Sugarloaf projects

[BillontheHill]

Bill on the Hill from Sugarloaf here.

I thought I'd offer an update on the progress of a couple of projects at Sugarloaf.

Some folks have already heard but the derelict gondola mid station at Sugarloaf is coming down. Work is expected to begin in the next week or so. I'll be posting photos of the progress once they get started. You can learn a little more here: http://www.sugarloaf.com/media.html?id=1313&nobar=1.

In the photo gallery (http://www.sugarloaf.com/cam_gallery.html), you'll also see some shots of the new pumphouse that's under construction to boost our snowmaking capacity. As you can imagine, it takes a lot of power to move water to 4,000 feet, so this new pump will make that process much more efficient and greatly increase snowmaking capacity. I'll also pop in at the site to get photos as work continues.

Just thought I'd pass that along.

Think snow!

bill

 

[Greg]

I always thought the old mid-station was kinda cool:

Any talk about plans for the summit building?

 

[BillontheHill]

Great photo. I couldn't find any good ones of the building in our archive because our photographers are usually trying to crop the ugly building out. Do you mind if I borrow it?

I'm not sure what will happen with the summit building at this point. Right now we're just getting the mid station out of the way to open up the trail.

 

[wa-loaf]

Hey thanks for the post. It'll be sad to see the final remnants of the gondola removed. I know you guys aren't planning to place any lifts back on the gondi line. But are there any plans to make getting to the snowfields any easier than having to head over to the timberline?

 

[Greg]

Great photo. I couldn't find any good ones of the building in our archive because our photographers are usually trying to crop the ugly building out. Do you mind if I borrow it?

Absolutely. Will this version suffice or do you want me to dig up the high-res? It's from Reggae 2004.

 

[BillontheHill]

Projects of that scale are going to take time to evaluate, so it's going to be a little time before anything like that would be announced but I'll keep you up on the latest as I get it.

 

[BillontheHill]

That size is fine. I'll give you credit in the caption.

thanks.

 

[Greg]

http://news.alpinezone.com/17356/

I'm good, eh Bill?

 

[snowmonster]

I'm probably in the minority here but I'll miss that old gondola station. Aside from the snowfields, that structure was uniquely Sugarloaf for me. I always wanted to explore that old building but never had the patience to stop skiing.

 

[wa-loaf]

I'm probably in the minority here but I'll miss that old gondola station. Aside from the snowfields, that structure was uniquely Sugarloaf for me. I always wanted to explore that old building but never had the patience to stop skiing.

I miss it. I miss riding through it. The way it would clunk around as you slowly passed through.

 

[MrMagic]

i will miss it too, thanks for the update bill, look foward to the updates and the photos. cheers

 

[Newpylong]

I never had the pleasure of riding on the Sugarloaf gondola, but I am sure people felt the same as we did when the original Killington gondola was dismantled... : ( That said, if a lift is taken out of service or removed, I think it's better that every piece of it is taken care.

 

[threecy]

I'm probably in the minority here but I'll miss that old gondola station. Aside from the snowfields, that structure was uniquely Sugarloaf for me. I always wanted to explore that old building but never had the patience to stop skiing.

I imagine Sugarloaf won't miss paying taxes on it!

 

[Charlie Schuessler]

I thought the abandoned tower scarred the mountain and am glad to see it taken down.

 

[snowman]

Good to hear that pumping is being worked on at the loaf. I believe there were numerous pump failures at the river level over the past couple years which slowed snowmaking at in-opportune times.

 

[BillontheHill]

That's another benefit of this pumping station. To get water to 4,000 feet, you have to reduce volume and increase pressure, which makes the pumps work much harder. With this booster, we'll be able to run all pumps at full volume and more volume means more snow.

There has also been considerable work this summer at the primary pump house on the river that included rebuilding some of the pumps and replacing the roof so when a motor breaks down (and any machine working that hard is bound to break down sometime) it can be plucked out through hatches on the roof. The previous roof had some access but the new system will be much easier and faster. We should be able to pull a motor and drop in a back-up and be up and running very quickly.

bill

 

[JimG.]

That's another benefit of this pumping station. To get water to 4,000 feet, you have to reduce volume and increase pressure, which makes the pumps work much harder. With this booster, we'll be able to run all pumps at full volume and more volume means more snow.

There has also been considerable work this summer at the primary pump house on the river that included rebuilding some of the pumps and replacing the roof so when a motor breaks down (and any machine working that hard is bound to break down sometime) it can be plucked out through hatches on the roof. The previous roof had some access but the new system will be much easier and faster. We should be able to pull a motor and drop in a back-up and be up and running very quickly.

bill

Adding a pump house is a fantastic upgrade.

Hunter replaced a mid-mountain pump house 2 years ago. The difference it made in the mountain's ability to put down snow was phenomenal. They can now blow twice as much snow in the same time period as before.

Folks who ski at Sugarloaf should be impressed.

 

[snowman]

Sounds good to me! Nice to see stuff that can and needs to be done, being done immediately. It's not like anyone expected you to put a new lift in this year. Atleast I hope it's not like anyone expected that. What people out there might not realize is the timeline on design and build a lift is a year or more. I'll try not to start trouble for ya, but I must point out that the old gondola staion would have to be removed to properly survey and plot for a new gondola........

 

[wa-loaf]

I'll try not to start trouble for ya, but I must point out that the old gondola staion would have to be removed to properly survey and plot for a new gondola........

They won't replace the gondola. Sugarloaf is too windy. I'd really like to see a t-bar run up to the summit somewhere from mid-mountain so you don't have to loop all the way around to get to the slow as mollasses timberline chair. You could get a lot more laps in that way when the snowfields are open.

 

[snowman]

I should have said "or some other type of lift". I would more expect a low profile chair going in there. Gotta be carefull how low a profile you give a chair at the loaf though or it'll turn into a T-Bar in a good snow year! lol I wouldn't totally rule out a new gondi though. It's pretty much the only practical lift for a run that long and the typical cold conditions. I'd like to see the lift placement in the base area improved over the coming years too when lifts are replaced. Right now it sucks, steep uphill hikes to any of them from the lodge.