Mountaincarts

TomWhite

I like ski areas making use of their facilities in the off season. Mountain biking is very popular. I had fun at Sunday River 40 years ago. That included an unintended flip over the handlebars. Oh, that wasn’t fun! Now at 71 other activities, including simple hiking, are attractive. The Mountaincarts look closer to my speed. Bromley has been a New England leader of summer activities for decades. They had similar carts back in the day. It’s not on their website. I recall that they were French made with 4 larger tires. I don’t recall if they were light enough to be hung from a chair lift.

These Mountaincarts can make use of work roads and I presume novice trails. In a brief look at their website, I didn’t get a sense that any of the 150 locations were in N America. Has anyone seen these?

https://mountaincart.com/de/
https://ropeways.net/rn/berichte/bericht.php?news=8819&kategorie=3&klickpass=agh586zyf

lotsoskiing

Yep. Watles, Italy. Ride up chair (or hike), then get carts at top station. They are a hoot; have been there 3x. Actually amazed they operate in the US, as I imagine they would be a legal nightmare in US tort law, though I imagine no worse than skiing.

One Euro hazard is cow poop, as the herd frequents the road.

Uses a work road that is a lighted sledding (Rodeln) track in winter.

https://www.watles.net/en/ski-adventure-mountain-watles/summer/entertainment-more/watles-rider.html

Dougmccarthy

I remember in the 90's Bromley had something similar in their summer line up (along with the alpine slides) for 1 summer. Bromley used the East Meadow Chairlift retrofitted with a special carrier to take some type of "trike" up. Riders came down on gravel work road paths.

The only difference is Bromley version had "bouncy wheels", not regular tires. The day I took part in this activity I saw at least 2 people suffer broken bones from being thrown off the "trike" who had accidentally gone off the path into the grass. The "trikes" did not have any safety belt or harness, thus probably why Bromley only had this activity for 1 summer.

Dougmccarthy

Found this posted elsewhere... "No, he is not talking about Alpine slides, those are for kids. It looks like Deval Karts are no longer. They used to do this at Bromley in VT, and it was unreal. When they first opened they took you pretty far up the mountain, and I'm sure people got hurt. I went a few times with my sister and brother in law. The carts were pretty damn heavy and large air-filled wheels that were pretty bouncy. You would get air going over the water bars and buried water pipes. My sister didn't listen to the instructions the first time, and didn't realized the brakes were activated by pulling up on the steering wheel. She was pushing with her legs as hard as possible, barrelling down the mountain out of control. I somehow managed to catch up with her to yell, pull up, pull up!!! There was very little suspension on those things, so you would be pretty beat up by the time you got to the bottom. "

tedede

There's a reason motorized trikes are no longer sold. We used to ride them on snow at the old Crotched. Downhill they'll roll over in a heartbeat.

skelley19

Friends of mine were just in Switzerland for their honeymoon and did something very similar if not the same as the the trikes in the first post. I will find out where next time I see them.

lotsoskiing

The carts at Flachau and Watles have no suspension....quite bumpy for sure. Would be easy to tip if you jammed the outside brake on a turn instead of drifting by skidding with inside brake (which is fun!)

TomWhite

I remember “Deval Karts” just before reading Doug’s post. I never rode them but they looked cool in the brochure. These Mountaincarts should be 4 tires, much has been learned how tippy 3 are.
There was another attraction at Bromley that didn’t last long, white water rafting. I actually don’t remember the name. Over 40 yrs. ago I drove the youth group from Attleboro, MA on a bike tour doing a circuit that ended at Bromley. The ride was only a week old. Apparently, they were still tweaking it. They dug a trough in the beginners’ slope (East Meadow?) and lined it with plastic sheets. Water was sprayed in. Speed control was done via flat spots that ponded and Astro turf. I think they were 2 man rafts. They could have been 4. We probably did 2 runs. Tweaking was a balance between heavy enough riders to get down and too heavy to fly off turns! The previous week, the staff discovered the upper limits! Apparently, my partner and I were close to the upper limit. It was a fun ride and we did come close to flying out. When got down, kids in the raft behind us heard the mid-course spotter call down to staff, “Don’t send those two together, they nearly flew out.” That was us!

ciscokid

Was just at Crystal Mi a few weeks ago and had all u can ride alpine concrete slide $20

No thanks( remember Vernon action park)
$10 to ride hsq sightsee

I guess the new wooden bridge at Boyne does well