR wants to make some changes to the store, such as add walls(or a new lift). CNL must approve these infrastructure changes, but SR pays for them.

Basically Sunday River runs and is responsible for the operation and functions of the mountain. CNL is not there all the time checking on how the place is being run. They are just cashing there rent checks. If Sunday River wants to go do a expensive improvement that they can not afford, CNL will give them very favorable loan terms for these improvements.

Every year the tenant (SR) is required to put a % of there profits back into the property. This can be improvements, such as lifts, or maintenance.

This lift failure is entirely on Sunday River, or possibly the lift manufacture. I would clear them as it has been over 30 years since install.

If I'm a tenant & my faucet is leaking who's responsible for repairs?

 

[skiNEwhere]

To my point of over-engineering...Mount Snow removed their SKi Baba beginner lift this summer (ironically enough a Borvig lift as well). This is the counterweight... for a 500 foot beginner lift...it's massive.

View attachment 20449

Ski baba is gone? Almost kind of sad to see that go, since it was the last chairlift in the state that didn't have a safety bar.

Not a structural engineer either but I'm wondering what the foundation looked like the last ski day of the season it was operated....how close was it to failure then?

 

[fiddleski]

Hmmm,looking at the picture looks like 2 concrete pours and not one monolithic pice , Rebar pulled out of first pour .
Who made the lift makes no difference and no inspection could have uncovered this as it was below ground .

As an earlier poster mentioned, it's odd that the rebar is straight, not bent. Might this imply that the footer concrete was so weak that it did not bend the rebar, but simply crumbled around it?

I wouldn't think this would be triggered by recent rain. It was a very dry winter and spring - this region may well be under a drought warning.

Whatever the cause, management must be giving thanks to a kind Providence that this happened in the summer. Could have been another Keystone-type catastrophe.

 

[Not Sure]

As an earlier poster mentioned, it's odd that the rebar is straight, not bent. Might this imply that the footer concrete was so weak that it did not bend the rebar, but simply crumbled around it?

I wouldn't think this would be triggered by recent rain. It was a very dry winter and spring - this region may well be under a drought warning.

Whatever the cause, management must be giving thanks to a kind Providence that this happened in the summer. Could have been another Keystone-type catastrophe.

Agree about the rebar , should have had 90 degree bends . Something as important as this concrete should have samples sent out during construction for testing ,they may still be at a lab somewhere. This ski season I'll be looking at the foundations out of curiosity .

 

[eatskisleep]

Almost looks like this: (up internet speculation based on one photo) rebar was set, was partially filled with dirt, then concrete. The rebar looks too clean, typically there would be concrete Spaulding hanging onto it.

 

[JPTracker]

Looks like the cement split in half! I rode this lift on March 20th. Scary that it failed less than 4 months later with no load!!!!!

The load on the bull wheel is determined by the tension in the cables. That is set by the counter weights at the base which are set to float and keep the tension in the cables constant. The load on the chairs have no effect on the cable tension. So the actual load on the bull wheel is the same all year long.

 

[machski]

The anchor foundation is set to bedrock due to the forces involved. The straight, unbent "rebar" was likely drilled into the bedrock with some type of grouting like material to fill in any gap between the iron and rock. Then the concrete foundation is poured. Since we are talking bedrock, this is all below grade. Lots of unresolved questions, but this is pretty typical for upper terminal installs.

 

[SIKSKIER]

The anchor foundation is set to bedrock due to the forces involved. The straight, unbent "rebar" was likely drilled into the bedrock with some type of grouting like material to fill in any gap between the iron and rock. Then the concrete foundation is poured. Since we are talking bedrock, this is all below grade. Lots of unresolved questions, but this is pretty typical for upper terminal installs.

This is just how I interpret the photo.Looks like the base of that concrete was poured on the bedrock with the rebar drilled into it..

 

[mbedle]

This is just how I interpret the photo.Looks like the base of that concrete was poured on the bedrock with the rebar drilled into it..

So the irregular shaped concrete that we see in the picture was directly laying on bedrock (there is no concrete left below grade)? If that is the case, than the entire structure was anchored by rebar attached to bedrock and no type of footer. Seems odd to me to just rely on the rebar. Would think that water infiltration would be an issue in that situation. It looks like water was getting to the rebar and might have ultimately weaken the bond to the bedrock over time.

 

[Andrew B.]

Pretty sure that isnt "rebar". I would assume they are hardened steel rock anchors that were epoxy grouted into the ledge.
Just my opinion but i have installed rock anchors in the past.

 

[Brewbeer]

If I remember correctly, the rock at the top of spruce is schist, which is pretty soft and easily weathered if water is allowed to act on it. I agree with others that it looks like anchors drilled and perhaps grouted into the bedrock, with concrete poured on top of that, since the concrete block we can see is too small to do the hold back work with just gravity. If the lift block was located in a depression in the bedrock, the depression would hold water providing plenty of contact time for water to work it's way down the anchor holes.

I'm surprised the rock anchors (if that's what they are) weren't drilled at an angle so that the force applied by the lift cable would pull the concrete base down.

Another possible explanation is that the top half of the concrete block separated from the bottom half of the concrete block on what is called a "cold joint". A cold joint is a surface within a concrete monolith that was allowed to dry out or cure before more concrete was added on top, as might occur if the bottom half were poured on one day, and the top half poured on another.

 

[eatskisleep]

Should have used Hilti RE-500 for the rebar. Half of Boston is held together with that stuff.

 

[Not Sure]

Which leads to another question , are there any other lifts there installed around the same time and done in the same manner?

 

[Quietman]

Which leads to another question , are there any other lifts there installed around the same time and done in the same manner?

Locke Mtn Triple is a Borvig that was installed 2 years earlier, and the summit is very ledgy.

 

[chuckstah]

Which leads to another question , are there any other lifts there installed around the same time and done in the same manner?

The Locke triple concerns me a lot. It's also a Borvig, 2 years older being an '84 install. The top of Locke is all ledge, but no idea if it's the same rock as Spruce, but likely. I also don't know how it was installed but 2 Borvigs in 3 years I would guess similar. I hope SR checks it out thoroughly as I hope to be on it in October. Link to some Locke triple pics on N.E. Ski History.

http://www.newenglandskihistory.com/lifts/viewlift.php?id=561

Typing same time as Quietman with same thoughts!!

 

[Edd]

Locke Triple is an idle lift compared to Spruce. It's open early season, sure but they close it as often as possible. That is to say it undergoes far less stress than Spruce.

 

[chuckstah]

Locke Triple is an idle lift compared to Spruce. It's open early season, sure but they close it as often as possible. That is to say it undergoes far less stress than Spruce.

For sure. And even real early season is only weekends. But if erosion is the cause and not use, age, or stress, who knows? Both need to be replaced for safety reasons as well as consumer confidence IMO. At fault or not, Boyne's reputation for lift reliability, at least in Maine, is certainly not great at this point.