conrad
I had heard from a liftie that it was the Big T-Bar that was going to get replaced at McCauley Mountain while the chairlift would stay. However, now it is official that the double chair will be replaced by the triple from Gore Mountain.
Reasons cited:
-The bottom of the double chairlift is at the best location, as it is at the lowest elevation. If they started the new chairlift at the bottom station of the Big T-Bar, it would be necessary for skiers to go a bit uphill from several of the trails on the far left side of the mountain.
-The cost and expense of having two chairlifts simultaneously. At the meeting, they decided that there wasn't enough customer demand for two chairlifts, especially considering that the new TSF3 edit: triple will have a higher capacity.
-Replacing the Big T-Bar with a chairlift would require cutting down many trees along the line, making the mountain less beautiful.
The mountain manager's argument was that there was potentially a lot of life left in the double chair whereas the Big T-Bar is a really tough lift for beginners and snowboarders. He liked the redundancy of two lifts, especially in case the construction project lasts longer than expected.
ADKskier
Thanks Conrad!
lotsoskiing
Any word on where the old one is going? Those Halls keep on ticking...just look at Smuggs!
conrad
They talked a lot about selling parts to other ski areas. The possibility of a beginner chairlift was also briefly discussed, but that wasn't the main point of the meeting. I would say the double being reinstalled as a beginner lift is low probability, but not zero.
I kind of glossed over it in the last paragraph, but the mountain manager was actually very much for using the triple to replace the Big T-Bar and saving the double.
NELSAP
I'm hoping that the triple is given a better capacity than when it was at Gore. My calculations had it at less than 900/hr. Perhaps the shorter line will have less chair spacing and they'll speed it up.
TomWhite
The video had good discussion of the pros and cons of the various lift placements.
I don't recall the name of the lift at Gore, I presume it's the Hudson triple. Liftblog.com doesn't list its stats. 900ppm is low.
NELSAP
Yup it's the Hudson Triple. It's Partek modified, and seems to have Borvig chairs and some towers. I heard once that it was from PA and modified for Gore, perhaps a shorter lift that was extended but had the same # of chairs. I haven't been able to pin it down, and same with the Village Triple too.
ADKskier
Towers are in!
NELSAP
Great picture, thanks for sharing!
