Gore Mountain Adirondack Express Replacement.

how about dumping the fill at the bottom of fairview? time and money are being wasted every year filling in the boulder field run out.

Photo courtesy Gore Mountain

11.5 weeks till opening day.
Still just a hole in the ground.
I may be wrong but it looks like only about half the towers are sitting in the parking lot. Lots of concrete needs pouring and no sign of the terminals and all the electricals.

I would not worry,  amazing how fast things can progress with lifts.    

Somehow I dont think Peetex is worrying

Thacheronix wrote

Somehow I dont think Peetex is worrying

Correct.

I am sure Gore can install one lift pretty easily in the rest of the off season.

Phew, thanks Snoloco, I was really beginning to worry.

Hearing some crazy rumors about some new wild marketing plan up at Gore Mountain. More lifts, and the snow bowl being open mid-week.

Nuts.

Next they will be talking about places to sleep and eat, lights for night skiing, bubble lifts, and employee drug testing.

Weird feeling here in North Creek. Pretty soon you may actually be able to compare it to Mountain Creek ?

Chris@GORE wrote

........and employee drug testing. Weird feeling here in North Creek.

Wait,,,,WHAT !>?!

It can't be !

WTH !   Who's gonna run da joint ? ...... PLACE ! I meant PLACE damnit ! .....YEA.... Who's gonna run da place ?

Snow bowl open midweek ? HA ! Like, the sno BOWL is always open up there man. Don't bogart, Benny !

No turn left unstoned......

"We are ready when they (choppers) are, but thinking it’s a month out. We set top terminal next week, then go right to setting bottom terminal."

I still can't tell if it is a top or bottom drive.  I need to see more than just the footings going in to tell.  Lifts from this manufacturer have tensioning at both terminals so, even though the bottom is a tension terminal, that does not mean that the drive is top or bottom.

I think all the parts are there.

Those pics want me to make that "hoo hoo" sound the Home Improvement guy makes.

If that doesn't get snoloco pumped, nothing will.  

Sno what are you doing Columbus Weekend?  PM me.

Some things I have noticed and I would like to comment about are below.

This thing has the airless tires in the terminals.  The Burnt Ridge Quad and Kaatskill Flyer have these, but the Gondola doesn't.  The benefit of these is that it eliminates some maintenance as the tires don't need to be kept at the proper pressure.  The gondola was either built before they were invented, or it was cheaper to use the air filled tires.  I was told when I toured the Kaatskill Flyer at Hunter that they were a more expensive feature, but I think that Poma may have made airless tires the standard now.

They have named this lift "Adirondack Express II".  This is a bad idea for a few reasons.  No one except the people who ski Gore a lot know or care that this lift replaced the old Adirondack Express.  It makes no sense to add the "II" suffix because few people will understand it and no one is going to say, "Should we take the Gondola or the Adirondack Express II"?  They would say, "Should we take the Gondola or the Adirondack Express"?  The original and the new lifts won't be operating concurrently, so they should just keep the Adirondack Express name and ditch the "II".

They are using the new towerhead and terminal designs on this that are different than the Burnt Ridge Quad.  Poma also has a new sheave design that has been used on gondolas that is also going to be used on Okemo's new 6-pack.  I can't see the sheaves close enough to see if the new design is being used on this, or if the new design is only for gondola line equipment which 6-packs use as well.  The terminal design that the Burnt Ridge Quad uses has been phased out by Poma.  The Kaatskill Flyer uses a similar design, but with smooth sides while the BRQ has corrugated sides.  I don't know the exact year the the design the BRQ uses was phased out, but the ADK Express uses the new design.

snoloco wrote

They have named this lift "Adirondack Express II".  This is a bad idea for a few reasons.  No one except the people who ski Gore a lot know or care that this lift replaced the old Adirondack Express.  It makes no sense to add the "II" suffix because few people will understand it and no one is going to say, "Should we take the Gondola or the Adirondack Express II"?  They would say, "Should we take the Gondola or the Adirondack Express"?  The original and the new lifts won't be operating concurrently, so they should just keep the Adirondack Express name and ditch the "II".

Nah - now the conversation will go like this:
SnoDad: "Shall we take the Gondola or the AE2"
Snoloco: "How can we take both at the same time?"
SnoDad: "Smart Ass!"

The variables for whether this is a top or bottom drive and the reasons for going either way.  One thing I know is that they already have electric at the saddle which powers the North Quad and the Saddle Lodge.  What I don't know is if it will be able to support a new 700-800 horsepower motor running day in day out off of it.  If it can, I am 98% sure that this lift will be a top drive.  If not, they may upgrade it, or install a bottom drive.  Also, this electric most likely continues to power the Gondola, Topridge Triple, High Peaks Chair, and Straightbrook Quad, so adding an extra lift to it would have less effect than if it was only powering the Saddle Lodge and North Quad.

Reasons to use top drive configuration:

     More efficient than a bottom drive for the reasons I have described earlier.
     Quieter at the bottom since only the Sunway chair would be a bottom drive.
     Easier maintenance once the North Quad gets upgraded to high speed since both drives would be similar and in the same place.
     
Reasons to use bottom drive configuration:

     Most likely cheaper to install due because there is no need upgrade the electric line at the top.
     If there is a major failure and heavy equipment is needed to fix it, no lugging heavy equipment to the top.
     

snoloco wrote

The variables for whether this is a top or bottom drive and the reasons for going either way.  One thing I know is that they already have electric at the saddle which powers the North Quad and the Saddle Lodge.  What I don't know is if it will be able to support a new 700-800 horsepower motor running day in day out off of it.  If it can, I am 98% sure that this lift will be a top drive.  If not, they may upgrade it, or install a bottom drive.  Also, this electric most likely continues to power the Gondola, Topridge Triple, High Peaks Chair, and Straightbrook Quad, so adding an extra lift to it would have less effect than if it was only powering the Saddle Lodge and North Quad.

Reasons to use top drive configuration:

     More efficient than a bottom drive for the reasons I have described earlier.
     Quieter at the bottom since only the Sunway chair would be a bottom drive.
     Easier maintenance once the North Quad gets upgraded to high speed since both drives would be similar and in the same place.
     
Reasons to use bottom drive configuration:

     Most likely cheaper to install due because there is no need upgrade the electric line at the top.
     If there is a major failure and heavy equipment is needed to fix it, no lugging heavy equipment to the top.

I think you'll be my age before you see a HSQ on the North. Why don't you put that suggestion in the Gore suggestion box outside of ES's office

snoloco wrote

Some things I have noticed and I would like to comment about are below.

This thing has the airless tires in the terminals.  The Burnt Ridge Quad and Kaatskill Flyer have these, but the Gondola doesn't.  The benefit of these is that it eliminates some maintenance as the tires don't need to be kept at the proper pressure.  The gondola was either built before they were invented, or it was cheaper to use the air filled tires.  I was told when I toured the Kaatskill Flyer at Hunter that they were a more expensive feature, but I think that Poma may have made airless tires the standard now.

They have named this lift "Adirondack Express II".  This is a bad idea for a few reasons.  No one except the people who ski Gore a lot know or care that this lift replaced the old Adirondack Express.  It makes no sense to add the "II" suffix because few people will understand it and no one is going to say, "Should we take the Gondola or the Adirondack Express II"?  They would say, "Should we take the Gondola or the Adirondack Express"?  The original and the new lifts won't be operating concurrently, so they should just keep the Adirondack Express name and ditch the "II".

They are using the new towerhead and terminal designs on this that are different than the Burnt Ridge Quad.  Poma also has a new sheave design that has been used on gondolas that is also going to be used on Okemo's new 6-pack.  I can't see the sheaves close enough to see if the new design is being used on this, or if the new design is only for gondola line equipment which 6-packs use as well.  The terminal design that the Burnt Ridge Quad uses has been phased out by Poma.  The Kaatskill Flyer uses a similar design, but with smooth sides while the BRQ has corrugated sides.  I don't know the exact year the the design the BRQ uses was phased out, but the ADK Express uses the new design.

Interesting stuff Sno. This kid's a Wiz.

Bottom drive.

PeeTex wrote

I think you'll be my age before you see a HSQ on the North.

Unfortunately I think you are right.  If this lift was being built with an HSQ on North in mind, it would be built as a top drive which as Harvey just mentioned is not the case.  This would be done because the North Quad is a top drive and to replace it they would need to run electric up there.  If you are already running electric and installing 2 lifts that end at the same place it makes sense to build it so both drive terminals are in the same place.  The next lift project is the High Peaks Chair, so I guess that there will be even more time wasted sitting on the painfully slow North Quad.  No big deal, I've got the new AE2 which can go 1,100 fpm.  I can get from the base to saddle in less time than it takes to go from the bottom of north to the saddle with that kind of speed.  No more gondola line for me unless it is freezing cold, or I want to go to the terrain it serves which the AE2 doesn't.  With the ol' piece of junk, I would often choose to wait for the gondola because the old lift was rickety, unreliable, and uncomfortable and I didn't want to risk getting stranded at pole 24 in howling winds on a chair with no padding at all.