Detachable vs Fixed Grip Lifts

[Tjf1967]

I rode the one in Big Sky and based on that experience I look forward to never riding the one at Loon. Heated seats and a bubble? What’s next gaming? Those seats pitch you forward if you are wearing a backpack but you’ll be safe thanks to the locking nutcrusher.

And when one of them malfunctions and starts spinning backwards people are locked in for the ride.

 

[raisingarizona]

ya mean technicians.. all those senors and chips yikes

Yup.

 

[snoloco]

I rode the one in Big Sky and based on that experience I look forward to never riding the one at Loon. Heated seats and a bubble? What’s next gaming? Those seats pitch you forward if you are wearing a backpack but you’ll be safe thanks to the locking nutcrusher.

Loon doesn't allow backpacks to be worn on lifts. You have to take it off and carry it.

And when one of them malfunctions and starts spinning backwards people are locked in for the ride.

Detachables won't roll back like that. Since the chairs are spaced further apart, there isn't as much weight on the heavy side. There is also a lot more friction caused by the PTO sheaves and terminal equipment. Those two factors prevent a detachable from gaining as much speed as a fixed grip can in a rollback situation. The detachable mechanism also works in reverse, so the even if the lift did get going just as fast as a fixed grip, the chairs would just detach like they normally do, but in reverse.

 

[Brownski]

Those two factors prevent a detachable from gaining as much speed as a fixed grip can in a rollback situation. The detachable mechanism also works in reverse, so the even if the lift did get going just as fast as a fixed grip, the chairs would just detach like they normally do, but in reverse.

That is legitimately interesting information there. Got some links?

 

[raisingarizona]

That is legitimately interesting information there. Got some links?

I don’t have a link but I’ve definitely heard that before about detachable chairs and rollback.

 

[Ripitz]

I don’t have a link but I’ve definitely heard that before about detachable chairs and rollback.

Being able to detach during rollback is like mustard on a shit sandwich. I always thought I could turn around and drop down to the ski bar and hang off until I could let go and stick the landing. Am I the only one who fantasizes about that? I might have watched too many James Bond movies.

 

[snoloco]

Being able to detach during rollback is like mustard on a shit sandwich.

Not really. A detachable lift that runs 1000 fpm in normal operation usually has a terminal speed of 200 fpm. That is a 5th of the line speed. No matter what speed a lift gets up to in a rollback, the terminal speed would still be the same fraction of the line speed. So if it got going 1500 fpm, the chairs would move at 300 fpm in the terminals. But as I mentioned earlier, a detachable in a rollback situation is never going to pick up as much speed as a fixed grip. The physics are impossible.

 

[MarzNC]

I bet those bells and whistles are going to become problematic for lift mechanics at some point.

Maybe, maybe not. Probably beats trying to keep a lift that's over 20 years old running when you can't easily get parts any more.

I have a husband who keeps cars too long.

 

[Ripitz]

Not really. A detachable lift that runs 1000 fpm in normal operation usually has a terminal speed of 200 fpm. That is a 5th of the line speed. No matter what speed a lift gets up to in a rollback, the terminal speed would still be the same fraction of the line speed. So if it got going 1500 fpm, the chairs would move at 300 fpm in the terminals. But as I mentioned earlier, a detachable in a rollback situation is never going to pick up as much speed as a fixed grip. The physics are impossible.

I’d still stick it.

 

[MarzNC]

One issue I heard about when the Ram8 stopped while I was on it is that if the bubble is down, a person has to manually climb down and release it. This was during the first season Ram8 was running. A group from Pugski/SkiTalk was on the lift together with a couple. The man wouldn't let us put the bubble down from the start. Wasn't windy or that cold that day so it wasn't worth arguing about. Don't know if what the man said is true or not.

What happened to stop the lift that morning was that when a chair reached the top, the automatic lift didn't work. They found the problem and re-started the lift after about 20 min. We had friends who had just gotten off at the top so saw what happened.