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Strange Cannon cam view

thetrailboss

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Yes they are. At the end of each season if a lift is not going to be used for the summer, the resort has to remove a certain number of chairs in order to not overstress the cable and for inspections to be done on the grips if needed. Part of the inspection process involves microscopic views of the grips in order to ensure that there are no fatigue cracks.

Someone who is a lift tech can probably elaborate a whole lot more on what I said, but it is general practice to remove a few chairs randomly from the lift each offseason and then to put them back on before ski season. That's why you see spray paint on the cables of fixed grip lifts.
 

thetrailboss

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To my knowledge, it's 10% of the chairs on each lift that are removed. Unrelated fact, 20% of grips (for detachable lifts) are rebuilt each year.

That sounds about right, based on what I've seen hiking around in the summer.
 

Cannonball

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Hopefully their doing more than just inspections. That lift needs a MAJOR overhaul. It would be great if this is an indication that they are doing some real improvements. Might try to hike up there and check it out this week.
 

thetrailboss

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Hopefully their doing more than just inspections. That lift needs a MAJOR overhaul. It would be great if this is an indication that they are doing some real improvements. Might try to hike up there and check it out this week.

What needs to be done? It's an older lift, but I imagine that as a fixed grip it could go a long time.

It's been a while since I rode it, but I recall it being pretty low to the ground and having a steep climb out of the loading area that could occasionally through a person or two as the chair swung after loading.

I just read that it was built in 1990 and, in typical NH fashion, is pretty spartan looking:

cannonball_top.jpg
 
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Cannonball

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What needs to be done? It's an older lift, but I imagine that as a fixed grip it could go a long time.

They have been having significant mechanical/electrical problems with it (don't know the specific details). They run it at about 60% speed. And They will only load 3 per chair when there is a crowd.
 

thetrailboss

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They have been having significant mechanical/electrical problems with it (don't know the specific details). They run it at about 60% speed. And They will only load 3 per chair when there is a crowd.


Wow. That is not good. Sounds like they need a new drive and need to work on tensioning. I also imagine that the haul rope is getting old.
 

ceo

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It wasn't exactly a speedy lift to begin with; I remember noting when it first went in that it was a lot slower than the T-bars it replaced (which were pretty fast).
 

thetrailboss

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Maybe they could buy one of Smuggs old chairs?:idea:

Yeah, let's replace a 1990 Doppelmayr Quad with a 1960's or 1970's era Hall Double. #winning

In all seriousness Jay's Bonneventure Quad may be available soon....it is about the same age and is a Doppelmayr. It probably would not be much help though.
 

SIKSKIER

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My point was I've never seen chairs removed at the summit before.As far as the operation issues,we can almost always tell when there will be a problem.Its almost always a very crowded and warmer day and it gets turned into the triple quad.Puck is exactly right hence why they start loading only 3.
 

Puck it

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Was the overheating problem with the Zoomer chair fixed last year? I seem to recall less issues withthat chair last year.
 

thetrailboss

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My point was I've never seen chairs removed at the summit before.As far as the operation issues,we can almost always tell when there will be a problem.Its almost always a very crowded and warmer day and it gets turned into the triple quad.Puck is exactly right hence why they start loading only 3.

Gotcha. I bet they left the chairs at the top because (1) there is more room than on the small landing at the bottom, (2) the main drive is up there, and (3) crews can ride the tram up rather than drive an ATV or truck to the lift.

I guess I'm kind of surprised that they don't get that fixed considering that the manager is on top of things. It's probably a cost issue and they don't want to upset a certain vocal minority by spending taxpayer money for fixing the lift.
 
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