Belleayre Gondola Discussion Thread

BenedictGomez wrote

snoloco wrote

Noticed that the original PR picture for Belleayre's gondola is actually a picture of Stowe's Poma gondola.

Gotta' be a millennial in Bellayre's marketing department.

I know its just a joke but wouldn't it most likely be the opposite? Some dinosaur who works for the state who thinks people won't catch on to the lazy photoshopping? Millennials grew up with the internet  

This is done quite frequently.  They needed a picture of a lift that they didn't have yet, so they just took a picture of a different lift where it would be difficult to find out what mountain it was and photoshopped it.  In this case, they changed red into blue and superimposed a Belleayre logo to cover the original Stowe logo.  I figured it out because I'm a lift geek, but it took me a bit.  The average customer wouldn't have been able to tell.  Once they got the official renderings from Doppelmayr for the terminals and CWA for the cabins, they started using those instead of the photoshopped picture when advertising the new lift.

Also, they just updated facebook showing that they are making rebar assemblies for the footings.  This means that line clearing is already complete.

Stowe / Vail could potentially sue them for false advertising and misuse of their image.  

It wasn't their image and if it was, they likely have permission to use it.  I found it on this link.

Ski areas all over the place do the same thing.  They need a realistic photo to advertise a new lift that they don't have yet, but are installing, so they take a picture of a similar lift and photoshop it.  In this case, the gondola at Stowe has the same cabin manufacturer that Belleayre is getting.

You're just saying this because you hate that ORDA is putting money into Belleayre and want something to come up and stop them.

snoloco wrote

It wasn't their image and if it was, they likely have permission to use it.  I found it on this link.

You're just saying this because you hate that ORDA is putting money into Belleayre and want something to come up and stop them.

Coach is most likely right, and I seriously doubt anyone went to the lengths to request permission, including trip.com.  It's the nature of the interline.

What is there to sue for?  It's not like they did anything that could be proven as harmful to the ski area that the image came from.  I bet the guys in suits at Vail wouldn't even be able to figure out where it came from unless they read my post.

Copyright infringement.  As the creator, or owner of intellectual property, you have the rights to copies.  Thus the word copyright.

But, yes, I'm sure it wouldn't be worth it.

Unless they took it right off a Stowe advertising piece without permission, then they can't be sued by them.

That wouldn't inoculate them. What matters is who owns the photo and wether or not they have permission to use it. Just being in an advertisement doesn't put it in the public domain. Not that it matters...

You misread my post.  I said that if they took it right off the Stowe website or a Stowe advertising piece without permission, that they WOULD be subject to getting sued by Stowe.  The same applies if they took it from another site and altered it without permission for their commercial use.  Now that Doppelmayr and CWA have supplied Belleayre with official renderings, they won't be using the photoshopped Stowe image anymore, so it really doesn't matter.  

Back to updates, if you look at the Discovery Lodge webcam, you can see them moving equipment into place to begin setting footers for the base terminal.  If you look closely, you can see some clearing done for the lift line.

I checked on the original pic and found that it was available for reuse or free to use. No copyright issues, ORDA marketing may not be the best but I would doubt if they are so sloppy as to use an image that they had no right to use.

I didn't think they'd use an image they had no right to use either.  I just pointed out what the source was.  Now that they have the renderings, they won't be using the photoshopped image anymore.

Sno you are just getting your jollies on lift porn and don't seem to notice that no one else on here gives a shit about details on this asinine lift that shouldn't even be built except for you.

I follow lift projects.  This is a ski forum.  If you don't like it, don't read my updates.  If I wasn't posting in this thread, the only active threads on the entire forum would be the political shit show.

As I said before, this lift is overkill for Belleayre's current terrain.  Should the Highmount expansion get built, it will be 100% necessary.

I'd rather follow the project and update on it rather than bitch about it all summer long.

I've never jumped from Deer Run over to Highmount, is the pitch correct for a simple connection at the distance where they are closest?

You can literally see the top of the defunct Highmount lift from the furthest point west on Deer Run.  They plan to have another lift called Belleayre west running up from where the Overlook access road branches off from County Route 49A to the first significant turn to skier's left on Deer Run (about halfway between Highmount and Tomahawk.  The Belleayre West lift would likely be a HSQ and the Highmount lift a fixed grip triple or quad.

The plan is for the Belleayre west lift to serve predominantly full length intermediate runs which Belleayre currently lacks a large quantity of.  There is only Roaring Brook and Onondaga-Horseshoe Pass off Superchief and Deer Run off Tomahawk.  The gondola will allow for a longer version of Deer Run ending at the Discovery Lodge.


Here's a picture.  Existing lifts are in red, gondola is in yellow, Belleayre West is in purple, and Highmount is in white.



The gondola will be about 6500 feet long, Belleayre West about 4400, and Highmount about 2400.

Harvey wrote

I've never jumped from Deer Run over to Highmount, is the pitch correct for a simple connection at the distance where they are closest?

You can touch the top of the Highmount chair from Deer Run..Me and James did this a few years ago , when we poached Highmount

Currently Belleayre only runs the "Skyride" to the summit midweek for groups that make advanced reservations.  Has there be anything said about how the gondola will be used during the summer season?  Not quite the view that you get from the Whiteface or Jay Peak gondolas but Belleayre is a lot closer to NYC and Philly.

Doesn't apply to Belleayre, but one reason some places consider a chondola instead of just a chair lift is that gondola cabins are more tourist-friendly for the summer/fall season than riding an open chairlift.  I got the husband of a friend of mine to ride up the Whiteface gondola for the fall colors view.  My friend and her kids ski and have no issues riding chairlifts.  One reason he doesn't ski is because he's deathly afraid of heights.  But he could handle a gondola.

Belleayre has not run a summer lift for a long time.  I think they stopped doing it around 2008 or so.  They used to use Lift 7.  They might be doing the thing that you claimed.  

They have confirmed that they will be running the gondola in the summer.  There will be hiking and biking trails at the top as well as a wedding venue.

All the other Catskill mountains have summer lift operations, although Plattekill recently limited theirs to select weekends only.  Hunter's runs 6 days a week (closed Tuesdays) and Windham's runs 5 days a week (closed Tuesdays and Wednesdays).  Windham and Plattekill have downhill biking trails, while Hunter shut down their bike park in 2010.  Belleayre has not confirmed whether there will be downhill biking trails or just cross country ones at the top.

I think the view from Belle is sweet.  Cats are nice.