What's your favorite current ski lift manufacturer?

[drjeff]

I don't know about then, but detachable lifts built by Poma now have wooden ceilling/floors (visible in one of the pictures I used at the beginning of the thread). A video explained that this was both for aesthetic purposes along with noise reduction.

Nice to see you here stupidestskier20

Here's a picture from Mount Snow's website this morning of one of the lifties loading the bubbles onto the haul rope for the day after their night in the barn (they call the barn "The Birdhouse"). It really gives a nice shot of the woodwork on the underside of the bottom terminal

 

[Conrad]

By Google, do you mean cached pages or is it stored by structured data?

I'm not sure, but maybe you have to use Google Chrome in order to see what I am seeing. It would be similar to the Wayback Machine although I think Google stored more of their pages.

 

[Riverskier]

Yeah absolutely. Hope it does come back. I meant if it does not. By Google, do you mean cached pages or is it stored by structured data? Either way there is always the Wayback Machine!

Funny you mention the Wayback Machine in a thread about lifts, as that is the name of the main double at Mt. Abram!

 

[Mpdsnowman]

Lol I dont know much about this Mfg....

But I love its results lol...

 

[Conrad]

Lol I dont know much about this Mfg....

But I love its results lol...

That company is especially popular in Europe, but the aerial lift division was sold to Doppelmayr in 1996 (Wikipedia). As you noticed, they did build a few lifts in the U.S.

 

[Mpdsnowman]

Boy that Doppelmayr is all over the place lol. I like Hall lifts...."doppelmayr" owns them, I like the jay tram.......lol "Doppelmayr" owns emm

Lol looks like they are attempting to be the National grid of the world lol

 

[Conrad]

Boy that Doppelmayr is all over the place lol. I like Hall lifts...."doppelmayr" owns them, I like the jay tram.......lol "Doppelmayr" owns emm

Lol looks like they are attempting to be the National grid of the world lol

LOL Doppelmayr owns Von Roll which owns Hall basically. Von Roll bought Hall in 1982 (Wikipedia), itself bought by Doppelmayr in 1996.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_Ski-Lift

CTEC also is another big one that merged into Doppelmayr. Also Borvig kind of morphed into "Partek" which was then bought by Doppelmayr.

 

[ss20]

LOL Doppelmayr owns Von Roll which owns Hall basically. Von Roll bought Hall in 1982 (Wikipedia), itself bought by Doppelmayr in 1996.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hall_Ski-Lift

CTEC also is another big one that merged into Doppelmayr. Also Borvig kind of morphed into "Partek" which was then bought by Doppelmayr.

Don't forget Garaventa. They play a role in the evolution of Doppelmayr. I believe Yan and Riblet are the only major manufactures that weren't bought when they went out of business (not like anyone would buy Yan in a million years).

 

[thetrailboss]

The Jay Tram is a Von Roll with CWA cars. I think CWA is owned by Doppelmayr. And Doppelmayr controls the market...with the most installs.

 

[Mpdsnowman]

Lol I get it ....

Doppelmayr

Everyone else...

 

[BenedictGomez]

See, I knew if I lurked in this thread long enough I might learn something. Doppelmayr has bought nearly everyone on the planet so that it may enjoy a (probably) large price premium.

 

[drjeff]

See, I knew if I lurked in this thread long enough I might learn something. Doppelmayr has bought nearly everyone on the planet so that it may enjoy a (probably) large price premium.

Actually not really. I know that 2 years ago, when Mount Snow had dropped some serious hints that they were going to be putting in a new base to summit lift, the GM in her blog posted some pictures about a trip to Austria that she took to tour the main Dopp manufacturing plant and see and ride a bunch of their different types of recent lift installations in Austria. Many of us Mount Snow regulars after seeing this, kind of figured that we'd be riding a new Dopp lift the following season.

Then a few weeks later when they announced the Bluebird and that Leitner-Poma was going to build it, it kind of surprised some of us "lift geeks" having seen the GM's recent blog entry. Literally the morning that they made the formal announcement about L-P building the Bluebird, I ran into the GM in the base lodge and asked her why they chose L-P over Dopp? Her answer was that both manufacturers had essentially the same price and technology to build the same basic lift (a bubble 6-pack), but that L-P was going to throw in at no additional cost new chairs for the Grand Summit Express since L-P had done all the retrofit work on that lift from it's original Yan state. Dopp didn't want to touch that lift since it hadn't worked on it before. L-P got that 9+ million dollar contract for the Bluebird. When I then asked if this was a sign that we can expect any future new installs at Mount Snow to be L-P? point blank I was told that it's not a given, but would be based on which manufacturer can offer the best combo technology and reliability and price for the situation they're looking at.

From reading some recent industry trade info, it seems like for the "typical" new HSQ install these days from both L-P and Dopp (and by "typical" i'll use somewhere between 5,000 to 6,000 feet in length and 1,000 to 1,300 vertical feet of rise as the average) that both manufacturers are charging about 5 million for those installs currently). I'm pretty sure that since BOTH major manufacturers make very good lifts, that if there was a significant pricing differential, you'd see most resorts choosing the less expensive lift and then either using that savings for other capital improvements or just not having to borrow that extra amount of $$

 

[Smellytele]

Actually not really. I know that 2 years ago, when Mount Snow had dropped some serious hints that they were going to be putting in a new base to summit lift, the GM in her blog posted some pictures about a trip to Austria that she took to tour the main Dopp manufacturing plant and see and ride a bunch of their different types of recent lift installations in Austria. Many of us Mount Snow regulars after seeing this, kind of figured that we'd be riding a new Dopp lift the following season.

Then a few weeks later when they announced the Bluebird and that Leitner-Poma was going to build it, it kind of surprised some of us "lift geeks" having seen the GM's recent blog entry. Literally the morning that they made the formal announcement about L-P building the Bluebird, I ran into the GM in the base lodge and asked her why they chose L-P over Dopp? Her answer was that both manufacturers had essentially the same price and technology to build the same basic lift (a bubble 6-pack), but that L-P was going to throw in at no additional cost new chairs for the Grand Summit Express since L-P had done all the retrofit work on that lift from it's original Yan state. Dopp didn't want to touch that lift since it hadn't worked on it before. L-P got that 9+ million dollar contract for the Bluebird. When I then asked if this was a sign that we can expect any future new installs at Mount Snow to be L-P? point blank I was told that it's not a given, but would be based on which manufacturer can offer the best combo technology and reliability and price for the situation they're looking at.

From reading some recent industry trade info, it seems like for the "typical" new HSQ install these days from both L-P and Dopp (and by "typical" i'll use somewhere between 5,000 to 6,000 feet in length and 1,000 to 1,300 vertical feet of rise as the average) that both manufacturers are charging about 5 million for those installs currently). I'm pretty sure that since BOTH major manufacturers make very good lifts, that if there was a significant pricing differential, you'd see most resorts choosing the less expensive lift and then either using that savings for other capital improvements or just not having to borrow that extra amount of $$

Well by Dopp buying up everyone except LP it gives them both the ability to enjoy a large price premium.

 

[BenedictGomez]

Actually not really.

As a survivor, Leitner-Poma also enjoys the fruits of Doppelmayr's acquisitions in terms of pricing.

When I said pricing premium, I didnt mean they can automatically charge more than competitors, I meant that they can charge more as one of a few limited players in a market as opposed to a scenario with numerous competitors competing for the same bid(s). Many of those competitors are gone, because Doppelmayr took them out.

 

[thetrailboss]

Doppelmayr and Poma are probably happy that Yan is gone because Yan made pretty cheap lifts. But we know that Yan cut too many corners in the end.

 

[drjeff]

Doppelmayr and Poma are probably happy that Yan is gone because Yan made pretty cheap lifts. But we know that Yan cut too many corners in the end.

It will be interesting to see as Partek gets more installs and likely gets into the high speed lift market how they'll play into things. Their limited # of fixed grip installs so far without a doubt have them distinguishable if for no other reason than the physical appearance of their chairs vs. Dopp's and L-P's

 

[thetrailboss]

It will be interesting to see as Partek gets more installs and likely gets into the high speed lift market how they'll play into things. Their limited # of fixed grip installs so far without a doubt have them distinguishable if for no other reason than the physical appearance of their chairs vs. Dopp's and L-P's

Didn't Partek get bought out by either Poma or Doppelmayr?

 

[Puck it]

I prefer Ford.

 

[Conrad]

It will be interesting to see as Partek gets more installs and likely gets into the high speed lift market how they'll play into things. Their limited # of fixed grip installs so far without a doubt have them distinguishable if for no other reason than the physical appearance of their chairs vs. Dopp's and L-P's

Partek was bought by Doppelmayr in 2005 (Wikipedia). I think you meant Skytrac.

Skytrac just landed a project to build two triples at Bridger Bowl in Montana this summer so they seem to be doing alright.

 

[thetrailboss]

Partek was bought by Doppelmayr in 2005 (Wikipedia). I think you meant Skytrac.

Right. And Partek was actually the son of one of the guys who ran Borvig. He simply took over the business and updated Borvig's designs. Pats Peak and Ski Ward bought two of the only lifts that Partek made.