Detachable vs Fixed Grip Lifts

[sig]

You know I’m as willing as anybody to make jokes about Stratton or Okemo but it’s true that there is decent skiing to be found at those places.

spent time at each when my kids where smaller. actually use to do long weekends at okemo with other families, has a great bar in parking lot. there is good terrain at both.

 

[MarzNC]

Another example of a small mountain that completely changed the experience by replacing an old double with a HS6 is Timberline in WV. Given it's location, which is 3-4 hours from Pittsburgh, DC, Richmond, Timberline is never going to attract that many people who would rather drive farther to stay at Snowshoe. Snowshoe is comparable to Stratton for the purposes of this thread since it's a destination resort on Ikon with lots of slopeside lodging. The people who ski at Timberline like the option of a long green, steepish blues for the southeast, plus bumps and trees for the adventurous. The new owners spent big bucks on a HS6 and a good quad for easier terrain. Since the HS6 serves 100% of the terrain, being able to ride 4 min to the top instead of 12 min (if you were lucky, 15 min was common) is a game changer. A run at Timberline takes about the same amount of time as a typical run at Plattekill.

I made the drive to ski Timberline once under the old ownership. Combined it with a day at Snowshoe. Took a friend who had never skied outside of VA before. Even though we skied fresh snow and she got to experience 5 inches of powder for the first time, the experience wasn't worth a return visit. The slow lift ride with cold wind at the top was a factor. Last season with the new HS6 I did two day trips (2.5 hour 1-way from Massanutten). Second time I went solo because I had so much fun the first time. Planning to go again. Everyone on DCSki who went last season is looking forward to skiing there again.

 

[MarzNC]

I expect the managers at Boyne Mountain know their market pretty well. It's a 4-season resort with a golf course and a water park. Converted fields originally set up for soccer camps to lacrosse in recent years. From Wikipedia: "Between 1947 and 1992, Boyne Mountain and Boyne Highlands innovated in chairlifts, creating the world's first triple chairlift (1963), world's first quad chairlift (1965) and the US's first six-passenger chairlift (1992). " There are four terrain parks.

Very different from an old school ski area like Plattekill or Magic. Probably has more in common with Jiminy Peak and Massanutten . . . or Stratton.

 

[raisingarizona]

I must be doing something wrong. I'm rarely dissatisfied with skiing.

How long do the Plattekill lifts take? I just don't get impatient there.

When you guys stop for a break on the way down (if you do) is that enjoyment, or does that get old really fast?

When you are an oddball, there are some advantages.

I would get annoyed riding a slow fixed grip to rip straight down the front fall line trails if they were groomed. That’s why Plattekill needs bumps, it makes the wait more worth it.

I love a HS chair for doing hot laps. Does the mountain get tracked out faster? Sure but you can get more of it in the first hour or two if you know how to hustle and the rest of your day is for trees and mogul skiing.

The appropriate type of lift I think is extremely situational. There’s a lot of factors determining what may be the best choice for any said lift or pod. Variables get more complex looking at slow periods verse busy periods.

 

[raisingarizona]

15 minutes is too long imho.

Before we got snowmaking and the new lifts there was a season of so so conditions and every time I went up I’d ride the old Agassiz chair up to the top and after a few times of poor snow conditions I didn’t want to go back anymore. The chair ride was painful for meager skiing, the next season I decided not to buy a pass.

So, there ya go, it’s not just for marketing.

I’ve been skiing for 35 years and skied a shit ton, I know what I like and don’t enjoy spending money on what I don’t like.

 

[Ripitz]

I like them all but full disclosure, the lift I spent the most time on last year was the very necessary high speed 8 passenger Catskill Thunder?

 

[x10003q]

More skiing or better skiing? I think there is a quality verses quantity theme going on here. If more is better would the skiing be better at Platty if the lifts were high speed?

As I said in my post, Platty has short chairs that perfectly serve the mountain. The double is about 3000 ft in length. There is no need for high speed lifts.

I rode many 5000ft to 7000ft long fixed grip doubles. The high speed lifts were a godsend for these long lifts. Now, even a packed corral might only be an 8 minute wait and the lift time is 5-8 minutes with few stops because loading and loading is easier vs 40 minutes of waiting and riding in the old days on a double.

This is not quality vs quantity - it is skiing vs waiting and sitting.

 

[Harvey]

read what I wrote - High Speed/High CAPACITY - all those FG Quads are high capacity - they eat crowds

Gore has zero lines when compared to the days of the double chairlift. The High Peaks, Straight Brook, North, Ad Express were all doubles at one time.

No - you are comparing an out of the way, small day area that is only open 3 days a week to one of the most popular ski areas in the East.

Stop it. You are not the only person who loves skiing at off the radar areas or any ski areas for that matter.

Nah. I have just as much fun skiing at Plattekill as you do. I also have fun skiing at Stratton. Maybe you need to try Stratton before you look down at it from your lofty perch.

TLDR I skied at Stratton once. It was awesome. Nice low angle trees.

 

[Brownski]

Theres a thread in the archives someplace where Sno did the math for a bunch of resorts to figure out a skier density score- basically acreage divided by the lifts’ theoretical uphill capacity. He more or less nailed it. The resorts with the higher scores were the ones everybody thinks of as being crowded. Standing on line does suck for sure but so do overcrowded slopes.

 

[Harvey]

Every chair full, slopes wide open. Can't see it but 4 chair wait at the bottom.

The day after Riley