Detachable vs Fixed Grip Lifts

[Ripitz]

Greylock has a high speed rope tow. 12.5 mph, faster than most detachables.

 

[MarzNC]

Or the carpet loader at Greek!

Doesn't change the top speed of a fixed grip lift but usually means the lift doesn't end up stopping as often. Massanutten installed them on the base lifts that are used by beginners a while ago. Made a difference for the old Supreme triple at Alta for the intermediates. The advanced/expert old timers hated it because they didn't understand how to load and would sometimes end up off the end of the relatively short conveyor belt the first season. Of course, they also hate the extended HSQ that replaced the Supreme triple, but for different reasons.

 

[Harvey]

Doesn't change the top speed of a fixed grip lift but usually means the lift doesn't end up stopping as often. Massanutten installed them on the base lifts that are used by beginners a while ago. Made a difference for the old Supreme triple at Alta for the intermediates. The advanced/expert old timers hated it because they didn't understand how to load and would sometimes end up off the end of the relatively short conveyor belt the first season. Of course, they also hate the extended HSQ that replaced the Supreme triple, but for different reasons.

You can run it at top speed. I hate those things, they are somehow counter intuitive, to me.

 

[MarzNC]

I think that HSQ at Wildcat is a perfect spot for it. It serves the whole mountain.

Yep, similar situation as Jiminy Peak and Timberline. Tricky part is when it goes on wind hold.

 

[MarzNC]

You can run it at top speed. I hate those things, they are somehow counter intuitive, to me.

Get a 6yo to show you what to do. Preferably one who just finished ski school.

 

[Ripitz]

Wildcat

wind hold

I remember about to load the 2 person gondola at Wildcat on a windy day and having to wait because the lift op was putting sandbags behind the seat for extra weight.?

I suppose that was a high speed double.

 

[Harvey]

Get a 6yo to show you what to do. Preferably one who just finished ski school.

Or just avoid them. The only one I know about is at Greek. Who else has one?

 

[MarzNC]

Or just avoid them. The only one I know about is at Greek. Who else has one?

Obviously easy for you to say given that you don't explore much for skiing. Okemo, Mt. Snow, Sugarloaf, have had them for 10 years or more. The new Bear Den quad will have conveyor loading. Probably most conveyor loading are on lifts used more by beginners/intermediates loading at a base, as opposed to mid-mountain lifts.

Since this is a thread about Boyne Mountain . . . there is conveyor loading there too.

In 2016, Liftblog noted that close to 60 lifts had conveyor loading. Peter included a list. They've been used in Europe since 1987.

The Loading Carpet Solution

This winter, 57 lifts in North America will feature loading conveyors, a higher number than ever before. Since the first carpets debuted in 1995, the technology has improved as resorts seek to inc…

liftblog.com

 

[Brownski]

Greylock has a high speed rope tow. 12.5 mph, faster than most detachables.

Yeah, that thing is pretty awesome

 

[Brownski]

Yep, similar situation as Jiminy Peak and Timberline. Tricky part is when it goes on wind hold.

Jiminy would have been better served by a quad. That place used to be really charming but it may as well be Hunter most Saturdays now